As always–as expected, as usual, as required by Bunnellian custom–Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson was re-elected without opposition when qualifying ended last week, extending the longest tenure of any of Flagler County’s 37 elected officials, by a wide margin.
Robinson, 71, was first appointed to the Commission in 1996 and has served as a commissioner and mayor since, with a one-year interruption at the turn of the millennium. She has been challenged only twice, the last time in 2008. She will serve at least another three years. It’s surprising that her fellow-commissioners haven’t elected to name the new City Hall, opening later this year, for her, unless Robinson takes the John D. Rockefeller approach (he forbade the naming of any landmark for him until after his death).
Robinson is among five elected officials in local municipalities who were re-elected without opposition. Steve Emmett, the long-time mayor of Beverly Beach, was re-elected, as were fellow Beverly Beach Commissioners Phil Krakowski, Jeff Schuitema and Raymond Tremblay. As a result, Beverly Beach will not have an election this March.
The city commissions in Flagler Beach and Bunnell will have contested elections on March 4.
As qualifying closed for those races last week, five new candidates–none of them incumbents–qualified for two seats in Bunnell, and three candidates, two of them incumbents, qualified for two seats in Flagler Beach.
Bunnell is set to have the most contested election in a decade and half as two commissioners, Tonya Gordon and Tina-Marie Schultz, opted not to run again. The open seats prompted a much larger field of candidates than Bunnell usually draws, only one of whom–Bonita Robinson–has served on the commission previously, and even then, just for one term. Robinson runs the Carver Center on Bunnell’s East Drain Street. If she were to win, Bunnell’s south side would again have direct representation, as it has not had since Robinson was unseated in 2017.
The other candidates are David Atkinson, L. Amanda Hawkins, L. Dean Sechrist and David Wilhite. Atkinson and Sechrist are residents of Grand Reserve, the subdivision that began growing to the east and north of the city and that is nearing completion with some 800 homes. Hawkins is a resident of County Road 302 to the west of the city. David Wilhite, a resident of East Lambert Street, is a member of the Bunnell planning board.
As in Flagler Beach, there are no voting districts in Bunnell. The top two vote-getters will be elected.
In Flagler Beach, Jane Mealy, the second-longest serving elected official in the county, qualified to run again, as has James Sherman, who is completing his first term. There’s one new candidate: John Cunningham, not to be confused with Bob Cunningham, who ran in the 2023 and 2024 elections. John Cunningham describes himself as a seventh-generation Floridian who mostly lived in Clay County until he moved to Flagler Beach nine years ago. As in Bunnell, Flagler Beach commissioners serve three-year terms.
Xavier Wallace says
Jane Mealy all the way. What has Sherman done??
Mothersworry says
For sure! The lady knows whats going on.
Crusty Old Salt says
Agree 100%. Ms. Mealy has also attended most all of the Planning and Architectural meetings since she was elected years ago. No other Commissioners attend those meetings on a regular basis. In fact, some have never. This gives Ms. Mealy a better understanding of the points made both pro and con of the issues coming before the Commission that went before the Planning and Architectural Board.
If you have ever watched or attended a Commission meeting, she is the one who has not only both read and studied the material at length but asks questions most pertinent to the items being discussed.
One only has to watch or attend a few meetings to see who is prepared and read the back up material on the agenda items to form an understanding of the above statements.
Good luck on the upcoming election Ms. Mealy. We need you and thank u for keeping the ship uprighted all of these years.
NativeGirl says
Who’s favored to win the 2 seats in Bunnell?