Dylana “Dee” Galery is one of four candidates for the Palm Coast City Council, District 4, an open seat. Galery faces John Kvederis, Ramon Marrero and Darlene Shelley.
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
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:
FlaglerLive: Good afternoon, Ms. Galery. Thank you very much for taking part in the live interview. And we’re going to get started right away. So, if you could tell us your place and date of birth.
Dylana Galery: I was born in Fort Hood, Texas. I was born on a military base. My father was in the military, so that’s where I was born, right there in Killeen, Texas.
FlaglerLive: And what was the date again?
Dylana Galery: December 5, 1993.
FlaglerLive: What brought you to Palm Coast?
Dylana Galery: What brought us to Palm Coast was my family. So my mother’s side lives in Hastings, Florida, and then my father’s side lived in Daytona Beach, Florida. So we met right in the middle. So we lived here when I was around in high school. I did complete my high school in St. Johns County, but we started living here when I was about high school. It was kind of similar to Flagler Estates. It was quiet, you know. We lived out in the B section. It was quiet, friendly neighborhood, friendly neighbors, and everything. And my mom just fell in love with it. And then as I, after I went on to college, came back, got into the real world and everything. I traveled around Florida, and then we just ended up making Palm Coast our home six years ago. So total being, I’ve been in Palm Coast for about 10 years.
FlaglerLive: Your high school in St. Johns, where was that?
Dylana Galery: I went to Pedro Menendez High School. Yep, I graduated early. I was class president. I was in the marching band. I was a lacrosse player. So I tried to do any and everything to keep myself a little bit active.
FlaglerLive: And this is a nonpartisan race, but what has been your party affiliation?
Dylana Galery: My party affiliation is a Democrat.
FlaglerLive: Always been a Democrat.
Dylana Galery: I would say in high school, when we first registered, it was a Republican, just because I turned it in as that. That’s what we were shown in St. Johns County. But nevertheless, my values are—they kind of meet in the middle for both, and I really vote for the person, not necessarily the party.
FlaglerLive: Right. Tell us about your jobs since either through college or since college.
Dylana Galery: Gotcha. So I call myself on a mini retirement right now. So for the last 10 years, I did. I was a national field support manager, so I did retail remodeling from east coast to west coast. So I worked with a third party company where I would help train associates. I would manage the teams that were on site. Go check on, you know, evaluate their performance and everything for various retail stores such as Target, Walmart, Kroger, Meijer, H-E-B. We would look into those types of things. I also had to create and finalize budgets for them, so I’m used to managing like large teams, whether they’re on the West Coast side, the East Coast side. But I traveled from time to time going through there.
FlaglerLive: You would finalize budgets for stores like Walmart and Target.
Dylana Galery: Yeah. So basically, what would happen is through a remodel, you will get a contract, and what will happen is they’ll say, “Hey, we have a project coming up,” and it could either be a 30-day project, a 60-day project, or a 90-day project. That’s typically how a remodel works out, unless you’re building out a store. Those last a little bit longer, and what will happen is you would go through bids, and we would have to go through the budgets to figure out the traveling, the lodging, the training, you know, the payroll. We would have to pull all that together to make sure that we could win those bids towards the various retail stores and everything. So I would work. I would work on that day and night, present it to a team, and make sure that we were the ones that were winning the bids and everything. So that way, we were making sure that everybody stayed employed. When it comes to remodeling, it’s not a day to day job, but it’s one of those ones that does not necessarily last all year. So they kind of typically have a break during the holiday season. But it was one of those things: how do we keep ourselves busy and make ourselves noticeable to work through those holiday seasons? And a lot of times, when we got done, we’re remodeled. We would go into the holiday seasons like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Christmas times, and they would use us to stock shelves or clean shelves, give those extra hands while you’re working during the holiday seasons. You know that’s where everybody starts hiring seasonal workers and everything.
FlaglerLive: You were saying you were in mini retirement. Can you explain that?
Dylana Galery: So, and just like everybody goes through, you have to listen to your body. I kind of went through a little mini burnout, so I had to slow down on traveling. And I understand that I’m young, but I wanted to slow down on traveling and kind of give myself a woosa moment, so to speak. But then I found my passion because I currently work with students that are deaf and blind. I work for the state of Florida, and I work at FSDB up in St. Augustine, Florida. So the
FlaglerLive: Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, right?
Dylana Galery: Yes, sir.
FlaglerLive: And how long have you been there?
Dylana Galery: Total, we’ve been there about a year. Amount for the summer, where I currently work with a high school perfecting their drumline. So I’m teaching them how to read music, how to march, how to play cadences, and everything. So I work with Atlantic High School as well too, up in Port Orange, Florida.
FlaglerLive: What is your capacity at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind?
Dylana Galery: I’m a residential instructor, so I teach the young students life skills. So you know, it’s a boarding school. A lot of people don’t know that. So it’s a boarding school that the students live on campus Monday through Friday, and then they go home on the weekends. So daily we have staff to make sure overnight that they’re good, and throughout the daytime that they’re, you know, they’re going on to school, progressing through school through their courses and everything.
FlaglerLive: It’s a very particular job, and it’s also a drastic difference between what you were doing and what you’re doing now. So, what led you to that?
Dylana Galery: So honestly, when I was in high school, I had a best friend that, you know, he was deaf. So all through high school, I took ASL, and honestly, that was our… that was kind of our thing. If you guys are from St. Augustine, you know that there is a deaf culture due to the fact that the school is there. So that was kind of, you know, the thing that we were learning, and I wanted to make sure that I could communicate with my best friend. We were both on the drumline back then. We had to do something called T9 texting, opposed to being able to text on an iPhone or whatnot. So it was really hard to text back and forth with what we needed. So I wanted to make sure that I could learn sign language to make sure that I could talk to my best friend, and from there it just grew up on me. When I moved back to Palm Coast and I settled down and everything, and really tried to grasp everything, I saw the opening, and I was like, you know, it was something that I was really passionate about. You know, there was times before I even went into college of getting a degree in political science was maybe becoming an ASL interpreter because that’s how I went from ASL one to, and we tried to go into ASL three, but I graduated early.
FlaglerLive: ASL being
Dylana Galery: American Sign Language.
FlaglerLive: Okay, one thing that had me a little curious. Was in some of your documents, in some of your, I don’t know if I saw this on a resume or one of your official documents. Your address was redacted as if you were a member of the law enforcement or fire services, but I didn’t see that in your background. So why would your address be? Why would your address and personal information be redacted.
Dylana Galery: Oh, my mother worked for the state of Florida as a probation officer.
FlaglerLive: Right. That qualifies, of course. what then from all of this, because if you were to give your body a rest at some point and you decide to run a campaign, that’s like multiplying the demands on you by quite a bit. So, what led you to decide to run for city council?
Dylana Galery: Honestly, I just watch city council on YouTube.
FlaglerLive: How long have you been doing that?
Dylana Galery: I’ve been doing that for about a year now, and I’m very active in our neighborhood. I love our neighbors. We have little cookouts and everything, and you know, we just come together and we just start talking about the city. And even just talking to some of my friends across the city, just listening to concerns, complaints, and feedback about what’s going on around the city… I’m a pretty vocal person. I try to be respectful with what I vocalize and everything, but I also like to make sure that everyone’s treated respectfully and fairly.
And when I decided to run, it was after the announcement that I saw about Mr. Danko running for Congress, and I was like, “You know, let me sit on it, pray on it, talk to my friends to make sure that it’s the right decision.” I prayed on it, and I really just wanted to get involved to take care of the community.
Now, when we talk about running a campaign, one thing I do like to do is I like to stay busy. And I think the difference between me traveling from East Coast to West Coast—because at any time I was on a plane every week, and that does wear and tear on your body—I don’t think the amount of work that I did for remodeling stores compares to the campaign. Yes, they’re both tremendous work, but I can sleep in my own bed at night, let’s say it like that, and not a hotel. So I say that the work ethic differs a little bit on that.
FlaglerLive: And when you talk about your neighborhood, are you still in the B section?
Dylana Galery: No, sir. I live in District Four, so I live in the R section.
FlaglerLive: Okay. And how have you prepared, besides watching meetings online?
Dylana Galery: So besides watching the meetings online, I’ve been going through the Citizens Academy, the Palm Coast Citizens Academy. I’m looking to be in the Sheriff’s Academy as well as the Flagler County Academy.
After going through the Citizens Academy, I would say I’m a big advocate for it, and I try to promote that any and everywhere, whether I was running for a campaign or not. I would promote that any and everywhere. I probably spoke for it because I think it’s a valuable tool that every neighbor, every resident should know about.
And honestly, if elected, I would try to push a little bit more to see how we can make that available more frequently to our residents than twice a year. That’s the only downfall I would say about Citizens Academy. But I’m also looking into some of the plans, some of the development proposals, and some of the city budgets, things like that. I know we just saw the sheriff’s budget a couple weeks ago at City Hall and everything.
FlaglerLive: Have you taken any initiative in terms of meeting with city staff, meeting with council members, and studying critical documents like the budget—like the city budget, past and present, proposed, the strategic action plan, the comprehensive plan, and the MPD for the westward expansion?
Dylana Galery: So I do try to ask as many questions as I can, while making sure that I respect their time. There are a couple that are running for office, so they might not have the respected time needed for me, but I do try to make sure that if I have a question—I know I’ve asked quite a few members a question for clarification or where to find things.
I have sat in on the coffee with the city manager, Mr. Mike [McGlothlin]. I’ve sat in on those and asked questions through there. I know he was recently hired—I believe he came in in December—and then I know the acting city manager, Miss Lauren, you know, we’ve spoken from time to time.
I do try to deep-dive into things on my own to catch up on that understanding. Because everybody learns at a different pace and reads at a different pace and whatnot, I try to make sure I have a clear understanding and know what I want to ask, as opposed to saying, “Hey, tell me about a budget,” and then you’re going to ask me, “Well, what do you want to know about a budget?” You know, or coming with random acronyms and not knowing the definitions of them. So I try to make sure I get myself a little bit prepared, so that way it’s a little bit easier and makes the time that they set out to talk with me worthwhile.
FlaglerLive: So you’ve studied those documents I mentioned?
Dylana Galery: As best as I could. I’m not even going to lie to you. I have a binder full of highlighted paperwork, and I try to make sure I’m understanding this. Sometimes I go back to my textbooks to make sure I’m on the right page of understanding. You know, I Google what I can, and I looked at previous agendas as well, too, to try to compare.
It’s not that I try to be perfect at it, but I do try to make sure that if I get in front of a city official, that it’s worthwhile and I’m not wasting their time, because I know they’re completely busy. But at the same time, I want to make sure that I’m not coming to you with wasted air, wasted space.
FlaglerLive: How will you combine your work on the city council—with at least three meetings per month, and sometimes other functions, sometimes in the day—with your work that would theoretically take your time during those hours?
Dylana Galery: So my work schedule is completely different. Most of it is overnight. I’ve already spoken with the school as well, too, that they’re on an understanding that if elected, I would take that leave of absence to make sure that I can take care of the citizens of Palm Coast. Most of my time is overnight, so it wouldn’t affect meetings, or it wouldn’t affect daytime work or anything. So that one is not necessarily a problem, and there’s already a plan in place.
FlaglerLive: Now, what flaw might you tell us about that you have to contend with on the council? Your personal character flaw.
Dylana Galery: So one thing, if I had to say anything, it’s when I see a problem, I want to dig into that problem, right? If I see a concern or a problem, I want to dig into that problem. So I guess it would chalk up to being a little bit impatient, right? Well, in one way it might look like a good thing that I want to deep-dive and jump in to handle the situation, maybe some of my peers might think that I’m rushing it a little bit. It’s not the rush to get the answer quickly; it’s the rush to start the process. But—
FlaglerLive: But all those are qualities. I would be curious to know what your peers or your friends or maybe your fellow council members might say: “Well, you know, this is an issue with Miss Galery that we run up against,” because rushing into something or deep-diving into something—I don’t think they would consider that a problem. So, what would be something more personal, more personally challenging, that you’ve dealt with in your life?
Dylana Galery: The only other thing I can really think that I really dealt with, and that I’ve gotten maybe in a performance review, is that I really just don’t take time for myself. I’m always working 24/7. And I know that might seem as if it’s not a flaw, but I’m constantly working 24/7. I’m not really one that takes PTO. I’m not really one to call in sick. I’m not really one to call out. I’m one of those ones that’s just ongoing, like an Energizer Bunny.
And I think that’s kind of how I hit that brick wall that time, and it’s really just trying to self-pace and making sure that, yes, I want to take care of residents, but in order for me to take care of residents, I have to take care of myself as well, too.
FlaglerLive: Right. Although again, I would say that’s not really a flaw, and I would not fault anybody for overwork.
Dylana Galery: But those are the biggest things that I get on a performance evaluation. That’s the only thing that I get hit with.
FlaglerLive: You were actually criticized for that?
Dylana Galery: Right, because I don’t take the time. I’m always on go, go, go, and it’s like I don’t want to miss a beat. And maybe, I don’t know, I’m just too persistent. I know it’s not the flaw that you’re looking for, but that’s just the biggest thing I get hit with from family, from peers, from managers—that I really just don’t take the time. When I’m invested in something, I’m giving it 150.
FlaglerLive: Let’s put this in a different way. Has there been something that you’ve done in your career that worked… Something at work that you’ve done that was a misjudgment or a misstep, and how did you correct it?
Dylana Galery: I would say, if I had to see anything that I had to do, I coached someone the incorrect way. And how I corrected that was just learning how they wanted the coaching to be, and really just deep-diving in to learn and understand how they wanted coaching. It was really the five steps of coaching, basically being more relatable in coaching opposed to telling you, “Hey, here’s what you did, and let me see how you think you did.” So that’s probably about the biggest thing.
FlaglerLive: Who on a governing board in Flagler County—whether it’s the city council, the county commission, the school board, the Flagler Beach Commission, Bunnell—who among those elected officials do you consider to be a model of leadership?
Dylana Galery: Honestly, I don’t know if I have one. I really just respect people who are prepared, transparent, and willing to explain how they come to their decisions, whether it’s going to be popular with the residents or not. If you can explain to me how you got to an answer and be completely transparent with me or residents, I value that.
Because at the end of the day, not everyone’s going to agree with what you say or how you do things, but if you can back it up with how you came to that decision, opposed to just throwing something out there quickly, shooting from the hip, then I respect that more than anything. If you can come to me with facts of how you came up with your answers, then I respect you more, and I can probably look at it from a different perspective. And at the end of the day, I can either go with your perspective, or I can still be entitled to my own perspective.
FlaglerLive: It’s a good answer to another part of the question, which is how do you actually come to a decision yourself, but I’m very curious about who you might align yourself with in terms of temperament. And if you don’t want to go so broadly as Flagler County, it could make it harder on you, and say on the city council with which you’re familiar, among the five current city council members, who might you align with best in terms of their style of leadership? I’m not saying that you agree with them politically or even in terms of their votes, but I mean in terms of the way they do their work, who would you align yourself with?
Dylana Galery: If I had to choose, I would say Ty Miller. And the reason I say that is because at times, there are certain times where you will see Mr. Ty ask questions, and I’m talking more of him trying to clearly understand what’s happening and asking questions through presentations.
I know there’s times where he asked about the sheriff’s budget, he was asking follow-up questions. I’d rather for you to ask follow-up questions opposed to you just saying, “I’m ready to vote,” right? Because if one person… I’m not saying everybody should have questions, but getting thrown something in 30 to 45 minutes, you at least got to have one question.
And I know when they open it up for residents to have three minutes of public comments, and you have 15 people come up, and not one city council member has a question, I have a little concern about that, right? Because it sounds like we’re just ready to pull the trigger without asking qualifying questions.
But I have seen from time to time Mr. Ty, you know, try to either ask questions to check for understanding, or to have a clarification for the presenter to say… either say what they’re saying in a different way, so that way it’s easier for either himself to understand or residents to understand, either inside of city council or back at home. And I like that because the biggest thing that I stride on when I’m talking to residents about my platform and whatnot is to make sure that we’re having that transparency and that you understand what’s going on.
There’s quite a few times where I might not understand, you know, the acronyms or what that developer’s saying, but I have seen Ty from time to time come back and say, “Just for clarification,” or “Just so I’m on the same page, it’s supposed to be X, Y, and Z, and not A, B, and C.” I like that. So that is something that I would say I would align with.
Evaluating the Council’s performance
FlaglerLive: So you should love this interview because it’s nothing but follow-up questions. So give the council a letter grade.
Dylana Galery: If I had to give the council a letter grade, I honestly would say a C-plus. Now, when I say—
FlaglerLive: Did you say C-plus? C as in crappy?
Dylana Galery: No, that’s not what I said. I didn’t use that word. I said a C-plus. Let me tell you why.
FlaglerLive: Well, I mean, it is a pretty crappy grade. You’ve got to admit.
Dylana Galery: I mean, it’s close to a B. You know, it could be a 79.4, you know what I’m saying, or a 79.5. And why I say that, because if I give an A, then there’s no real room for improvement. That’s just like me getting an evaluation one to five and expecting to get a five. I need to know what went wrong or if I need some improvement. And obviously, if I’m getting in trouble for not taking PTO, I didn’t get a five. I probably got a 4.5.
FlaglerLive: What are a couple of flaws that would have lowered their grade in your eyes from, let’s say, even a B or an A-minus? What lowered it to a C-plus?
Dylana Galery: So why I gave it a C-plus: it’s still a passing grade, but I still think there’s room for improvement, right? So I don’t believe everything has been bad, nor do I believe everything has been good. I think that Palm Coast… I think they have been making progress in important areas, but there are also legitimate concerns that residents continue to raise that need more attention.
For instance, I think that they’re excelling at recognizing that we need to invest in infrastructure, utilities, and public safety, but I mean, that’s the responsibility of local government. Though I just think that I would appreciate it more if they discussed long-term planning instead of just focusing on today’s problems, because I think that’s important as we continue to grow.
However, what I think lowered it is that communication and public trust have been broken, right? And that’s all that I’m hearing from residents and that I’m seeing. So residents are feeling that they are not being heard about major decisions until after they’ve already been made, instead of being included in the process earlier.
FlaglerLive: How do we get across the abstraction of what you just explained? If you put it in concrete terms—because I hear that criticism often from the public or from candidates, but concretely, I have difficulties understanding what they mean by that. So, if you were to give an example of an issue where what you just described took place, what would that be?
Dylana Galery: If I had to pull an issue, I would talk about the East Hampton project. I think that was like the whirlwind for us. Just sitting in, I believe it went from a 9:00 a.m. meeting to a 6:00 p.m. meeting, from a first read to a second read, and it just moved so fast. Everybody, I think we all left with our mouths just all dropped. Where, you know, there was some… and I can’t quote the amount of houses off the top of my head—
FlaglerLive: 71.
Dylana Galery: Okay, I was drawing a blank. But on the first read, we were talking about, you know, “Hey, we’re coming to build these houses,” but they wanted to add… I believe it was 13 at the time they wanted to add.
FlaglerLive: 71 was the total number. That’s right, from 58 to 71.
Dylana Galery: Yep. So they wanted to add an additional 13. So we saw residents speaking out about it and everything, and then it got pushed back and then pushed into a second read, and I believe that was the 6:00 p.m. one. And I think that was probably the largest city council meeting I’ve seen. I believe people were standing up at that time.
FlaglerLive: Just to be clear, so that listeners understand, when you say pushed back, I don’t want people to misunderstand that. It wasn’t so much pushback as it was due for a second reading, and it was a scheduled 6:00 p.m. meeting. In other words, they have a 9:00 a.m. meeting and a 6:00 p.m. meeting regularly every month, and they were due to have the first reading at the morning meeting and then the second reading at the evening meeting. What I think you’re saying is that in between, or at least at the second reading, they did come up with the idea that this would be an affordable housing sort of approach, with a non-profit taking over the construction, and that was not made public before the 6:00 p.m. meeting—not even to us in media.
Dylana Galery: And that’s where I believe when we say we give a C-plus to the city council, that’s that communication and public trust. Because at the end of the day, at that meeting, it went through and got passed after so many residents were vocalizing the impact that it would have on, you know, their property values, or, you know, their roads going one way in and one way out. I think they were also trying to add another exit outside of the E section as well, too. So that’s where I kind of tie all those in together to give a C-plus for the city.
FlaglerLive: You said something that raised a red flag for me, and that was you said you were worried about what that might do to property values. It always worries me when I hear an elected official put the words “property values” with “affordable housing” in a negative way. Do you think that any kind of affordable housing—not just in this instance, which is not exactly what we’re talking about in this instance, it’s not the typical kind of affordable housing, it’s a non-profit that would run it and build it at cost and present it in a different way than, say, a government-supported affordable housing project would be—but even if we are talking about government-supported affordable housing, do you see that that lowers property values? Do you have concerns with that?
Dylana Galery: No, sir. And I didn’t mean it that way, because that’s where the end result did happen. But at the first reading, that was the concern of residents. So let me make sure that I state that to be clear. I don’t see that as being a hindrance because of affordable housing. No, that was the concern that residents were making on the first read. That’s what they were publicly speaking out about.
FlaglerLive: Yes, I think at first read, the concern was the smaller lots that they were worried about would lower property values, because Palm Coast is trending in some areas towards smaller lots because the market is going that way, as a certain type of buyers now are wanting to have less responsibility, so they’re building to that. What you just mentioned has come up, I think, in every interview that I’ve had with council members, and it sort of then becomes a sore point. And even Miss Pontieri, who was very much involved in all this, addressed it in her county commission interview because she wanted to make certain things clear about it. But anyway, other than that, if we were to take that away, would the grade have been higher if the E section issue had not happened?
Dylana Galery: If the E section had not happened, it would have fallen into a B. Okay, probably would have been a high B-minus, but yeah.
FlaglerLive: All right. And on that note, what couple of examples would you credit the council for? Like good things—where have they excelled in the last couple of years?
Dylana Galery: Last couple of years, I would say… I want to make sure that I speak correctly in the interview. I would say they’ve excelled with our public safety. I would say that they excel on some of our roads as getting them fixed. The stormwater areas… I know there was one situation that we talked about at city council a couple of weeks ago where I’m drawing a blank. I apologize.
FlaglerLive: I’m trying to think back, too, but I can’t. There’s so much that happens.
Dylana Galery: It is a lot that happens. And unfortunately, it’s not that I don’t want to give them praise for doing positive things. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of…
FlaglerLive: Might you be referring to the traffic improvements in Town Center? Several candidates have mentioned that as at least a step forward.
Dylana Galery: That can definitely go on the positive list as well, too, and thank you for that. But, you know, I do try to give praise where I can, but there’s just so much going on this past year.
FlaglerLive: Now, it’s interesting you mentioned roads. They just resurfaced Palm Coast Parkway, they’re doing those road improvements on Belle Terre Parkway for turning lanes, and they’ve done a few other improvements like this. But even the city administration itself is very nervous about the fact that there is not enough investment in roads, that we have fallen behind, and that we are at a point now where if we continue at this trend, then while the roads are still solid right now, we might be putting them toward failing in a few years. So one of the things that I was going to ask you later was, what would your solution to that be?
Dylana Galery: Honestly, the solution would be to see kind of what we have in the budget to make sure that we’re taking care of what is needed now. I think a lot of times when we talk about roads or infrastructure, there’s a lot of times where we’re playing catch-up to fix things, or we’re being reactive to things rather than being proactive. A lot of times, when we talk about things that are broken, we’re fixing it in that moment, but not planning for what happens in the future or whatnot.
FlaglerLive: Well, there isn’t enough in the budget, and Carl Cote, the director of engineering and stormwater, has made the point very bluntly to the council. He said that because of the very slight lowering of the tax rate in the last few years, that difference has been mathematically what was needed. The lacking revenue that resulted—that revenue itself would have provided the sort of money necessary in order to not fall behind. So now that we are falling behind or have fallen behind, and that the rate is where it’s at, and the trend is continuing because the last discussion Tuesday was they don’t want to increase rates in such a way that it would bring in that much more money—how do we make up that difference, and with what revenue?
Dylana Galery: I think that if elected… when elected, if elected, that’s one of those things that I would have to collaborate with fellow council members as well, too, to look into where we can either pull from or how to come up with that solution. I don’t think that’s just one thing that one person can solve. It would have to be a team collaborative effort for sure.
FlaglerLive: But we would depend on your ideas as well, right?
Dylana Galery: Right. So we would all have to put all of our perspectives in there. So I would have to look more into it and bring it to my colleagues so that way we can come up with the best solution to take care of the residents.
FlaglerLive: Have you had any thoughts at all about what you might bring to the table in that regard?
Dylana Galery: As far as that question, or just qualities itself?
FlaglerLive: As far as roads.
Dylana Galery: Honestly, it’s just looking to see where we can get that money from to pull to help, or what is a subsidized solution that we could come up with in the meantime. I don’t know the correct terminology that they use for not repaving the road… There’s another word that they use…
FlaglerLive: Microsurfacing you’re referring to?
Dylana Galery: Correct. Microsurfacing.
FlaglerLive: It’s a different type of repaving that’s not as long-lasting. It’s sort of a sealant that extends the life of the road.
Dylana Galery: And that could help us in the meantime while we figure out what we could do for a long-term solution. So I can see how that handles the issue in the moment, but that would be where we need to partner up with colleagues to figure out how do we figure out the long-term solution.
FlaglerLive: Give us your thoughts on Mayor Norris. If you are elected, do you see yourself as a check, a balance, or an ally of Mayor Norris?
Dylana Galery: I think if I had to say anything, I think I would be an ally when the mayor’s position aligns with what I believe serves the residents, and I think I would be a check when it doesn’t. So it’s kind of issue by issue. I really just intend to just be professional, respectful, and have a working relationship with every member of the council, including the mayor. I don’t want to just vote for or against anyone.
FlaglerLive: What do you make of his leadership style?
Dylana Galery: There are times where I wish that… Sometimes his facial expression looks like sometimes where he wants to say something, but it doesn’t come out, and then when it does come out, it’s just like, is that the right time? I understand that he’s the fifth vote of everything, and he is the mayor, and I respect that.
I think it’s one of those things that sometimes, when things do come out, it’s one of those things that I strive on: if there is a problem or a conflict, we either coach in private and praise in public, meaning things that don’t particularly refer to what’s happening on the dais, don’t bring up on the dais. Kind of handle that another time. I just rather for us, when you’re on the dais, we take care of the residents, and then anything after, we handle us.
FlaglerLive: That makes me ask you about your understanding of the Sunshine Law.
Dylana Galery: Here’s where I’ll clear that up. I do understand the Sunshine Law. There’s a couple of times where I see maybe there might be a little bit of personal action on the dais, where some might come from social media, and I get it—freedom of speech. But I’d rather use the time that we have on the dais to address residents’ concerns and what’s going on in the city. That’s what I mean by that. Anything else, I don’t mean to have off of the dais. So yes, I do understand that, but that was the angle that I was going.
FlaglerLive: In other words, when you mentioned coaching in private in order to improve relationships, you’re not saying that you would have private meetings with him to address conduct or things like that?
Dylana Galery: I’ll give a clear example. If there was something that was said on a personal matter—let me say it like that: if a personal matter was said, I’d rather for you to talk to me one-on-one about it, opposed to putting it on a recorded transcript.
FlaglerLive: How would the one-on-one take place when you’d be in City Hall? But right there in the office—
Dylana Galery: It can’t. If it’s a personal matter—
FlaglerLive: Because the personal matter has usually a lot of connections with public matters. In other words, it’s difficult to draw a line between personal matters and public matters when obviously you don’t know each other, and the personal matters would arise out of things that would have happened on council, so you’re treading a line there that would be a little tricky to deal with in a one-on-one meeting.
Dylana Galery: Yes, sir.
FlaglerLive: So it’s a little concerning whenever I hear potential elected officials say, “Well, I’ll just have a one-on-one meeting with the other elected official, and we’ll deal with it that way, so that we don’t air our dirty laundry,” when the essence of government is including the dirty laundry. It’s not just the clean laundry.
Dylana Galery: I got you. I mean, at the end of the day, when it comes to situations like that, my goal is to never try to end up in a situation like that. I think us having professionalism day in and day out, I don’t think it would ever come to a want or ever come to a situation that it would need to go to something like that. Honestly, I get along with just about anybody and everybody. I try to be witty at times, but when it comes to clocking in and getting on the job, I’m about my business, and I have to take… At the end of the day, I’m going to have to take care of residents, and that’s my number one goal.
FlaglerLive: So my understanding is that you would not bring up personal issues on the dais, and you would rather that your colleagues would do the same, right?
Dylana Galery: Yes, sir.
FlaglerLive: Okay. Let’s talk about goals. What are a couple of goals that you appreciate about this council that you’re aligned with, and then a couple of goals that you’re not, and then a couple of goals that you will bring that they’re not achieving right now?
Dylana Galery: A couple things that I do agree with is investing in infrastructure. As we’re seeing, Palm Coast is growing rapidly—the roads, the stormwaters, utilities. But maintaining what we already have while planning for what’s ahead is one of the city’s biggest responsibilities. So that’s one of them.
The second is economic development. We need to attract the businesses that provide quality, more quality jobs for the residents that we have here. I think a stronger local economy benefits families, businesses, and honestly, it just helps the city long-term financially. There’s a couple reasons why I support that goal. They directly affect residents’ quality of life. So reliable infrastructure keeps neighborhoods safe and functioning, while a diverse local economy creates opportunities and helps reduce us depending on residential property taxes from time to time. I think if we as a city can remain affordable and competitive, we just have to invest in both, so that’s why I support those things. You asked for disagreeing, correct?
FlaglerLive: What would you challenge?
Dylana Galery: I would say the growth management. It should match the infrastructure capacity in long-term planning. And then the second, I would challenge the transparency. I think we as residents need to understand not only what the city is doing, but why those decisions are being made, and how the projects that we have going—how they’re progressing, right? Like maybe keeping us updated on, are we on track? Are we behind? You know, are we ahead of schedules?
And one of the things that, as being in remodel and everything, I was one of those people that I had to give a report—and I’m not saying the city can do it on that, if they could, that’d be great, but I don’t think they could do it—I gave a weekly report of letting you know that the project is either on pace, ahead of schedule, or behind, right? And if it’s behind, here’s how we can fix it. Right? If it’s on pace, that’s great. That means we’re staying within our… staying on time, staying on top of our budget. If it’s ahead, you know, at that time we had a phenomenal crew, we’re working ahead of what we have, and we might be able to include some other things to get completed. So I think when it comes to the transparency and residents wanting to know like how things are progressing and everything, that’s something that we need to look into.
FlaglerLive: They have a pretty elaborate communications department. They have dashboards. Of course, their documents are all public, and you don’t see the information available there through those means?
Dylana Galery: So here’s what I would say about the dashboard, right? I know about Palm Coast Connect and everything. One of the things that I see when I’m out and about talking to residents and everything is that a lot of our residents don’t know that, right? And I think there’s an opportunity for educating or reiterating about what we have to offer. And I know that some of our social media does that, and I’m not taking away from that as well, too, because that’s how I was able to find out a lot of things as well, too.
But when we talk to other residents, some of them don’t really know how to navigate Facebook or Instagram or even a website to navigate to that dashboard. One of the things… I know it might be what might be user-friendly to me or user-friendly to you might not be user-friendly to our neighbor, right? That would be one of the things that I would like to reevaluate, so that way people understand and know how to utilize the tools that we already have, so that way they get a better understanding of what’s going on inside the city.
FlaglerLive: What you just said is very true. There are tools in existence, and they’re there, and they are on many platforms, and they try… Sometimes I get the feeling that they go blue in the face at the city trying to explain things and trying to disseminate information, and yet a lot of people apparently are not able to access that information because they may not know how or this and that. But at some point, isn’t it the citizen’s responsibility to make a little effort to figure things out? Because the city itself is doing… from what I see, it’s doing everything it possibly can to put the information out there in different means, and it talks about it at council.
Dylana Galery: Absolutely, and I’m not faulting the city. But sometimes I get a little Mary Jo or John Doe that will ask, like, “How do you get there?” or “What does this mean?” And I’m okay with sitting down and educating how to navigate through things, but I know that that’s an opportunity that we have, and it’s one of those things of question of, how do we fix that, right? What does that look like? And it’s going to… it’s one of those things like, how can I give input, or how can I make a suggestion of how do we fix that, right? What things have we already tried? What things are you guys looking into? Do you guys even know about that?
And when I ask, “Do you guys?” I mean like the communication team, right? I can’t expect for Mary Jo or John Doe to write that email because they might not know how to do that. So that’s where myself has to be an advocate for speaking up about that, right? And I’ve got to say just about 40% of the residents that I speak to, that’s the issue that we’re running into. I go in and I ask, you know, “Do you know how to get to my website? Do you know how to get to the Palm Coast website?” I just see how they navigate through their phones or their tablets. Not many of them have laptops, so to speak. Most of them might have some desktops, and I’m okay with that. But it’s really just having to maintain how to continue to go through that as well.
FlaglerLive: You pretty much answered the other part of that question, which is what would you bring to the table? But might there be another separate goal that you would bring to the table?
Dylana Galery: I think the other thing that I would probably add is just accountability. While we’re talking about accountability, just making sure things are easily tracked, and then maybe even secondly, I would probably add like long-term transportation planning. I know traffic is one of our top concerns that we hear from residents. I think transportation planning should be integrated into every like major development decision that we have, to make sure that along with our infrastructure, the roads are taken care of, too, as we’re continuing to grow out.
FlaglerLive: How will you vote on the proposed amendment to raise the homestead property exemption on the property?
Dylana Galery: Based on what I know now, I would vote no. I completely understand everybody wants a tax relief, especially our seniors, our working families, but reducing one of the city’s primary revenue sources without a sustainable replacement, I think that we would kind of be in a little bit of a world of hurt.
FlaglerLive: You really think that our seniors specifically need a tax break?
Dylana Galery: I think all of our residents need a tax break. Well, I think everyone needs relief. I just want to make sure every resident’s taken care of.
FlaglerLive: Well, putting it this way: do you think the property taxes are too high?
Dylana Galery: I think if maybe we started… What is it, at 250, I think? What are we currently?
FlaglerLive: Right now we’re at $50,000.
Dylana Galery: I think maybe if we started a little bit lower, opposed to 250, maybe at 150, kind of gradually up, I think that it might make a little bit of difference.
FlaglerLive: Well, that’s actually the plan for January 1. It’s $150,000 and then $250,000, January 1, 2028.
Dylana Galery: Listen, I think residents deserve… The reason I’m voting no, and I think residents deserve honesty—I think it’s easy to promise lower taxes, but it’s also harder to explain how we’re going to continue funding our public safety, our infrastructure, the parks, essential services afterward. That’s the concern that I have. If we could maybe put something in to consider both today’s relief and tomorrow’s consequences, then I could switch over to voting, you know, yes to it. But as of right now, the way that it’s written and it stands, my vote would kind of be no, and I just wanted for the sake of the residents—
FlaglerLive: On Tuesday, especially based on numbers that Ty Miller brought from the Florida Revenue Estimating Conference, Palm Coast could lose in the range of $20 million, if I remember well, by the time the second cut comes in. Now, 20 million is, I think, just under half of the property tax revenue that they’re receiving, and a third or a little less than a third of the entire general fund budget. So it’s an enormous chunk, regardless of which way we look at it. How do you make that up, or do you make it up?
Dylana Galery: Honestly, I think before we can answer how we could make it up, I think I would need to see a detailed analysis of the financials, showing exactly how much revenue would be lost and what’s realistic replacements, like where those cuts are coming from. I think that’s a conversation that should include economic development, operational efficiencies, and really potential diverse sources of revenue, not just simply shifting one burden to somewhere else to make sure that we make up for some in another area.
FlaglerLive: Do you see this cut, if it passes, do you see it as a tax shift, the way some opponents of it see it?
Dylana Galery: I see that right now I don’t think that we could sustain it. I think that there would have to be some shifts to make sure that we are able to still fund our public safety, our fire, and our sheriff. Right now, that’s not being clear to us, that those aren’t going to get hit, right? If we can basically plan to make sure that those are taken care of, then I think that I would be for it. But right now, it’s the concern of losing out on our public safety, our recs, our parks, and our infrastructure right now.
FlaglerLive: Again, to put it very simply, I think it was Ty Miller who put it that way. I think if the amendment passes, you could theoretically fund all of the sheriff’s requests and the fire rescue requests and the county emergency management, but everything else, like, you know, parks and code enforcement and the day-to-day public works that we see—all of those things would have almost no funds, so it would come to that. Especially if the amendment says you have to fund public safety as a priority, and then you worry about the rest. Well, there wouldn’t be any money left to worry about the rest. So how would you take care of that? How would we make that work?
Dylana Galery: I think that once again falls on not just necessarily one… I think that falls on all of us coming together to figure out how do we make that all work.
Sales Tax and Other Revenue Levies
FlaglerLive: The county has thought a few times about increasing the sales tax by half a penny, and it can do that on its own. But obviously, a lot of the benefit would go to the cities, or primarily to Palm Coast. The other cities would also get their share, but it wouldn’t be that significant for Palm Coast. It would be somewhere in the range of between five and $6 million—that would be their share of an increase in the half-penny sales tax. Where are you on that, whether there is an amendment or not, supporting an increase in the half-penny sales tax? Would you, as a council member, be supportive of a city resolution that says to the county, “Yes, we support you. Please go ahead and do it”?
Dylana Galery: I’m open to evaluating, but it’s not like something that I would support automatically. I think I would want to know how the revenue would be used, how long it would last, and what oversight exists already. I think I would also want to know whether or not residents are receiving value of it. When we talk about sales tax, that sales tax is spread across our visitors, commuters, and people that have local jobs, not just homeowners and everything. However, when we talk about every tax proposal, it should be judged on its merits rather than assume it’s going to be good or bad. So right now, I just can’t automatically support it, so just point in the middle.
FlaglerLive: Would you be supportive of a use of some of that sales tax money for beach protection, and that would be basically giving a portion of that money to the county and telling the county, “Go ahead, and this is our share, protect the beaches”?
Dylana Galery: I’m willing to look into it to see how we can support that and what that looks like.
FlaglerLive: There’s a couple of other taxes that the city has considered but not passed several times since 2012. It discussed it again at the last workshop as an option, and that is the public service tax and the utility franchise fee. One of them will give you the ability to add up to… You set the level, but it gives you the ability to add up to 6% tax on a utility bill. The other one gives you up to 10%, and combined, you would be able to add a total of 16% on a utility bill. That would be revenue for the city. Most cities in the state have them. I think there’s only a handful, maybe four or five or six cities, that do not. Palm Coast is one of them, and it’s always rejected it. But now, with these new potential realities, or even without them, where do you stand on the utility franchise fee and the public service tax?
Dylana Galery: So the utility franchise fee, I believe that’s something that I need to study on. If it’s a fee that could help diversify the city revenue, where it distributes costs amongst like large commercial users… I believe that I think that deserves a careful look at. However, I would also consider how it would affect residents’ utility bills before making a decision on that for utility franchise fee. As far as like the public service fee, I’m willing to look into that as well, too, but be part of like a long-term financial strategy. I wouldn’t want to support any new revenue source just simply because that just means government wants more money.
FlaglerLive: Interestingly that you mentioned the commercial, because those two taxes… Obviously, the property tax does not affect non-profits. It doesn’t affect the schools. It doesn’t affect the local hospitals because they’re non-profits, and so there’s no revenue, or it doesn’t affect churches. Those two taxes, because they go on utilities, would actually extend to all of those entities and generate revenue from them. The data center as well. The data center would normally just pay straight property tax, as it would once it opens, but it would not pay anything for the electricity it would use, even though it’s going to be probably the largest user, along with the two hospitals, of electricity in the city, but they won’t be paying the utility franchise fee or the public service tax. Those sources would diversify, but they have generated very, very substantial opposition every time they’ve come before the council, and the council has come close to passing them and then walked it back on several occasions. But that was without the amendment, facing down the amendment that’s coming up in November. All right, is there another tax or revenue source that you have thought about that could be tapped?
Dylana Galery: Nothing at the moment.
FlaglerLive: Talk about growth. The quality of the growth you’ve seen in Palm Coast—and you’ve been here long enough to see it from 10 years ago to today. So, how would you rate the quality of development we’ve been experiencing?
Dylana Galery: So the growth, I mean, obviously Palm Coast continues to grow faster and faster. I don’t think the issue is how much growth we’ve seen; it’s just whether or not it was planned. Were we adequately planned correctly for that growth? I think that would be the question. I think that infrastructure lags behind the development, and honestly, residents are starting to feel that impact through the congestion of the traffic, the rising of utility costs… You know, a lot of people are complaining about utility bills going up, and we’re seeing a lot more pressure and demand from the use of city services. I think that growth should happen, but it should be at a pace where our city can handle it. Right now, the growth is outpacing what we can handle.
FlaglerLive: If there is a development proposal that comes before the council during your term, what would be the sort of land use you would be opposed to, and what would you approve?
Dylana Galery: I think I would oppose any development that places a burden on our existing residents. This includes projects that move forward without adequate road capacity, a sufficient utility infrastructure, a stormwater responsible plan, or even reliable long-term water resources. So I think I would oppose that. I don’t want that. I would oppose developments that fail to demonstrate a meaningful benefit to our public, or shift infrastructure costs onto taxpayers. So that’s what I would oppose. One of the things I would say, just on the last one, I would make sure that the cost of infrastructure or impact fees wouldn’t fall on our residents and would get pushed back to developers.
FlaglerLive: You know there are about 6,000 infill lots in Palm Coast yet to be built, the old ITT lots. You and I live in the R and P section, so there may be about 1,000 lots between those two large neighborhoods. If those lots are developed, how do they in any way affect you and me as existing residents? If they are built, how would they affect us or our quality of life in a negative way with utility and transportation?
Dylana Galery: I think with the lots that we already have from previously, it’s really what we’re putting on those. Are we putting single-family homes on it, or multi-family homes on it? Those lots are already built out. It’s going to run into the traffic that we already kind of have. Do I see a major increase in that? No. Will we see a slight increase in traffic and whatnot? Yes. I think when we talk about growth and development, we’re talking about not what’s already existing and what we’re planning to build on, but what’s to come.
FlaglerLive: Do you have any opposition to apartment complexes?
Dylana Galery: I think that goes back into where it is and how many. I know we’ve gotten a lot thrown up in the last couple of years. We’ve had a lot thrown up. I think it all depends on where it is. I’m not necessarily opposed to it, because at the end of the day, I first started off in an apartment, and I think that that might be feasible for people. So I’m not opposed to it; I just don’t think that it should be on every corner of the city.
FlaglerLive: Clearly it’s not. There are very designated places where they go, but sometimes they’re on the edge of residential zoned areas for single-family homes, and because they’re on those edges, you get people turning up at planning board meetings or city council meetings saying, “I don’t want these apartments next to me because they’re going to bring riffraff.” How do you react to that?
Dylana Galery: I think it kind of goes back into the neighborhoods that we already have. I don’t think just because an apartment complex is next to, let’s say, single-family homes or multi-family homes, it causes riffraff. I think it’s the culture that you build around that area. Heck, you know, that might be what we need. I don’t think you can just say that building an apartment complex next to you is going to cause chaos, riffraff, or not. I think that’s just judging before we even see what it holds. Heck, you might find that the apartment renters might be the quietest people of all, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that building an apartment complex next door would be the riffraff.
FlaglerLive: The Flagler County Home Builders Association is suing Palm Coast over impact fees—the increase of impact fees in parks, roads, and… What was the third one? I think it was fire. Parks, roads, and fire. Those impact fees passed in June of 2025, and the city increased them by a little over 100 percent each one of them.
So let’s assume that the association is challenging not the fact that they passed higher impact fees, but that they went beyond the 50% threshold that the state law allows by claiming that there were extraordinary circumstances. The association claims there were no extraordinary circumstances. So, in your view, if you were a witness in that case, on whose side would you be?
Dylana Galery: On that, I think I would side with the city—to the city’s ability to charge reasonable but legally supported impact fees. I think growth should help pay for the infrastructure it requires, but I don’t think that the existing residents should bear the financial burden of the roads, the parks, or any transportation improvements just because it’s deemed necessary by new development.
I believe impact fees exist because growth is going to create an additional demand on the public infrastructure. So I think if those costs are shifted entirely onto existing taxpayers, then residents end up subsidizing new development. So I think as long as the fees are supported by a financial analysis and comply with Florida law, I would support it. I think it’s important planning.
FlaglerLive: Well, I don’t want to leave the impression that the city did anything illegal. They had the studies that are required before you increase impact fees. The difference in this case was that they went more than double what the threshold allowed them to do, but they also justified that legally because the law makes a provision for that increase beyond the 50% threshold. What the argument is, the home builders are claiming that you did not have justification for extraordinary circumstances, and I’m curious to know whether you think that extraordinary circumstances existed to justify the doubling.
Dylana Galery: At this time, I don’t think there was. I think that to give better examples, I think I would want to look more into it. Just going off of a first glance and reading a piece a couple weeks ago, I would want to look more into it to give you a clear answer with an example. But that would be something I’m curious to look more into because I have seen it across social media, you know, there were concerns with that happening.
FlaglerLive: So you would have been a no vote on the doubling in June 2025?
Dylana Galery: At that time, it’s really hard to say without having… I would like to have all my facts straight to say whether I would be a no or a yes. I think the example that I gave earlier just explained how I was moving at that time.
FlaglerLive: So the westward expansion: you saw one of the issues with these interviews is they take place over a long period of time, and the earlier interviews with some of your other candidates took place before Wednesday’s meeting, which was a couple of days ago at the planning board that turned down the westward expansion. It wasn’t the MPD; it was the comprehensive plan application to change the comprehensive plan and to change the zoning, so it wasn’t yet getting to the MPD, the master planned development. So, what was your reaction when you heard that they turned down the rezoning and the land use?
Dylana Galery: I was there. I was in the back corner. So when we heard the two proposals, and then when we got to the vote at the dais, it was really trying to… It falls back on that transparency. When we had public comments, there were a lot of concerns, right? There were a lot of things that weren’t clearly explained, and we were just as residents, and even the board members, we were trying to ask for clarification of, you know, “If this is to pass, are you going to continue with what you say, or are you going to change it?”
Or even the county asking or saying that they sent in a memo asking pretty much to have a seat at the table to watch the progress, and conveniently they said that they got it, but they overlooked it. But it just looks like the developer is trying to shut county and city out, which doesn’t show good faith to the residents.
I agree with if they would have said, “Hey, you know, let’s table it at the moment to reconvene to kind of hear what everyone’s saying and then come back,” opposed to that they were just looking for whether or not you say approve or deny, because either way, we’re going to city council. And that doesn’t show good faith or transparency, in my opinion, to residents. It just looks like we’re either damned if you do, damned if you don’t—it doesn’t matter, we’re still going.
And I see how the board was really trying to get them to take a step back, reconvene, reevaluate what we’re saying, put it in your plan, so that way we get a clear understanding of what you guys are really trying to bring here.
In my opinion, on the westward expansion, if it’s done correctly, it’s going to benefit Palm Coast. But the way that it’s happening right now, it’s a little concerning. I have a lot of concerns about it. I’m not opposed to expansion, but I’m opposed to expanding faster than our infrastructure can support. I’m also opposed to approving a proposal that doesn’t give clear answers, especially when we’re asking about it.
There were times where they opened it up for public comments, and we’re asking questions, and they came back up, and they were like, “Well, if you look at the legend…” Well, the legend just really… I know what a legend is for, but we’re not getting a clear understanding of this legend, right? Like you’re not breaking it down to us. Like we have you in front of us, and we’re trying to get those answers. It was like we were beating around the bush, and honestly, that doesn’t sit well with me.
I do take the stance in that, “Hey, we probably should have tabled this so that way you guys had a little bit more time to take everything that we said, put it back together, and then re-present it to us,” opposed to you just waiting for us to say no or yes.
I do admire that the board was really trying to guide, “Hey, you couldn’t really… can’t really table. You can only either approve or deny at this moment to go up to city council.” So I think the meeting the other day… Residents were already concerned about the planning of that, the proposal of that, and it just really made us on edge a lot more because it was like you’re not breaking anything down for us.
FlaglerLive: So assuming you were sitting on the council in a couple of weeks when this is going before council, you would be a no vote.
Dylana Galery: I would, because like I said… And let me repeat, I’m torn, but it will most likely be a not right now. So yes, a no. I do think that the westward expansion will help Palm Coast shape up for generations to come. I believe we need that, but we have to ensure that infrastructure, utilities, transportation, public safety, and our water resources are fully planned. But you also have to tell us what’s coming. Is this just going to be residential, or are we going to get more things out of it? Right now, it just looks like it’s going to be residential. I want to know.
FlaglerLive: They’ve outlined 3.2 million square feet of industrial, almost 2 million of commercial and office. But like Albano, I think it was, or one of them made the point that, well, that does not add up to very much in an expanse as large as 21,000 acres. It amounts, for industrial, to 72 acres, which is not that much. It’s true. I had not actually thought of it in those terms, but the numbers look large on paper, but in context they don’t look that large.
So, but in fairness to them, they have outlined specifically exactly how much is going to be devoted down to the number of apartments that they intend, at least at this stage. But they’ve also conceded that that’s not necessarily the ultimate plan, because it can be changed along the way. I think there is some obscurity as to to what extent it can be changed administratively, as opposed to in front of the planning board or the city council, which would be very worrisome because we would not know what is being changed, and I think that was one of the issues as well on Wednesday.
Let’s say they work all this out, and it gets to a yes vote. We’re talking about the addition of 54,000 people between now and 2056, and of course the buildup of an entirely new city, essentially west of US 1. How does that happen, and at the same time, the existing Palm Coast that we’ve been talking about the rest of the time gets its share of infrastructure improvements, roads, needs, all of those things? How can we do both at the same time?
Dylana Galery: I think what it all boils down to is making sure that what’s to come, that it’s planned out appropriately, right? I know we fall into a time where a lot of our questions or our answers that we get is that we’re playing catch-up. When we really set out this plan, we have to make sure that what we have set in place is going to… we’re going to be set up for good—like, not good, but we’re more proactive than being reactive.
We’re not just going day to day, so we’re setting up for a long-term investment opposed to just going project by project. When we talk about the infrastructure, the roads, and everything, we want to make sure that we have a good investment of what we’re putting out. So making sure like our infrastructure is taken care of, our roads, you know, the utilities for this project… We want to make sure that we have a good plan in place so that way we’re not back to square one where we have to play catch-up from something in the past.
FlaglerLive: Are you confident that the city can pull that off?
Dylana Galery: I think with the right things being presented to us and us actually slowing down and reading and asking the right questions, it definitely can be manageable. Do I think that developers or city council is at a steady pace right now? No, not all the times. I feel like sometimes we do just pull the trigger, and I think that falls back onto what residents are speaking about—that major decisions are happening, and, you know, we’re getting input after the fact that the decision’s already made. At the end of the day, the city has to work… It needs to work for all of us, not just for the dais.
FlaglerLive: As far as traffic is concerned, and you’ve mentioned that it is one of the major complaints, what would be your solution if you had executive authority?
Dylana Galery: No more roundabouts! No, just kidding. I’m not really a big fan of roundabouts.
FlaglerLive: Oh, that’s too bad. Roundabouts make me swoon. I think roundabouts are the great solution to traffic. I don’t understand why they’re so divisive. It’s like saying no to tiramisu.
Dylana Galery: When it comes to traffic, it’s going to take a combination of making sure that we’re planning better, that we have smart investments, and then that the coordination between the city, the county, and the Florida Department of Transportation is stronger. We have to get that stronger.
I think we need to make sure new development pays for the transportation improvements that are required. I think once again, I’m going to speak on it again: I don’t think growth should outpace our road capacities, as well, too.
I think we also need to look into how we improve traffic flow with either evaluating signal timing, making sure that we’re adding turning lanes where appropriate, and then improving the intersections that we have. I think that would increase the connectivity between neighborhoods, so traffic isn’t just forced into one major area.
I think also, if we wanted to, we could probably maybe plan a little further ahead and think about the afterthought of what happens when congestion becomes a problem, right? Should it be… Is that one of the things that every major land use should decide from the beginning, you know? Is that something that we need to either work closely with Flagler County or FDOT, especially when our busiest roads are regional areas?
But I also think solving for traffic means that we need to have a partnership, not necessarily pointing to the county or the state or the city. And we just have to remember that traffic isn’t just about roads; it’s about how we plan and making sure that we’re planning the growth responsibly.
FlaglerLive: There’s been a mention at the Wednesday meeting, for instance, that the westward expansion is going to relieve pressure on traffic on this side of Palm Coast because it’s going to move some of the commercial activity over there. And I also heard it said that if we put an effort into developing the north side of Palm Coast, we might relieve the pressure on this area, the further south area of Palm Coast on commercial development.
But I also remember a couple of decades ago when the commercial movement was beginning to move towards State Road 100, it was said that, “Oh, it’s going to relieve pressure from Palm Coast Parkway and Island Walk,” and so on. It wasn’t called Island Walk at the time, but it’s going to relieve pressure from that area, and that way it’ll make traffic flow more smoothly. But all we’ve done, it seems, is the traffic has remained what it is and increased on Palm Coast Parkway, and now we have a second hub of very heavy congestion down on 100. Why would the same principle not apply to the development that will eventually end up at the north end of Palm Coast and then on the west side, when all we’re doing is adding, but we’re not exactly subtracting?
Dylana Galery: I think it just falls back into like we talked about, the planning, right? I don’t know all about that planning that was set in place for those areas, but I think when we’re asking the questions about the westward expansion, those are the type of questions that we need to be asking.
You know, what does that growth… with that growth, what does that look like for our roads? How does that make our traffic flow a little bit better? How does that, you know, not have a major impact on 100, U.S. 1, things like that? Those are the type of questions that I would want a little bit better understanding, since that’s not my expertise, right?
Those are what I mean when, when elected, I’m asking those types of questions. It’s not that I want you to… I pretty much want you to put them in layman’s terms, because at the end of the day, I want to know to make sure that I have a clear understanding before I say yes or before I say no.
A lot of times, I think sometimes if we don’t ask the right questions, then we don’t get a better understanding of what’s being presented to us or what is being needed, and I would ask those questions. Well, what does that look like? Can you give us an example, right? Those would be the type of questions that I would ask just to see, because, you know, Susie Jo might come up to the dais and ask that question, right?
And that’s where that transparency needs to come out. It’s going to look like A, B, and C opposed to X, Y, and Z. So I would ask more qualifying questions of, you say that it’s going to improve traffic, but what does that look like? Now, you don’t have to tell me that you’re going to put four major highways or something to let the flow keep going, but I do think it’s worthwhile giving us a little bit of an example of what you mean by that.
To your point, you know, it’s been said in the past. Okay, so can’t fix what was done in the past, but I want to focus on the present and in the future so we don’t run into the same thing that we’ve had before.
FlaglerLive: The sheriff’s office and fire rescue—they traditionally, in our surveys that the city does, they get some of the highest marks in that survey. But it’s also been very expensive. The sheriff’s budget has increased over 400 percent in the last ten years in the city alone, and fire rescue, 102 percent in the last ten years, way beyond both inflation and population. The population has increased in that period 23%. So how are those increases sustainable, and how are they defensible?
Dylana Galery: I think when we talk about public safety, right… So public safety is an important responsibility. I believe it’s one of the important responsibilities of our local government. I think when I think how Palm Coast has just been growing significantly, I just think that the increase comes with the growth, and it demands for more law enforcement, emergency responses, technology, equipment, and also training, as well as facilities.
I think inflation might have had something to do with that, the cost of providing those services, so that’s something that we probably have to look in as well, too. I think the increase… All increases deserve careful review, but I don’t think the number alone tells the entire story, because once again, everything that I just mentioned, including inflation…
I think my focus would be whether residents are receiving measurable improvements, like in public safety, the response times with our staffing levels that we have, and what are the outcomes in the community, right? If we’re increasing this budget, but the response times are slower, then I’ve got some questions. But if we’re getting faster response times, including increasing our staffing levels and having positive community outcomes, then I would see that as a plus.
I think when it comes to the fire, I think you said it was 102%, so it doubled in the last ten years.
FlaglerLive: In the last ten years.
Dylana Galery: Yeah. So I think just like the fire, it’s just like police services. It’s going to get expensive as the city grows. So I think additional stations, equipment, emergency medical response, personnel… I think inflation once again has to contribute to the higher cost of it as well, too.
I think the key is whether the spending has increased, whether those investments are improving services and keeping residents safe, so we have to make sure that we’re looking at that. As far as it being sustainable, I think that’s a question we’re going to ask every year, right? I don’t think we could simply assume that budgets are going to continue growing at the same pace forever.
I just think, if elected, I’ll ask once again for long-term financial forecasts. I want to see performance metrics. I want to see a staff analysis. I want to see an operational review. I want to ensure that our public safety remains financially sustainable and effective.
So I want to make sure that that is… because when it comes to residents, they deserve to know that they have excellent public safety, and that we as a city are a good steward of their tax dollars. So I think that’s showing the transparency of where our tax dollars are going and how it’s being put to use.
FlaglerLive: The last question is your legal background. So if you’ve ever been charged with a felony, a misdemeanor anywhere in Flagler, Florida, or the country other than a speeding ticket, or if you’ve faced a civil action other than a divorce?
Dylana Galery: No, sir, to both.
FlaglerLive: And as far as your professional life, if you’ve ever faced any disciplinary action or demotion in your professional life?
Dylana Galery: No, sir.
FlaglerLive: And then there’s not been any professional boards that oversee your professions that have had to either investigate you or issue sanctions?
Dylana Galery: No, sir.
FlaglerLive: Very good. All right. Well, that brings us to the end of the interview. I want to thank you very much for taking the time and the patience to answer as clearly as you did, and I can only wish you the best of luck in the next few weeks. And I’m sure we’ll talk again very soon.
Dylana Galery: I appreciate you. Thank you.
None submitted.
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