Eulogies personal and universal were among seven invocations that seven clergy members delivered in the county’s–or any local government’s–first memorial devoted to the losses of the 15-month-long covid-19 pandemic this afternoon in front of the Government Services Building in Bunnell.
Flagler County Commission
Tabling Tonight’s Hearing, Whispering Meadows Ranch and County ‘Very Close to an Agreement’ as Talks Continue
Prompted by an outpouring of support for Whispering Meadows Ranch and talks started this weekend, the county is delaying for at least a month the hearing that had been scheduled for this evening’s County Commission meeting, where the commission was to decide whether to grant the ranch a permit to keep its operation on John Anderson Highway or force it to end operations there.
Whispering Meadows Ranch’s Fate Hangs on a County Commission Vote Monday After 14 Years of Serene Service
On Monday, the Flagler County Commission will decide whether to allow Whispering Meadows Ranch to continue operating as it has for nearly 14 years, as an equine therapy retreat for disabled children and veterans, or whether it will be shut down. But none of the commissioners have visited the ranch. Here’s a profile of Whispering Meadows.
Flagler County Hosts Candlelight Vigil in Remembrance of 111 Residents Lost to Covid-19
Flagler County is hosting a candlelight vigil at 4 p.m. Monday (May 17) to remember those residents who lost their lives to Covid-19. The ceremony will take place in front of the Government Services. It is the first such commemoration by a local government in Flagler.
Planning Board Refuses to Call 240-Boat Storage Facility in Hammock a “Marina” But Will Seek to Define the Word
The 240-boat storage facility proposed for a 4-acre parcel on the Intracoastal in the Hammock two years ago ran into its latest setback tonight as the county planning board refused to define the facility as a marina, as its developer wants to do–not yet, anyway. The board wants to craft an ordinance that would define the word “marina,” potentially reopening the door to the boat-storage facility.
‘Enough’ Is Not Enough: Flagler’s Dangerous Leer at Extremism
What happened on Tuesday at the Palm Coast City Council is indefensible and dangerous. But it’s nothing new. We’ve simply not been paying attention to a perilous degradation of public discourse and behavior. We are slowly becoming a crueler community debased by primitive instincts, because no one in charge, or too few people in charge, are standing up and saying enough.
Almost 3 Years Late and $300,000 Over Budget, County Finally Opens Palm Coast Precinct for Sheriff
The Palm Coast Precinct at 14 Palm Harbor Village Way was originally supposed to open in 2018 but fell victims to delays and successive changes of plans before reverting back to its original intent.
‘Warehouse’ or ‘Marina’? Battle Lines Are Drawn Again Over Dry Boat-Storage Facility Along Scenic A1A
A developer wants to turn an old boat-manufacturing facility into dry storage for 240 boats along with a restaurant on 4.3 acres next to Hammock Hardware. He calls it a “marina.” The Hammock Community Association calls it a warehouse and says it’s not allowed in the Scenic A1A overlay area.
County Sends Stronger Signals that It’s Finally Getting Serious About Getting Broadband to West Flagler
Flagler County government is looking to the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, a separate federal fund through the Federal Communications Commission and potential subsidies for money that may finally underwrite expansion of broadband internet service to some 400 West Flagler households that have been clamoring for service for years.
Flagler Government Lifts Masking Rules But Flagler Beach Commissioner Warns Mullins: ‘Don’t Tell Us What To Do’
Flagler Beach Commissioner Jane Mealy twice told county commissioners this morning, specifying Joe Mullins, “don’t tell us what to do,” reasserting why the city is not holding July 4 festivities even as a county commissioner has been harping on it to reverse course.
Flagler County Human Resources Director Pamela Wu Adds Feather to Leadership Cap
Flagler County government Human Resources Director Pamela Wu has added a feather to her leadership cap, as earlier this month she graduated from the National Association of Counties (NACo) High Performance Leadership Academy.
Contrary to Commissioner’s Claim, Flagler County Is Not at Herd Immunity, Health Officials Warn, Only Nearing It
Local health officials cautioned against ending covid-19 precautionary restrictions in response to a false claim by Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins that herd immunity has been reached, and that he would call for an end to restrictions at the next county commission meeting. Mullins often writes or speaks falsehoods or makes misleading statements about covid-19 and numerous other matters.
Joe Mullins Faces $2.4 Million Federal Lawsuit Alleging He Defrauded Company of Augusta Masters Golf Tickets
Joe Mullins, the Flagler County Commissioner and business owner, faces a $2.4 million federal lawsuit over allegations he defrauded a golf vacation-package company by delivering either invalid tickets to the 2018 Augusta National Masters tournament or failing to deliver tickets in 2018 and 2019, costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars and lost customers and ruining the company.
Attention Flagler: Your County Commission Wants You To Know That It Believes in (Most of) the Constitution.
A Flagler County commissioner wants the commission to approve a resolution affirming support for the Constitution, but in his enumeration of rights, he excluded the right to free speech and a free press.
A Carefully Contrite Kim Weeks Offers $20,000 Settlement, But Commissioners Don’t Buy the Act–or the Trifle
Facing a judgment of well over $130,000 owed Flagler County government in reimbursements over her reckless ethics complaints, ex-Elections Supervisor Kim Weeks offered a $20,000 settlement, only to hear commissioners ridicule the offer and the sincerity of her contriteness, and reject it unanimously.
Calling Mullins ‘Pied Piper of Hate, Deception and Fraud,’ School Board’s Conklin Rips His Latest Attack on LGBTQ and GOP
Joe Mullins combined attacks on transgender people and local Republicans in an extended screed filled with falsehoods and mischaracterizations as he spoke to a local far-right Republican group, prompting the School Board’s Colleen Conklin to issue a severe condemnation and called him a “narcissistic beast.”
Joe Mullins Falsehoods, Mischaracterizations, Misleading and Baseless Statements: A Fact-Check
Joe Mullins’s problem with facts is not new, pre-dating his election. We fact-checked his latest statements from that March 25 appearance point by point as he discussed Flagler schools’ transgender students, local Republicans allegiances, the massage parlor murders, immigration, why people move to Flagler, guns and other matters.
Draft Report on Flagler County Fire Department Finds Low Morale, Lack of Pride and Internal Dysfunctions
The report, underscoring internal dysfunctions and a lack of leadership, has been circulating within the administration for weeks, eliciting questions from administrative and elected officials, and may be ready for the commission in about two months.
Flagler Sues Inspection Company in Hopes of Recovering Up to $400,000 Lost in Sears Building Fiasco
Flagler County government on Friday filed suit against Universal Engineering, the inspection company that the county claims misled it about the soundness of the former Sears building on Palm Coast Parkway that the county bought for $1.125 million and had to sell at a huge loss.
County Takes Extraordinary Legal Step to Demolish Derelict Motel on Old Dixie as Owners Stop Responding
Flagler County government has filed suit to condemn and demolish the long-derelict, yellowed Country Hearth Inn motel that’s vexed law enforcement, residents and county code enforcement officials for years near Dixie Commons along South Old Dixie Highway, not far from the interchange with I-95.
In a Victory for Flagler Government, Key Local Vacation Rental Regulations May Survive Yet Again
A Florida Senate panel today in a surprise shift voted to preserve local regulatory authority of short-term vacation rentals. If that version of the bill survives and overrides a different House bill, as appears likely, then local regulations will remain in place unscathed, surviving attempts to scrap that local authority for the seventh straight year.
Now Florida’s Only 2nd All-American Road, Storied A1A Has Long Navigated Between Quaint and Crass
State Road A1A is now an All-American Road, adding to the road’s paradoxes of beauty and history on one side and and relentless commercialization and development on the other, though the same people who applaud its scenic designation are also those who endanger it most.
County Attorney Raises Prospect of Jail for Dennis McDonald Over Protracted Contempt of Court
County Attorney Al Hadeed on Monday raised the prospect of jail for Dennis McDonald, the former candidate for various offices, if McDonald remains in contempt of court over a charge of $80,000 plus interest in legal fees he owes Flagler County government.
It’s a County Priority, But Quest to Bring Broadband to Flagler’s West Side Runs Into County Hurdles
County Commissioner Joe Mullins is seeking county staff’s help with an informal broadband “task force” he leads to land a grant that could improve internet services on the west side, raising questions about the extent to which the county can get involved in a group it has not formally recognized or knew much about even though broadband access is now a county priority.
County Administrator Leaves in June. Four Commissioners Aren’t Interested in Planning for Replacement Yet.
Flagler County Administrator Jerry Cameron announced last month he’d be retiring by June’s end, a relatively short time as far as finding a replacement is concerned. Commissioner Andy Dance is interested in starting a process for his replacement. Dance’s colleagues, in a startling rebuke of deliberate planning, aren’t interested yet.
A Driver’s License and a Beer: Tax Collector Will Open New Location Next to Brown Dog Pub at St. Joe Plaza
The Flagler County Tax Collector will replaced its closed branch location at the Staples shopping center with a new branch at St. Joe Plaza on Palm Coast Parkway later this month.
School Board Will Not Sell the County 20 Acres of Pristine Hammock Land It’s Owned Since 1984
Flagler County government’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands program began showing interest in the district’s 20 acres on the Intracoastal around the same time that a flood-control issue had arisen at nearby Pamela Parkway, involving residents there.
County Administrator Jerry Cameron Prepares to Leave by End of June and Pushes Internal Succession
Jerry Cameron, 75, left the door open to stay longer but is pushing for a successor from within county staff. The County Commission was to have been looking for a permanent successor since his hiring as an interim two years ago but has yet to start a process.
As Captain’s BBQ Case Against County Nears Trial, Details Emerge of Bitter Conflicts, Jockeying and Blunders
As Captain’s BBQ’s breach-of-contract case against Flagler County government slowly moves to trial, Circuit Judge Terence Perkins today opened the door to having County Attorney Al Hadeed and County Administrator Jerry Cameron deposed by Captain’s attorneys, a move the county has strenuously resisted. But there are conditions.
Controversial Vacation Rental Proposal All But Eliminating Local Regulation Advances in Senate
The ongoing battle over short-term rental regulation is of special interest to Flagler County and its local government, which last decade initiated the movement that led to the 2014 law granting local governments the power to regulate short-term rentals up to a point.
Kevin Guthrie, Flagler’s Former Emergency Manager, Will Take Over State Emergency Management
Guthrie changed the emergency management culture in Flagler, transforming a static division that had been reined in by the county administration and hampered by checkered leadership into an energetic, forward-looking division. But the administration thwarted his broader plans.
Once Again, Florida Lawmakers Move to Scrap Local Governments’ Vacation Rental Regulations
A years-long effort to block local governments from regulating vacation rentals is on the move again, as House and Senate leaders revive a proposal to prevent cities and counties from inspecting and licensing properties offered on platforms such as Airbnb.
All But 4 Easements Secured, Flagler Beach Dunes Project Will Go Forward as Will Court Action Against Holdouts
A year-long effort between Flagler County government and a grass-roots group and its Go Fund Me campaign to secure easements from 13 hold-outs so 2.6 miles of shore can be rebuilt with ample dunes in Flagler Beach has paid off. Only three owners and holding four parcels remain. All others have signed.
Repeatedly Rebuked for ‘Knee-Jerk’ Decisions, County Retreats From Boat-Ramp Giveaway in Hammock
County Commissioner Andy Dance repeatedly spoke against making hurried decisions without study or community input as commissioners voted 4-1 to reject the administration’s plan to give away a public boat ramp and right of way on the Intracoastal in the Hammock.
Flagler County Government Will Host Weekly Feel-Good Show on Local Radio
Flagler County commissioners haven’t discussed it publicly yet–or agreed to it–but the county administration is preparing to host a weekly radio show, or infomercial, on WNZF, the Flagler Broadcasting station, starting likely in February. The sponsored half-hour show would focus on feel-good stories, profiles of county employees, and highlights of county doings.
Punting Responsibility, County Pits Hammock Neighbors Against Each Other Over Its Public Boat Ramp Giveaway
Flagler County government owns the unmarked, unguarded road segment of Pamela Parkway in the Hammock that ends as a boat ramp and that once cost a woman her life as she unknowingly drove into the Intracoastal. The county wants to give away the right of way to two homeowners in exchange for the homeowners building a seawall. Other residents object.
Flagler Government Planning Code Amendment Specifically to Permit Boat Storage Facility in the Hammock
After losing two court decisions, Hammock Harbour, the developer of a planned 240-boat storage facility near Hammock Hardware on State Road A1A, has filed a new application while the county is preparing an amendment to the Land Development Code that would specifically allow the business.
Appeals Court Sides With Hammock Association Against County and Developer on 240-Boat Storage Facility
The Hammock Community Association won another victory today as a district court denied the appeal by a developer of a lower court decision quashing redevelopment of a boat yard into a 240-boat storage facility next to Hammock Hardware on State Road A1A.
Almost 20 Years Later, Construction Begins on The Gardens Along John Anderson, But Lawsuit Looms
Crews began clearing acreage for The Gardens, a development along John Anderson Highway first proposed under a different name almost 20 years ago, but the controversies and obstacles that have dogged the project since continue, including a lawsuit filed just weeks ago.
‘Zero Doses’ of Vaccines for Flagler This Week, ‘Few If Any’ Over Next 5 as Covid Surges Amid Warnings of Bleak Months
The state is sending what little supply of vaccines it has elsewhere for the next five weeks: The Villages qualify, Flagler does not. So even people due for their second shot may not get it as Flagler County’s Covid numbers surge to their worst levels yet. Bob Snyder, who heads the Flagler County Health Department, spoke as if at a wake when he updated government officials this morning, and in many ways it was.
Flagler Commissioners Again Give Defiant Mullins a Pass as Dance’s Call to Talk of ‘Behavior’ Gets Tepid Reception
County commissioners–who three times last year refused to discipline or censure Mullins–again mostly declined to address his recent talk of beheading liberals or sponsoring a trip to Washington, with one exception: newly-seated Commissioner Andy Dance recommended a commission “retreat” to discuss “commission norms, expectations and behavior or procedures.”
Ken Bryan, the Flagler Beach City Commissioner, Says Joe Mullins Violated Oath By Sponsoring Trip Before Insurrection
Addressing the Flagler County Commission this morning, and with Joe Mullins on the dais, Bryan said Mullins should resign his commission seat after calling on fellow-citizens to be beheaded and sponsoring a group of dozens to Washington last week, where the Capitol was overrun by a mob in an insurrection that went from rhetorical to violent.
Flagler Emergency Chief on Vaccines: ‘We Are Doing Our Best with the Resources that We Have’
Flagler County Emergency Management Chief Jonathan Lord explains the county’s covid-19 vaccine response, its constraints, what it’s learned from the experience and what lies ahead in the rollout.
Trump’s Fascism and Republican Responsibility
By the time Trump was spitting sedition and inciting violence Wednesday he’d had five years of encouragement from the same Republican charlatans who would later stand on the floors of the Senate and the House to declare themselves shocked, shocked that the rioters they’d courted had desecrated and bloodied their little sanctum.
Flagler Commissioners Strongly Repudiate Mullins Letter On County Letterhead Disputing Biden Election
Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins used commission letterhead, without other commissioners’ approval, to plagiarize a letter and send it to Florida’s congressional delegation, repeating baseless, false, misleading, conspiratorial and widely discredited claims that Biden’s election was fraudulent.
On WNZF, Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins Calls for Beheading Liberals
A few minutes into his latest weekly infomercial on WNZF radio Saturday morning, Joe Mullins, the Flagler County commissioner, called for the beheading of liberals while decrying responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At Groundbreaking on $23 Million Sheriff’s Operations Center, County Hopes ‘Difficult’ Years of Errors Are Over
Sheriff’s, county, Bunnell and Flagler Beach officials broke ground today on a 51,000-square foot, $23 million Sheriff’s Operations Center on the future Commerce Parkway in Bunnell, possibly ending eight years of costly errors and misjudgments and what will be a four-year exile for the sheriff’s agency from a place of its own.
18 Years Later, Flagler Finally Recognizes Firefighter John Keppler Jr.’s Line-of-Duty Death With a Memorial
An 18-year effort to get Flagler County to recognize former county firefighter John R. Keppler Jr.’s line-of-duty death in 2002 finally ended Monday evening with the county commission’s decision to rename the fire rescue training facility on Justice Lane after Keppler. But he will still not get benefits owed those who fall in the line of duty.
County Approves $20 Million Loan to Build Sheriff’s Operations Center, With Groundbreaking Wednesday
The Flagler County Commission voted 5-0 this evening to approve a $20 million commercial loan with CenterState Bank to finance a 51,000-square-foot Sheriff’s Operations Center south of the Government Services Center in Bunnell.
County Scraps Rent-Free Space for Senior Meals in Flagler Beach to Pay $3,000 a Month, With $1,200 Yearly Increases
County commissioners Monday evening were set to approve a plan that would move the senior meals program from the Wickline Center in Flagler Beach to Church on the Rock in Bunnell and pay the church $3,000 a month in rent the first year, rising by $100 a month per year over the potential 15-year life of the lease, ending a 38-year, rent-free relationship.