Flagler Beach Has a New Mayor in King, a New Chair in Spradley, and One Temporarily Ruffled Feather

The Flagler Beach City Commission has a new mayor in Patti King following a non-election that saw her seated without opposition as her predecessor, Suzie Johnston, chose not to run. And in a snub to tradition he prompted, though it wasn’t intended to be on his behalf, Scott Spradley, a year and a day into his first term, was elected commission chair, leaving Commissioner Rick Belhumeur dejected over being passed over.




King, the executive director of the Flagler Beach Museum, was sworn-in for her first term Thursday evening and Commissioner Eric Cooley was sworn-in for his third just before he relinquished the gavel to Spradley, who’d intended it for Commissioner James Sherman. Though there’s nothing formal about it, the vice chair traditionally moves up to chair. Belhumeur was the vice chair.

“I know that we have sort of an informal tradition around here for the election” of the chair, Spradley said. “But I’ve given this a lot of thought and I know that of the current board, Commissioner Sherman and I have not served as chair to this point.” Sherman being in the third year of his three-year term, Spradley said, “it’s appropriate that Commissioner Sherman should be considered as Chair.”

Then Commissioner Jane Mealy surprised him. She agreed with Spradley’s reasoning. But she nominated Spradley instead. “You take a lot of things into consideration then I think it would be good to have you as the Chair,” she said. Spradley had not expected it that wrench in his own plans.

When Cooley asked him if he wanted the nomination, Spradley responded with the ironically contra-Shermanesque statement, though it had nothing to do with James Sherman: “If elected, I will serve.” (It is the inversion of the statement Civil War Gen. William Sherman twice made–“if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve”–when he was being solicited for the presidency in 1872 and 1884.)




“It sounded like you are nominating Commissioner Sherman, but then you got nominated as well. So what what is your decision on that?” Cooley asked him, though the chairman in his own sunset was jumping too far ahead: no one had seconded any nominations, as the commission’s attorney reminded everyone. Belhumeur was visibly despondent. “Two years ago,” he said, “I was vice chair at this point in time but got outvoted by Commissioner Sherman. So I lost my spot on the on the board. Again, I got vice chair this past year, so I’ve been kind of gearing up towards being in the in a chair for two years now. So I’ll just probably end up nominating myself, I guess.”

Belhumeur served two consecutive terms, lost the election that Sherman won two years ago, then won again a year ago. He has served as chair once previously. His nomination was seconded by Cooley. Sherman seconded Mealy’s nomination of Spradley after thanking him for trying to make him chair. “I could maybe use a little bit more time,” Sherman said. “But I would gladly serve as your vice chair.” Sherman said that as matters stand today, he does intend to run again, especially with the kind of group he’s serving with now, but he has a young family and work commitments, so his decision is not final.

Mealy and Sherman voted for Spradley, with Spradley casting the vote that decided it for him, while Cooley and Belhumeur voted for Belhumeur. Moments later the vote for Sherman as vice chair was unanimous. Belhumeur was not happy. But he’s not the sort of man to begrudge much for very long, and dolefulness can seem like a default setting for him. The ruffled feather soon unruffled. But the procedural maneuvering overshadowed a bit the final moments of Johnston’s tenure and the first of King’s.

King, a more reserved personality than both her predecessors in the mayor’s chair, waited until the very end of the meeting before addressing her election in all of a dozen words: “I’m excited to be here. Look forward to learning a whole bunch more.” By then the commission had long before bid farewell to Johnston.




“Appreciate three years of hard work, stress and the highest paying job you’ve ever had,” Cooley told Johnston during the reorganization part of the meeting, when the sun was nearing the horizon. Johnston happens to be Cooley’s companion: the two had spoken of stepping down together, but Cooley changed his mind a few months ago, saying he wanted to see through the several major ongoing projects in the city (the building of the Margaritaville Hotel, the rebuilding of the beach, the rebuilding of A1A, the rebuilding of the pier, the city’s approaching centennial).

“It’s been fun to serve the city, interact with the residents and really try to take the town to just another level in three years,” Johnston said. “It’s a lot of hard work. A lot of training of residents so they understand ordinances and rules and land development codes, especially right now with lots of construction going on in town. But I’m lucky to have sat with a great commission in the last year or two. It’s been really enjoyable.” City Clerk Penny Overstreet gifted her a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the city, and Spradley, a photographer whose works adorn a sizable portion of the commission chamber wall’s square footage, gifted her the framed picture of a sunset refracted over ocean clouds. The image may or may not have been an intended symbol of Johnston’s departure: a sunset, yes, but not so overt that Johnston, still among the younger and most assertive officials in the county, is riding into it.

Besides, Johnston made it explicit: “Oh, I’ll be back,” she said before choosing not to remain for what would be three more hours of meeting time, and exiting through the side door.