County Administrator Craig Coffey formalized authority to close certain public lands, including Bulow Woods, Pellicer Flats and the old hospital in Bunnell, either for safety reasons or as lands are undergoing construction or conservation. Trespassers may be arrested. Commissioners wanted to ensure that the administrator would not close lands without their knowledge.
Flagler County Commission
Unearned Audacity: On Economic Development, Flagler Tells Voters to Drop Dead
State law requires Flagler County to ask voters permission in a referendum, every 10 years, to give new companies tax subsidies. The Flagler County Commission wants to trash that law and let a supermajority of four commissioners make the decision for voters instead. It’s the latest example of a commission more enamored of its power than in tune with voters.
Nothing Flagler Can Do About Divisive Vacation Rentals, Attorney General Bondi Confirms
The expedited Attorney General’s opinion cited Flagler County’s own absence of regulation of vacation rentals before 2011 as one reason the county’s hands are tied in controlling what has become a center of conflict for permanent residents of the Hammock. Since 2011, a state law prevents local governments from imposing new regulations.
Town Hall Road Show: Residents Grill 4 Local Governments’ Heads in Freewheeling Forum
A 90-minute town hall forum brought some 50 people to the Palm Coast Community Center to grill and hear Flagler County Commission Chairman Nate McLaughlin, Flagler Sheriff Jim Manfre, School Board Chairman Andy Dance, and Palm Coast City Council member Jason DeLorenzo address a long list of public concerns in a rare and informal cross-agency discussion.
Thank You For Not Smoking: In Bated Defense of Flagler County’s New Rule
Steve Robinson remembers his days at CNN when Ted Turner’s edict, groundbreaking at the time, forbade smoking in the office–or anywhere. Whether it was enforced or not, it helped workers become healthier, and if people are the sum of their deeds, Robinson argues, then employers should have the right to impose similar restrictions.
From Prohibition to Gag Order: Flagler Commissioners Told to Shut Up on Tobacco Policy
Flagler county’s defensiveness regarding the new smoking policy underscores the shaky legal ground the local government stands on, and the likelihood of a legal and possibly costly challenge ahead.
In a Surprising Shift, County Commission Finds Money for 2 Jail-Diversion Programs After All
Flagler County commissioners Thursday evening agreed to take on a $100,000 mental-health jail diversion program previously paid for by the state, and a $60,000 pre-trial release program they had opposed in earlier workshops. Both shifts took place during a hearing devoted to approving next year’s tax property rate.
In a First, Flagler County Will Prohibit Legal Tobacco Use On and Off the Job For New Hires
It is the first time a local government has made new employment conditional on the prohibition of use of a legal substance, though numerous governments and private employers are increasingly taking the same approach, and Palm Cast and the school board may soon hop on board.
County Celebrates Carl Laundrie and His Rescuers 10 Days After Near-Fatal Wreck in “The Drink”
Firefighter-paramedics from every agency save people every day, but when the same employer signs the checks of the person saved–PIO Carl Laundrie–and his saviors, the intersection lends itself to the sort of recognition the county commission organized at the top of its meeting Monday evening.
Contempt and Deception: How Flagler County Sealed a Dirty Deal for the Old Hospital
In the end, County Administrator Craig Coffey and the commission insulted the public’s intelligence by claiming to have been transparent about the hurried and expensive deal to buy the decrepit Memorial hospital as they hid behind cherry-picked documents Coffey stage-managed to arrive at a pre-determined conclusion.