Jeani Duarte, Palm Coast City Council Candidate: The Live Interview

Jeani Duarte is one of three candidates for the Palm Coast City Council, District 2, an open seat. She faces Tony Amaral Jr. and Jimmy Hengy.

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.

Four candidates are contesting the District 4 seat: Dylana Dee Galery, John Kvederis, Ramon Marrero and Darlene Shelley. Charles Gambaro was appointed to that seat 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. 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 reader’s hands.

–Pierre Tristam

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

The Interview Themes in Summary: Quick Links

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

 

The Video: 

The Basics: 

 

FlaglerLive: Good morning, Miss Duarte. Thank you very much for being part of the interview.

Jeani Duarte: Thank you for having me.

FlaglerLive: We will start right away with the very beginning. Tell us, where and when were you born?

Jeani Duarte: San Gabriel, California, May 12, 1967.

FlaglerLive: What brought you to Palm Coast?

Jeani Duarte: I have a lot of family in Florida. I have a sister who lives in St. Augustine, so I came out here in 2016 because I wanted to be part of her life and my family out this way.

FlaglerLive: What was your profession before you came here?

Jeani Duarte: I used to own a bakery, and then I got certified as a fitness nutrition specialist. I also had four homes, so I dabbled in short-term and long-term rentals. It was eclectic.

FlaglerLive: Elsewhere and here?

Jeani Duarte: I did the short-term rentals here in Palm Coast.

FlaglerLive: Since you have been here 10 years now, have you had other professions or trades in Palm Coast?

Jeani Duarte: No, I am retired, and I do a lot of my stuff for free and for fun.

FlaglerLive: This is a nonpartisan race, but what is your party affiliation?

Jeani Duarte: I am Republican.

FlaglerLive: How have you prepared yourself to be ready to succeed on the council from day one?

Jeani Duarte: There has been a lot of preparation along the way since the 2024 election, learning about what has been going on, getting to the meetings, and finding out what is going on behind the scenes. A lot of people do not see what is happening at the city council meetings because they do not attend them. I really want to encourage people to attend these meetings so they can see for themselves or watch them on YouTube.

FlaglerLive: You attend every single one of them and the workshops?

Jeani Duarte: Not every single one, but pretty much. If I am not out of state or something, I will be there. I have actually rented cars to be at a meeting because my car was in the shop.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Preparation and Character

FlaglerLive: We have noticed you appear before the council a lot and speak on many issues, almost on most agenda items. How do you prepare for those meetings, and how would you prepare for your tenure on the council beyond simply being present? I am referring to the homework that you might do. What documents have you researched, such as city documents, city agendas, background, and backup materials?

Jeani Duarte: It is funny that you ask me that because this is my office. It has a whole ton of research that I have been doing. [Duarte points the camera at a spread of papers and boxes on a large table.] I have two containers here, and I am still doing a bunch of it. This is just water, this is the charter, and this is all research. This entire room is all research. I have been studying, documenting, and learning about what is going on. When somebody says, “Oh, well, she does not do her research,” well, there you go. I do my research, and I have backup for everything I say.

FlaglerLive: What would you say is the ratio between the research material you just showed us that is city-based, generated by the city itself, as opposed to outside research that you might be finding elsewhere?

Jeani Duarte: Outside research is secondary. Most of what I have back there is documented straight from the city. Before they made changes to our city website, I printed out a whole bunch that you cannot find now, and I have to file [Freedom of Information] requests. A lot of us have to file FOIA requests for things that used to be on our website and no longer are. I am thankful that I started printing over two years ago.

FlaglerLive: Tell us about a character flaw that might be a challenge for you on the council.

Jeani Duarte: I am not the best speaker, and I will admit that up front, but I am not afraid to speak my mind and get my words across. I hate it when I am being pressed for time. I sit there for hours listening to them talking on the dais and listening to presentations, but when I get up there, I am cut off short-term. It stresses me out to where my little pea brain just stops, and I do not like that. If I were not under so much pressure to get so much out, maybe I could speak better.

FlaglerLive: Take that opportunity to address the couple of times when you were basically told to leave the meeting. What leads to those situations, and how might you deal with a situation where decorum would become an issue for you as a council member, and your fellow council members might object to how you would conduct yourself?

Jeani Duarte: I think I conducted myself rather well, other than last night. The mayor, after I started talking about the sewage water toilet-to-tap system and the boil water notices, tried to cut me off. Everything I was talking about, the presenter actually spoke of; he brought up the sources of our water. Why would I not be able to bring up the water, the boil water, and what I have to go through to provide healthy water here in my home? Over and over, I keep getting cut off at the dais, and my rights are being violated. If I were on the dais and I saw somebody trying to get their words out, I would say once their time starts, give them their three minutes and do not nitpick about what they can and cannot say. Give them their three minutes and stay out of it. It is their three minutes.

FlaglerLive: Is there anything that might be beyond the acceptable during those three minutes?

Jeani Duarte: It is our right to speak. The people on the dais do not have to like what we have to say. When the community speaks, and the community is the boss of the council and the mayor, the community is above all that. For them to come to the podium and be cut off is doing them a disservice. As long as they are speaking, the mayor and council do not have to like what is being said; they just have to sit there, endure it, and listen.

FlaglerLive: Yes, of course, but I am talking about slander standards. We cannot really go up there and baselessly accuse or slander an individual publicly on tape of various things just because we have a three-minute period, right?

Jeani Duarte: If they are going to slander or say something about someone on the dais, there are consequences if somebody wants to sue that person for saying that. At least they have video of them saying it. Unless you can provide proof, you have to come with proof to tell that person to stop talking, to prove that person is saying something that is not true. Telling the truth is not slander; it is the truth. You have to prove it if you are going to fight it, instead of just telling someone, “Oh, you cannot talk now.” If somebody is up there threatening and being violently threatening, that is a different story. As far as being passionate and having a voice, everybody has that right. We are here in America.

FlaglerLive: Who would you consider to be a model of leadership in office today among our various local governments and elected officials? Who would be your ideal?

Jeani Duarte: I am not going to point anyone out because I am discouraged with every one of them, honestly.

FlaglerLive: Who do you come close to at least appreciating and considering to be a model of leadership locally? It does not have to be the city council; it could be any local board whatsoever.

Jeani Duarte: I cannot pick one person that I would compare myself to.

FlaglerLive: Not so much compare yourself to, as really appreciate the way they conduct themselves. If you were to say to students, “Here is how we should be as elected officials,” who would that be?

Jeani Duarte: I have seen too much from just about everyone to compare myself to one.

FlaglerLive: Does that mean that you actually dislike them all?

Jeani Duarte: Mayor Norris used to be somebody I actively supported, and he is not anybody I even recognize anymore. I do not know where he is coming from. He can go up there, say something about the westward expansion, and get a lot of applause for it, but at the same time, when you are kicking people out, cutting people off, and being rude to the citizens at the podium, I have no respect for that.

FlaglerLive: Setting that aside, had he previously been somebody you looked up to as a leader?

Jeani Duarte: Only momentarily, from time to time.

FlaglerLive: How long have you been attending meetings now?

Jeani Duarte: Since August 27, 2024.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Evaluating the Council’s performance

FlaglerLive: Give the council a letter grade on its performance over the course of that period.

Jeani Duarte: An F.

FlaglerLive: An F? Can you give specific examples, one or two examples of what would lead to an F?

Jeani Duarte: Flip-flopping, for one. They have a great way of presenting the issues, but when it comes down to listening to the public, they do not listen. When it comes down to voting, they go opposite of what everybody is talking about.

FlaglerLive: For instance?

Jeani Duarte: Like the water treatment plants, the data centers, the development, the cell towers, everything they talk about. We talk about how negative it is, and the citizens will go up and speak about a development like the ICI development and how we do not need 13 more units. We do not need to go down to 40 feet wide and three stories tall and add more entitlements to that area, especially when there is only one exit. They will agree and agree, and then they will turn around and give it to them. Even when they agree with the community about this and that, and they talk a good talk, they will still give that developer the entitlement. Some of them were taking donations from that same developer just a week before that was passed. I have no respect for that.

FlaglerLive: You mentioned the utility issue. How did they flip-flop on the utility issue?

Jeani Duarte: Last night somebody was saying, “Oh, the water is safe,” but we had another boil water notice yesterday, and we had one on July 1 that has still not been rescinded. At the same time, when I was doing my research yesterday looking up our recent boil water notices, I was going into our yearly annual reports. On the backside of the yearly annual reports, it tells you exactly what is in your water and what you can expect in your water. It states right here that the contaminants could be from the sewage treatment plants and the septic system. My goodness, if we are getting our water from the aquifer and we are taking good care as to how and where we put these plants, why would we have sewage in our drinking water? Why would it be coming from the wastewater treatment plants? That is toilet-to-tap.

FlaglerLive: I am not familiar with those particular documents now, but to pull back a little bit to the utility vote, I think it was a year ago this last month. Regarding your F grade to the council: Do you apply that to their vote on the utility improvement plan and the bonds, and do you see any flip-flopping there? Because that seemed to be a difficult discussion. They held several meetings about it and then they finally voted, but do you give them an F for that as well?

Jeani Duarte: Absolutely. That bond goes against our charter. They will tell you that it is an enterprise fund. They base that enterprise fund for the funds they are requesting on future revenue that may or may not happen. It is like your parents giving you a credit card and saying you can use $1,000, and you turn around and tell your parents, “Oh, but you are going to make $10 million in your lifetime, so I am going to go out and spend it now.” Basically, they are hitting us on unrealized revenue. If the enterprise fund fails and we do not have those revenues coming in, the general fund will have to back that up. No matter how they look at it, the general fund is still on the hook for everything.

FlaglerLive: Actually, no. We had that situation in 2012 or 2013 where exactly what you are describing happened. The number of people expected to come in did not materialize. We had the housing crash, but they could not turn to the general fund. What they had to do was raise the utility rates because that is what the bondholders demand. They have to have an absolutely certain revenue source. They did raise rates, and they said it at one of the public meetings that they had to do this for the bondholders. In that sense—

Jeani Duarte: That would cause a big exiting of Palm Coast as well.

FlaglerLive: I am just saying that the general fund is not vulnerable to that; it would have to be done through the utility rates.

Jeani Duarte: I would need proof of that because, as far as my records show, that is exactly what would happen. To raise our utility rates any further would put people out of their homes.

FlaglerLive: I am sort of hearing a catch-22 because you are concerned about the quality of the water, the quality of the sewer system, and all of the things that you frequently talk about at the council. How do you address all those things without the utility plan or a utility plan similar to the one they approved? Aren’t we in a catch-22 at this point where you are saying, “I do not approve of what they did there, and I do not approve of the fact that they are not fixing the system.” How do you put the two together?

Jeani Duarte: They built wastewater treatment plant two right next to water treatment plant three, and that is right across the street from a landfill. They put all their efforts into that so they can boost it over to the westward expansion, when all along our water treatment plant one was overcapacitated. Water treatment plant one has not been held at capacity because there has not been a reason to hold it, because we haven’t had the expected need for it. That is directly from Pete Roussell. He showed me all the wells and said we are good, capacity is good, and we do not have a problem with capacity.

FlaglerLive: That was the Deputy Director of the Utilities, correct?

Jeani Duarte: Yes, so I had a four-and-a-half-hour tour with him of those three plants: water treatment plant one, water treatment plant three, and wastewater treatment plant two. He showed me the huge map of all the wells. A week later, he told me he was bragging about his toilet-to-tap system, the wastewater-to-potable-water system. He said it is as good as drinking water and told me we are one permit away from making it a reality. Then he turns around—

FlaglerLive: I think I know what you mean. They are very proud of the fact that they clean their system well, but I do not think they leap to saying that they are actually piping that water to people. What they are saying is that it is clean enough to be, but they are not using it for potable water, obviously.

Jeani Duarte: That day, I took it as that. He was telling me they are one permit away from proposing to make it a reality to use it for potable water. I was like, “Oh, really?” and he said, “Oh, but it won’t happen in our lifetime.” He had spoken of that, and a week later he was asking for that permit and requesting more wells. I was like, “Wait a minute, you told me you had enough wells and you had shown me tons of wells, but you only claim you have 66.” You have a lot more than 66 wells. What is this permit that you are asking for again—the one that you told me you were away from making a reality, meaning the toilet-to-tap thing that you are talking about here? He has not clarified any of that.

FlaglerLive: But to be clear, we do not have toilet-to-tap now, nor are we planning on having toilet-to-tap.

Jeani Duarte: I just showed you right here that our contaminants can be coming from the sewage treatment plants. How can that possibly be happening if they didn’t? What do you expect in your drinking water? What can you expect in your drinking water coming from where? Sewage, come on now. It is a little discreet disclaimer that they put in small writing to hide it. They are not going to come right out and tell you that they did this to us.

FlaglerLive: If you are saying they are deceiving us as far as what is in our water, you know that we are talking about criminal behavior, which I do not think the city would want to expose itself to, nor would—

Jeani Duarte: I am sure they do not.

FlaglerLive: I think it is important to stay on the side of what we know to be the case right now, and not speculate that they might be doing this.

Jeani Duarte: That is a 2023 print that I just showed you, and the 2025 print also has a disclaimer like that. Right there, it says it could be coming from sewage.

FlaglerLive: The paper you just showed me was not part of the boil notices? I was under the impression that was part of the boil notices from this week that were referred to. Okay, so those are previous documents.

Jeani Duarte: This is currently right on the website right now. This is your yearly annual water report. This is incomplete. I collected 20 years’ worth of annual water reports, and this is the backside of your annual water report, but you have to see this on the website. It is two pages right there on the website, and this is the bottom page that shows you what your contaminants can be coming from. Looking at 20 years of these, I was noticing some discrepancies of missing data. I put 20 years of water quality reports together, found missing data, went to Pete, and asked, “What is up with the missing data? Where is the chromium-6? It was elevating, and then it disappeared. Where is this?” He told me, “Oh, well, those are on different reports.” I am like, “You are putting chemicals and contaminants on different reports?” I asked for those reports, and it took me two months to get what he calls an agglomerated version. It was eight pages of everything squished together. I had to put it through a system to research what I was looking at and compare it to what they are presenting to the community. It is a totally different situation. The annual water reports that they show the community are not factual of what is actually going on with our water.

FlaglerLive: All right, let us set the utilities aside for a minute. Along the same theme, though, is there anything that you have seen the council do in the last couple of years that you think is good, where they have excelled, where they have done a good job? A couple of examples—surely you can come up with a couple of examples of that. You have been watching them in action for two years, almost uninterrupted.

Jeani Duarte: I give kudos to them when they are like, “Oh, we are trying to do this with the animal shelter,” but where is the animal shelter? “We are trying to do this for Habitat for Humanity,” but what are the other options that they have brought to the table for Habitat for Humanity? Last night they donated two lots, two parcels, to Habitat for Humanity, but instead of negotiating with the multi-family dwellings to get 10% of those to donate to that project or to negotiate with that project, there are other ways. Other than giving land that we own to somebody else for something that now they have to build, we can help people today with what we have. There are other options.

FlaglerLive: Is there something they have done that you approve of without qualifiers?

Jeani Duarte: Not off the bat. I have been so focused on the things that I am fighting against that nothing really sticks out too much that I am really happy for. Putting in speed bumps and trying to do that—it is common sense how to slow traffic down. They do not need to be putting in these temporary, huge speed bumps to see whether or not the community wants them. There are other low-grade ways to slow them down or to make noise for people to realize, “Hey, I am going too fast.” There are other options other than what they put out there. Those are kind of huge, and they were not good for emergency services bumping over those when you have somebody in the ambulance who may be in pain. There are other ways they could have handled that.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Mayor Norris

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

Jeani Duarte: A balance, definitely a balance. I feel his stress level. He used to be heading in the right direction, and then something happened. I could see his whole demeanor change, and quite frankly, it has changed for the worse now to where he is attacking people, and it is not right. What happened on the dais and what happened at that podium last night was not right. A lot of people came up and spoke out about it.

FlaglerLive: What are you referring to that happened last night that caused an issue?

Jeani Duarte: He tried to boot me out again. And all I was doing was talking about something that was already presented by Mr. Roussell, the utility director.

FlaglerLive: So complete your thought about whether you give him credit. In the last six months, the council has been working a lot more smoothly than it had previously. Do you not give him credit for that—not just him, I mean the whole council, but he is the mayor?

Jeani Duarte: Talking about being against the westward expansion, I was giving him kudos on that one, so I guess that could be something. The council as a whole, no, absolutely not. But I support him on that westward expansion; that whole project needs to be scrapped.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Goals

FlaglerLive: You are familiar with the strategic action plan, the council goals. Can you give us a couple of examples where you are aligned with it, a couple of examples where you are not, and then maybe a couple of examples that you would bring to the table that are not part of the goals today?

Jeani Duarte: First and foremost, the goals need to be getting Palm Coast straight with its charter. Our charter has been changed several times. Back in 2011, our elections were changed from odd years to even years. That was put on a primary ballot rather than a general ballot, and it needs to literally go back on a general ballot in order to make the 2026 election lawful. They have been holding these on even years without it actually being approved by the electors, and it is not a big deal, but let us just make things legit. In 2018, before the 2018 election, our charter used to be pretty big, up to 66 pages. Right after the 2018 election, our charter was reduced to less than 10 pages. I have that right here.

FlaglerLive: I think the extent of the pages you are talking about has to do a lot with geographic jargon, but it was not relevant to—

Jeani Duarte: The descriptions, maps, and district boundaries, but also to the language about the mayor, the compensation, and the initiatives.

FlaglerLive: This would be one goal that you would add, that you would want to re-approach the charter. But I am talking about things you support that this council is doing now in the plan—a couple of examples that you are supportive of.

Jeani Duarte: I think they need to take a look at just about everything that is going down, just about all of the developments that are currently happening. For one, we are not utilizing our geographic area, we are not utilizing the assets that Palm Coast has, we are putting homes in prime locations where businesses should be, and we are proposing industry where our wetlands are and homes in our wetlands that we shouldn’t be doing. We should be preserving our wetlands. It is unfortunate that I am seeing that the council is supporting the developers more than they are supporting the needs of the community. We have the ocean nearby, we have the Intracoastal, we have I-95, we have the railroad, and we have a historic brick road. We do not utilize any of that for stop-and-go revenue. None of it. The whole length of I-95, we have not utilized any of it for stop-and-go revenue. You do not see any businesses, gas stations, restaurants, or anything; you do not actually physically see any of them from the interstate.

FlaglerLive: I do not know what you mean by stop-and-go revenue.

Jeani Duarte: It is like when I am traveling and I have to stop for gas or food, I am going to look for somewhere that I can get off of. If I just see one blue sign for a restaurant or gas station, I have gotten off on those before and it has taken me two miles off in order to find one.

FlaglerLive: Palm Coast was very proud of itself in terms of maintaining a certain aesthetic so that it eliminated the big towering signs that you would see alongside the highway on purpose, so that it wouldn’t clutter the view. You are not saying that you would want those in the city, are you?

Jeani Duarte: To a point, in some areas, yes, I do. We need to support our businesses, and if they cannot be visible, if we cannot let people know on the interstate, “Hey, there is a restaurant below you. Hey, there is lodging right here,” we are not making it visible where they can see, “Oh, it is right there. Let us get off here because it is right here.” We do not have to go on some wild goose chase to get to it.

FlaglerLive: What do you think of the sign ordinance that the council has just approved? They had to make great efforts to get to the point where they would even approve electronic signs. Are you in agreement with that new sign ordinance?

Jeani Duarte: To a point. Actually, when I was at that meeting, I was proposing that they allow some of these nearby businesses that are near the interstate to have taller signs so they can be visible, because all of them are below the interstate where you cannot see them.

FlaglerLive: Again, I am not really hearing much support for any of their goals. You have spoken critically about a lot of what they are doing, but nothing in support of—

Jeani Duarte: Yeah, unfortunately, I have a bad taste in my mouth over a lot that they have been doing, and I do not see that it has been beneficial to the citizens. We need to work with the citizens more. We need to find out what areas are in more need. Some of the roads—they are repaving roads that have no problems with them when there are roads like Florida Park Drive that are in disrepair. You can go down to the P-section, and there are some bad roads there, but they are putting their effort on areas that have some longevity still to them. I haven’t been seeing a lot of use of our funds being put to the needs of our community, and I give them opportunity after opportunity to show me that they are for the community, but it seems like they are pushing to push whatever the developers want.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

The Homestead Amendment

FlaglerLive: Speaking of funds, how will you vote on the proposed amendment to raise the homestead exemption?

Jeani Duarte: My husband is a retired Marine, so we benefit already from that. We do not pay on our home; we are exempt from that. I feel honestly that everybody’s homestead should not be under attack. If we were to pass away and leave our home to our family, the property rates, if they cannot afford it even though the mortgage is paid for, could cause them to not be able to stay here and have to sell because the appraisals are going up and up. That is unrealized gains. I would vote yes because your home shouldn’t be leaned against, and you shouldn’t be threatened to have to leave your home or move after spending 30 years here putting in all this and paying for this. They are telling me that I am just renting it, because if I do not pay them, I am going to lose my house.

FlaglerLive: Just to be clear, though, if it does pass, your family, were they to move into your house, they would still begin at the new rate regardless. Even if it does pass, they would still have to pay the higher rate; they would not have the protected value that you are not paying.

Jeani Duarte: You are correct, and that is why I want to protect my future generation coming forward—so that if this is their homestead, they are not going to be attacked and have to deal with paying that as well. I am going to vote yes because if I give my child or a family member down the road this home, I want to be assured that if for some reason they cannot afford it, they are not going to lose it.

FlaglerLive: How do you make up the loss of revenue?

Jeani Duarte: There are all kinds of ways of making up the loss. There is grant money, and we do not pay income tax here in Florida. There are all kinds of ways that everybody should be paying—the renters should be paying, visitors should be paying—it should not be on the backs of the homeowners. The only reason why it is on the backs of the homeowners is because the homeowners have something to lean against, they have something to lose, and that is just so wrong. Everybody needs to participate in bringing in the revenue to support this. If they are here visiting and they spend money, that is why stop-and-go revenue is so important: stop in, spend your money, and go out. If you have ever walked into a Buc-ee’s, you notice that they do not have seating, tables, or chairs for you to sit. It is like, get what you need and go, and that is what we need to do. Stop-and-go revenue. We do not need to be planting a bunch of houses here and getting people to move here. We need to provide services and amenities so they can come get what they need short-term and go.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Sales Tax and Other Revenue Levies

FlaglerLive: The next question touches on that, on the sales tax. I was going to ask you where you stand on maybe raising the sales tax, but even assuming that the sales tax was raised, it wouldn’t make up for the loss of revenue that is expected if the amendment passes.

Jeani Duarte: When we had our rentals, we had three short-term and long-term rentals. We were paying on those and we paid the property taxes on those, even though we weren’t paying on our homestead. If we are being fair to everybody as far as paying their fair share, maybe even those can be reduced down, but I do not see that they are going to lower those any.

FlaglerLive: They are going to be capped. They will have the 5% cap that they do not enjoy now; it is going to go down from 10% to 5% as far as valuations are concerned. Vacation rentals also pay the 5% tourism tax, but you are saying that those should be lowered.

Jeani Duarte: I mean, if you are getting in enough revenue, give the people who have been paying a break.

FlaglerLive: Now we are talking about the possibility of losing a great amount of revenue, and how to make up for that. If the amendment passes, how do you make up for somewhere in the range of $10 to $15 million that would not be coming into the general fund for the city?

Jeani Duarte: As you know, Ron DeSantis has recently been out here to Flagler County, and Palm Coast literally funds Flagler County. We outnumber them in population. Right there, if we are being good stewards with what we have, off the top, we just hired a manager who makes more than our governor. The city mayor and council are making a compensation that was never approved by the vote of the people—that 164% and 151% pay raise they gave themselves April 19, 2022, was never approved by the citizens. The compensation that was embedded in the charter back in 2018 was removed. Back then, they paid the council members 9,600 and the mayor 11,400. They removed that language without a corresponding amendment to go to that ballot. Right now, the funds they are getting, the compensation that the mayor and council are currently getting, have been approved unlawfully. The citizens never approved it. You cannot change—

FlaglerLive: I do not recall the figures actually being in the charter because I do remember that the salaries have been raised from the beginning of the city’s history. They were raised a couple of times.

Jeani Duarte: Originally it used to be the council would get up to $1,200 and the mayor would get up to $1,800, and then it was changed after that. In 2018, just before the 2018 election, the amount was embedded in the charter itself, and to make matters worse, right after the 2018 election, this is what it was reduced down to—nothing, it is gone, there is no amendment. There is nothing in the three little amendments that approved for them to remove that. Nothing.

FlaglerLive: As far as the revenue is concerned, to just keep the focus on that, would you support an increase in the sales tax? The county would have to do it, but the city would pass a resolution saying yes, we support the county raising the sales tax by half a penny.

Jeani Duarte: First, they need to do their own cuts. They have to do their internal cuts; each department is over-bloated, and they are spending way too much. All this money going out on fleet—we just approved like $4 million on fleet, and then it turned around the next year, and they are requesting $6 million. They say, “Well, we like to keep our supply fresh.” No, you are playing with Daddy’s money here.

FlaglerLive: By fleet, you mean vehicles and that sort of thing?

Jeani Duarte: Yes. And then they approved that fleet maintenance center for staff to have all the bells and whistles to take care of all these fleets, but—

FlaglerLive: Surely you agree that the city has to maintain its vehicles, and rather than sending them off to various shops, they have their in-house crews.

Jeani Duarte: They have that.

FlaglerLive: Right, so you wouldn’t be opposed to having an in-house fleet maintenance department, right?

Jeani Duarte: Actually, yes, I do oppose it because we need to utilize our services that the citizens have throughout the community.

FlaglerLive: So you would outsource maintenance within our community?

Jeani Duarte: Yes.

FlaglerLive: Wouldn’t that be substantially more expensive?

Jeani Duarte: Depending on if you negotiate. You can negotiate with, let us say, you are going to bring in five vehicles for maintenance, you can get a multi-vehicle discount. We do not work with that. How much did it cost for us to build that facility, maintain it, and put in the fuel, and how much is it going to cost us to pay that back? Everything seems to be cost recovery. They do something and then charge us to cover it later. It is recovery, recovery, recovery. We need to be proactive, not reactive, and Palm Coast is all about reactive right now because previous administrations have gotten us into such a big hole with the data center. They kept that data center quiet for two years.

FlaglerLive: I am not dismissing that. But to stay on the revenue question, I want to just be clear: you would be supportive of an increase in the sales tax?

Jeani Duarte: First, they need to decrease off the top, and then, yes, I would be supportive of the sales tax to balance because the sales tax is for everybody.

FlaglerLive: Right. You are also familiar with the public service tax and the franchise fee, the utility franchise fee, which has been before the council several times since 2012, but they have rejected it every time. Would you be supportive of either considering or passing either or both of these fees or taxes?

Jeani Duarte: I am glad that they rejected them back then because there were other ways to reduce the bloat and the spending. If there has to be another way of balancing down the road after they do due diligence of being responsible and bringing all the spending down within the house, and if there still is a need for that, then yes, I am supportive of that.

FlaglerLive: So you agree that if the amendment passes, it just cannot pass and we forget about everything else. It would pass, but then there have to be various new methods of revenue that are going to compensate for it, right?

Jeani Duarte: And there are really not new methods. These are methods that exist throughout the United States; we just haven’t utilized them here. Those are some of the benefits that some people moved here for.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Development

FlaglerLive: Let’s talk about growth. The population increased by about 16,000 people between 2020 and 2025. How would you evaluate the quality and quantity of development in the last few years?

Jeani Duarte: The quality of development has gone down immensely. You drive down different areas and you find stick homes that are being built tight together. They look like trash, and honestly, I think those are going to cause our insurance rates to go up because in a hurricane, they are nothing more than flying debris. They are projectiles ready to hit somebody’s house. I think we should be very strict about how we allow certain builds to be put down here in Palm Coast, and be proactive as far as no stick homes.

FlaglerLive: Construction codes have only gotten stronger over the years, especially since 2005. They have strengthened building codes.

Jeani Duarte: If they strengthen building codes, then why are we driving by and seeing stick homes?

FlaglerLive: Maybe we do not understand the engineering behind what is being built.

Jeani Duarte: I am from California. I know exactly how stick homes are built, and I see them all the time.

FlaglerLive: What about the quantity of development? Where are you on the amount of development we have seen to contend with a pretty large influx of people?

Jeani Duarte: Location, location, location. Having a cluster in Town Center is one thing. When you take and try to repeat that cluster spotted throughout the community, and you are putting things that are not complimentary and are not compatible next to a residential housing area that has been there and is established, all of a sudden you have a multi-family, four-story building. I know that they are trying to go four stories now, but they have three stories right now. I heard that they are going to try to go four stories; those are going to be proposed.

FlaglerLive: That is the first I hear of it.

Jeani Duarte: I heard it several weeks ago.

FlaglerLive: From where did you hear that?

Jeani Duarte: I really cannot remember; it might have been in a council meeting.

FlaglerLive: It would be very strange for this council to propose anything like this. It is completely unlike this council to go down that road. Speaking of what you were just describing, where is an example of that where there is incompatibility between developments?

Jeani Duarte: You go down Colbert, and what is that–John Adams, John Anderson, you have this area against the water that is beautiful, with homes that are in gated communities, and then just down the street and around the corner, you have this crazy multifamily building structure that just looks out of sorts. It doesn’t blend into the community whatsoever. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and it looks ghetto. It looks cheap.

FlaglerLive: What do you mean by it looks ghetto?

Jeani Duarte: For one, the blue does not blend into the landscape.

FlaglerLive: What does ghetto mean to you?

Jeani Duarte: To me, it looks like it is cheaply designed, that it is going to attract people who may be Section 8 or low-income. It is not attractive for that area with those gated communities; it looks out of sync.

FlaglerLive: Are you saying that Black people or poor people should not be next to gated communities?

Jeani Duarte: Did I say black people? No, I’m saying–

FlaglerLive: You were saying you were saying section eight or low income ghetto, those are code words that generally mean what I said, which is Blacks and poor.

Jeani Duarte: No way, dude. No way.

FlaglerLive: Oh yes.

FlaglerLive: I have been homeless, and I am as white as white can get.

FlaglerLive: All right, let us address it without color. Would you be opposed to having poor people in apartments next to a gated community?

Jeani Duarte: It depends on the gated community.

FlaglerLive: We are not talking about being in the community; we are talking about being next to the community. They’re gated, right? So what would be the issue if there is an apartment complex near the gated community?

Jeani Duarte: The way that the apartment complex is built looks like an accident waiting to happen; it looks trashy. You can open your eyeballs all you want like that.

FlaglerLive: When you say an accident waiting to happen–

Jeani Duarte: These are people randomly from all over the United States or all over the world whoever happens to land here, and you have no control over knowing who your neighbors are. They are not purchasers; they are there renting. Renters come and go, renters come and go, in and out, in and out, in and out. The people in the gated community did not vet these people; they do not know who these people are. Back in the day, before this was built, maybe their children were able to walk to the store down the street or ride their bikes, but now that you have so many people, who are they renting to?

FlaglerLive: I am in the P-section, and right across the street from us in a single-family home, a ‘for rent’ sign went up. We are certainly not going to vet who is going to go in there. Thankfully, they are free to move in and move out. We have never had in this country any standards by which neighbors vet neighbors.

Jeani Duarte: I have one next to me too, and I have had conversations with the owner as to concerns of making sure that who he picks is compatible with the community. Because the last people who were here next to me, they had four crazy dogs that came through and tore up the neighborhood. I have a little tiny Yorkie, and it was just crazy. I feared I couldn’t even go for a walk without worrying about my dog.

FlaglerLive: Let us say you are a council member and a new development or a new land use is proposed. What sort of land use changes or development projects would you oppose should they come before you?

Jeani Duarte: They have to be compatible with the surrounding area first.

FlaglerLive: Would you have opposed the two concrete batch plants on Hargrove Grade, for instance? You would have been in opposition to them?

Jeani Duarte: I am so glad that they went down and they did not approve them, yes.

FlaglerLive: In principle, you are not opposed to apartment complexes?

Jeani Duarte: No, absolutely not. But I am opposed to massive multi-family dwellings that are three stories high that put a large amount of people in one area that potentially are at risk in an emergency. If there is a fire or a major catastrophe of any sort, you will have mass casualties. I have a problem with that.

FlaglerLive: Let us take the development in Town Center, not far from the data center. That new complex with eight buildings—would you have voted no on that?

Jeani Duarte: I was shocked the whole time that I saw that being built. It looked cheap.

FlaglerLive: Other than the quality, it is in Town Center, and you mentioned that you are okay with clustering in certain places. Taking that particularly, would you have opposed it? Assuming the quality is not an issue, would you have approved that development?

Jeani Duarte: It depends. I would talk to the community first and find out what the community’s visuals are for that. When I saw it, I saw it as an eyesore, and if that was all it was, that would have been fine, but they had to cluster it even further down Town Center all the way to the data center. They are putting them down in Colbert; they are popping up everywhere. These 15-minute cities are everywhere now. Realistically, I think the current City Hall should be the new community center because it would make more sense for that to be the community center with that type of hub and housing structure. It is transitional housing. I look at that area as transitional housing; it is not something that anybody is going to want to spend their entire lives at.

FlaglerLive: By transitional housing, you mean like starter places for renters?

Jeani Duarte: Or if they are downsizing because of changes in their lives. Some people in their retirement no longer want a full house or the responsibility of a yard, so they are transitioning. Those are transitional housings; I get it, and I think there is a place for them, but not in mass quantities. We need to hold the beauty of Palm Coast, and if you do that in mass quantities, it looks cheap. Sorry, but I am not saying that as a discrimination of color or anything like that. No way. My husband is part African American, come on now.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

HBA Lawsuit Over Impact Fees

FlaglerLive: Let us move on to the Flagler Home Builders Association lawsuit against the city. You are familiar with it, of course, on impact fees. They are opposing the extent to which the city raised impact fees. If you were a witness in that case, on whose side would you be?

Jeani Duarte: Originally, I had a conversation with my opponent, who is part of that.

FlaglerLive: Your opponent being—just so that the readers know specifically—you are talking about your opponent, Tony Amaral?

Jeani Duarte: Yes, he is part of the Home Builders Association. He holds a seat and is a member. [Tony Amaral is a Life Director of the HBA.] Nice guy. But they are suing the city. At first, when I spoke to him, I was on his side because they had the ability to go 50% for their height, and they went 120% or 128%—it was over 100%. At first, I felt like it was going to hit the small guys and hurt them, and I thought they were giving the benefits to the bigger developers—the ones who are willing to put in gas stations and employment—to have them pay on the backside. When I spoke with him, he said that it does not affect him, that he can build all he wants and he does not have to pay up front either. I didn’t feel sorry for him again after that because I thought he was having to pay up front. Honestly, I think our impact fees need to be paid up front because the community needs it now, not later. If you want to build something, pay the impact fees up front and then you can catch it on the backside; do not make us catch it on the backside. That should be up to the developer to do at that time. But I was, and still am, opposed to how they raised it so high. They had a legal limit that they could raise it, and they went over and above that saying, “Oh, we have extraordinary circumstances.” Just months prior to that, Lauren Johnston was saying, “Oh, well, we do not have any issues here in Palm Coast; we do not have any financial problems.” I have those papers where she was acting like everything was fine and dandy, and then a month or two later, she was like, “Oh, we have extraordinary circumstances.”

FlaglerLive: So you would have voted for an increase, but up to the legal 50% limit, but not beyond?

Jeani Duarte: I thought beyond was a little excessive, and the way they did it was totally wrong. You are kind of making the HBA’s argument there. Honestly, I think they are going to end up winning that lawsuit because of the way the council handled it.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Westward Expansion

FlaglerLive: Now the west side—we know that the plan is to develop 22,000 housing units over about 22,000 acres or so. Have you read the master plan development in its latest form, or one of the versions?

Jeani Duarte: Not in its latest form, no.

FlaglerLive: Have you read some versions of it, or are you familiar with it in the main? This would be built out by 2056. Just straight out, are you supportive of the plan as it is today? If you were sitting on the council, would you approve it?

Jeani Duarte: No.

FlaglerLive: Why not?

Jeani Duarte: For one, that loop road was lobbied for. If you talk to the council, they will say the developers are responsible for the cost of that loop road. If you talk to the developer, they will say, “Oh no, you guys lobbied for it. It is in the wetlands and it is unannexed property, so you guys are responsible for it.” If we push through and allow this loop road to be built in the wetlands—fill in the wetlands, build it, and let it get annexed in—it is going to be nothing more than a $126 million gift to the developer on our backs. I know it was state funds, but still, those state funds really need to be accounted for. It needs to go right back to the state, and that whole project needs to be scrapped. I personally would like to see something better in the westward expansion as far as preserving the wetlands as much as we can. I would like to see us utilizing the rail line as a luxury rail line with a historic museum and a library—something really cool with overnight journeys and commutes back and forth.

FlaglerLive: You are bringing up a lot of different points there. Realistically, you cannot suggest that we can stop the road; the road is under construction.

Jeani Duarte: We need to be accountable for what is going on right now, and we should stop the construction.

FlaglerLive: Even [City Council member Theresa] Pontirri has made the point that the developers got too much of a gift with not shouldering their burden for constructing the roads and other things that were in the original plan, the Neoga Lakes and Old Brick Road plans, where they were responsible for those things and now they no longer are. That has been talked about pretty openly. But the road is under construction, the contract has been awarded, and even though not all the money is there to complete it, it is on its way. Are you saying that you could just stop it right in the middle? Legally, you think the city could just come and say, “Well, we are not going to build it”?

Jeani Duarte: Why not? When you talk to the developers, I asked them what that loop road was for, and they said it was an emergency route. I pointed out the fact that it is a loop road leading you right back to the same road. If anything, it is a death trap, so there is no need for a road like that.

FlaglerLive: The FEC owns that railroad. How would you incorporate anything like you described in terms of luxury trains on a private railroad, which is a freight road?

Jeani Duarte: Communication—just reaching out, communicating, and finding the people and resources who have the knowledge that might be able to make it happen.

FlaglerLive: Is there an example of that that you know of somewhere else where a freight line is used for what you have described?

Jeani Duarte: Yes, they are all over the place. I do not know exactly one to name, but on my Facebook, I shared one, and it is really cool and historic. They dress up, they have the full museum, and a gift shop. We do not utilize any of that. We do not have a Palm Coast gift shop or a welcome center that is welcoming. We do not have anything like that.

FlaglerLive: We talked earlier about whether you support anything the council has done. They have been pretty supportive of protecting Old Brick Road and making sure that the historical heritage is nurtured on the west side. You agree with that too, right?

Jeani Duarte: That would be another revenue stream that we could tap into. It would be cool to clean up that road, make it really nice, maybe do buggy rides or horseback rides along that, and do guided tours giving a storyline of what that road was and the history of it. That would be kind of cool to do something like that, or even camping nearby where people can see it for themselves but not actually be on it.

FlaglerLive: If we take the loop road issues out of the equation, are you opposed in principle to the westward expansion, or do you see it as a credible plan down the road?

Jeani Duarte: The westward expansion, if it is all about putting in homes, I am opposed to it.

FlaglerLive: It is not just homes, right? There are the 22,000 homes, but they are proposing a very vast expansion of industrial land, which Palm Coast does not have, and an expansion of commercial land. When you look at it in that totality, are there benefits you see there?

Jeani Duarte: No, not when it comes to throwing in industrial use in areas like that. Like I said, we should utilize the rail line for what it has to offer but do it in a classy way that can benefit the community. If we are utilizing the other assets that we have—if we have a way of accessing the beach or utilizing our Intracoastal—we do not do dinner tours or ferry rides going down our little Intracoastal here. We do not do anything to make revenue for the city on that, which would be kind of cool too. Putting in industry is just going to damage that side of the community so bad, and it is going to be on the backs of this side of the community to get it established.

FlaglerLive: You realize historically there were areas back there that were heavily industrial in the old days, going back two or three generations, so it was an industrial zone.

Jeani Duarte: Yeah, matter of fact, I have heard that there is some ammunition contamination to areas in there that actually shows up in our water.

FlaglerLive: It has an industrial history to some extent in some areas. But if the developer was to sit down with you, would you see yourself saying, “Okay, I can work with you and compromise on this and that, and we can work toward a plan”? Would you see that as a possibility?

Jeani Duarte: I am always open to discussing what they have to offer, and I want to see what we are going to lose as a community. We have wildlife that we have to consider, and we have our water resources that we have to consider as well. We need the trees out here. I know that Rayonier is a paper mill, and they planted a lot of trees and they are harvesting, and I get that, but as much of our natural resources and natural lands as possible, we need to try to preserve them.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Traffic

FlaglerLive: Traffic is routinely one of the top complaints among residents. Do you have a solution?

Jeani Duarte: First off, like the new Walmart that we are putting in, it originally had a different location that was closer to the interstate at Old Kings Road and State Road 100, right a little bit north of that right in that corner. They still own that property. I do not understand why they didn’t go right back to that when it was already being prepared for that project in the first place. If we were better at utilizing the demographics of Palm Coast, let us not push all the traffic toward BJ’s and Target. A lot of those areas too, like just trying to get into Longhorn to have dinner, you have a hard time getting in there and they are blocking roads; there is all kinds of trouble there. If we are better at dispersing amenities throughout Palm Coast, we can keep the traffic to a minimum at best, and not push them all into one location.

FlaglerLive: When you have a commercial corridor and the property owners have their rights, to what extent can the city say, “Well, no, we would rather you be here versus there,” if they already have those rights?

Jeani Duarte: They already started it over there closer to the interstate. What changed? What changed?

FlaglerLive: What I mean is, the city and the county had already zoned those areas for commercial developments of that type. How would the city be able to say, “We do have those rights here, but we want you to be over there legally”? Can they even do that? They cannot really force a company to go somewhere when the company has the right to be where it is building.

Jeani Duarte: Well, why did they change it from one location to the other? That is my question. I am puzzled by it.

FlaglerLive: You are right, I’m puzzled. To me, logically, it seemed the previous location on Old Kings Road does seem like a better place, but I do not understand their marketing studies. I am sure they have done their homework and decided this is a better place for them. Are there other things that you can see that we could do for the core of Palm Coast—Belle Terre, Palm Coast Parkway—and the flow of traffic that could reduce the complaints?

Jeani Duarte: On Belle Terre and Cypress, they have all of the lanes from Cypress onto Belle Terre turning left. It would be beneficial because you can turn right, but all of them turn left, so if they allow a certain part of that to be a right-hand turn—if they push that out a little further or designate that right lane right there to go right—I think it would help some of the traffic flow on that street. Every time I go down there, I am like, why cannot we turn right here without having to wait for everybody to turn left? It is kind of strange. Overall, looking at things like that, we need to put in stoplights. When you see people having to make a mad dash out to make a left turn down Belle Terre, there are a lot of accidents. We had a kid get killed a year or two ago, and people are just trying to find their spot in there. They are not paying attention to who might be riding by on their bikes or walking because they are too busy trying to find that slot to get into that street, so I think we need to put more stoplights in to help that, or maybe even stop signs if it is cheaper to put a stop sign in to have that traffic stop.

FlaglerLive: You are okay with the plan they just devised in Town Center—Royal Palms and Town Center Boulevard, Old Kings Road—with the stop signs?

Jeani Duarte: Yeah, it was a little weird when driving through there, but it was helpful because I have been through there before where I am going around that curve and somebody tries to jut out in front of me. This is a good way of making people stop, slow down, take turns, and go, so I am not against that whatsoever. So there you go—they did something good that I think is beneficial.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Public Safety Budgets

FlaglerLive: On policing with the Sheriff’s Office’s budget: You have seen it increase over the last 10 years from $2.7 million to $13.6 million; it is a 404% increase. The fire budget has increased from almost $8 million to $16 million, and the population has increased during that period about 23%. So the public safety budgets have outstripped the population increase. Is this defensible, and is it sustainable?

Jeani Duarte: It is not sustainable and it is not defensible, especially when he goes up to the podium and asks for a quarter of his budget as an increase but only claims that he needs nine deputies. How do you justify a quarter of your budget increase based on nine deputies? I see a big bloat there. Plus, Palm Coast has an enhanced contract. What are we getting with that enhanced contract that is separate from what we are already paying in our ad valorem taxes? It is county, so is it the COPs, all the bells and whistles, everything?

FlaglerLive: It is the additional deputies that Palm Coast is getting that is the enhancement, and it is laid out. Do you give the sheriff any leeway when he talks about how we are spending all that or we need all these increases because over many years there were no increases, and we are catching up?

Jeani Duarte: I see that he has all the bells and whistles. He has new buildings, new fleet, and an $800,000 travel station.

FlaglerLive: An $800,000 travel station?

Jeani Duarte: It is a travel port, and he put it out like two years ago. I went to the academy.

FlaglerLive: Oh, you mean the mobile command center?

Jeani Duarte: Yeah, I was like, whoa, okay, all the bells and whistles. He has everything, and I think there needs to be a slowdown. Regarding the separate enhanced contract, I would like to know what we are getting for that. I haven’t really done a lot of research on what it is.

FlaglerLive: One thing could be a very low crime rate. You refer to bells and whistles, but the jail is not really a bell and whistle, and the command center is a command center.

Jeani Duarte: I think they are doing a great job, I do. He is so good at getting grants, and I have been watching—he does not present that he has gotten a grant until after we approve his request for his budget increase, and then all of a sudden he is okay.

FlaglerLive: On June 16, I think, is when he made his presentation to the council, he did lay out his plan, but the grants were part of the plan. He didn’t say the council had approved anything yet, but he talked about the grants and said, “This is what I have been able to secure.” That was just part of the overall presentation. I do not think it would be right to say that he only talks about the grants after he gets the approval, because he hasn’t gotten the approval yet, right?

Jeani Duarte: I do not know; I just saw that he was showing that he was receiving these. There is no question, which is great. I want to encourage other departments to do the same—get those grants, get out there, and do that. But at the same time, with the budget increase, there is a turnover. The deputies have a turnover, so if we were keeping our deputies and holding them, but it wasn’t enough deputies and they are asking for nine more, I could see that. But if there is a turnover, and let us say we have 40 deputies that we have on our employee roster, but we do not have 10 because they left and went somewhere else, we really only have 30 that we are paying but we are asking for nine more.

FlaglerLive: You are saying that there are too many cops in the city?

Jeani Duarte: No. If we really are only paying 30 because we have a budget for 40 already existing, but we keep such a turnover—

FlaglerLive: I see what you mean, but I do not know that. I haven’t studied the numbers to the extent that we know how many positions are vacant. You are saying that we do not need to fill nine more because we can first fill whatever vacancies exist?

Jeani Duarte: That has to be looked at first, yes. If we have vacancies—if you need nine more but we have 10 vacancies open—fill those vacancies first before you ask for a budget increase for nine more.

FlaglerLive: If there were no vacancies, you are okay with the request for nine more?

Jeani Duarte: Yeah, if we are retaining, we have all those positions held, and we are finding that there is a need in our community for more deputies, absolutely. But if we are having turnover and space is empty, and then we are still trying to get more, then no.

FlaglerLive: So you are not questioning the three-year plan that has been presented that has yielded the nine additional deputies per year—that formula that this increase is based on—you are okay with that?

Jeani Duarte: I want to see it; I do not know all the details of it.

FlaglerLive: To ask the question that comes up from time to time as far as an independent police department for Palm Coast, where do you stand on that?

Jeani Duarte: That is another thing that I wanted to look into. I heard him say, “Oh, you guys cannot do it; it is unaffordable,” but then I hear, “Absolutely, it is affordable, we could do it.” I do not know all the research, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it, absolutely not.

FlaglerLive: Although these days we are talking about additional costs at a time when everything is being put in question by the amendment, so I would imagine this would not be the time.

Jeani Duarte: Right, there is a lot going on right now, but I am always willing to listen, learn, and find out what our options might be.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Rap Sheet

FlaglerLive: The final question is the legal question. Have you ever been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor anywhere in Flagler, Florida, or the United States, other than a speeding ticket, or faced a civil action other than a divorce, including bankruptcies or any of that?

Jeani Duarte: No, sir.

FlaglerLive: Okay. And as far as your professional life, have you ever faced any kind of investigative or disciplinary action—no demotions, anything like that, or professional association sanctions? None of that?

Jeani Duarte: None of that.

FlaglerLive: That brings us to the end. I appreciate the time you took, the patience you showed me, and the fact that you were candid with all your answers. Thank you very much, it was a pleasure.

Jeani Duarte: Thank you so much, too.

See how Duarte’s competitors answered:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy

 

Postscript

See Duarte’s competitors’ postscripts:
Tony Amaral | Jimmy Hengy