Higher values ease pressure on government revenue but a potential increase in the homestead exemption would reduce revenue by millions, absent tax hikes.
Flagler
County’s Reply To Sheriff on Sick Building: We’ll Get Back To You On That
The Flagler County administration in an unsigned statement said the county was hiring an engineer to further study the sheriff’s potentially sick operations center.
Calling It an Unsafe “Albatross,” Sheriff Demands Immediate Relocation Out of Sick Building For Dozens of Employees
Unequivocally referring to the Operations Center as a sick building, Sheriff Rick Staly made the demand for alternate space to County Administrator Craig Coffey, who pushed to buy the old hospital in 2013 and convert it.
County Defends $284,000 Tourism Website Deal and Commissioners Are Mollified
County Administrator Craig Coffey and tourism officials put commissioners’ questions about the expense of a website to rest with 75 minutes of details and only a few straw men.
Flagler Government Spent $1 Million on 3 Websites Since 2010, Wants $300,000 More In Next 4 Years
Flagler County government wants to spend $284,000 on a tourism website over the next four years. It has already spent $1 million on three websites in the past nine.
To Protect Public Use of Private Beachfronts, Flagler Calls on Memories of
Long-Timers’ Customs
To ward off a new state law potentially allowing private property owners to fence off beach sands, the Flagler County Commission is enacting an ordinance to preserve public use and forbid fencing.
Teens-In-Flight Marks 10 Years, New Home and Expanded Mission at Flagler Airport
Teens-In-Flight, the 10-year-old non-profit that gives children of fallen soldiers a path to flying, marked the opening of its new home at Flagler Airport this afternoon.
Adding To Recent Woes, Embry-Riddle Training Plane Loses a Door Over Flagler
A Diamond DA-42, a twin-engine plane manufactured in 2016, was flying over the south end of the county when it lost the door in a near-repeat of a 2013 incident.
Flagler Fire Services Get Boost and 8th Ambulance With Heritage-Preserving Transfer of Bunnell Fire Station
Bunnell’s Fire Department no longer exists, but a Bunnell fire station lives on, improved, under county auspices, with better response times and expanded countywide services.
Flagler Government Wants $284,000 Contract For Tourism Website Revamp
The proposal never went before the Tourist Development Council. The county administrator says the $284,000 cost will actually be less than the existing contract.
For Sheriff’s Detective Annie Conrad, Flagler Officer Of the Year, Grim Duty Defined By Compassion
Flagler Sheriff’s Detective Annie Conrad, a 14-year veteran, played a central role in the conviction of Dorothy Singer in the killing of Singer’s husband.
Construction Brisk in Flagler and Palm Coast, Prompting Glimmers of Steady Boomlet
Brisk construction activity in Palm Coast and Flagler is sending building inspections soaring, reflecting healthy but not boom-like activity in the sector.
In Latest Victory For Dog Owners, Court Rejects Flagler’s Appeal on ‘Dangerous’ Ruling
The labrador that bit an 8-year-old Flagler County boy in the face three years ago will not have to be termed dangerous, and the long legal case appears closed.
At Flagler Sheriff’s Ceremony For Fallen Officers, Feeling Pain Of ‘Loss Across the Nation’
Fagler County’s five fallen deputies over the years were recognized Monday evening, and the sheriff’s tactical center was renamed after Sheriff Homer Brooks.
Defense Calls For Judge Craig To Be Disqualified From Dorothy Singer Murder Trial Following String of Startling Statements
Dorothy Singer is on trial Monday for allegedly murdering her husband Charles in West Flagler last year, but the defense claims the judge has made a series of statements that betray favoritism for the state.
Adding To Troubled Run, Flagler Commission Candidate Joe Mullins Blurs Business And Electioneering
Joe Mullins, a candidate for the County Commission seat held by Nate McLaughlin, is blurring the line between campaigning and private business in a series of local involvements, a FlaglerLive investigation found.
Accusing Palm Coast of Making ‘Blatantly False’ Claims, County Talks Mediation and Litigation Over SR100 Development
A proposed commercial development on State Road 100 by the airport has county and Palm Coast government relations at their lowest ebb in years.
Disaster-Response Company Gets $40,000 County Subsidy and Moves to Flagler Airport
Kimble’s Aviation Logistical Services pledged to create 40 jobs over the next seven years, basing its disaster-recovery operation at the Flagler County Airport.
Sheriff’s Palm Coast Precinct Moving Near Island Walk for $1 Million, Ending Nomadic Years
The Flagler Sheriff’s Palm Coast Precinct will move from City Marketplace to Palm Harbor Way, in the old Wachovia bank building that will be county property.
Roundabout Construction at US1 and Old Dixie Will Start In a Few Months Despite Opposition
Construction of the much-opposed roundabout at U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway in Flagler is expected to start after August absent intervention by the governor or lawmakers.
Don’t Ask Democrats To Fall On a Sword In Race Aiming To Flip Flagler Seat Blue
Despite Nancy Soderberg’s advantage, fellow-Democrats John Upchurch and Stephen Sevigny say they’ll let voters, not the Democratic Party, decide who should be the nominee in the congressional race.
Sticking With Motorola, Flagler Rejects Bid Protest Over $14.8 Million Contract For Emergency Communications
The Flagler County Commission in a special meeting today rejected Communications International’s protest over a bid that went to Motorola to build critical emergency communications infrastructure.
Family Life Center Takes Over New But Familiar, More Visible Space: ‘We’re Here if You Need Us’
The administrative offices of Flagler County’s shelter for victims of rape and domestic violence moved to where the sheriff’s detective bureau used to be on State Road 100.
Flagler and Florida Unemployment in Holding Pattern For Seventh Month In a Row
Flagler’s unemployment rate is at a healthy 4.1 percent, where it’s been, give or take a few decimal points, for seven months, with the state’s unemployment mirroring the holding pattern.
Spirit Ride’s Coffin Honoring Fallen Tow Operators and Other Emergency Responders Makes Ceremonial Stop in Bunnell
The ceremonial casket is part of American Towman’s Spirit Ride pilgrimage through 200 cities across the country to bring attention to the dangers emergency responders face every day.
Tax-Evaders Beware: Flagler Will Take Over Local Collection From Short-Term Renters, Projecting Jump in Revenue
The Flagler County Tax Collector, not the state Department of Revenue, will be collecting the 5 percent tax on short term rentals starting in July–a tax hundreds of property owners are evading currently.
Flagler Moves to Protect Public’s Use Of Beaches Ahead of Law Granting Property Owners Restrictive Rights
The new law allows beachfront private property owners to trespass the public from private beaches, something not allowed currently, and never done in Flagler.
7 New Sheriff’s Deputies, 143% Cost Increase as Outline of Flagler’s School Safety Takes Shape
Sheriff Staly and Superintendent Tager are negotiating an increase of the school deputies’ program to $1.8 million split 50-50, with the schools’ share paid by the state and the sheriff’s by the County Commission.
Flagler Judge Scott DuPont Called “Unfit,” “Outrageous,” “Disturbing,” “Beyond Reckless” and Contemptuous of Law
A devastating 21-page opinion by a disciplinary judicial commission repeats in harsher language a call for Judge Scott DuPont’s removal, a recommendation going before the Supreme Court.
Water War Flares Again Between Palm Coast and County Over Planned Shops Near Airport
A proposed commercial development at the southeast corner of State Road 100 and the entrance to the county airport, opposite Bulldog Drive, is at the center of the latest water dispute between Palm Coast and the county.
Flagler Approves $14.8 Million Next-Gen Emergency Communication System, But Faces Bid Protest
Motorola won the $14.8 million contract to upgrade the emergency communications system every local first responder and other workers depend on, but Flagler faces a protest from CI, the other bidder and provider of the existing system.
Three Flagler County Rotary Clubs Join to Plant 220 Long Leaf Pine Trees Together
The project is in response to a call by Rotary International President Ian Risley for the organization to plant 1.2 million trees, one for each member of the international organization.
Jury Finds Ex-Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks Guilty On All 7 Felony Counts of Illegally Recording Others
Former Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks was found guilty on felony counts that she illegally recorded other officials during her tenure.
Kimberle Weeks Trial Day 3: Defense Opts Against Putting On a Case, Relying on Outlier Theory Instead
In an echo of Kimberle Weeks’s own irreverence toward established law, her lawyers are arguing an untested and unusual interpretation of what amounts to a public meeting: all conversations between public officials involving public business.
Flagler Government Approves Open-Ended Renewals of County Administrator’s and Attorney’s Contracts
County Administrator Craig Coffey and County Attorney Al Hadeed have been the commission’s hires since 2007. Their contracts no longer will have an end date.
Trial Day 2: Jury Hears Kim Weeks Insult Secretary of State and Others As Ken Detzner Sat in Witness Box
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner was a star witness for the prosecution today, saying Kim Weeks recorded him without his permission. he then heard her call him a “dumb bastard.”
New Law Gives Property Owners Right to Restrict Beach Access. Flagler Working On Protecting Public’s “Customary Use”
The new and unusual Florida law allows beachfront property owners the right to wall off or restrict dry-sand areas from public use, but Flagler government intends to protect that “customary use” despite the law.
Judge Craig Is Out, Judge Perkins Is In As Flagler’s Felony and Civil Benches Again Flip
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins will replace Dennis Craig, who’s headed back to Volusia, becoming the sixth judge in eight years to preside over Flagler County’s felony court.
Unprecedented Flagler Forum With 7 Judges Has Some Make News and Others De-Mystify The Bench
Seven local judges appeared at the Flagler Palm Coast Forum Tuesday evening, the Ed Fuller group devoted to civic and electoral discussions featuring candidates running for office.
“March For Our Lives” Draws 100 Along Palm Coast Parkway in Orange Echo of Global Student Movement
The Palm Coast demonstrators joined some 800 planned March For Our Lives protests across the globe today, calling for sensible gun control and a ban on assault-type weapons.
Flagler’s Labor Force and Number of Job-Holders Jump to New Highs as Unemployment Falls
Flagler County’s labor force has grown by 42 percent since the recovery began in 2010, and more impressively, the rate of people holding jobs has grown 63 percent, by a net 17,500 people.
Flagler-Palm Coast’s Population Grows 2.5% in a Year, to 110,510
Flagler County gained an estimated 2,705 residents in the last 12 months calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, suggesting a need for more housing.
Flagler Reads Together:
“The Alice Network”‘s Little Problem
Flagler Reads Together this year chose Kate Quinn’s “The Alice Network,” a novel about women spies during World War I wrapped in a sort of buddy road story.
Sheriff’s Chief Paul Bovino, Newly-Minted FBI Academy Graduate, On The Experience From Within
Paul Bovino is among the more charismatic and intimidating members of the Sheriff’s Office, a cop’s cop with outsize stage presence and a love of the job that radiates in most things he says and does.
Tiny RV Park Proposed for Colbert Lane Revs Up Residents’ Rebellion, and Is Denied
Upscale or not, Palm Coast Plantation and Grand Haven residents saw a proposed RV park on Colbert Lane as a trailer park, and the county commission rejected it Monday evening.
Flagler Unemployment Ticks Up by 0.6%, Mirroring Increases in Surrounding Counties
Flagler, St. Johns, Duval and Volusia all saw unemployment figures increase by 0.5 to 06 percent in January, with Flagler’s increase also due to a larger labor force.
Another Exhausting But Short-Term Victory For Flagler Government as Vacation-Rental Deregulation Fails Again
Flagler County government had staunchly opposed lawmakers’ attempts to eliminate local regulation of short-term vacation rentals, regulations crafted in 2014 largely at Flagler’s behest.
For Sheriff and Flagler Schools, Clear Accord: No to Arming Teachers, Yes to More Deputies
At a joint news conference later this week, Sheriff Rick Staly and Superintendent Jim Tager will outline new security measures and initiatives and a plan for additional school deputies, but no weaponizing of teachers.
Hammock Beach “Dragging Their Feet” Over Dunes-Repair Agreement, Vexing County
The agreement with Hammock Beach is the last piece of a mosaic of agreements framing the reconstruction of protective dunes along the beach. But hammock Beach has yet to sign.
Gently But Firmly, Flagler Beach Tells County It Wants Control Over Wickline Center Back
The Wickline Center on Daytona Avenue is city-owned, but entirely controlled by the county, a situation the city wants changed in view of a revamp of that entire city-owned block, including the Montessori school.