The Flagler Beach City Commission Thursday evening appointed former Flagler County Commissioner Barbara Revels and former Flagler Beach Mayor Suzie Johnston to the Flagler Beach Planning and Architecture Review Board. Scott Chappuis, a retired appraiser, was re-appointed to a third term. The members serve three-year terms and are part of a panel of seven.
Johnston, a real estate agent and chief marketing officer for Grand Living Realty, served a term as mayor between 2021 and 2024. Commissioners appointed her to the planning board in December to complete the term of architect Board Chair Joseph Pozzuoli, who resigned that month.
Revels, a realtor and general contractor and a lifelong resident of Flagler Beach, was a two-term county commissioner from 2008 to 2016 and brings a long list of civic and government credentials, chairing too many panels to mention (among them the Flagler County planning board and the Public Safety Coordinating Council). She’s also served on numerous Flagler Beach panels, including a previous zoning board, so the appointment is a return of sorts.
“I have not seen a slate of such qualified candidates since I’ve been here,” City Commission Chair Scott Spradley said. “We always have interested people and occasionally a qualified person, but now we have a whole list of qualified and interested [candidates], and I wish we had more than three spots available.”
Six people applied for three openings on the planning board. Paul Mukytka, Ralph Santore and Sayre Berman were the unsuccessful applicants. “I’m telling you, you hit bad luck,” Spradley told them. “It’s just we had an incredible list of applicants, all of whom are qualified. So don’t feel bad. It’s just a close call.”
In effect only Revels’s appointment adds an entirely new member to the panel. Chappuis was re-appointed and Johnston was appointed to a full term. Revels takes the place of Brenda Wotherspoon, who completed her term this month. William “Boudie” Estberg was appointed in December in place of former City Commissioner Marshall Shupe at the end of Shupe’s term. The rest of the board includes Lisa Smith, Paul Chestnut and Joann Soman.
The five commissioners and the mayor voted on the appointments, ranking each on scores of 1 to 6, with 1 the highest rating. Johnston was by far the top choice, garnering four top scores. They had heard from five of the six applicants, Revels being the exception: she had a commitment she could not break. But unbeknownst to her, one of the candidates spoke in support of her, risking his own chance.
“You guys know this better than I do, but it is an awful lot of stuff to know about,” Chappuis said of the planning board service. Referring to a previous long-time member, he said: “Don Deal said it to me best. He said most of the people that complain around here have no idea what the rule books all about, and it’s just amazing how often that comes back to my memory. But anyways, I’d love to serve another term. I’m going to go out of bounds a little bit here and say if Barton Revels is interested in this position, you guys really need to consider that, because she knows her stuff, and she is certainly a lifelong, dedicated member of this community.”
Johnston said she wanted to continue to serve the city. “I enjoyed my last tenure of PAR Board,” she said, referring to the board by its common acronym. “I think it was two months. I was not ready for it to end, so I put my name in the hat again.”
The planning board reviews the architectural standards of most buildings in the city, all building permit requests other than for single-family houses, all proposed changes to the city’s land development regulations, rezoning applications and special exceptions to building plans, and so on. Some of its decisions are binding, some are recommendations to the City Commission. The volunteer board meets the first Tuesday of the month.
Chris Conklin says
no disrespect to others willing to serve but Barbara Revels is head and toes but all. Flagler Beach is lucky to have her step up.