Last Updated: 2:03 p.m.
Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito scored 84 percent on her latest evaluation, an improvement over the previous year’s 78 percent, if with some caveats.
Among them: sharp, almost lawyerly criticism from Commissioner leann Pennington, who blisters Petito’s handling of the recent River-to-Sea fiasco in Marineland and the political whiplash resulting from the wording of a Petito letter to the school superintendent suggesting, without commission approval, that the county was rethinking its commitment to school resource deputies. The commissioner was also critical of the administrator’s “slow-walking” of a proposed airport zoning ordinance. None of the other evaluations come close in tone or substance to the antagonism of Pennington’s review.
Other caveats: The evaluation period covers the 12 months between mid-October 2023 and mid-October 2024, the last year of then-Commissioners’ Donald O’Brien’s and Dave Sullivan’s tenures, and before the swearing in of their replacements, Pam Richardson and Kim Carney. So Carney and Richardson did not weigh in.
Sullivan sent in an evaluation. O’Brien had not (or the county had not forwarded it in response to a public record request; it did so after this article appeared.) The Sullivan evaluation was identical to the one he filed the previous year: perfect scores across the board, or 50 points out of a possible 50.
Commissioner Greg Hansen had yet to send in his evaluation. But he said he had nearly completed it, and that it would be identical to last year’s, which, like Sullivan’s, gave Petito perfect scores. (That proved to be the case when the county forwarded Hansen’s evaluation after this article appeared today.)
Petito’s latest evaluation got two 50 out of 50 results from Sullivan and Hansen, a 39 from Commission Chair Andy Dance, 47 from O’Brien, and 25 out of 50 possible points from Pennington, who was Petito’s harshest critic last year as well. Last year Pennington gave Petito a 50 percent rating. In the first version of her evaluation, Pennington’s score had fallen below that, to 46 percent, only for her second version to raise the score back to 50 percent.
If the Pennington evaluation seems like an outlier, perfect-score evaluations are no less so: they reflect less an effort to constructively analyze the chief executive’s performance than to suggest that all is well in the best of all possible worlds. Conversely, the Pennington review appears less interested in constructive criticism than in memorializing the sort of document organizations file in an employee’s human resources folder as a prelude to a firing. In that sense, three of Petito’s evaluations were not fair to her.
Overall, and Pennington aside, Petito received strong marks for her fiscal management, her relations with other governments and her marketing skills, lifting the county’s profile, and poorer marks for her internal staff management–a reflection of the poor morale and staff turnover in some departments–and her transparency with the commission, which continues to be wrong-footed on significant issues for lack of briefings. The Pennington review is no small matter, however, with both new commissioners in the wings and poised to weigh in this fall.
Sullivan commended Petito for reducing the property tax rate fractionally in each of the last three years (actually, a commission directive) while overseeing capital improvements such as a new south-side library. He also commended her “willingness to always listen to what others have to say and take their suggestions seriously.” His only advice was to “leave no doubt in your listeners’ minds as to the confidence they have in your decisions.”
Dance’s evaluation was thorough, complimentary, and an improvement from last year, when Dance gave Petito 69 percent. His 39 out of 50 points gave Petito a 78 percent this year, including a perfect score for fiscal management and superior scores for all categories but relations with the commission and staffing and management (3 out of 5 for both).
Dance is impressed with improvements in the budget process, some “innovative problem solving” such as the addition of a drone program, the replacement, after two and a half decades, of FireFlight, the emergency helicopter, and the completion of beach renourishment alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project, which extended that project by half a mile. Dance is also complimentary of Petito’s strong relationships with other local governments.
On the other hand he wants to see more updates on capital projects (Petito might take as her model the bi-weekly capital project update the Bunnell city administration presents to its commission, with pictures and percentages to show how far along each project happens to be, from City Hall’s construction to Commerce Parkway to commercial projects). Dance is also encouraging Petito to use staff exit interviews and internal employee surveys to “gauge the work atmosphere,” which has not been optimal, especially in human resources and, last year, in engineering.
If Dance was thorough, Pennington wrote the equivalent of a legal brief, a six-page, single-spaced “list of issues that resulted in the ratings given” as she headed it. (It was subsequently amended, with the segment on page 4 on “District 4 concerns/projects” removed.)
Pennington gave Petito 3’s for fiscal management, public relations, leadership and decision-making, and individual characteristics, and 2’s for commission relations, policy execution, intergovernmental relations and planning and organizational development. Pennington gave a 1 for staffing and management. “Quite honestly, I am worried that the culture that Flagler County has been plagued by in the past, continues today,” Pennington wrote.
“I recognize that our Legal department holds some responsibility in ensuring that the Administration is successful at accomplishing our goals and strategic plan, and I plan to address them,” Pennington concluded, ominously for the legal department. “I have been critical this year of performance, and trust me, [it’s] difficult to have to address.I recognize that in many ways, staff operates like a family. They appear to love their jobs and each other, but, the negative culture lingers and, at times, feels like a coup is at play against the Board and residents. I want very much to feel confident in what’s presented to us; however, I am not there. My desire is for real change so that the residents and the Board can have full confidence that the correct
decisions are being made on behalf of all of Flagler County.”
Petito, who had a meeting with Pennington tentatively scheduled for Friday, drafted her own list of accomplishments for the year. Those include, among other items, maintaining reserves equivalent to 5 percent of the operating budget, raising the county’s bond rating to AA+ from AA, creating “a culture of collaboration with community partners,” securing almost $50 million in state appropriations in the last two years (although that was really more the doing of then-Rep. Paul Renner, who used his leverage as Speaker of the House to steer pork the county’s way; significantly more went to Palm Coast), and creating a “transparency dashboard” on the county’s website (the dashboard includes some valuable documents, but they can lack context, making them unintelligible, as with the operating reserves, and links in documents are often dead).
Petito also points to the $74 million in ongoing construction projects, without incurring debt, an increase in the number of workshops and public involvement in creating the annual budget (that has likely more to do with Dance’s emphasis of more frequent workshops and deliberations before reaching decisions), developing marketing material to showcase the county, completing the expansion of high-speed broadband internet to the western part of the county, completing a stormwater management plan, and completing a beach-management plan–the latter one of the most challenging accomplishments of the past year.
In some cases, the accomplishments are really the doings of others that happened to fall on her watch, such as the addition of sheriff’s deputies (requested by and granted to Sheriff Rick Staly) and the replacement of three fire engines and five ambulances (the work of Fire Chief Michael Tucker) or the addition of an emergency management planner (requested by Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord), and so on. (See the list of accomplishments here.)
Note: the first version of this article reflected only the first version of Commissioner Leann Pennington’s evaluation. The article has since been amended to reflect slight changes in the second version of the evaluation. FlaglerLive requested the evaluations on Feb. 6. The Sullivan and first Pennington evaluation were provided on Feb. 19, other versions in subsequent days, and 90 minutes after this article initially appeared, O’Brien’s and Hansen’s evaluations and a amended Dance evaluation were provided.
Punch a nazi says
Seems stupid. Why don’t the billionaires write an essay each week on what they are doing to help our country haha. I don’t think the current national leaders care about transparency or really anything other than made up money that even though they couldn’t spend it they need more. Remember you can take 99% of these people’s wealth and they would still be the richest in the world, but by all means cut food stamps so Elon can get another billion from taxpayers haha. Never would have thought the nation would die without a single bullet fired but here we are now in the divided nation of amerikkka.
BLINDSPOTTING says
GOOD JOB LEANN PENNINGTON it was well deserved!
Jane Gentile Youd says
Thank you Leann. Heidi Petito is not material for county administrator; she should have fired Adam Mengel years ago and most recently admitting he never abided by the mandated county rules of requiring specific time limits when granting’zoning special exceptions’. Haaaadeed agreed. At this point the commission should have fired both of them
For the second time in 3 years FGUA Board Member Heidi Petito failed to show for a meeting concerning the water supply to over 5,000 residents ( mostly in Flagler County). She should be on top of the projects, bids, funding and the watchdog for her constituents – us the users and payers of Plantation Bay Water. But as usual the DUH DUH Heidi Petito emerges as pretty as she looks she is totally lacking in knowing what her responsibilities are. She sent me an e-mail referring to FGUA as ‘them’ when she is one of the ‘them’
Heidi Petito is an Official Board Membre of FGUA – Florida Government Utility Authority, which bought Plantation Bay water from Flagler County in Dec. 2020. Per mandate every water user and payor is entitled to a board member’s vote how they are going to be charged – just like the county commissioner BOARD members have to have open public hearings when they vote on our tax money.
She needs to beb fired or be demoted back to General Services where she is qualified for.
Seriously says
What’s so good about it ? Tell her to go a visit her district and see what a 3rd world country it has become.
Jay says
Dude I don’t know how the others can give straight fives and call themselves bosses. Makes you wonder what we have voted into office. I mean Raga surf was a huge mess up. Why didn’t they mention it.
FlaglerLive says
It’s in Pennington’s review.
Thomas Hutson says
The most absurd evaluation yet. How two county commissioners rated perfect scores after all the mistakes that cost the county 100 of thousands of dollars. Shows they are one of two things; blind deaf and dumb or looking through Mush’s rose colored glasses. In either case the county attorney and several others , as a Trump would say, you’re fired! Enough said.
BLINDSPOTTING says
Jay, we may still lost that beautiful strip of land because of her
and Hansen’s lack of information and research for the commissioners,
they completely mislead them.
Here we go again… says
Finally, a commissioner with honest ratings. A commissioner that is taking the time to actually rate properly. It’s humiliating that the other two commissioners couldn’t put in any type of effort and copy and pasted their reviews from last year to this year. Shameful! Do your job!
It’s very interesting that every commissioner rated Heidi low on managing personnel, but they all allowed her to hire her friend’s 27 y/o unqualified son to be the HR director?
How about we stop playing games already and stop her from creating this culture?
BLINDSPOTTING says
Jane Gentile Youd: ADD HADEED, ADAM MENGEL , SEAN
MOYLAN AND ROY SIEGER TO THE MIX and maybe our
county can be salvaged somewhat! Right now we are a broken
county due to nepotism in hired official as well as administrative
offices, some there for too long making poor decisions going back
years and years. Just look at the airport overlay ordinance fiasco
as they clamor to get it passed to get their funding from FDOT for
over 6 mil to build Sieger a Tah Mahal corporate terminal, and expand
a donut hole inappripriate enclave airport that surrounds
communities to have more flight schools flying over even more
residents communities affected in the future. St. Augustine
airport has touch and goes but is not located in the mecca of
the city and is surrounded by wetlands. The ordinance will
have a negative impact on homeowners, lower property values,
and decrease the city’s tax base as homeowners will be selling
their homes and running out of a place where they came for, as
advertised, peace , beauty, and quiet. GET RID OF THE FLIGHT
SCHOOLS! And there will be no problems with the airport. Leave
it for private jets, more hangers, NG training and perhaps make
a aviation museum where we give honor pay homage to the military
vets that was once trained here during WWII. Perhaps Sieger can
then show off his vast antique collections that he boast about to
county commissioners that is if they still want him.
Just the facts mam just the facts.... says
A commissioner with the understanding of what a qualified County Administrator is supposed to do thanks Commissioner Pennington
Please, get this over with. Terminate Petito. Hire a real well trained, and educated County Administrator.
Petito, will tax and spend her way to keep her job
Hansen and Dance stop keeping Petito because you think you owe her for giving her the promotion Hansen, and Dance for keep your wife employed.
Act like Commissioner’s!
Citizen says
Hydie Petito should be fired, she pushes a lot of wrong doings by her employees under the rug… Road and bridge has husband and wife working together, uncle and nephew, and they have a real click back there.. They have forced Ryan prevatt out and now Brad voughn is taking over.. He has no experience at all, prevatt didn’t either but it shows it’s not what you know it’s who you know.. That’s how petito runs the county…
BLINDSPOTTING says
Citizen: High salaries and NO PRIOR BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE in
the positions they are put in makes for accidents waiting to happen, most
of them live in gated communities, they could’t care less about Palm Coast,
Bunnell. All puppets for the main players which is why these incompetents
are put in these positions and also the reasons why the county is always
short of money and have to beg elesewhere. POOR PLANNING, POOR
DECISION MAKING all in favor for developers they have for decades
planning, zoning, positions packed with their cronies. Petito needs to be
go, this is a toxic environment and not good for our taxpaying dollars.
Terry says
Seriously who do you think runs the budget and employees to improve the districts? Maybe it’s the one doing a dog and pony all over town for the rich people at the beach. Ever think about it like that?
Brad says
to all the arm chair qbs who think they know, or could even come close to the great job she’s doing, pay attention to facts not fanatics. I spoke with Ryan Prevatte today, he had nothing but the highest regards for Heidi, he left for a higher paying job and less stress. But by all means keep pushing the best administrator flagler county has had, and see who you get to replace her, she inherited a train wreck from coffee and priors, and has been doing her best to right the ship. Heidi we the blue collar workers of flagler county see your hard work, and know what you do for us and thank you
Cortino says
Brad it’s easy to say that – your up for Ryan’s job.
BLINDSPOTTING says
Brad: You do not speak for ALL the BLUE COLLAR workers in this county!
We are not KB warriors and take offense to your insult, we SHOW UP at city/
county meetings, you just don’t agree to our agendas therefore don’t put
us down for the incompetency of Petito and you can also throw in Dance and
Hansen into the mix, its not only Petito, the way the voting went down on both
city/county this past election is proof that the majority of resident are fed up
with thes clowns! Too bad Dance won the last election, people are beginning to
see beyond his BS too. No backbone and another crony for his developer buddies.
Open your eyes says
Maybe Commissioner Pennington can conduct an audit county employees to see if they were hired based on qualifications and experience or because of NEPOTISM & CRONYISM.
Maybe Commissioner Pennington can find out why so many people left or been unduly terminated from Flagler County employment and winded up suing the county for all kinds of employment violations.
Maybe Commissioner Pennington can put her money where her mouth is !
Here we go again says
Cortino- exactly!! A little butt smooching publicly so he can take Ryan’s job! lol Hilarious!
Call to action says
Open your eyes-we have been asking her to do this for months! Instead, Heidi hires a HR Director with 5 yrs of experience (not meeting the min 10 yr requirement for the job) but they allow her to continue this nepotism.
I’ve read these lawsuits, employees digging in files, harassing and going rogue while Heidi and Jorge allow them to remain in position.
Pennington….do something, please!
Brad says
I am not qualified to do Ryan’s job, nor would I want to if I was, just like everything else y’all think you know, but your misinformed
Citizen says
Petito knows exactly what’s going on and it was brought to attention several times about road and bridge…. She has done nothing… The county handbook says nepotism is prohibited, but you have Liz Yates and chuck yates husband and wife, which Ryan prevatt created a job for that she has no experience at.. Then you have Brad who has his uncle working for him, and 90% of the hunts together… Brad has been stabbing Ryan in the back for months so he can move up, just like he did former employees… it’s not about what you know, it’s who you… and you’re last name!!! Now if that’s not a click!!!
Citizen says
Flagler County government is, corrupt and hydie potito knows it, Andy dance knows it, it’s time for change!!! It’s a click , and Brad Vaughn has backed stabbed Ryan just like he did Billy and a few more!!!! Chuck Yates is dumb as a rock!! But he’s a supervisor along with Jackson cox !!!!! Open your eyes people!!!! Go back a few years and ask for records… letters was wrote, and it played out just like they planned
Terrance Howard says
Frank Germack is that you stirring up all this trouble?
Shovel Expert says
I worked at Road and Bridge for 13 years under the Dawson & Germack era and if you wanna talk about unqualified supervisors you should start there. I have worked side by side with the employees named in these comments and they are some of the hardest working employees R&B has had that put the time in, and when positions became available they applied and got them. They have been playing against a stacked house this entire time since taking over the train wreck Germack & Dawson left behind. Are things perfect back there no but they are better than they have ever been. When it’s all said and done these people are over worked and underpaid with the lingering ghost of supervisors past haunting their attempt to make a department better. If you’re wondering what it was like working under Germack imagine making 10 dollars an hour working in 100 degree weather while one supervisor sits at the shop on his iPad smoking cigars all day and the other drives around the county in his truck “checking crews” just trying to catch employees slacking off. Glad I got vested and left the county best decision ever but glad those men are still doing their best to make things better.