Darlene Shelley, Palm Coast City Council Candidate: The Live Interview

Darlene Shelley is one of four candidates for the Palm Coast City Council, District 4, an open seat. She faces Dylana Galery, John Kvederis and Ramon Marrero. This is a non-partisan race. All registered voters in Palm Coast may cast a ballot in the Aug. 18 primary. If none of the candidates get a majority of more than 50 percent, the top two vote-getters will go on to the runoff in the Nov. 3 general election, when again all registered voters in Palm Coast are eligible to vote.

Three seats were up on the Council in this election. District 3 was to have a special election for a two-year term. Ray Stevens was elected to that seat in 2024. He resigned soon after for health reasons. Dave Sullivan was appointed. Sullivan opted not to run for it. Stevens recovered, filed to run and was unopposed, thus winning the seat outright. He will be seated in November. The seat will be up again in 2028.

The District 2 and District 4 races are for open seats. Three candidates are contesting the District 2 seat, which Theresa Pontieri will vacate in November (she is a candidate for the County Commission): Tony Amaral, Jeani Duarte and Jimmy Hengy.

The four candidates contesting the District 4 seat are vying to replace Charles Gambar, who was was appointed in 2024 after Cathy Heighter resigned. Gambaro is running for the congressional seat that represents Flagler County, and will vacate the council seat in November.

City Council members serve four-year terms, except in the case of the District 3 seat for the next two years. Council members are paid $24,097 a year plus a $1,200 car allowance and a $910 communication allowance. They may also opt into full health benefits.

The Live Interview format changed this year. Since 2010, FlaglerLive had submitted identical questions to all candidates, enabling them to answer in writing. There typically was a round or two of follow-up questions, also in writing. Artificial intelligence has made that approach obsolete now that candidates can run the questions through AI and spit out prefab answers. To get around that, candidates were invited to a video interview. The video and the transcript are provided below.

The candidates were provided the same basic questions within half an hour or less of the scheduled interview, but obviously not the follow-ups, which all differed. The questions to county commissioners are here.

Following the interview and before publication, the interview transcript went through two rounds of editing at this end, once by AI (yes, the irony is inescapable) for spell checks, copy editing and to smooth out verbal tics or repetitive words, and once by me for the same purpose. The candidates were then provided with the interview transcript and the video to review–not to make substantial changes, but to verify transcription accuracy, and, if they so chose, to add a postscript: if they felt they may have misspoken, or not clarified a point, or preferred to revise an answer, they were given that chance in the postscript, without changing the original text in the transcript. The postscript window is remaining open for subsequent additions, until the election.

The interviews can be quite long–not a surprise for a site pathologically incapable of brevity, but the county is awash in candidate quickies, and elections are not a speed-dating exercise. We offer a little more depth, seeking to draw a profile rather than check off boxes. The Live Interview’s aim is to elicit as much candor and transparency as possible, and to learn about the candidate beyond the basics in what amounts to extended conversations about the person, the character and temperament behind the candidate, the candidate’s seriousness, and the issues.

The rest is in the voters’ hands.

–Pierre Tristam

The 2026 Live Interviews Flagler County Commission Greg Feldman (Dis. 2, R) Theresa Pontieri (Dist. 2, R) Anna Jones (Dist. 4, R) Drew Moss (Dist. 4, R) Leann Pennington (Dist. 4, R) Flagler County School Board Cathy Moon (Dist. 1) Jill Woolbright (Dist. 1) Will Furry (Dist. 2) Rob Wood (Dist. 2) Christy Chong (Dist 4) Ron Long (Dist. 4) Trevor Tucker (Dist. 4) Palm Coast City Council Tony Amaral Jr. (Dist. 2) Jeani Duarte (Dist 2.) Jimmy Hengy (Dist. 2) Dylana Dee Galery (Dist. 4) John Kvederis (Dist. 4) Ramon Marrero (Dist. 4) Darlene Shelley (Dist. 4) The candidates' interviews will be live-linked the day their interview publishes.

The Interview Themes in Summary: Quick Links

• Basics
• Preparation and Character
• Evaluating Council’s performance
• Mayor Norris
• Goals
• The homestead amendment
• Sales tax and other revenue levies
• Development
• HBA lawsuit over impact fees
• Westward expansion
• Traffic
• Public safety budgets
• Rap sheet
• Postscript

 

The Video: 

 

The Basics: 

FlaglerLive: Good morning, Ms. Shelley, and thank you very much for joining us for the live interview.

Darlene Shelley: Good morning, thanks for having me.

FlaglerLive: We’re going to start at the very beginning. Can you tell us where you were born and when?

Darlene Shelley: Sure. I was born in New Jersey, Morristown, in 1969,

FlaglerLive: and the specific date,

Darlene Shelley: February 8th.

FlaglerLive: And what brought you to Florida, and Palm Coast particularly?

Darlene Shelley: Well, my mother and father came to Palm Coast. My mom and dad traveled all over Florida to find a place that they liked the best. They had a conversion van and they drove all around Florida, and they decided on Palm Coast, and that was probably 30 years ago. My family, my husband, my children, and I would come to Palm Coast to visit mom and dad as much as we could. You know, vacations, and the kids loved coming to Florida. Loved the beaches and the palm trees and the warmth. We said when we retired, we made a plan that we want to come to Florida. Once the kids got out of high school, we all packed up and we moved to Palm Coast to be closer to Mom and Dad.

FlaglerLive: That was what year?

Darlene Shelley: That was 2012 that we came.

FlaglerLive: What was your profession up until then?

Darlene Shelley: I had two jobs in my whole entire life. My first job was working in my family’s garden center and flower shop. I would go after school and work at the flower shop, and then when I met my husband, he and I ran it for a few years.

FlaglerLive: This was a family-owned business.

Darlene Shelley: Yes, my mom and dad owned a flower shop in Chester, New Jersey, right on a main street, a historical town with cute little shops. It was just adorable. My mom and dad wanted to officially retire, and my husband and I were spending a lot of time at the shop, and we decided to let them fully retire, and they sold the business. Then I went to work for Home Depot, and it was 1994, and then I ended up staying with Home Depot for my whole career, 25 years with Home Depot, both in New Jersey and in Florida at many different stores, operations management. I also worked in the garden department, pretty much every department in the store. I have a good experience with pretty much everything to do with home improvement,

FlaglerLive: right? And this is a nonpartisan race. But what is your party affiliation?

Darlene Shelley: I’ve been Republican for my whole entire life.

 

Preparation and Character

 

FlaglerLive: How have you prepared yourself for the council job starting from day one?

Darlene Shelley: I prepared myself formally and informally through research and attending city council meetings and county commission meetings.

FlaglerLive: You’ve been attending quite a bit. When did you start attending?

Darlene Shelley: Well, it started when I was working. I worked 55-hour weeks, 11-hour days. Mostly I was working a lot. I didn’t really have time to get into the politics. I was able to retire in 2019. You know, was hoping to work on my gardening and my landscaping and the things that I enjoy doing. You know, reading books, and I got involved because I noticed the orange signs up and down Old Kings Road, where they were getting ready to change zonings, I started getting involved in that. We did a lot of research before moving to Palm Coast, seeing what was around the areas, where we wanted to be, whether it was going to be in an HOA or to buy acreage. We chose Hidden Lakes on Old Kings Road, and then when we were investigating these zone changes, I could see a trend that they were changing everything that we liked about Palm Coast and Old Kings Road, changing office zone areas to high-density multifamily and uses that weren’t allowed when we moved there.

FlaglerLive: Around Hidden Lakes, do you recall an instance where Hidden Lakes, of course, is right off of Old Kings Road, not far from the town center, from the town center intersection, right to the north? Yes. Yes. Do you recall an instance in that neighborhood where there was a zoning change that went from single-family residential to multifamily, for instance?

Darlene Shelley: I don’t believe it was single-family to begin with. It was mostly commercial and office, which was great because, as most folks will probably attest, in Palm Coast we don’t have enough doctors, quality places to shop. I was looking forward to that. You know, if we had an office, it would be something that would be beneficial to the local residents. You know, a doctor’s office or a dentist or a specialty place to go get something to eat or to take friends to walk to. We were disappointed when they took that off the table.

FlaglerLive: Where did that happen in that neighborhood?

Darlene Shelley: Multiple places, and mostly they were changing the zone to allow for storage facilities. I recall that, yes, and they did it with four or five different parcels. The thing was there was already a storage facility approved, and then a second one more south on Old Kings Road by the racetrack that was already approved for storage. It was ending up being four or five zone changes to permit storage facilities, and we rallied the neighbors, and we didn’t really want a big warehouse with folks coming and going. And from my experience with Home Depot, really, we had a lot of theft, and the theft would end up in the storage facilities. I was looking at the crime statistics, and it really didn’t seem like a compatible use with the home and Hidden Lakes.

FlaglerLive: In fact, you sued on that. You filed suit over one storage facility, correct?

Darlene Shelley: Eventually, we did. We tried to reason with the city. I had a petition where nearly all of my friends and neighbors in Toscana and Hidden Lakes signed it. It was over 1,000 signatures that I got just you know going door to door and talking to folks. We took that to the meetings and said, you know, we really need these office spaces. It also included land annexations where the city was giving land to the builder, they could have more continuity rather than the individual parcels. It was getting more dense, and the…

FlaglerLive: The outcome of the lawsuit, though, I don’t recall was favorable to you.

Darlene Shelley: It got to a point where I could have continued, but the costs were becoming prohibitive, and if we had lost, we would have to pay all of the opposing legal fees as well as our own, and nobody wins in a lawsuit except for the attorneys. It ended up that they didn’t put in that storage facility, the one that we were fighting, which was pretty much directly across from Toscana. And if you’re familiar with Toscana, those homes are now about $800,000 and up. They’re a very beautiful community of upscale homes, but they do still have on the table an apartment complex. You know, I still say to this day that that is not compatible use when folks who purchased those homes were expecting offices or something other than high-density residential, especially on a road that is known for the traffic. It’s a two-lane road that should have been widened 10 years ago. That’s a whole nother topic, right?

FlaglerLive: We were talking about your method of work and research. Where is your focus on research? Do you rely on city documentation, speaking with city officials, city directors, and looking at their materials, or do you seek out outside materials to reach your conclusions?

Darlene Shelley: You have to do both because even though the city and the county have gotten a little bit better with providing information, even on their transparency dashboards, you still can’t dive into line level expenses. I had to do both. I had to get into the financial documents, reading through the entire packets for meetings. Sometimes, you know, there were over 400 pages. Really trying to get involved with what was happening behind the scenes, and I have to say, it was a little frustrating because a lot of times it felt as though the things coming before the city council were already a done deal. And I remember thinking back in the beginning, why is the city staff—it seems like they’re working for the developers and not the residents of Palm Coast.

FlaglerLive: For example?

Darlene Shelley: For example, the meetings that I was going to try to prevent the zone changes and the land annexations, I would quote the comprehensive plan and say that this is not going to be compatible with single-family residential homes. It could jeopardize the safety, health, and welfare of the local residents either through traffic issues, the crime statistics for apartment complexes and storage facilities are vastly different than in a gated community.

FlaglerLive: You’re right, maybe about the gated communities. Obviously, they can control crime better, but generally speaking, we have the open subdivisions, and there isn’t that much of a difference between apartment complex crime rates and subdivisions as a whole. When you go by crime per 1,000, for instance, would you agree?

Darlene Shelley: If you’re going by the number of people in the facility, yes. But if you look at the crime maps, which we had done, and look at the dots where the crime is occurring, they’re centrally located in the densely populated areas. We had virtually no crime in Hidden Lakes or Toscana. Hidden Lakes is not gated. Toscana is, but yeah, we did that research too on the crime statistics for the apartments in town center and for storage facilities, and they are higher than single-family homes.

FlaglerLive: Can you tell us about a character flaw that you find challenging, and how do you overcome it?

Darlene Shelley: Sure, I could tell you plenty of character flaws. First is that I am transparent and honest. I wear my heart on my sleeve, to a fault, because if you’re going to ask me a question, I’m going to tell you the truth. But that’s a quality.

FlaglerLive: That’s not a character flaw, you would agree, right? That’s a quality.

Darlene Shelley: In politics, it’s a character flaw, because I’m not a politician, and politicians are notorious for doublespeak, and you’re not going to get that from me.

FlaglerLive: But again, I mean, that’s not a flaw. Most people would see this as a quality, but I’m talking about something that you might struggle with. Something that might be something that you find challenging and you’ve dealt with in your life. What would that be?

Darlene Shelley: Well, anybody who’s watched me at the city council meetings, I struggle with anxiety. Sometimes my voice will shake or my whole body will shake or tremble. It’s not that I’m scared. It’s not that I’m not wanting to be there. It’s just my body’s way of reacting to uncomfortable situations. Everybody struggles with something. For me, it’s anxiety.

FlaglerLive: I would hate to call your anxiety a character flaw. That’s more of a personal difficulty. Nobody can be blamed for that. Nobody can say, “Well, I need to work on that.” Let me ask: when you’re a council person and you’re sitting there, what would you imagine from looking back at your professional life? What would be the sort of things that might pose challenges to you in your relationships with your colleagues, like, “Oh well, I better not do this again,” or that sort of thing, you know?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah. Well, 25 years in retail dealing with all kinds of customer issues from folks screaming about their problems with soup-to-nuts appliances or deliveries. There wasn’t a situation that I couldn’t resolve in an amicable manner, where both the store and the customer were happy. That was just my forte, because I’m used to dealing with diverse folks with different opinions. For me, that is a strong point where I can listen and not be set in my ways. I just like to hear others’ opinions and take all of that into consideration before formulating an opinion.

FlaglerLive: You don’t see changing your mind as a weakness, or do you?

Darlene Shelley: No, not at all, because nobody knows everything about a situation. You know, there may be issues that I did not consider, or I didn’t know about, or other ways of looking at issues. It’s important to not be set in your ways and listen to other folks’ opinions and experiences before formulating the next steps.

FlaglerLive: Who do you consider to be a model of leadership that is serving today in one of our—the county commission, the city council, the school board, Flagler Beach, Bunnell? Who among our elected officials on governing boards do you consider to be a model of leadership?

Darlene Shelley: See, that’s a difficult one for me to answer, and one of the reasons why I’m running for office, it’s not for any agenda other than keeping Palm Coast beautiful. All of the leaders have the qualities of wanting to serve, but I can find—I mean, I hate to find fault in leaders, but you know, everybody has room for improvement. We all say things that we wish we didn’t say, or make decisions that perhaps, in retrospect, weren’t the best decisions. For example, I do admire Mayor Mike for his tenacity in running because he didn’t like what he saw, just like we didn’t like what we saw with the previous mayor and council, and you know he stood up and did the work to sit up there, but it’s a learning experience for everyone. Mayor Mike is working on the issues that he comes across, and I did admire Teresa Pontieri because she does take a stance on, you know, when she found out that westward expansion was trying to get away from their requirements in the original documents for building out west, but bringing it to light and demanding that, “Hey, Mr. Developer, you promised us X, Y, and Z. You got to deliver that,” and taking the steps necessary to get us that pool or stadium or loop roads that we, the residents and the citizens, are having to pay for now, when the original development plans put that on the developer.

FlaglerLive: We’re going to get to a question specifically on the westward expansion, and from what I learned yesterday, apparently the sports complex is now back as a responsibility of the developer. I haven’t yet looked at the document, but apparently that might be the case.

Evaluating the Council’s performance

 

FlaglerLive: As far as the council is concerned, what grade would you give it? The current council and its work over the past couple of years?

Darlene Shelley: I would probably give it C minus.

FlaglerLive: That’s pretty harsh.

Darlene Shelley: I think it’s probably pretty generous when I recall back some of the decisions that have been made that really are eroding our quality of life in Palm Coast.

FlaglerLive: Explain a couple of decisions that you find to have been C minus or worse.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah. Well, the East section decision, where the developer was looking for more density in the center of the east section, which folks probably know is a golf course community made up of beautiful homes that don’t have a real issue with traffic because there’s pretty much one way in and one way out. The homes in the east section usually are a higher price point because of their larger lots and the golf course ambiance.

FlaglerLive: We’re talking about the ICI development that went from 58 to 71 homes, right?

Darlene Shelley: Yes, and that was an increase in density, and there was already a court decision where ICI had sued the city to get those 58 homes when originally it was I want to say 21, or 24, and they were allowed to do the 58. Going back for more density, and that’s the thing that is the problem because I explained it as opening Pandora’s box because Ms. Pontieri said she didn’t want to vote to increase density, but yet she did. And then the folks that paid the premium price for their homes in the east section, they don’t know what they’re going to get. It could be a four-story apartment complex. You don’t know.

FlaglerLive: Not there. I don’t think they can build a four-story apartment complex on that development. It has to be as designed, 71 homes or a maximum of 71 homes. But what do you think about the resolution that came to making sure that these homes are built by a nonprofit at cost, in order to benefit professions such as firefighters, teachers, that sort of thing?

Darlene Shelley: I think the whole presentation was flawed because the first read to the second read was different without public notice that it was going to be a completely different option. The first read had nothing to do with donating property, and there was no specifics about guaranteeing who is going to get those homes. There’s no way to say we’re going to give it just to firefighters because you can’t do that, and I’m not sure how they can go against a court order for 58 homes. Does it have to go back to court? Is that something that the city’s going to have to pay for? It was just very surprising for me to see the council approve that when we know we have a density problem, we know we have a water problem, a traffic problem.

FlaglerLive: Just on the court order, it’s clear for the listeners, I don’t think that the court mandated 58. I think it opened the way to that entitlement, but it didn’t say that you have to have 58. It just sided with ICI in terms of you do have a certain level of entitlements without setting a number. In other words, ICI said we want 58, and the court sided with it, but it didn’t say you have to have 58. That was back then, which is what brought the application back for them to expand to 71, which would have required the council intervening, which it did, and of course it granted it, right?

Darlene Shelley: I think that was a terrible decision.

FlaglerLive: Where has it excelled, the council? An example or two of where it has excelled?

Darlene Shelley: I’m trying to think of something where it has excelled. Well, I can’t say fixing the flooding issues because, you know, that continues to be a problem, and new builds continue to be built three, four feet higher than their neighbors without any mitigation plans for the watershed.

FlaglerLive: You do love Palm Coast.

Darlene Shelley: I love Palm Coast. The reasons I love it are being threatened with every poor decision that the council and the commission are making, allowing for the destruction of everything that makes it beautiful, and I don’t want people to get the impression that I’m against development because I’m not. I just don’t like the trajectory of the development going just towards residential multifamily because we don’t have the capacity or the water or the infrastructure to handle that, and then you probably have a tax question down the line. But the implication for our property taxes when we don’t have any diversity in the tax base, it all falls upon the homeowners, and we’ve been talking to a lot of them, getting those signatures to be on the ballot, and they’re all concerned with the price of their utility, the taxes, the traffic, the flooding. These are huge issues that every poor decision on the council is making worse.

FlaglerLive: Now it seems to me in the last two years specifically, the council has not approved other than the ICI development in the E section, it has not approved any increase in housing developments. Obviously, the infill lots are continuing to be built, but those are entitled already. But it has not approved new developments, and it has focused a lot on commercial to balance out that imbalance of residential versus commercial. Do you give them any credit for that in the last couple of years?

Darlene Shelley: I have to say that there’s a lot behind the scenes that is not going to the council, where a plan will be approved, but then it doesn’t get built as it was approved. For example, on Citation, there’s townhouses over there now that weren’t in the original development plan, and I don’t recall it going back to the city. I think once the initial changes are made without it going back to the council, that are adding density, I don’t believe that should be that way.

FlaglerLive: I know there is an area near Citation that is actually county land, not far from Grand Landings. There is a segment there that’s county land, and there’s a county development that the county approved. We’re not confusing the county with the city here, are we?

Darlene Shelley: No, because these townhomes that I’m talking about are already built at the Seminole Woods end of Citation, partially built because that is only a fraction of what they’re going to build. That never came before the city council that I recall. These things are being approved administratively through staff.

FlaglerLive: There is a level of development that may actually be approved administratively. It has to trigger a certain amount of density or square footage in order for it to go to the planning board or to the city council, but you don’t mind that, right? You don’t see that as nefarious in any way?

Darlene Shelley: I do, because they start off by saying it’s going to be X. Take the data center for example, and you know if they need to hit 40,000, they have to go before planning board and city council, and they say, “Oh, it’s only going to be 39.” But surprise, now it’s going to be three buildings at 39,000. I do believe it’s nefarious.

FlaglerLive: They have conceded that the claim of 100,000 square feet at the data center was—well, I wouldn’t say inaccurate because their ultimate plan is to be in that range, but they have come back and said anything additional we’re going to have to go before the city council. They’ve conceded that, and the city council of course put in requirements that for any data center of any type, no matter what the size, it has to go before the city council from this point forward.

Darlene Shelley: It is important to have city council members that aren’t going to allow development that is going to be harmful to the local residents, whether it’s an increased electrical bill or increased water capacity that we don’t have. Sometimes it just has to be a no, that no, we don’t have the capacity to do that. And if you are going to need to generate that much energy, then you put in your own infrastructure to support it.

Mayor Norris

 

FlaglerLive: Give us your thoughts on Mayor Mike Norris. Would you see yourself as a check, a balance, or an ally of the mayor?

Darlene Shelley: All three, definitely an ally, because Mayor Mike is for the residents, and I consider myself a grassroots candidate that’s for the residents. The only reason I’m even running is to protect our home values. For the first time ever since I’ve lived in Palm Coast, our home values have gone down, and that is not surprising when you look around and you see what’s going on around us with these decisions to increase density. They have real repercussions.

FlaglerLive: But it’s not particular to Palm Coast. There is a trend where housing has slowed down quite a bit, and values have leveled off, or in some communities declined a little bit. It’s not particular to the city. Would you agree?

Darlene Shelley: Yes, I would definitely agree. In fact, it’s all across Florida right now, which is why it’s important that we elect leaders who care about the beauty, the environment, the safety, the quality of life, the trees, the animals, the wetlands need to be protected. Yes.

FlaglerLive: Is it fair to blame the city or the city council for this slowdown, when it is much more of an economic effect that’s taking place across the state, as you just said?

Darlene Shelley: I don’t think it’s a downturn in property values across the state. Some cities that have leadership that are advocates for protecting smart growth and quality of life and home values; in those areas, home values are going up, it’s all relative to the decisions that are being made and the effects that come with those decisions.

Goals

 

FlaglerLive: Have you had a chance to look at the strategic action plan or the goals that this council has set for itself?

Darlene Shelley: You mean 2050?

FlaglerLive: Every year they have their current strategic action plan for this council.

Darlene Shelley: I don’t have it in front of me.

FlaglerLive: Just off the top of your head, are there a couple of goals that you’re aligned with?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, diversifying the tax base to bring in light industry that would create quality jobs where folks could have careers. Industry that’s not going to have negative effects on the health or the air or the water quality, those are the kind of businesses that we need to bring to Palm Coast. But for too long, the focus has been growth at any cost, is what I call it. No matter what harm comes from it. It seemed that the city employees in charge of development would go up before the city council and say, “This is not going to harm public safety, health, or welfare,” without any corroborating substantial evidence to prove that. It almost seemed as though, like I said before, that they were working for the developers.

FlaglerLive: Other than economic development, any other goals that you’re aligned with?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, bringing quality jobs, bringing diversity to the tax base, anything that they can do to prevent the destruction of wetlands, because that is our sponge that absorbs all the floodwaters and keeps our water filtered and clean. What the county did with environmentally sensitive lands (ESL), we should be doing more of that in Palm Coast because that’s the kind of thing that would protect everything that makes Palm Coast beautiful in the way of nature and trees and quality of life.

FlaglerLive: Then you support their focus on the trail system, that sort of quality-of-life approach to the city and on, right?

Darlene Shelley: Yes, and most of the time with the trail systems. When I lived in Hidden Lakes, I used Lehigh Trail every day. It’s beautiful. If folks haven’t been down there, they should check it out. A lot of that comes from grant funding, and that funding is going to go to somebody, it might as well go to Palm Coast and help us bring more people here. We have much opportunity to bring folks here, whether it’s for our bike trails or for the ocean or many other things that we could have to offer if we were helping those sorts of businesses succeed, rather than Town Center Promenade where you can rent a building for the rest of your life and help enrich Town Center CDD.

FlaglerLive: You’re opposed to the Town Center Promenade? You’re not supportive of it? We’re talking about the large, I think 240-unit apartment building and 65,000 square feet of commercial space downstairs, mixing that use, which was the original intent of town center, that should be opening up later this summer. You’re not supportive of that project?

Darlene Shelley: I’m supportive of small business, and pretty much it’s impossible in Palm Coast to have a small business where you can buy a piece of property and open a business.

FlaglerLive: That’s a very vast statement you just made, that it’s impossible for small businesses to thrive here. There’s a ton of small businesses, including some that are moving into the Town Center Promenade. Surely you’re not saying that there aren’t any small businesses or small businesses can’t make a go of it in town?

Darlene Shelley: They can make a go of it, but it’s difficult for them to do that because of how the city is set up. Our small business, our flower shop, we owned the property, we had some say in our financial stability. We weren’t locked into a lifetime of rent, a lifetime of CDD fees, making the rich richer, is how I see it. It’s the globalization of Florida, of Palm Coast, where you can’t own anything without the government having a say in it, and I think that’s wrong.

FlaglerLive: The Town Center Promenade, you see it that way.

Darlene Shelley: I do, because first of all, town center was supposed to be restaurants and places to listen to music, and a venue for concerts, and—

FlaglerLive: We have the stage.

Darlene Shelley: If you want to call it a stage, that’s really not what we envisioned when they talked about town center. The promenade, some would say, looks like a cityscape that you would expect to see in downtown Newark or a big city.

FlaglerLive: And the first business that moved in was a restaurant. It’s the restaurant from Flagler Beach. That’s good.

Darlene Shelley: That’s one out of however many. I do know that they’re having to incentivize it heavily to bring folks in there.

FlaglerLive: What do you think about those incentives?

Darlene Shelley: I think we should be incentivizing the ability for folks to have their own business on their own property, where they won’t have to be indebted to paying rent for the rest of their life. That’s not freedom. Having a business and living above it is not my American dream. Maybe it’s somebody’s American dream, but none of my friends or neighbors. Why would we build something that is not going to enhance our quality of life?

FlaglerLive: You would not approve of a similar size project if a second promenade came to the city council and said, “Yes, we’re ready to build just like this,” or even bigger, or maybe do a couple of them like that down the road? You would not be approving a mixed-use development, commercial, residential like that for town center?

Darlene Shelley: I wouldn’t say that. I would have to look at the capacity, but again, you have to look at it as a whole, and the city council was looking at things in a bubble, because this one affects that one. It’s concurrency. We don’t have the infrastructure for that. You’d have to look at each one. But if you can’t fill the first one without having to incentivize it and discount it, it’s not generating revenue. Granted, there’s some tax-base diversity in there, but I believe there are many options that we could incentivize that would enhance the quality of life for the residents of Palm Coast that live here now.

FlaglerLive: We are improving concurrency, right? Because the utility plan the city council approved is now building that capacity—

Darlene Shelley: On the taxpayer dollar.

FlaglerLive: On ratepayers, of course, yes. How else would it be done?

Darlene Shelley: Well, it would be done through impact fees and by the development themselves.

FlaglerLive: Impact fees are shouldering a share, a considerable share of the plan, but it’s not just impact fees; it’s also ratepayers, and impact fees are paid by the developers. It’s a combination of the two with a bond, sort of stretching out those payments in such a way that hopefully, if future residents move in, they will also be shouldering their share.

Darlene Shelley: And what if they don’t move in?

FlaglerLive: Well, then if they don’t move in, then we’re in trouble, like we were in 2013, which is when rates went up in order to make sure that the bondholders get their payments. There is that risk. There’s no question. But as it passed, are you supportive of that plan, the utility plan?

Darlene Shelley: The $320 million utility bond. We didn’t have a choice because for years the developers weren’t paying their fair share. And then they get the nerve to raise utility fees, and then the home builders association turns around and sues the city, rather than saying, “Oh yeah, for years we perhaps didn’t pay enough.”

FlaglerLive: We’re going to get there.

Darlene Shelley: Those bonds, we’re going to be paying the interest on those bonds until my grandchildren have children.

FlaglerLive: To finish the question on the strategic action plan, sorry that we’re jumping around a bit, but are there a couple of goals that you’re not in agreement with that the city is pursuing today?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, because we have such issues in Palm Coast with infrastructure, with traffic, with our water. Westward expansion should be on the back burner until we can fix what’s wrong with Palm Coast 1.0.

FlaglerLive: And there’s going to be the loop road.

Darlene Shelley: That loop road, that money should go back to the city, to the state, because we should not be funding that for developers to develop westward expansion.

FlaglerLive: We’re going to get to that very specifically in a little bit on the westward expansion. Other than that, as far as the strategic action plan as it is today, which doesn’t necessarily focus on the westward expansion, but its current goals—anything that you find there objectionable?

Darlene Shelley: Like I said, I don’t have it in front of me, I can’t comment on the specifics of it. I do know that it’s probably written to a means to an end.

FlaglerLive: Are there a couple of goals that you see yourself as a council member bringing to the table, because you’re going to be asked?

Darlene Shelley: There’s many things that would enhance the quality of life for the local residents. When my parents came to Palm Coast, there was wonderful amenities. There was pools and there was—

FlaglerLive: Frieda Zamba, and it’s still there.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, but it’s hard to get in there. From what I’m told, you have to pay, and there’s very limited hours. I would try to incentivize the businesses that residents say they would enjoy that would make their lives better, and work to bring those sorts of things to the city.

FlaglerLive: Would you have supported then the expansion of Holland Park?

Darlene Shelley: Well, that’s a tough question because we all know what a debacle that was, as far as what it ended up costing. It’s tough because we spent time there with my grandkids and my daughter, and we did some talking to folks there, and a lot of the folks weren’t from Palm Coast. It’s such a big expense that it draws folks from all over Florida.

FlaglerLive: Isn’t that good?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, I guess it’s good if—

FlaglerLive: Because they’re hanging out in town, spending their money here and helping your local businesses.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, I suppose that it has good sides as well. I would expect to see more residents there enjoying it with a large majority of folks from neighboring towns.

FlaglerLive: It’s still very popular. I used to take my kids there, and Holland Park is a happening place.

Darlene Shelley: Now that it actually works.

FlaglerLive: Waterfront Park is very popular. Ralph Carter is constantly busy. The city has done a very good job with its parks, Indian Trails.

Darlene Shelley: I believe we need more of them. Doesn’t have to be crazy like Holland Park, because that was a lot for a city to take on. But more preservation of the wetlands for even just walking trails. It doesn’t seem to be growing with the population. Like you brought up, they can be crowded, and it can be hard to get your child on one of the swings because there’s just a lot of people. we probably need more of that kind of thing, things that folks can enjoy. People come to the meetings, and they’re asking for skate parks and they’re asking for things to do with their children. I know we’re getting a mini golf, and that’s great because that’s a great thing for families to do together.

FlaglerLive: That’s in Town Center.

The Homestead Amendment

 

FlaglerLive: Tell us how you will vote on the proposed amendment to raise the homestead exemption.

Darlene Shelley: Personally, I would vote for it because I don’t believe in paying a lot of taxes. Once you get to a point in your life, I think that senior citizens are having a hard time. The folks that we’ve spoken to, walking door to door, talked to hundreds of the local neighbors, and they’re struggling with the cost of taxes and water, utilities, electricity. It’s tough on a fixed income to be able to afford those things. anything we can do to help, whether it’s young families or senior citizens to afford their homes, we should be doing.

FlaglerLive: When did you say you moved into Palm Coast? 2012. We bought where we are in 2008, and our city taxes have proportionately gone down since then. I think we’re paying, if you adjust it for inflation, 30% less in purchasing power to the city. Every time we were paying them $1 in 2008, we’re now paying them 70 cents of what we were paying them back then. they have less to do more with. How is that burdensome to us? Where is the burden on us homesteaded folks, who are the ones who are about to benefit from this? And I’m guessing it’s about the same with you. The taxes have not really increased. how is that a burden, and why should we benefit from this additional exemption at the expense of our city services that we keep talking about of how much we want the city to do for us?

Darlene Shelley: Just ask any of the senior citizens in your neighborhood how it’s burdensome, and they’ll tell you. They’re paying taxes for their whole entire life. Their home is paid for. At some point, I think that folks need a break from taxes, and along with that, there has to be fiscal responsibility in the money that we are taking in. We have plenty of folks that this is their second home, they pay substantial taxes that could go into running the city according to what it needs, the schools. I think now with school choice, there’s probably an opportunity to look into helping the seniors not have to pay that part of taxes.

FlaglerLive: The exemption will not affect the schools.

Darlene Shelley: Right, or fire or police. Those are protected from that as well. They have their own bucket.

FlaglerLive: On paper, they are, but in fact, we don’t yet know how that’s going to work. For the schools, we do know that the exemptions will not be affecting the school taxes. We don’t yet know the mechanics of how people go around saying that fire and police are not going to be affected, but the mechanics of that have not been worked out. But going along with what you’re saying that people should own their homes free and clear, there shouldn’t be taxes. How do we make up the revenue loss to continue the services that we have?

Darlene Shelley: I think that we just have to be good stewards of the tax money that we’re getting from folks who do have it as a second home, and diversifying the tax base the burden’s not falling just on residential taxes.

FlaglerLive: Do you see a need to make up that revenue at all with additional taxes, fees, or someplace else?

Darlene Shelley: Probably not. With digging into the P&Ls and the financial documents, seeing how the city and the county budget has bloated since Covid, I think that there is a very happy medium, and with good, fiscally responsible management of the city and the county, you could eliminate taxes for homestead. Well, not eliminate, but—

FlaglerLive: Come close to it.

Darlene Shelley: Close to, and still tax the folks who have second homes or beach houses, and still have enough funds to run a city in a manner that is beneficial to the residents without making up the funds in other ways.

FlaglerLive: Are there a couple of examples as a council member that you would say, “Here’s where we can cut?” For example, the county commission, as you saw, eliminated adult daycare. That was one program that they eliminated recently. It was in the range of $100,000 to $120,000. It was not that substantial, but still, they eliminated it. Is there anything programmatic that you see in the city that you would say, “Here and here we can eliminate that,” and begin to take care of what would be an eventual deficit of $10 million, $15 million, maybe more if this amendment passes?

Darlene Shelley: It would be up to the city council as a group. I would rely heavily on the residents for their input to see what they find beneficial, if they are getting a bang for our buck in these programs that we are spending money on.

FlaglerLive: But what cuts would you suggest?

Darlene Shelley: Well, there’s a lot of spending for—I’m trying to think of the initials for tourism in the city.

FlaglerLive: Maybe you’re thinking of the county. The TDC, the Tourist Development Council is a county board, and it collects the sales tax for tourism, but that’s very separate from the city. The city actually benefits on occasion with grants from the TDC, but it has nothing to do with tourism policy or taxation.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, and I think maybe there needs to be more collaboration there between the city and the county. A lot of times, it seems as though Palm Coast is getting the short end of the stick as far as the taxes that we give to the county and what we get back from them. I’d like to see more collaboration and looking into what may be duplication of services, maybe some things can be combined, and be able to save those dollars for things that could actually benefit the residents.

FlaglerLive: One of the ways you’ve brought attention to yourself at the council meetings when you speak often is by talking about waste. I’d like to hear an example of what you mean in the city government by waste, beyond the words.

Darlene Shelley: I’d have to go through the expense journals with you, and I hate to call out specific groups because I don’t want many to think that I’m against a certain group, but there’s a lot of unnecessary spending that I don’t think is benefiting the residents of Palm Coast. I’m going to leave it at that.

FlaglerLive: Give us one example, just one, and we’ll drop it. Just one example. I’m going to tell you why I keep pressing on that question: because I often hear, “We’re wasting money,” but when I press the question and ask for an example, people have difficulties coming up with it. I think it’s important to close the gap between assumptions that there is waste and the reality if there is waste, because we have to be responsible about it. We can’t just criticize irresponsibly and say there is waste and create this atmosphere that government is just terrible without showing an example or two of what we mean, because then we lose credibility and at the same time hurt what is helping us maintain our quality of life. along those lines, I’m just asking you, give us an example.

Darlene Shelley: Okay, here’s an example. The packet for the upcoming county meeting has expenses for lobbyists, for one thing. I don’t know if the city also has a budget for lobbyists, but—

FlaglerLive: Yes, it has. It’s not very big. It does have. If I’m remembering correctly, it might be in the range of $100,000. But it has always had a lobbyist, and the county has, Flagler Beach has, Bunnell has. But those are small amounts.

Darlene Shelley: I think this one is in the range of $60,000 or more. There’s lots of contracts in there that I go, “What is this? What is this benefit for the local residents in some of these nonprofit partnerships?” There’s oodles of them, scores, stacks of public-private partnerships, and there’s really no way for residents to know what the benefit is to the local residents from these expenditures.

FlaglerLive: Oodles of public-private partnerships in the city?

Darlene Shelley: Yes.

FlaglerLive: Does one come to mind?

Darlene Shelley: A couple come to mind, but again, I don’t want to call them out.

FlaglerLive: They’re getting our tax dollars if they’re there, you should feel free to call them out.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah. It’s tough to do it from this position. The chips will fall where they may. Whether I get elected or not is really not important to me, because my life will go on. The reason I’m running is to try to keep Palm Coast beautiful and make it fiscally responsible, because that’s just at the core of my being.

Sales Tax and Other Revenue Levies

 

FlaglerLive: You may have answered this question already, because you don’t see the necessity of compensating for the loss in revenue should that amendment pass. But where do you stand on increasing the sales tax? The county has discussed on occasion in the last few years increasing the sales tax by half a penny. They have that authority; they can do it by a four-to-one vote tomorrow. But where would you stand on it, especially in relation to if the amendment passes? Would you be supportive as a city telling the county yes, we support you if you want to increase the sales tax, because obviously the city would get a share of the revenue? I think it would get somewhere in the range of between $5 million and $6 million a year the first year from that. Any thoughts on that?

Darlene Shelley: I would not be in favor of raising the sales tax. In fact, I would be in favor of looking into—the county tells me they don’t have an additional gas tax, but it seems that for some reason, when you buy gas in Flagler County, it’s more expensive than anywhere else along 95. I don’t know if that’s a factual statement. I haven’t done the research on it, but no, I would not be a fan of increasing sales tax.

FlaglerLive: And the utility franchise fee and the public service tax? Those two fees and taxes that have been discussed by the city council several times since 2012, they would also raise a substantial amount of money in the several millions of dollars each if they were to be approved. That might come back before you if you are elected. Would you consider those to be levied on homeowners?

Darlene Shelley: Absolutely not. Our utility bills are too expensive to begin with. The problem is where they’ve been incentivizing development and giving them breaks on these fees. That is an exercise in insanity because they are the ones that should be paying these fees to increase utilities.

FlaglerLive: Well, no one is paying those fees right now. They’re not on the books.

Darlene Shelley: You’re talking about a separate fee.

FlaglerLive: The utility franchise fee or the public service tax. Flagler Beach has them, Bunnell has them, most cities in the state have them. Palm Coast does not, but it has discussed possibly having them, but the public has decisively rejected them every time. The reason the question comes up is in the context of the amendment. If the amendment passes and you lose that revenue, would you approve fees or taxes like this to make up some of the revenue? Incidentally, the data center is getting a very good deal by not having to pay these fees because the data center is going to be, like the hospitals, one of the largest users of electricity. By not having those fees on the books, they will be saving a lot of money. If they were in Flagler Beach, they would have had to pay those fees, but not in Palm Coast. Would you favor one or two of these fees as a new source of revenue?

Darlene Shelley: Well, I would consider them if the homestead tax went through and there was a point in the future, after cutting out some things that the council decided were not providing bang for the buck, and there was still a shortfall. I would consider them for new businesses. Would not want to put any more burden on the residents.

FlaglerLive: It would not be legal to do either/or. That’s the problem. It would have to be a universal approach, all customers would have to be levied. You couldn’t do breakouts.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, that’s a tough question. I would have to cross that bridge if we got to it. I don’t think it would be necessary with good financial management of the city.

Development

 

FlaglerLive: With the increase of 16,000 people between 2020 and 2025, how would you evaluate the quality of the growth that we have experienced? The quality of development that we’ve experienced in the last few years, and what sort of land use would you oppose going forward?

Darlene Shelley: Well, I would rate the quality of growth very unfavorably because we didn’t plan for the infrastructure for that growth. We didn’t do the road widenings for that growth. We didn’t do the wastewater capacity for that growth. like I’ve said to the city council way back in 2021, you’re putting the cart before the horse. Bringing all this growth here without a plan in place is not smart growth.

FlaglerLive: Would you have voted for the utility plan last June?

Darlene Shelley: Which plan was that?

FlaglerLive: The utility plan we discussed—the $320 million bond plus the other associated dollars that basically add up to almost $600 million in investments for the next several years to improve the infrastructure.

Darlene Shelley: I think it was such a long time coming that it wasn’t an option at this point. I think it could have been planned better. I think there was probably opportunities to get that money from other means, whether it was through grants or through development, trying to get development to have a part in that financial burden. I don’t think it was an option, though, because they’re under the consent order from the state. It wasn’t an option.

FlaglerLive: You would have voted yes.

Darlene Shelley: We have to. Otherwise, we’re not going to have any water or wastewater capacity.

FlaglerLive: With that in mind, do you see improving development means ahead now that they’ve passed this plan? Is the growth ahead more manageable and allowable? What development plans, if they were to come before you, would you object to, and what development plan would you approve of?

Darlene Shelley: To simplify the answer: I’d be for development that enhances the life of the current residents. If it’s going to put burdens on our infrastructure, our roads, our traffic, our flooding, I would not be for it. It’s tough because the developers are pushing hard to build on every square inch of Florida, and if we do that, we will not have enough water. We’ll flood. It just can’t be done.

FlaglerLive: What typical development improves the lives of residents?

Darlene Shelley: Quality retail, light industrial, where we’re bringing 50, 100, 200 jobs that are career jobs where our children can stay and work and have a career. Industry that doesn’t pollute. Quality retail that we miss from the homes that we came from, whether it’s Sprouts or Trader Joe’s, and like it or not, we’re getting a second Walmart rather than a nice quality Whole Foods store. But they don’t want to come here, and I think that’s a problem.

FlaglerLive: One of the reasons that they don’t come here is a lack of density. That’s marketing 101. They look at the density of an area, and if it doesn’t have the level of density, then they’re not going to come. that ties into the next part of that question: Would you just oppose additional apartment complexes?

Darlene Shelley: Well, you can’t oppose them if they’re already zoned for that. Although, if you don’t have the infrastructure, if it’s going to trigger traffic, if we’re not going to have sufficient water, then you could say no to a development that’s going to stress our infrastructure. I think we have too many apartment complexes at this point. Just when you drive to Flagler Beach, you look to your left, it’s immense. Again, I don’t know how it even got approved with the situation that we’re in with water and wastewater. And again on Seminole Woods, it’s going to be coming up before the county for the land that you were talking about south of Grand Landings. Same thing; they want to put in multifamily housing with retail, and I don’t personally think that’s compatible growth with single-family homes in a gated community of Grand Landings, where those folks did their due diligence, and they thought maybe like we thought on Old Kings Road that maybe we’d have some doctors’ offices or maybe a small quality retailer like Trader Joe’s if it’s zoned commercial. The density is the issue, and if you doubt it, then just look around at the accidents, at the deaths that are happening now that didn’t happen five years ago. We didn’t have that kind of problem with drag racing and illegal modified mufflers keeping folks up at 2 o’clock in the morning. We didn’t have a problem with graffiti on our signs and on our buildings. density is not the answer.

HBA Lawsuit Over Impact Fees

 

FlaglerLive: All right, the Flagler Home Builders Association is suing the city over impact fees. They consider the increase in impact fees that took place to be beyond what the law stated, and they say that the city has not justified extraordinary circumstances that would justify the doubling of the impact fees going beyond 100% of what they were. If you were a witness in that case, on whose side would you be?

Darlene Shelley: I would definitely be on the side of the city because we need those impact fees. There’s no secret that our infrastructure needs help. It’s no secret that the density is causing issues, whether it’s with water capacity or with flooding.

FlaglerLive: In this case, the case is just about impact fees and whether the city justified its extraordinary circumstances to impose the much higher level of impact fees that it did. You agree with the extraordinary circumstances?

Darlene Shelley: Yes, I do. We need them to pay their fair share of impact fees. I think for too long, they weren’t raised, and the city is claiming those circumstances because they exist.

FlaglerLive: The city is claiming that they existed or exist still, and the HBA is saying that your calculations are wrong. That’s what the judge is going to have to decide: who is correct.

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, and that’ll be up to the judge to decide. But in any event, I think that growth should pay for growth.

Westward Expansion

 

FlaglerLive: We’re on to the west side question, and the planning board. I think this coming week is going to be considering the master plan development. Have you had a chance to see the master plan development in its latest form for the west side?

Darlene Shelley: In its latest form, if it’s changed from the first developers’ meeting that they did at the community center,

FlaglerLive: I think it has changed since. There’s been amendments, and one of them, from what I learned, was that the developer is going to assume the cost of the sports complex now, but there are still other issues remaining as far as the city is concerned. I was curious if, just from your understanding of the MPD, the master plan development, if you are supportive, or if you oppose the MPD and the idea of expanding west?

Darlene Shelley: I think that it deserves thoughtful planning. Don’t think it’s something we should rush into. Again, I have a big issue with that loop road being funded by taxpayers. I think we need to square that away first. That’s got to be part of the negotiations. We have to have a commitment about the history of the brick road. I think it deserves more thoughtful consideration before we rush into anything. The sports stadium was one thing. What about the pool? That was another thing. All of the items that they were supposed to be giving the city in the DRI need to be addressed, including the loop road.

FlaglerLive: How could they credibly change the approach on the loop road now that the state has awarded those $125 million, $126 million to the city, the city has awarded the contract, and the loop road is under construction? How could they go back and say to the developer, “We got all this money, but no, you need to do it”?

Darlene Shelley: They would have to make concessions somewhere else. They could give us that value of what we spent that they should have spent in a beautiful pool for the residents to use, rather than doing a public-private partnership with the YMCA, where folks are still going to have to pay and the city is going to have to kick in money for it. Make that part of the development requirements. At this point, really, the city holds the cards, and they should be making these decisions from a lens of how is it going to benefit the residents of Palm Coast now, and also from a lens of what can we do to protect this fragile environment that technically is a swamp.

FlaglerLive: What I’m hearing is you’re not necessarily opposed to it in principle, but if it were to come before you today, you would object. You would vote no.

Darlene Shelley: Yes, if it doesn’t include all of the things that they were required to provide with the development, it would be a no until those things are provided.

FlaglerLive: Okay, and how would you balance the west side expansion with ongoing needs in Palm Coast proper as we know it today?

Darlene Shelley: It should complement what we’re lacking now, rather than compounding the problems that we’re having now. We need diversity in the tax base.

FlaglerLive: They might argue that they’re doing exactly that by bringing several million square feet of industrial, several million square feet of commercial, in addition to the housing stock, which would be an additional 20,000 to 22,000 housing units. But they’re saying they’re providing that diversity and going to provide a different sort of gravity center for all that commercial traffic to go to, it’s not all congested in Palm Coast. Are those points that you would agree with, or do you see a problem with that, since they’re going to be providing all that diversity in land use?

Darlene Shelley: In theory, I think it’s great as long as they uphold all the infrastructure that’s going to be required of it. It’s going to take thoughtful consideration, and I don’t think it’s something that should be rushed. It’s a blank slate right now, and I think it’s really important that our city leaders think about all the implications for what that growth will look like in the next decades.

FlaglerLive: Are you okay with the way the city has been deliberating over this?

Darlene Shelley: Yeah, for the most part, because really only Ms. Pontieri took the time to read the DRI to see what the developers had committed to. I’m glad to hear that at least we may get a stadium out of it. But I think that they need to deliver on all of those promises that were in that DRI, and that any development takes into consideration all the things that we mentioned with the wetlands and its headwaters. There’s a lot there that’s beneficial for quality of life for preventing flooding and filtering the water, and that needs to be preserved in some form or fashion with any expansion out west.

Traffic

 

FlaglerLive: What about traffic? What’s your solution to traffic issues, which are always a top concern among residents?

Darlene Shelley: Well, and it’s tough because for me, the traffic issue is State Road 100 and it’s a state road. But I never could understand why development would be allowed to come in and not at least have the turn lanes in place. They’re working on it now, and again we have to coordinate with the state to get that. But they need to be longer, and they should be required before the business opens up. I don’t agree with giving concessions to bring more development, whether it’s in parking spaces. It’s a problem at Planet Fitness at Airport Commons. There’s not enough parking places, and it’s dangerous because it’s hard to get in and out. The solution is to not permit it in the first place. There’s things that I would love to bring to the city council and say, “This is an issue. What do you think? Can we get consensus to fix it?” Whether it’s curbing that sticks out you can’t cut the turn safely, whether we need a turn lane folks don’t get rear-ended. These are things that I’ve been working on since 2021, requesting signs that say, “Hey, there’s a road coming up.” Give us a sign that says that there’s a left turn coming up, when traffic comes, they may expect a car to be turning into a road. It’s just basic common sense that you put in just before the development order is closed.

FlaglerLive: Are you supportive of the traffic improvements that the city is conducting and has sort of just finished in town center at Old Kings and Town Center Boulevard and Royal Palms Parkway?

Darlene Shelley: How can anybody be satisfied with that? It’s going backwards. When I lived in Hidden Lakes, we were happy when we got a traffic light because we would hear the crashes from my home when folks ran a stop sign, and you don’t forget the sound of metal-on-metal crashes like that. I hate to say it, but someone is going to lose their life there, and a three-way stop instead of a traffic light is going backwards, in my opinion. It must be a temporary fix.

FlaglerLive: They do have a long-term plan for that area, but then we come back to the question of funding, both state and local, which right now is not in place. And when we talk about the homestead amendment, that will make it even tougher for the city to get to the point where it might do a longer-term fix.

Darlene Shelley: It shouldn’t be on the city. Old Kings Road is a vital north-south corridor, and I can’t even tell you how many times when there’s accidents on I-95 that it becomes an interstate. When folks get off I-95 and they come up Old Kings Road to miss the accident for some reason. It’s very common to have crashes in those three exits in Palm Coast. It needs to be funded through FDOT, and here’s the rub: we pay to send lobbyists big money to go to Tallahassee, but they’re lobbying for things that aren’t making quality of life for Palm Coast residents better. We spend money to do surveys to ask residents what is important to them, and then we disregard their answer and pay lobbyists to go lobby for westward expansion. It’s crazy. I know why we do it. It’s all about the money. It always is, but I don’t agree with it, and that’s why I’m running, because I want to be the voice for the residents of Palm Coast who put their life savings into our homes here that were meant to be our forever homes, and then poor decisions affect our quality of life in a negative way, and all anyone can say is, “Well, just move.” And for me, that’s not an option. I could move because my home is paid for. I could go anywhere, but I built my home here because I love Palm Coast, and my mom and dad love Palm Coast, and my children and my grandchildren love Palm Coast, and Palm Coast is worth protecting, and that’s what I want to do.

Public Safety Budgets

 

FlaglerLive: Can you talk about policing? The policing budget has increased about 400% over the last 10 years. The firefighters’ budget has increased about 100% in the last 10 years. How are those increases sustainable, and do you consider them defensible?

Darlene Shelley: Well, I’ll start off by saying that my husband was a police officer. Firefighters are our heroes. We need them for public safety. I think we’ve gotten to a point where we are spending way too much on it. I’m just going to be perfectly honest with you, because I understand that there’s a lot of voters who are police officers, firefighters, teachers. They all deserve to be compensated highly and fairly, but we funded firefighting and police for a city much bigger than what we have now, and they get funding from multiple sources, and Palm Coast pays—I want to say it’s $11 million for exceptional service for police. And until just recently, I’ve been asking the sheriff’s department to have more of a police presence in Palm Coast because we hear with our ears and we see with our eyes the violations of rule of law, whether it’s the illegal modified mufflers, whether it’s the folks blowing the stop signs and the red lights every day, we see it. we do need police presence, and I think that by writing some citations, you can fix that behavior. I don’t want to see rule of law eroded anymore, and it has been eroded.

FlaglerLive: On one hand, you say that it might be getting excessive, but you want more police presence.

Darlene Shelley: Yes, because we’re paying them for the services, for the bang for the buck, they need to be addressing the violations of the law, and that’s how you curb poor behavior, save lives, and make cities safer.

FlaglerLive: you wouldn’t oppose the extra nine deputies that are being requested this year, as they have been each of the last three years?

Darlene Shelley: I would oppose it. Because we have to see where the chips fall with the vote on the homestead taxes. They’re very heavily funded right now, I would leave it at that.

FlaglerLive: But yet you want more police presence?

Darlene Shelley: Yes, because they’re hired. They’re here. They just need to be writing tickets and curtailing the lawbreakers, because that’s the only way you’re going to get a change in poor behavior.

FlaglerLive: How do you explain the very low crime rate? Surely they must be doing something right since the crime rate is very low.

Darlene Shelley: I don’t believe the crime rate is very low.

FlaglerLive: You don’t believe in the numbers that we’re being presented?

Darlene Shelley: No, I believe that the numbers are skewed. There was just a shooting in Flagler Beach. We don’t normally have shootings and deaths by vehicle of pedestrians. Something’s going on there that needs to be addressed, and I don’t think hiring more deputies is the answer. We just need—

FlaglerLive: There’s always been traffic accidents. There’s always been pedestrians—unfortunately, Florida ranks very high in pedestrian deaths. There’s been the occasional shooting, even in Flagler Beach. Going back many years, I can remember covering trials in 2012 about a shooting where a person lost his life, and these—

Darlene Shelley: You remember that one as well.

FlaglerLive: That has been part of life, but it hasn’t been a very intense part of life. In other words, the level of violence has not been very high, and—

Darlene Shelley: It’s increasing, though.

FlaglerLive: But the numbers don’t show that.

Darlene Shelley: Well, then I think there may be a problem with the numbers, because I’m going to believe my lying eyes.

FlaglerLive: We’re not present at every incident. We have anecdotal impressions, but at some point we have to rely—

Darlene Shelley: Well, my light is green, and someone’s flying through on the red light on the other side. That happens 10 times a day. It needs to be addressed. There’s no excuse for lawlessness, and that’s what our sheriff’s deputies need to be doing. Even if it’s me, that’s fine. Give out some citations and hold these people accountable for stealing our peaceful enjoyment of our city—it’s not okay.

Rap Sheet

 

FlaglerLive: Our last question is the legal question. Have you ever been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor anywhere in Flagler, Florida, or the United States, other than a speeding ticket—although you probably would like speeding tickets to be included in that question—or faced investigation?

Darlene Shelley: Speeding, and I’m not immune from doing that. But I would expect a ticket if I get caught doing it.

FlaglerLive: Or if you faced any civil action other than a divorce? Any of those issues?

Darlene Shelley: No, I have no criminal history at all. I was sued by a developer, but it didn’t go anywhere because there was nothing to it.

FlaglerLive: Was that here?

Darlene Shelley: It was in Palm Coast.

FlaglerLive: What happened there?

Darlene Shelley: You can look it up. The developer didn’t want to—I don’t even want to talk about it because I don’t want him to sue me again.

FlaglerLive: I can understand your reluctance, but if you could sort of in one phrase—first of all, was there a disposition? Was there a decision?

Darlene Shelley: No, it didn’t go to court or anything. It just dropped off the books because there was nothing to support what he was saying. It is in the record, though. If you look it up, you’ll probably see it in the private county courts.

FlaglerLive: If you could just summarize, was it a land dispute or what was the nature of the dispute, just very quickly?

Darlene Shelley: When an HOA turns over from the builder to the homeowners, typically you would do some sort of inspection to make sure everything’s up to par. In my development, we didn’t feel that it was—there were things that didn’t work and things that were broken and lights that were rusted. I didn’t think that was right and voiced my opinion, and he felt that it was detrimental to his name.

FlaglerLive: It was like a defamation suit that they filed against you.

Darlene Shelley: Yep, tried to.

FlaglerLive: And tried to.

Darlene Shelley: But in the United States of America, there’s free speech, —

FlaglerLive: Up to a point, obviously. We can’t defame people.

Darlene Shelley: No, it was just stating the facts.

FlaglerLive: All right, and this was what year roughly?

Darlene Shelley: Oh, I don’t know, 2015 maybe. I’d have to look it up. You can look it up. Professionally, you’ve never been demoted or disciplined in a professional way or anything like that.

FlaglerLive: Imagine that: 25 years in retail and not having one issue.

Darlene Shelley: Yes, that’s pretty remarkable.

Darlene Shelley: But I’m a problem solver and I’m a people person, and I’m fiscally responsible. I don’t have any debt. I’m unlike some of the folks running for city council, because you can have pending criminal cases against you and still run.

FlaglerLive: There are people who are running who have pending criminal issues right now?

Darlene Shelley: People running who say they live in a house and they don’t actually live there.

FlaglerLive: Who among our candidates has a pending criminal issue?

Darlene Shelley: I would suggest you look it up.

FlaglerLive: I think I will. [Shelley was referring to a candidate who has had small-claims civil actions, not a criminal record. Shelley acknowledged the mistake in an email.]

Darlene Shelley: I think most voters should take the time and look into the candidates and see who’s backing them. See who’s giving them contributions to their campaign. Is it the developers? Is it the realtors? Are they going to be puppets for building every square inch of Palm Coast? Are they going to be making decisions to protect public health and safety?

FlaglerLive: Before we start verging into campaign talk, I want to thank you very much for the time you took, Ms. Shelley, and the detailed answers. Best of luck in the weeks ahead.

Darlene Shelley: Thank you. I’m gonna need it, but that’s okay. Thank you very much.

FlaglerLive: Thank you very much.

Postscript