Incumbents John Rogers and Pete Young Re-elected Unopposed in Bunnell Despite Growth Controversies

For all the controversial issues concerning massive development and industrial rezoning that shadowed Bunnell’s past year and that jammed its city commission chambers with a public anxious about untrammeled change and growth in the city, Commissioners John Rogers and Pete Young today were re-elected without so much as drawing opposition, suggesting either indifference or satisfaction from the broader public. 

Qualifying for the Bunnell election, which was scheduled for March 3, ended at noon today. Only Rogers and Young had qualified. They were automatically re-elected and the election was canceled, saving the city some money. 

Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach also have elections on March 3. Qualifying in Beverly Beach ends on Monday at 2 p.m. So far only the two incumbents for two seats have qualified, James Howard and Jeffrey Borges, so they may end up reelected without opposition, canceling that election. 

Only Flagler Beach is certain to have an election. Qualifying ended there on Dec. 19. Three candidates have qualified for two seats, including the two incumbents–Scott Spradley, an attorney who is ending his first term, and Rick Belhumeur, a builder who is ending his third, though only the first two were consecutive. The third candidate is R.J. Santore III, the vice president of Ralph Santore and Sons, a Flagler County-based fireworks manufacturer. 

Both Young and Rogers were re-elected without opposition for the second election in a row. Rogers was jubilant moments after qualifying ended today. “Man, you know, I just want to sincerely thank the community for placing their trust in me once again, being elected unopposed for the second consecutive election cycle I ran,” he said. “It is truly humbling and don’t take it lightly. We’ve come through a lot of challenges. We opened a new city hall and police facility, we worked through growing pains and continue to move Bunnell forward.”

Rogers, whose Bunnell company, John’s Towing, just marked its 35-year anniversary,  was first elected in 2011 after serving on the city’s code enforcement and zoning boards since 2007. His service on the commission makes him the third-most senior elected official in Flagler County after Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson and Flagler County Commissioner Andy Dance. 

Robinson since taking office on the commission in 1996 makes a habit of getting reelected without opposition, as she did last year. Dance served on the School Board from 2008 to 2020, and has been serving on the County Commission since. 

Rogers has on occasion flirted with running for the County Commission to represent the west side. However, he does not want to challenge Leann Pennington, whom he supports. He will be starting his sixth consecutive term in Bunnell. Fond of invoking scripture—he is a member of the Calvary Christian Center in Ormond Beach, where he has been ministering to the homeless for two decades—Rogers today cited a verse from the Gospel of Mark: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.”

Young was just as relieved not to have to run an election. He’d been “counting down the days and the hours and the minutes,” he said.

“I was all prepared to put out signs and campaign stuff again but no, I’m glad I’m not having to do that,” Young said this afternoon. “We have an excellent board. We all talk things over, we disagree but we’re still friends at the end of the day. We don’t sue each other like Palm Coast. That’s the way we want to do it. Everybody has their own goals for the city, and we support each other.” Young was referring to last year’s lawsuit by Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris against the city and fellow Council member Charles Gambaro, whom he wanted a court to boot off the council. Norris lost.

Young and Rogers had been on opposite ends of the two sharpest controversies the City Commission navigated last year: the development of the so-called Reserve at Haw Creek, approved to be a 6,100-unit development at the city’s west and south flanks, making it the largest single development in the county since ITT developed Palm Coast, and the rezoning from agricultural to industrial of over 1,259 acres south and west of the city’s core.

Rogers had opposed both initiatives, as had the near totality of the public that filled commission meetings. Young had supported them. Neither paid a price for his position. 

“We want growth but we want smart growth,” Rogers said, “we want sustainable growth and we don’t want growth that’s going to cause us flooding and traffic and heartache.” 

Young, 70, had once been Bunnell’s police chief and retired from the Florida Highway Patrol after a long career there in 2023. He wants Bunnell to catch up to Palm Coast and Flagler Beach with growth, which he considers to have been too slow in Bunnell. “We’ve been landlocked for a long time and I’m hoping everything works out with this growth, jobs and everything else. We need to catch up with everyone else. You see how Palm Coast is developing, and Flagler Beach has some developments coming.”

The two commissioners’ tenure also saw the city finally open the long-awaited Commerce Parkway extension to U.S. 1 and city offices move into their own City Hall on Commerce Parkway after years of nomadic existence in strip malls and at the Government Services Building. 

They oversaw the city financing a new sewer plant, and they’ve supported the tenure of Alvin Jackson, the city manager hired in 2018 largely at Rogers’s insistence, and awarded a $14,500 raise last October. Jackson is in the state’s deferred retirement program, so he will be retiring in February 2028. 

Rogers was bullish on the city’s future–“the best is yet to come,” he said–and repeatedly thanked Bunnell residents. “Thank you for allowing me to continue to work on your behalf,” he said. The head coach of the Atlantic High School Sharks girls’ basketball team for the past five years, Rogers was scheduled to coach a game this evening (the team is 5-5). He said he’ll get with his wife Renae Rogers “and see what kind of plans we’re going to have” to celebrate. Young said he was doing likewise, celebrating “with the wife and the family, that’s what it’s all about.”