The only higher official who hasn’t yet told Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks to move beyond her feud with the Palm Coast City Council over the city’s 2014 elections is Gov. Rick Scott.
On Friday, it was Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s turn. He reminded Weeks that he is “the chief elections officer of the state” before telling her what a slew of local and state attorneys, including Weeks’s own, have been telling her for months: The legal proprieties of Palm Coast’s elections are not her business. Running a fair and smooth election is. Detzner is worried that Weeks is jeopardizing that requirement if she decides not to run the municipal elections, forcing Palm Coast to run them on its own, parallel to county and state elections. That would likely confuse voters already disinclined to vote in off-year elections, further hurting turnout.
“I am concerned about the disruption that a separate city election held concurrently with a state and county election would cause,” Detzner wrote in his March 28 letter to Weeks. “My understanding is that the Flagler County Attorney, the Palm Coast City Attorney, and the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections’ General Counsel have provided opinions that should adequately address your concerns.” Detzner did not mention his office’s own attorney, who also provided a similar opinion to Weeks. “Any issue about the propriety of the city’s actions in changing its election and qualifying dates is solely the city’s concern.”
For all that, Weeks immediately rejected Detzner’s counsel, again reasserting the conditions she placed before Palm Coast: she wants the city to sign off on the “agreement” she drafted, without changes.
In a letter back to Detzner remarkable as much for its obstinacy as for its disingenuous reasoning, Weeks—who has been running up the city’s county’s and state’s legal bills at taxpayers’ expense—claimed again that “if a court challenge is filed, the tax payers will be responsible for the bill, a bill I have made every attempt to avoid.” She then said she had provided Palm Coast with an agreement that Palm Coast is choosing not to sign.
“Instead,” Weeks wrote, “the city attempted to change practices by entertaining a public event and discuss the proposed interlocal agreement, and this invitation was declined. This has not been the practice established in the past, nor the practice that is exercised by any of the other minicipalities.”
Weeks is wrong, and shows a striking lack of understanding of how local government boards operate. All such agreements are public. They have to be. All such agreements are submitted to respective local governments for their public discussion, if they choose to discuss them, amend them, reject them or accept them whole. Most of the time the agreements make no ripple because they are routine, they are worked out administratively and routinely approved—in public meetings—without discussion.
Palm Coast was prepared to devote a special meeting to discuss the agreement Weeks submitted because the agreement was not routine. It was a lengthy, hectoring and arbitrary documents that in several instances made demands on the city that exceeded the supervisor’s authority while potentially giving the supervisor a blank authority on the use of city facilities—a can of worms Weeks was slyly reopening through the agreement, though that matter had been settled, after much acrimony, mostly in her favor in the fall.
Palm Coast is not—and, legally, likely cannot—sign off on the agreement Weeks submitted without establishing a precedent that places the supervisor in an administrative role more powerful than the city’s, when it comes to municipal elections. Weeks misunderstands the supervisor’s role in that regard as well: She is by law authorized to run elections, including municipal elections if local cities request the service, but the law gives her no authority to infringe on a city’s operations absent that city’s explicit concurrence.
In fact, Palm Coast had not ruled out signing off on the agreement Weeks had submitted: that was the point of its special meeting. But because of the agreement’s outlying clauses, the city wasn’t going to do so without some negotiating and compromising, which it would have had to do publicly (since Weeks was refusing to negotiate the agreement with the administration first, before it was brought to the council). That’s the “public event” Weeks was ridiculing as “public drama,” and the “invitation” she says she declined.
The city council has drafted its own agreement with Weeks. It’ll take it up at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening, starting at 6:30 p.m. The agreement Palm Coast is willing to sign is essentially the same agreement Weeks signed with Flagler Beach, with a few changes to make it applicable to Palm Coast.
“We’re waiting for the supervisor of elections to be a team player,” Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts said last week. “I’ll happily sign whatever agreement that Bunnell has signed or Flagler Beach has signed.”
That’s virtually word for word what the secretary of state told Weeks to do: “Your arrangement with the city of Palm Coast for conducting its elections should be the same for conducting other city elections in Flagler County held in conjunction with the 2014 primary and general elections,” Detzner wrote.
“Apparently we have two choices as time goes short, either accept her offer as it stands or we respond with a counter offer,” Netts said. “If her contention is that Palm Coast ought not get any special treatment and she wants to treat us like everybody else, that’s fine with me, I’ll sign it in a heartbeat.”
Netts said the city is also willing to sign a separate agreement holding Weeks and her office harmless in case a lawsuit were to result from the 2014 contests—a very unlikely possibility, since the feud between the city and the supervisor has been driven entirely by the supervisor, with virtually no public involvement or much concern over the controversy. The controversy, largely manufactured by Weeks, has appealed to a fringe group of tea party type activists who see a conspiracy behind every city eyelash. Beyond that, voters and residents have yawned, and most are unlikely to know what the issue is about.
In sum, the city is acceding to all the supervisor’s demands as they relate to the conduct of the election and the legal protection she is seeking. But she appears unwilling to give in. The deadline she set is April 2.
That doesn’t mean she won’t give in: on previous occasions, as when Weeks held out against the city over what rooms the city was willing to lend her for early voting, Weeks held out until the council made it clear that it would not go beyond the compromise it had offered. Then Weeks said she would go along with the city’s proposal, saying she did not want to risk jeopardizing voters’ convenience.
Voters’ convenience is precisely what Weeks is jeopardizing, on a larger scale, with her latest display of brinkmanship.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks sent the following reply to FlaglerLive’s article:
The Secretary shared his concerns, and I completely agree with his concerns and hope the city of Palm Coast does as well. If there is any voter confusion created, it is their fault for not allowing the elecitons to all take place at the same time. It doesn’t have to be that way, but ultimatly it is in their hands. You are very biased in your reporting and apparently don’t seem to care if the city charter and laws are followed. Explain to me how would you prepare an interloal agreement if the language in the charter differed from the current laws, practices and procedures and all were to be blended together? For months the Division of Elections has been telling me to work it out with the city, and unfortuanly the city hasn’t been willing to work anything out. The Secretary of State was being kind to not reveal the city reached out to him in an email asking for his involvement. The city was trying to go over my head to avoid following requirements of entering into the interlocal agreement for election services.
The letter below states in the second to last paragraph that the arrangements with the City of Palm Coast for conducting its elections should be the same for conducting other city elecitons in Flagler County held in conjunction with the 2014 primary and general elections, and they are…..Palm Coast is the only only city to be holding their eleciton in conjunction with the 2014 primary and gerneral elecitons. With this being said, Palm Coast should not expect their interlocal agremement to be the same as any other municipalities interlocal agreement, or for any other previous interlocal agreement they have entered. Interlocal agreements are subject to change from electon to election. What I have presented to the City of Palm Coast is exactly what the Secretary suggests.
In the second paragraph the Secretary states that any issues about the propriety of the city’s actions in changing its election and qualifying dates is soely the city’s concern. And as Supervisor of Election’s when administering a city election, my responsibility is to conduct an election in an accessible, fair and efficient manner. I completely agree with the Secretary, and therefore have agreed to implement language in the interlocal agreeement making the city fully responsible for the city’s actions in changing its election and qualify dates. As I have stated since bringing charter matters to the attention to the city, it is not my responsibility to ensure the city follows requirements to moify their city charter. I am required to follow the Florida election laws and the City Charter when administering a city election, and based on the language that existed on the city’s website pertaining to their city charter when I begain to prepare their interlocal agremement it was impossible to prepare an interlocal agreement that would allow me to follow their city charter and Florida eleciton laws, and current practices and procedures. I have, and always will conduct elections in an accessible, fair and efficient manner as the Secretary recogonizes as my responsibility, and to ensure the city’s cooperation provisions were put into place to gain the city’s support. It is unfortunate the city has a history of removing voting precinct directional sings placed to for the voters conveneince on eleciton day, removing signs making voters aware of a school board special election taking place, being resistant in proving what would be best for voters convenience to expand early voting in Palm Coast last fall without months of unnecessary dialogue, and placing price tags on nearly everything this office has asked their cooperation in to making voting more efficient to their efforts to restrict voter awareness, convenience and accessibility. Due to the city’s unwillingness to be team players and being insensitive to the voters needs measures must be in place to ensure their cooperation within the interlocal agreement for the voters beneifit to prevent minipulation and micromanagement to prevent the risk of voters being disconneted and confused.
It is hoped the city will enter into the proosed interlocal agreement that is specific to the only municipality that is holding a city election in conjuction with the county 2014 primary and general elections as the City Clerk estimates it will cost in excess of $120,000 for the city to conduct its own election, and they so the voters will not be faced with the city who has no experience conducting their own election for more than 50,000 voters which would create voter confusion, and risk voters confidence in the outcome of the eleciton results being minipulated. There is no excuse for the city to not cooperate with the Supervsior of Elections unless they do in fact have a hidden agenda, and intend to confuse the voters, which is what concerns the Secretary of State and I. If the city should choose to not enter into the proposed interlocal agreement they would be incurring unnecessary expenses for the city which would be unfortunate to the tax payers of the city, and they risk being unable to carry out the responsibilty of carrying out conducting an election for the voters in their city. The voters can however, have confidence in the Supervisor of Elections Office conducting fair, honest elections.
What is interesting is I have reached out to the Division of Elections many times over the past many months regarding the issues with the conflicts with the Palm Coast City charter before the City adopted ordinances making them retroactive to 2011, and the state repeatedly stated that I was to work the issues out with the City as the State had no jurisdiction over the municipal charter. It has been reported in the media over the past months that the “Department of Elections and Attorney General ” confirmed the City properly modifyed their city charter in 2011, but the Secrectary did not make that claim in his letter dated March 28th. He simply placed the responsibility on the city to defend their city charter, and what has taken place. Why all the sudden has the support chain changed and not included all the support of what the city has claimed to date to include the Attorney General and the Department of Elections? Until something other than an opinion is produced, it isn’t confirmed that the city did in fact meet all requiremetns to modify their city charter following the 2011 city elections, and like Secretary Detzner and my legal council stated stated, that is up to the City to defend if suit is filed. I know I have done all that I could do to prevent a costly court challenge, and to confirm the election held for the city would be a legal election. I look forward to a successfully serving the voters in 2014.
Fed up with Weeks says
I, for one, am fed up the way our supervisor of elections runs her department. I do not understand why she does not seem to be happy unless she is having a “public” feud with another entity. (Think back to her explanation of her departments finances and the county commission.) I did not vote for her to be reelected fearing some sort of “power trip,” and, unfortunately, she has come through again.
166 says
Weeks is the only one with integrity, and the only elected official that we have the truly works for the people that elects her and is willing to fight for what is right. We need more people like Weeks in public office who are not afraid to stand up for what is right.
You know as well as I the board of County commissioners gave Weeks a hard time to make her job difficult hoping that she throw her hands up and give up so that she may not want to run for reelection.
Dennis McDonald says
Gary Holland’s 10/23/2013 email sent to all, contains the answers on what was missed and who’s plate it’s on. Let’s start with Holland’s statements, ” The Secretary of State has no jurisdiction over municipal governments;” really, so Secretary Detzner is blowing smoke in his letter for public posturing, I am not surprised as he was a Beer Lobbyist last year at this time….Great !
Then we have the core issue, ” The intent underlying the Election Code is that municipalities are responsible for their own elections absent an agreement with the county.” The City of Palm Coast managed by Landon has TOTAL responsibility to hold it’s REQUIRED election NOT the county SOE. Since Landon missed the 2013 election that was listed in the City Charter for this past September he better get it right this year ! Ehhh, if Landon fails again they can just pass another retroactive ordinance…. retroactive ordinance does that sound right ?
The point here is that this is all on Landon’s plate. He has failed again to meet the terms of his duties outlined in the City Charter sec 6 2 c 8. City Manager of the Year Landon having been informed by the DOE attorney Gary Holland FIVE months ago that the subcontractor [SOE] he could hire by interlocal agreement to hold the City election was under NO Obligation to so. Then Landon hammers the ONLY subcontractor option he has with NO backup plan. Looks like his passive aggressive mode of operation has taken him off the cliff.
All this at $300K plus per year , this is coming to a rapid conclusion and keep in mind that the Voters elected Weeks by a large margin and Landon was elected by four Councilmen and a Mayor from the PAST or soon to be past !
I have included the Email from the DOE attorney Gary Holland that sets the bounds of Florida Election Laws. Secretary of State Detzner is a political appointee and from all that has been written in his short tenure from other SOE’s around the state it is less than favorable.
Opinions of the New Palm Coast.
Dennis McDonald
Johnny Taxpayer says
If you were just talking about Landon, you might have a case. But in this instance we have every swinging Lawyer essentially in the state, the Secretary of State, the City Council, and it would appear from the article, the editor of this site, all on the same side, versus a particular local politician who hasn’t exactly had a smooth tenure in office. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see who’s at fault here. Ms Weeks has done nothing but continue to dig, and dig, and dig the hole she’s created for herself.
I say once again, how in the hell did we reelect this lady?
Anonymous says
Well, Fed Up, she is trying to get this done fairly, these dirt bags in office are trying to be slick, making you have to go to two different places to vote for all seats and changing the year we vote so some get to stay in office so they still have not only have people in their still doing their dirty deeds , but trying to sway the new comers into being slugs as well, all these CRIMINALS need to go , IM FED UP WITH BEING SCREWED BY THEM!!!!
m&m says
Another egotistical politician who thinks she above the law.. Who is her boss? That person should also be questioned unless they’re afraid of her..
Nancy N. says
Since she’s an elected official WE are her boss. She has no supervisor within the county structure. She answers only to herself and the voters.
confidential says
We should all be fed up with the city officials manipulating unnecessary controversy, against our elected SOE by the majority of the county electorate. You ‘already failed intentionally moving the city elections with the excuse to save taxpayers monies when in reality just extended the mayors term by doing so.
The proof of their wrong doing is that the had to come up with an ordinance to fix that problem and after SOE correctly brought up the issue with more than 7 months of time to their table. The SOE fell on deaf ears all for months of those seven in total. How come the mayor didn’t offer to exempt until now to the SOE hold harmless in case a challenge may ensue and lawsuit?
All the other cities in this county get along and comply with elections laws enforced by our elected SOE Mrs. Weeks, without creating a Soprano style attack on her. This ridicule is so virulent against our SOE that even candidates that miserably failed to be elected in the very first round of primaries while running against law abiding SOE Weeks are riding in the Superman Cape of the 5 city politicos that were elected by only about 5% or so of the electorate while the SOE was elected almost by a landslide.
Our SOE was even awarded among a small group of Florida SOE’s by the GOP administration in Tallahassee for her good work and in Flagler County she is attacked, disrespected and undermined by many totally ignorant of election laws including 5% elected politicos, “the KM looser” on her election campaign and any other that despise her for being an elections law observing lady and also a DEM.
Dennis McDonald, please provide here the e-mail from Gary Holland that sets the Florida Election Laws. The city needs to sign the interlocal agreement as presented …and stop their Charade so costly to the city taxpayers!
Fleming says
Way to go KIM…keep up the fight !!!! Maybe we can get these “loser” politicains OUT of office and have more like you who actually CARE about Flagler County……Thanks again for you work .
Lin says
I’m just plain fed up with all of them
Every election I go out there and vote, sometimes working to support candidates but I just see things getting worse. Bad decisions by even those elected that I had hope for. And looking at the new candidates for upcoming elections I don’t see coherent plans to make things better from any of them
Maybe apathy is a choice
Lock Landon or Netts and Weeks I’m a room until they work it out
Treat them like children
Enough already
PCresident says
Everything Landon has had his hands in is always a total nightmare! Aside from the monitary strain his paycheck puts on the taxpayers, his incompetence with business dealings puts our city in peril every day. Look at the Panera Bread Co. Scandal for a glimpse. Look at every single thing he does, and the way he treats employees and citizens abroad. For 300k per year in total compensation, you would think we could get a professional administrator. Coffee, for the County, makes half of what he makes and do you hear all the hoopla surrounding him? No, because he, like the majority of administrators in FL are legit and are professional. They do their job appropriately! His days should be numbered, not by a contract date, but by firing! If he were smart (again, if he were smart), he would resign so we can save the city before it becomes unreparible.
When one points a finger, remember there are three pointing right back at you! By the way, I am holding my entire hand in Landon’s direction the day I witnessed him speak to a large group of citizens in a public meeting. No one with his title SHOULD EVER speak to citizens the way he did. Then to hear all the turmoil he brings with him, I was not surprised. Landon’s level of arrogance is not a high end expensive cologn! It is a disease; uncurable one at that!
BUNNELL NATIVE says
WEEKS NEED TO GO! SOONER THAN LATER!
Prescient33 says
The City fathers should seek a Writ of Mandamus from the courts directing Weeks to perform her duties as they keel she should. If the courts are unwilling to do that, and agree with her position, this should satisfy them, and resolve the issue.
fruitcake says
Next election…shes gone….
Wolley Segap says
I think the entire 2012 election process should be investigated…
New Supervisor Please says
The spirit of Secretary Detzner’s letter is clear and simple. Stop causing problems and conduct the election as you normally would. In our SOE’s letter posted to FlaglerLive she is pretty much dissmissing any advice by officials, and councils at the state level and following her own conclusions..
Is this the kind of representation Flagler County needs? No.
It’s time to cast a vote for a new Supervisor of Elections..
amom says
Lets face it. Weeks has no people skills and is a troublemaker.
Oops says
I really can’t figure out who to root for. Weeks is nuttier than a fruit cake, but so is PC.
Last I understood, lawyers can only offer opinions as all laws are up for interpretation. Now if multiple good lawyers give consistent opinions, it stands to reason that “home school law students” should probably listen to them.
Kinda makes me wonder if civil damages could be due the city or residents for her pride?
orphan says
Arrogance can be controlled by the public GOING to the polls to vote! Don’t piss and moan unless you can look inside yourselves and honestly know that you have/or will vote the problem(s) out of office. OK?
The Pen is Mightier Than The Sword! says
Honorable Governor Scott
Please remove Flagler County’s Supervisor of Elections Ms Kimberly Weeks from office as soon as possible. I’m fed up with having my rights to vote muddied or destroyed. She has raised enough eyebrows in the State, including the Office of the Secretary of State. She’s wasting our time and tax dollars.
Please expedite this request.
Thank You
A Flagler County Voter (rep)
Teddy says
Making voting inconvenient will only reduce voter turnout making it harder to oust the present city officials.
Huh?
Oh wait! I got it!!
Brad says
The thing is this is NOT about Kimberle Weeks. It’s about us as voters, and our right to vote. KImberle Weeks isn’t looking out for that. She is looking out for herself. It is pretty odd that she would be so concerned regrading a lawsuit against her office after knowing about this supposed “issue” for 2 years and not doing a thing about it until now. If it is such a large costly issue for us as voters, why would I be happy as a taxpayer to hear that the person raising the issue knew about ti yet never did anything about it? Seriously, it’s not like she is spending any time or effort in her role (and for our $95,000+ tax dollars to pay her salary) to improve voter communications and improve voter turnout.
The enormous focus on a potential lawsuit also says to me that Ms. Weeks knows a lawsuit is coming. Dennis McDonald for one loves to sue the City and waste our tax dollars. Sounds like the Tea Party leader is working with our Elections Supervisor and the Tea Party now controls our locals elections.
I say we invest the $120,000+ to run our own elections if she will not. She isn’t in office to rule or lord over. She is in office to serve. We, as the majority number of voters (her customers) in Flagler County, should not have our right to vote held hostage by an out-of-control Elections Supervisor who uses her office and our tax dollars to carry out personal vendettas. It is sad that our Elections Supervisor can’t be as good a public Official as someone like Gail Wadsworth or James Gardner.
The problem with voting is not the people . . . it’s the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections.
166 says
Brad-It’s about integrity and the fact that voters may lose confidence that elections are not legal, honest, and fair. I’m sure Kimberle doesn’t want to spend her time and our money in court and that’s not what we elected her to do. You obviously lack integrity Brad to not understand this concept. What good is it to have elections if they aren’t legal? Are you kin to Jon Netts or Jim Landon? The attitude you have is the very reason why America is in the shape it is in today.
Diana L says
Brad, I certainly would not question your integrity, I don’t know you. But, I did hear someone say that the reason you are so critical of our SOE, is that you want her job? Do you want the SOE position?
Captain Obvious says
Is any of this contention because Netts and his gang of boys have a few things to hide by now?
When Netts and Landon get real estate consultants to tell people they need to learn how to grovel in order to get things done in their city, or they have Ray Tyner try and intimidate people into submission, or Mugford squashes evidence for them under oath, or the City Attorney illegally represents both a board in a meeting under oath, or city employees are trained to lie to the public about their rights, what does that really tell us is going on behind closed doors in the city offices? What deals are they all making when they meet in the local coffee shops? How many innocent unsuspecting people are they using to say, play politics in order to come to the agreement with the Sheriff’s office recently?
If they play this right, will they leave it up to themselves to control the vote all over again?
Some of what is going isn’t just politics. It’s illegal as all get-outs.
Mike says
This is simple, yet only in government can it get so screwed up, if she does not do what het superiors request then it is insubordination and grounds for immediate termination. Just because you were voted in should mean nothing, you do not follow the job requirements and you no longer have that position. This job protection among government workers is ridicules, like tenure it should be done away with, do your job as described or release them to the 9.2% of unemployed in Flagler, I am sure there is someone out there cable and willing to do Ms. Week’s six figure salary job if she is not.
Nancy N. says
Ms Weeks wrote: “Until something other than an opinion is produced, it isn’t confirmed that the city did in fact meet all requiremetns to modify their city charter following the 2011 city elections”
What does the woman want? Oaths signed in blood? Words carved on stone tablets? The law and its application is all about interpretation. Interpretation is opinion. The only way to “prove” that the modification was done correctly is to get sued and win – and even that doesn’t really prove anything. It just proves that one judge’s interpretation (read: opinion) agrees with the city’s.
She’s trying to pin a cloud to the ground. It doesn’t work that way.
Florida Native. says
I must admit that in my 63 years I have never seen a city without a free-standing city hall building or a police department and spends money like it grows on trees so why am I not surprised with the drama with the city and Weeks. Just another day in Loony Ville.
Wishful Thinking says
good girl Kim for standing up for what you truly believe is legally correct. Shame on ‘selected’ officials who tell ‘elected officials ‘ how to perform their public responsibilities
GO KIM GO
Palmcoastconcernedcitizen says
Why can the county agencies and the city not get along. So why are we not impeaching this lady? She does not seem to want to do her job, so lets get some one in that can do the job. She represents all of the county, Palm Coast being the majority, maybe she needs to be reminded of that!
Impeach, impeach, impeach!
[email protected] says
this makes me sick of government , weeks playing games, the city playing games , it is all about their power and disrespecting the people whom they are suppose to take care of. politicians will never have the respect of the public because of people like her and the palm coast government
Diana L says
OMGosh people please understand the situation. It is apparent that some don’t know the details when you read these comments.
166 says
Shame on these council members for not respecting our supervisors, and working with her so she can hold our elections. The city is going to learn a lesson about being so cocky and pushy if she doesn’t accept the two agreements they turned in to her. I can’t imagine she will, who are they to think they are qualified to do her job? The other cities don’t treat the supervisor with such disrespect.