John Kvederis is one of four candidates for the Palm Coast City Council, District 4, an open seat. He faces Dylana Galery, 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:
See John Kvederis’s financial disclosure here, and resume here.
FlaglerLive: Good morning, John, and thank you for doing the interview.
John Kvederis: Good morning.
FlaglerLive: So let’s start with the very beginning. Tell us where you were born and when.
John Kvederis: I was actually born in Lake Mary at the Arnold Palmer Hospital, and I spent most of my childhood life here, actually in Palm Coast. I lived a couple of years back in Apopka until I was about six years old, though I wouldn’t really remember that. After that, I was here.
FlaglerLive: When were you born? Your precise date of birth.
John Kvederis: January 1, 1992.
FlaglerLive: What is your current job?
John Kvederis: I am a self-employed business owner. I run Odd Job Connection, which is moving and junk removal hauling.
FlaglerLive: How long have you had that?
John Kvederis: I started doing it back in 2015, but it formally was founded in 2017.
FlaglerLive: Explain what led you to do that particular kind of job.
John Kvederis: The casino I worked at in New Hampshire at the time shut down, and I started doing little odd jobs on TaskRabbit and Yelp, doing Uber rides. I was like, “You know what, this is actually working.” I was having a better quality of life financially, and just stayed in to doing that.
FlaglerLive: I noticed in your background that you posted that you were in casino work for several years.
John Kvederis: Yep. I started in casinos in Pittsburgh with my dad, and he got me a job working as a security officer. I learned how to deal cards while I was there, and then I got offered a job in Denver to go out there and be a security supervisor. I moved up the ranks to be a table games supervisor, then ultimately went into casino operations, managing the budget, overseeing food and beverage—basically my dad’s background, actually. Then I did player development. I kind of got my hands in just about every department in that industry.
FlaglerLive: How many employees do you have today?
John Kvederis: It’s still a small business, so I employ about 12 people right now.
FlaglerLive: This is obviously a non-partisan race, but what is your party affiliation?
John Kvederis: I lean Republican overall.
FlaglerLive: And you’re registered?
John Kvederis: Registered Republican.
FlaglerLive: How have you specifically prepared yourself to be ready to succeed on the council from day one?
John Kvederis: I think it goes with my background. I learned how to do financial development, budgeting, things like that. I have been following some of the meetings. I’ve been out on the road doing a lot of Lyft rides and Uber rides in my free time, and it’s pretty clear the problems that we’re having are not being heard. There’s no fixing of the swales here, they’re not working on the road structures, things like that, and those are some of the critical founding points of this area. I actually saw firsthand what can happen because I lost a car to flooding about a year ago. So it needs to be changed.
FlaglerLive: What city documents have you studied to prepare?
John Kvederis: City documents… I haven’t gotten a chance to look at every document yet.
FlaglerLive: The budget?
John Kvederis: I’m trying to get access to that, actually. I haven’t seen the budget stuff just yet. I’m hoping that I can get a clearer view of that. I’m working with a few people to get that information on how I can oversee that.
FlaglerLive: Are you saying you’re having trouble getting the budget?
John Kvederis: Yeah, somebody sent me a link to it, and I’m trying to figure out if that’s actually the current link. It looks old, so I don’t have that in front of me.
FlaglerLive: If you Google “Palm Coast 2026 budget,” it’s right there. You don’t have to do it now, but what I’m saying is, it’s very readily available and self-explanatory. It’s detailed and extensive, but it’s broken down in a very comprehensive way. In any case, have you had a chance to look at the charter?
John Kvederis: I saw a little bit from Jeannie [Duarte] on it when we spoke, but I haven’t seen too much of that either. I just have a little bit of it in front of me.
FlaglerLive: And the council’s current goals? Have you had a chance to look at those? The strategic action plan is what they call it, but it’s basically their goals.
John Kvederis: No, I just have been listening to the meetings. I haven’t actually seen anything posted about their goals. I went to a couple of meetings and reviewed what they’re saying and what’s going on currently.
FlaglerLive: Tell us about what character flaw you may have in the context of a public official sitting up at the dais. What sort of character flaw might get in the way of your effectiveness?
John Kvederis: That’s tough. Everybody has a flaw. I don’t think mine is a character flaw. I guess I really can’t think of a big flaw. Maybe my biggest issue is I need to gain more experience, and that might be the main thing. I know I’m the newcomer in politics here in Palm Coast, so some experience would help. But I’m a great listener. I am quick on my feet, and I know how to pivot and listen to what people have to say.
FlaglerLive: That leads to the follow-up: what unique perspective would you bring to this council particularly?
John Kvederis: My perspective is similar to running a business. When I have everything in front of me, I know how to zoom in and look at where this is going, what we’re doing here, why this is happening, and how this is benefiting the residents. Just basic common sense stuff like that. If people aren’t using it or if it’s not needed, that’s something we’re going to need to address, especially if the tax break ends up hitting us on the ballot in November.
FlaglerLive: You’ve been here most of your life, so you probably know the public officials who are in office today. Who among them would you consider a model of leadership?
John Kvederis: Rick Staley, hands down. He’s a phenomenal leader in the community. Every day they keep our community safe, and we need to make sure those guys have everything they need to continue doing the job they’ve done. We’re one of the safest communities in Florida, and it’s all thanks to them.
FlaglerLive: Do you have a relationship with the sheriff?
John Kvederis: I don’t. I got to meet him briefly at the last event I attended, but we haven’t actually spoken too much yet.
FlaglerLive: And among elected officials who serve on councils or governing boards, who might there be?
John Kvederis: I’ve looked up to people like Pennington and Pontieri. I think they are really great people in the community to follow and learn from, and they’ve sent a great message and done a great job over the past few years.
Evaluating the Council’s performance
FlaglerLive: What letter grade would you give the council at this stage, looking back over the last couple of years?
John Kvederis: A letter grade… I’m going to go with a C.
FlaglerLive: That’s pretty mediocre.
John Kvederis: Yep, it’s pretty in the middle because it feels like they operates on defense, forcing everyday homeowners to absorb these utility rates and the increases of the massive $582 million utility mortgage. There needs to be a collaborative balance of everything that’s going on, and we’re not really seeing that right now. That’s where a lot of frustration comes from. When you go and talk to residents in the area, a lot of people felt blindsided by this data center. There’s not much communication getting out to people, and I think that is really something we have to do better on.
FlaglerLive: I was going to ask you where you thought the council has been lacking, and you cited those examples. Anything else where you think it’s been lacking? A C is pretty low for a government this size.
John Kvederis: Yeah, it just feels like there’s a lot of wasteful spending.
FlaglerLive: I hear that a lot—wasteful spending. Can you cite an example?
John Kvederis: Let me see… what would be a good example of wasteful spending here? Well, one thing stood out to my mind. There was a video that came out recently of some employees sharing something at City Hall, and they were just dancing around. I don’t even know what the point of the whole video was. It was something going on in the office, and it had me wondering why that was even happening. Why aren’t we working? The whole video seemed like workplace drama, and it was posted all over social media. Why aren’t we proactively doing things instead of spending time in the office screwing around? It seems like maybe there’s an overstaffing issue or we don’t have enough to do for these people. We could put that money toward our sheriff’s department or fire department.
FlaglerLive: Other than that video—which I haven’t seen and don’t know the context of—is there something more substantial that is recurring, a program that runs into the six or seven figures, that would fall under what you call wasteful spending?
John Kvederis: Well, it goes back to that budget question. I have to review the actual budget itself and see the numbers in front of me to really zoom in on it. Off the top of my head, I can’t say for sure that I have something solid to report back on. I think it might be a collective thing where we could cut a little bit down in every department across the board and go from there.
FlaglerLive: What would you consider to be more positive achievements of this council? Where has it excelled in the last couple of years?
John Kvederis: They’ve done a great job keeping the beauty of the city. It looks great—the upkeep, the maintenance. There is a pretty image when you come into town. There are other areas where they have excelled with infrastructure, though I think they just need to work on the south end of Belle Terre. But it has kept a pretty image of itself.
FlaglerLive: The improvements on the south end of Belle Terre currently—yeah, they need to work on that end a lot, or that intersection where 100 and Belle Terre meet. That whole area down there is going to be a complete disaster and get worse and worse.
FlaglerLive: What can they do? I was thinking about Belle Terre—just the turning lane improvements they’re currently doing at the south end. But the intersection itself hasn’t really come up as a problem area as often as Royal Palms and Town Center or Old Kings and Town Center. What could be done at that intersection of Belle Terre and 100?
John Kvederis: There are three roads that come to my mind in this town: Old Kings Road, Belle Terre on that end, and 100. I think they should at least be widening it, and they should probably look at adding an additional turning lane. It gets really packed in that center lane, and when it merges at the end, it gets crowded. If you extend that a little bit more… plus they have that shopping plaza opening up right on that corner, making it even worse. I think they should look at expanding it a little further down and then maybe figuring out if they should adjust the light timing there.
FlaglerLive: There is a long-term plan for the expansion—six-laning 100—but it’s not Palm Coast’s responsibility. It’s the State Department of Transportation, and that’s down the road, so that will be happening. We just don’t know exactly when.
John Kvederis: Yeah, I heard about that five years ago when I looked at it. But even still, there’s also Old Kings Road down there, too. That was another one I pulled up and took a drive down, and nothing has been done in years.
FlaglerLive: Give us your thoughts about Mayor Mike Norris. Do you see yourself as a check, a balance, or an ally of the mayor?
John Kvederis: I think a check and balance. I go in with the mindset of understanding where he’s coming from and trying to make sense of it. I think there are a lot of good things he’s done regarding job growth. He wants to bring in more commercial over residential, and I think that’s a positive thing. He seems really big on bringing jobs home here rather than having everyone commute to Daytona or St. Augustine for work. He’s been a positive influence on trying to bring higher-paying jobs here as well.
FlaglerLive: What do you make of his style of leadership?
John Kvederis: I haven’t met him personally, but he seems to have an open mind to all kinds of innovative ideas, and he seems to listen to the community.
FlaglerLive: Going back to what you said regarding bringing jobs here to keep people from going to St. Johns or Volusia: what is wrong with this being a bedroom community where you live and play to some extent, without creating the urban feel of Daytona? A lot of people come here for a different vibe. What’s wrong with this being a bedroom community where people commute?
John Kvederis: It is a great community, but the way it’s set up doesn’t offer long-term career growth. We’re building duplicates of Chipotles and Chick-fil-As, but we don’t have anywhere people can go and actually excel in a good career. When I finished high school, I looked around and got a job at Ross for a little while, but I couldn’t live off that. I ended up moving out to Tampa to a bigger market so I could try to move up, and ultimately went into casinos years later and moved around just to make a living. I looked online recently, and the Hammock pays some of the best wages for entry-level jobs at around $17 an hour. But I talked to people there, and that’s still not really enough to afford to live here. That’s the highest pay I’ve seen for entry level.
FlaglerLive: The next question was going to be about the strategic action plan—the goals of the council. Even though you haven’t read the plan itself, from what you know, what are a couple of goals or approaches the city has taken that you disagree with, a couple you agree with, and a couple you would bring yourself as a new council member?
John Kvederis: A couple of goals I would bring, and a couple I don’t agree with of theirs right now?
FlaglerLive: A couple you don’t agree with, a couple you do agree with, and a couple that would be your own that you could bring to the table.
John Kvederis: For my own goals, I think we need to look at what kind of businesses we’re bringing in here and what we’re doing. I would have loved for them to have looked closer at that data center. It looks like the data center snuck in, and they’re trying to build up an additional part of that later on. It looks like that was their real goal.
FlaglerLive: You realize there was no “sneaking in” in the sense that both the city and the data center took advantage of a non-disclosure clause allowed for certain types of businesses with state incentives, where they could refrain from disclosing their plans for up to two years?
John Kvederis: Yeah, it kind of snuck in. There are a lot of things going on like that that they probably need to look at. My main point is that my goals are working on bettering the roads, bringing in commercial jobs that are going to help grow the city, and clearing swales for flooding issues. Residents want to feel like they’re being listened to. When you talk to people every day about that stuff, it feels like nothing is actually happening. Utilities is a big issue, too—the debt increase and the loan we took out for the water system.
FlaglerLive: Would you have opposed that debt increase and the utility plan that they adopted?
John Kvederis: Not the way it is right now, no, probably not. I think we should have found ways to better prepare for the impact it’s going to have on people. That kind of money should be coming from growth and building.
FlaglerLive: Just to clarify, when you say “probably not,” you mean you would probably not have approved it?
John Kvederis: No, I wouldn’t have approved it. It’s getting poured onto the people, and it’s pretty rough. It’s been one of the hottest topics to talk about—why that money is being put on the people living here instead of future developments coming in.
FlaglerLive: It’s a balance. Future impact fees are going to help balance out some of the expenses. But with the city being under a consent order regarding that wastewater treatment plant in the Woodlands, how would you have dealt with that and the state-mandated improvements if not with the utility plan they approved?
John Kvederis: You can do it in sections. They took out the whole thing all at once. You could have done it in portions and figured out how to pay that bill over time with new development. If you do a section here, you continue to upgrade it. I don’t think they had to do it all at once, so a lot of that could have come from development and growth over time as we rapidly expand. I even thought of things they could have done with code enforcement to raise money—like letting people bring RVs and boats back home and issuing permits for that. If I had an RV, I’d probably pay a couple hundred dollars a year to have it in front of my driveway instead of at a storage facility. There are tactical ways to raise money where it’s not hurting the residents, but helping them.
FlaglerLive: But you can’t use code enforcement money to fund the utility.
John Kvederis: You could create a permit system or something for that, maybe not through code enforcement, but it’s something they handle right now. If I park my RV or boat there, code enforcement labels it, but the city could issue some type of permit for those things to raise money.
FlaglerLive: For utilities?
John Kvederis: For anything the city needs. Raising money that way might be an option for a while.
FlaglerLive: Tell me how you will vote on the proposed homestead exemption amendment.
John Kvederis: I was more for it initially. I think it’s maybe not as appealing as it was before, but it’s still a benefit to the people more than it’s going to hurt them. I’m going to vote yes on it, but it’s going to be tough to manage what programs we keep and what we have to cut back on.
FlaglerLive: So you do acknowledge that it’s going to cause quite a bit of a revenue shortfall.
John Kvederis: Yeah, it is. It’s going to be tough to figure out what services to cut back on for that. I was more for it a couple of months ago, and I still am, but I think it’s going to be tougher to manage than I originally thought.
FlaglerLive: What made you waver?
John Kvederis: A realization of just how much money we’re going to lose, where we’re going to regain that, and the process of how we’re going to actually recoup some of that money. They don’t seem to have an actual plan to make it up. It’s going to cut deep into some budgets. Entire programs could be lost—like the library or other important town needs.
FlaglerLive: And yet, you’re still going to vote for it.
John Kvederis: I think there is a way to renew. I just wish it was done a little slower in sections instead of coming out so fast. I don’t think it’s impossible to make up for, but it is going to be more challenging than what was initially thought.
FlaglerLive: As a council member, how do you foresee making up that loss? What methods?
John Kvederis: You have to look at what needs to be cut out and go from there. When you figure out the actual numbers you have to make up, you have to dig into how much you need to raise to maintain a balanced budget. If I have to cut certain things, like the library budget or other things—
FlaglerLive: The library, of course, is not part of the city budget.
John Kvederis: I’m just using that as an example. But overall, other things might include staff cuts or maintenance reductions. It’s about managing how close we can get to that and where we have to make up for it later.
FlaglerLive: Is there a single program or initiative that comes to mind that you could cut?
John Kvederis: I don’t think any single program is exempt. Everything has to be looked at across the board as one, because you don’t want to alienate one group of people over another. A lot of people use different programs.
Sales Tax and Other Revenue Levies
FlaglerLive: Where do you stand on new revenue? There have been a couple of attempts in the last few years to increase the sales tax by half a penny. The county would pass the measure, but the cities would benefit, and Palm Coast would certainly benefit—bringing in around $5 million initially and gradually increasing. Would you, as a council member, support the county’s initiative and approve a resolution saying the city is behind increasing the half-penny sales tax?
John Kvederis: Yeah, I think I would. It’s small, and it doesn’t impact the daily life of people negatively, so I would approve that.
FlaglerLive: Are you familiar with the utility franchise fee and the public service tax? Almost every city in the state has these two taxes and fees, but Palm Coast is one of a handful that does not. The city gets to levy an extra tax or fee on utilities like FPL, generating up to six or ten percent on your utility fee. It would increase residence utility bills, but unlike property tax, everybody pays those fees—including non-profits, schools, hospitals, churches, and the data center. There have been three attempts in the last 12 years by the city to pass those, but they failed because the public opposed them. With this amendment facing the city, that discussion might come up again for the elected council. Would you consider those fees in addition to other measures?
John Kvederis: Utilities are a really touchy subject. I want to say no. I think utilities should be left alone right now. We should see if there’s another way to raise money with different fees, but people are already going to be upset with how bad utilities are getting. I don’t think that’s something we should do right now. Maybe on new developments or commercial contracts, but I don’t want to target people who have already been here for years.
FlaglerLive: Well, that would not be legal.
John Kvederis: I know. If that was a way, sure, but unfortunately it’s not. For now, I think it’s probably better left alone.
FlaglerLive: Let’s talk about population growth and development around town. We’ve had a net increase of 16,000 people between 2020 and 2025. It’s slowing down now, but how do you evaluate the quality and quantity of development in the last few years?
John Kvederis: We’re overdeveloping right now. We’ve outgrown our current infrastructure plan. We need to focus on what we have here first. Entire neighborhoods are being neglected, there are a lot of flooding issues, and they keep building, which causes more flooding problems. We need to focus on what we have here first before new things come in.
FlaglerLive: You lost your car to flooding, but in your recent memory, have there been any instances of home flooding?
John Kvederis: Not my house in particular, but it comes all the way up my mom’s driveway. It’s really one good storm away. During the last hurricane, we had to put up a bunch of sandbags just to keep the water off the lower end there.
FlaglerLive: What sort of land use or development would you oppose as a council member?
John Kvederis: Right now, I’m looking at residential—they need to slow it down a little bit and work on roads in a lot of these neighborhoods before they continue building houses on every single lot. In the K section, they ripped up that entire section back there, and that’s going to have an impact on the people living there. Including that new shopping center they’re putting up on the corner of 100 and Belle Terre, the retention pond size was reduced, which is another thing they should have looked at a little closer.
FlaglerLive: Where are you on smaller lots, and also this push for more apartments? What percentage would you favor in terms of single-family homes versus apartment complexes or smaller houses?
John Kvederis: I’ve always preferred smaller housing—that’s the Palm Coast look I grew up with. Maybe five to ten percent, primarily on the lower side of five to ten percent, would be fair for allowing apartments to come in. You just have to be strategic on where you allow them for traffic flow. They did a great job with the one on Whiteview—I can’t think of the name of the complex, but it came in recently and made sense. They fixed up the road, allowed the building to come in, and traffic seems to flow pretty well over there.
FlaglerLive: Tiny houses—are you opposed or in favor? The kind of tiny houses you could put in a backyard.
John Kvederis: I don’t have a problem with those. It’s a new way of living. I considered it at one point when I was traveling across the country and wanted to stop in Colorado. It looks like a neat concept—a simple way of life with basic necessities.
FlaglerLive: Are you familiar with the Flagler Home Builders Association’s lawsuit against Palm Coast over impact fees?
John Kvederis: I haven’t looked too deep into it, but I have heard of it.
FlaglerLive: Let’s assume you’re a witness in the case—just theoretical. Whose side would you be on?
John Kvederis: I probably would stay on the city’s side. We need high impact fees on some of these things, so I’m not going to align with the builders on that for sure.
FlaglerLive: Let’s move to the west side and the westward expansion. Have you had a chance to look at the master plan development—the overall plan for the Radiant development on the west side?
John Kvederis: The master plan development… I haven’t had a physical document put in front of me, but I’ve heard about it. I know they said about 22,000 homes were going in there, and I’ve heard a little bit about the traffic flow and utility burden issues on the power grid.
FlaglerLive: Are you supportive of the plan as it stands now?
John Kvederis: I’m more on the “no” side with that. Because of how it was done, I don’t feel like it’s bringing in as much money for the city as it initially could have.
FlaglerLive: What do you mean by that?
John Kvederis: I’m for bigger impact fees. They could have put more on these developers and raised the fees on things like that.
FlaglerLive: That’s why the HBA is suing. The city doubled impact fees beyond the legally allowable limit—going from a 50 percent cap to over a 100 percent increase. They maxed out as much as legally possible, and even went beyond it.
John Kvederis: Well, they still could have held it off a little longer until they fixed some of the roads. State Road 100 is still not done, and the end of Belle Terre isn’t finished. This is a traffic flow issue. There also isn’t much public transportation to take weight off these roads, so they need to work on that.
FlaglerLive: When you say holding off, you mean holding off the western expansion?
John Kvederis: I would have held off a little longer, at least. That’s probably what I would have done.
FlaglerLive: How do you handle property rights when developers say, “We’ve actually been entitled to develop the west side since 2010 when Palm Coast approved the initial development plans”? What they’re asking for now is doubling the number of housing units. How do you tell a developer with property rights to hold off?
John Kvederis: Just basically say, “Hey, we can’t handle it right now.” There’s no way to make this work, and it could cause safety issues. We have an increase in accidents, our roads need to be redone, and why are we going to jeopardize the safety of people here? I would have looked at it like that.
FlaglerLive: In fairness to the city, nothing compels it to approve the MPD. It is a change in the plan by the developers from 2010. They can go forward with that original plan, but what they want is to double the development, and the city is fully within its rights to say no. So your position is to exercise that right on the city’s part and focus on the existing east side first?
John Kvederis: Yeah, I would say focus on the east side first. We need to catch up—we’ve let too much happen over time.
FlaglerLive: Traffic is routinely one of the top issues residents complain about. What would be your solution to the traffic?
John Kvederis: A lot of it is expanding lanes and stretching out roads. Adding turn lanes further down would help, as well as looking at the timing relays on the traffic light system. Old Kings Road is one of the main alternatives to the highway, so expanding that is necessary. Redoing the lane system would be one of the biggest parts.
FlaglerLive: How would you fund it? How would you pay for it?
John Kvederis: That comes with future growth. Any future projects coming in—new homes, new commercial—a lot of that needs to be put on newer developments to pay for it.
FlaglerLive: But you said you would slow down developments.
John Kvederis: Right, but over time we could still use that and take it slower.
FlaglerLive: Let’s talk about policing. 10 years ago, the police budget in Palm Coast was $2.7 million. It’s now $13.6 million—a 400 percent increase in 10 years. The fire budget was $7.9 million 10 years ago; it’s now $16 million, which is a 102 percent increase. The city’s population in that span has increased 23 percent. How are those increases in the police and fire budgets sustainable or defensible?
John Kvederis: Our safety comes first, but we need to look at innovative ways to slow down that increase. Somebody proposed the idea of bringing in drones rather than a helicopter system. I read that would be a better way to oversee what’s going on.
FlaglerLive: Drones have been brought in, by the way.
John Kvederis: Somebody mentioned that, and I thought adding drones is a good idea. It could be an expanding initiative to focus on getting more eyes out there without having to add as much staff.
FlaglerLive: The way the sheriff explained it, drones get to the scene faster to put eyes on it and prepare the ground for deputies, making it safer for them to operate. But it’s not planned as a reduction in personnel. You can’t necessarily reduce the number of deputies who respond to a scene.
John Kvederis: No, you can’t, but at least it prepares them so we may not need as many deputies for that scene versus over-sending. It helps manage our staff better so we don’t over-send or under-send.
FlaglerLive: At this point, are you in favor of an independent police department for the city?
John Kvederis: I’d say no right now, mostly coming down to whether we can actually afford it.
FlaglerLive: The last question is whether you’ve ever been charged with a felony or a misdemeanor anywhere in Florida or the country, other than a speeding ticket.
John Kvederis: Nope, just a speeding ticket.
FlaglerLive: And have you faced any civil actions other than a divorce, like bankruptcies or anything like that?
John Kvederis: No. The only thing I had was a civil case in court, but I won that.
FlaglerLive: What was that about?
John Kvederis: An ex-friend tried to make a harassment claim against me in court, and I won because it was so ridiculous. I literally just showed my Pokémon Go account. We were friends for seven years, and I had feelings for her. She didn’t like that I asked her out, and it was petty. It was almost laughable in court, and it was thrown out.
FlaglerLive: Was this a civil action or a criminal action?
John Kvederis: It was a harassment case, but it was a petty court case.
FlaglerLive: Was this here in Flagler County?
John Kvederis: No, this was while I was staying up in Massachusetts.
FlaglerLive: Roughly what year did this happen?
John Kvederis: 2024.
FlaglerLive: And the disposition was?
John Kvederis: She claimed that… I sent seven texts over five months saying I was sorry for what happened on a vacation we went on, and my Pokémon Go account appeared near her house because there was a gym I took over. In the game, there’s a little gym you put your Pokémon in. We lived about seven or eight houses apart from each other. I had to drive out that way, so me driving by her house was labeled harassment. It ended up being completely thrown out of court because of how petty and ridiculous it was. It was just her being upset over the end of our friendship.
FlaglerLive: When you say thrown out of court, the case was dismissed?
John Kvederis: There was no evidence or single action proving harassment, so it was tossed out.
FlaglerLive: In your professional life, have there ever been any demotions or disciplinary actions by professional groups or anything like that?
John Kvederis: No. The most that happened was I was let go from two different casinos because they both shut down. I got laid off in California as one of the first cuts, and then it happened again in New Hampshire when they shut down for a month for renovations. I was laid off with the intent of being rehired, but I wasn’t going to wait, so I went and found something else.
FlaglerLive: Well, that’s it. Thank you very much. I appreciate the time you took, and best of luck with the rest of the campaign.
John Kvederis: All right, I appreciate it. Thank you.
FlaglerLive: Thank you.
None submitted.
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