Flagler County’s March unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent for the third straight month, remaining above 4 percent for six of the last eight months even as county residents netted 134 new jobs and the number of the unemployed remained flat. The slowing pace of new workforce residents is reflected in the slowing pace of home sales, which are near a four-year low. That is one of several local economic indicators that, should they persist, may be of concern to those in the housing industry.
Backgrounders
Why Is Palm Coast Backroom-Dealing Tax Incentives with a Private Company?
Palm Coast is in the middle of a secret deal with an Atlanta-based company called DC Blox, which bought 34 acres in Town Center for $3.3 million last fall. It plans to build a data center there to land several undersea internet-data cables, by way of Flagler Beach. The city and the county are cooking up some kind of tax incentive with the company. We don’t know how much. We don’t know for how long. Presumably, we’ll find out only when the deal is sealed.
The Marcus Chamblin Trial in Pictures
A pictorial documentation of the six-day trial of Marcus Chamblin on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Deon Jenkins, featuring all the main participants and some of the evidence, traces the trial’s development from jury selection to its conclusion today (April 15), when Jenkins was found guilty and sentenced to prison.
Rest Easy: Florida Law Erases and Bans All References to Climate Change
You probably think Ron DeSantis and the yahoos, grifters, simps, dolts, and dunderheads who populate the Florida Legislature are collectively incapable of solving even one of the bazillion issues facing this state. But the Legislature has figured out how to fix climate change. Your bought-and-paid-for Legislature has delivered a bill that amends Florida statutes to delete all references to climate change. Thanks to them, climate change is gone. Erased. Kaputt. Ya no es. C’est fini.
Not All Tornado Warnings Are Treated Equal, But Parents and Faculty at Indian Trails Middle Weren’t Told
A tornado warning localized to a particular area of Flagler County on Thursday but broadcast countywide on cell phones left faculty members and volunteers at Indian Trails Middle School anxious and in the dark about the school’s lack of response as the storm raged outside, or any effort to voice explanations or reassurances over the PA system: what parents and other did learn from the district was not issued until two hours after the fact.
Should Palm Coast’s Saltwater Residents Pay Special Tax for Dredging? Survey Will Ask.
The Palm Coast City Council has placed the city’s 26 miles of saltwater canals on its list of priorities for next year. But don’t confuse that just yet with dredging the canals. The city doesn’t yet know what must be dredged and at what cost except in the most general terms, and doesn’t know how to pay for it all. It will survey resiodents to get some clarity on how to proceed.
Eclipse Will Peak at 61% of Sun Cover Around 3 PM In Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell
Locally not as dramatic as the eclipse of 2017, which obscured almost 90 percent of the sun in Flagler County and its cities, Monday’s solar eclipse will obscure 60 to 61 percent of it at peak, just past 3 p.m., in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell. The National Weather Service in Jacksonville predicts only partly sunny and somewhat windy conditions in the Flagler County area. Flagler County and its cities will see a partial eclipse for 2 hours 31 minutes.
Ending 16 Years With One Firm, Palm Coast City Council Begins Contract With Douglas Law of St. Augustine
The Palm Coast City Council ended its 16-year relationship with one law firm Tuesday evening as it approved a contract with St. Augustine’s Douglas Law Firm in a replacement. The firm expects to do about $30,000 worth of work each month. That’s less than half the full legal bill in Palm Coast’s budget.
Jerry Cameron Again Rears Up as Possible Acting Manager in Palm Coast Days After Council Voted In Johnston
Former County Administrator Jerry Cameron’s name is again lurking around Palm Coast City Hall as an interim possibility days after the council unanimously voted to install Assistant City Manager Lauren Johnston as its acting manager, the role required and so defined by the city charter in the absence of a permanent appointment. The possibility is bewildering staffers at City Hall, polarizing the council, and creating confusion about Johnston’s role ahead of Tuesday evening’s council meeting.
The Day Bunnell Shook with Groundbreakings: New City Hall, New Road, New Urban Horizon
Bunnell and Flagler County government held a pair of groundbreakings today to mark the construction of a new Bunnell City Hall and the digging through of the future 1.7-mile Commerce Parkway from State Road 100 to U.S. 1. The opening of Commerce Parkway may re-balance the city geographically and economically, adding a commercial and industrial component to go with the heavy residential development of Grand Reserve to the north.