Palm Coast Council Candidate Troy DuBose May Abandon Run and Opt For County Post

Update: The Flagler County Commission today pulled from its agenda the item on the Troy DuBose appointment to the county planning board. “Clearly there are election code implications and the better action in that context was to continue it,” County Attorney Al Hadeed said. DuBose, who was at the meeting, was non-committal when asked about his plans–either for the county appointment or for continuing his run for a Palm Coast City Council seat. “Stay tune,” he said, declining to comment further. Last night’s story is below.

Troy DuBose, a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Palm Coast City Council, may be dropping out of the four-way race–depending on Monday’s outcome of a county commission appointment.

The legality of the maneuver is unclear. “This is the first time I’m made aware of it,” County Attorney Al Hadeed said when reached by phone Sunday evening. “I wasn’t aware he was a candidate for office in Palm Coast. I’ll bring it up to the administration’s attention in the morning.”

When the Flagler County Commission meets Monday morning, one of its many routine items include an appointment to the county’s Planning and Development Board. DuBose, 42, is the only applicant for the position. The recommendation from County Administrator Craig Coffey is that DuBose be appointed. His recommendation memo does not mention that DuBose is a candidate for office.

DuBose would not be appointed to a full term. Rather, he would be filling Pam Richardson’s term on the planning board, through November 2017. It’s an unpaid posting.

Richardson just resigned–because she is a candidate for the Palm Coast City Council: she is running in District 3, and was required to tender her resignation letter upon qualifying for the council seat as a candidate.

“Due to the fact that I am currently running for a seat on the City of Palm Coast Council,” Richardson wrote in her June 3 resignation letter, “at this time I must render my resignation immediately. I will truly miss the time spent watching this fine board work to serve the residents of the county with great compassion.”

DuBose is facing three candidates in the District 1 seat: Sims Jones, Art McGovern Jr. and Robert Cuff. Cuff was a member of the Palm Coast Planning Board. He tendered his resignation letter as well, because he qualified as a candidate to the council.

Asked about his twin candidacies, DuBose Sunday evening said, referring to the planning board appointment: “If I actually get that position, I’ll resign from running for council.” He said the indications he got from the county administration was that the approach was appropriate.

Only a few weeks ago, when Bill McGuire, the current District 1 councilman in Palm Coast, announced his resignation, opening the way for a possible appointment to fill out the remainder of his term until November, Cuff and Jones had said that they might consider applying, but DuBose said he would not, and did not think the appointment of a candidate running for the seat would be appropriate, a sentiment later echoed by City Manager Jim Landon: such an appointment is not likely.

All registered Palm Coast voters, regardless of party affiliation, may cast a ballot in the Aug. 30 primary that includes elections to all three council seats. If a candidate in the District 1 seat gets 50 percent or more of the vote, that candidate is elected to the seat outright, dispensing with a need for a run-off in November between the two top vote-getters, if neither gets past the 50 percent threshold. If that happens in this race, the city council has signaled that it may ask the winner to be seated soon after the election, sparing the council the need to go through an application process to fill the seat until November. Should DuBose choose to withdraw from the race, the chance of a 50-percent winner inevitably increases, but remains uncertain.

DuBose did not explain why he was no longer entirely committed to the Palm Coast council election. “If I get this position,” he said of the planning board appointment, “I’ll have a statement for you.”

DuBose’s activity on the campaign trail, however, appeared to have been sharply reduced in the past 10 days to two weeks. He had been appearing at candidate forums, but was not among the candidates at the Tea Party Meet-Your-Candidate evening Saturday, which drew most candidates for local and judicial offices, including eight of the candidates for council seats. (Unlike DuBose, McGovern has not appeared at any major campaign functions.) DuBose also did not respond to the FlaglerLive interview, which published on Thursday, and as of this evening, last updated his campaign Facebook page on July 21, with an image of himself taken three days earlier with his son at a European Village event in support of law enforcement.

The county’s advertisement for the planning board appointment was published in the News-Tribune on July 23.

DuBose’s application consists of one and a half pages of basic information, where he describes himself as a financial adviser and insurance agent. Where asked to describe his training or experience that would make him a good fit for the planning board, he wrote: “When I lived in Chicago I worked in development and construction.” A resume is not attached to the application, as is often the case with applicants to county and city advisory boards. He does not mention his candidacy to the Palm Coast council seat.