Following an investigation triggered by a candidate for the Flagler County Commission, the Florida Ethics Commission on Wednesday found no probable cause that County Commission Chair Andy Dance misused his position for personal benefit, even when his wife was one of the county administrator’s executive assistants.
“I appreciate the Commission on Ethics’ independent review and dismissal of the complaint,” Dance said in response. “Throughout my public service, I have taken my ethical responsibilities seriously. I will continue to serve the residents of Flagler County with integrity and transparency.”
Contacted today, Jones said she had no comment about the dismissal–only to then make comments below.
Dance has been an elected official since his election to the School Board in 2008, maintaining a near-stellar reputation as a principled and ethically clear-eyed centrist for 18 years.
The complaint was filed in late December by Anna Jones, a Zaun Trail resident in Palm Coast who has often bitterly criticized the County Commission for what she alleges to be inaction on complaints about the county airport. Jones subsequently qualified to be a commission candidate in District 4, where she is challenging incumbent Leann Pennington. (Dance has represented District 1 since 2020 and is not up for reelection this year).
Ethics commission complaints are easy to file: there is no threshold or minimum evidentiary requirement for a filing, and the cost is minimal. Complaints can be politically motivated, especially around election time.
Flagler County commissioners especially, along with members of the administration, have in the past been subjected to numerous such frivolous complaints, though the complaint against Dance is the first in many years. In previous cases of serial filings, the commission countersued complainants on charges of malicious disregard for the truth and won judgments to recover legal fees, which ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The fees have not been paid.
Jones charged that Dance’s wife, Luci Dance, reported to County Administrator Heidi Petito as her executive assistant, while Petito reported to the commissioners.
Luci Dance had previously worked for the City of Bunnell. In May 2014, when Dance was a School Board member, Luci was hired as an executive administrative assistant in the county administrator’s office, where she worked for three or four successive actual or interim administrators. In March, three months after the complaint was filed, she was transferred to Flagler County Fire Rescue, where she is Chief Michael Tucker’s executive assistant. The position she filled opened after an employee’s retirement.
Jones noted in her complaint that in the commissioners’ 2025 evaluations of Petito, Dance rated her as exceeding expectations, while three commissioners found Petito not to meet expectations.
Jones neither mentions that a fifth commissioner, Greg Hansen, gave Petito higher marks than did Dance, nor that Dance’s previous evaluations, like other commissioners before him or before the current, new majority of three that found Petito wanting, reflected strong support for Petito. Dance’s evaluations were more detailed and included more constructive criticism for Petito than did Hansen’s.
Petito was all but fired earlier this year, opting to resign as an exit strategy. She has since taken a senior position with the clerk of court’s office.
Jones said in her complaint that as chair Dance never notified fellow-commissioners that Petito’s contract renewal would renew automatically–as it did–without commission intervention. Dance never abstained from any votes regarding Petito’s evaluation, she said.
The Ethics Commission found the complaint to raise sufficient questions to warrant a preliminary investigation, which is not always the case: most of the time, the commission tosses complaints for lack of legal sufficiency.
The investigation was brief–the report is barely seven pages long and consists mostly of laying out facts, with the rest of the document consisting of exhibits apparently submitted by Jones, including pages of evaluations.
The investigation did not go further than preliminaries.
“Addressing the implication that he would take, or would fail to take, some official action in his position as a Flagler County Commissioner to facilitate his wife’s continued employment as Executive Administrative Assistant to Administrator Petito,” the investigation reported, Dance “stated, ‘She’s been through three Administrators, so I don’t influence her position. She gets evaluated on her own, and has been evaluated with three different Administrators, and is highly competent in her job. She stands on her own. She was there before I became a Commissioner, so that’s all I can add. I mean there’s, there’s nothing to it.’”
The investigation found that commissioners, including Dance, followed normal procedures to evaluate Petito, and that Andy Dance was under no obligation to notify the rest of the commission that Petito’s contract was up for renewal. The investigation quoted Dance at a commission meeting noting that whether the commission discusses evaluations or not, the press–usually FlaglerLive–will report on local government executives’ evaluations regardless.
Contract renewals have previously gone unremarked, and if they are to be remarked, it does not have to be the chair who makes a notification: any member of the board may do so. (At the School Board, for example, it was Lauren Ramirez, who is neither the chair nor the vice chair, who noted earlier this month that Superintendent LaShakia Moore’s contract was up for renewal, and that Ramirez wanted to discuss it.)
Jones in her complaint raised issues with the county airport, a recurring concern for Jones. Neither the investigation nor the final report of the Ethics Commission gave those parts of the complaint any weight.
Kendall says
Only an utter idiot would file a complaint like this on the longest serving, most ethical elected official in Flagler County. After starting to read Anna Jones’ Flagler Live candidate interview earlier this week and being so disgusted I could not even finish, I’m not at all surprised that she is willing to contort facts to fit her narrative. Voters here need to send this woman a clear message that her kind of stupidity is not wanted here.
Bigfoot says
She’s part of the “sue happy” fools that are running for offices this year. I think they all took lessons from cry baby Danko!
Anna Jones says
Are you you Lead on Nextdoor that has permanently suspended my freedom of speech? And is buddies with ATC? I was a Lead on ND and never censored anyone. Keep rambling. We all see right through it.
JC says
There’s no such thing as Freedom of Speech on Nextdoor. it’s a private platform and they can do whatever they want. Do you even know how these things even work?
Chris J says
Dodging questions from actual reporters, filing baseless ethics complaints, and then coming to the comment section to cry about Nextdoor moderation isn’t exactly the bold, truth-seeking campaign strategy you think it is.
Bob says
She’s part of the “Sue happy” group that’s running for offices. They must have taken lessons from Danko!
Darlene Shelley says
I believe there may be an issue with the “Ethics Commission”. How do nearly 70 ethics complaint get dismissed? Many responses simply say that the issues are not filed to the right jurisdiction, lack required evidence, or are a civil matter requiring litigation.
TR says
Maybe they are dismissed because the person filing the complaint is just throwing a spaghetti noodle at the wall in hopes that something will stick. A candidate that does this, is just trying to hurt the credibility of the other candidate because they really know they can’t win. Again hoping the noodle sticks. However, all it does is hurt their chances of winning by showing everyone where their ethics are with making us false facts to fit their agenda.
Mort says
Darlene,
The obvious question here is how many ethics violations have you filed? Your response would indicate several. Do not miss the statement in this article which states,
“In previous cases of serial filings, the commission countersued complainants on charges of malicious disregard for the truth and won judgments to recover legal fees, which ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.” If there is no basis for your complaint, other than to just complain, you can be charged with harassment.
JC says
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
Leigh says
70 ethics complaints get dismissed because they are frivolously sent by everyone who wants to bring someone down. Not every public official is as corrupt as you accuse them all to be. Simply because they have a firm grasp of the law based on their training and you do not.
Reality Check says
It’s because people like you and Anna Jones don’t understand Florida statutes and the law. Terrifying! Stay away from our community. We don’t need people who like to blow our tax dollars on frivolous lawsuits and claims.
Chris J says
It’s terrifying how these one-issue activist have become so loud and disjointed from reality.
Palm Coast Citizen says
It’s super easy to file a complaint, with or without any standing. That’s why so many of them are dismissed, I think.
Montecristo says
Of you would believe there is an issue with the ethics Commission, lol…..
Montecristo says
Good, frivolous complaints should be dismissed.
If you like a complaint then it should have the utmost detail that is correct.
Again this shows the lack of character, experience and knowledge of such a candidate.
No vote for Jones!
Chris J says
Ma’am, someone running for City Council shouldn’t be confused as to why complaints filed without evidence or jurisdiction get thrown out. The system isn’t broken just because your political maneuvering backfired.
Anna Jones says
It’s all one big club. “When you have the liberal media running stories to cover for them, you know you’re in big trouble!” Blaise Ingolia
FlaglerLive says
Ms. Jones, FlaglerLive called you yesterday to give you ample opportunity to comment. You declined, which of course is your right. But to then take to comment in this section, where you may speak more unilaterally, is a bit disingenuous: it’s not that you do not want to comment. It’s that you do not want to be challenged or questioned, as your comments to a reporter may have been (even though you were willing to be challenged in your candidate interview, as you routinely and necessarily would be, least by reporters, were you to be elected).
JC says
Forget it, she is being a classic boomer who lives in their own bubble and still thinking about the 2020 election. It is her right to be in her own bubble while others call out her stupidity. Then again, her lot is a common Palm Coast stereotype nowadays even for people who know Palm Coast but live outside Palm Coast: It’s a city mostly of older/angry/white boomer Republicans who move to Palm Coast to live in their own bubble and say all the nasty crap they can since they won’t be challenged.
For others who say my comments are wrong: Talk to more people. I travel in NE Florida often and as soon as I say I live in Palm Coast I always get this comment 50% of the time: Oh, Palm Coast, that angry boomerville?
Chris Jackson says
Ah yes, the dramatic trilogy of Shelley, Duarte, and Jones, where every minor administrative paperwork shuffle is framed as ‘shining a light’ and every failed political stunt is ‘speaking truth to power.’
It’s less a movement and more a community theater production nobody bought tickets for. Can we get back to actual governance now?
celia says
In spite of the Ethics Commission judgement still looks improper if not unethical that we have a county commissioner who’s wife is the county’s manager (top administrator’s) assistant at the time. I believe there are other cases displaying nepotism geared hiring within the county and “maybe” also its cities. This should end as appears to be a conflict of interest! Will I run for county commission or city council (paid positions) if my relative/spouse was in that government payroll probably up to 6 figures pay? Hell NO! Given, the if for nothing else, the unethical/nepotism appearance to the taxpayers!
Bigfoot says
Raymond Royer for Flagler County Commissioner District 2
:
We fully support Anna and all the work she will do for our rural areas!
Dakota B. says
What’s amazing to watch is that her opponents don’t have to do anything other than step back. Anna Jones will defeat herself in the upcoming primary.
celia says
In spite of the Ethics Commission judgement still looks improper if not unethical that we have a county commissioner who’s wife is the county’s manager (top administrator’s) assistant at the time. I believe there are other cases displaying nepotism geared hiring within the county and “maybe” also its cities. This should end as appears to be a conflict of interest! Will I run for county commission or city council (paid positions) if my relative/spouse was in that government payroll probably up to 6 figures pay? Hell NO! Given, if for nothing else than the unethical/nepotism appearance to the taxpayers!
Tired of it says
Just another unqualified Republican counting on uneducated magas to vote her in.
Gina Weiss says
It is common sense politics to question a political conflict of interest.
Andy Dance’s 6 year of service as a respected and responsible commissioner is not being questioned,
but when a family member occupies a position on the same commission there is an
air of impropriety that attaches itself to the relationship and it seems justifiable for
citizens to questions its legality.
Although Andy Dance was not legally bound to notify his cohorts
with regards to Ms. Petito’s automatic renewal contract he should be proactive with notifying
his cohorts with information.
I believe this was the reasoning behind Anna Jones filing with the Ethic Commission.
Sue Dickinson says
An ethics complaint against Andy Dance you’ve got to be kidding. Andy continues to be the most ethical person in Flagler County. No one does there investigation on anything that is coming up for his input and vote like he does. He ALWAYS ABSTAINED on anything even questionable that he might have been close to. We are talking about his Commission seat not his wife’s position. She has proven herself also. The sad part is that this person that sent in the complaint is running for office. I hope the voters do their homework on who they put into major deciding factors. Or they will be sorry.