Palm Coast City Council’s Theresa Pontieri Will Run for Greg Hansen’s County Commission Seat

Leave it to U.S. Rep Randy Fine, who’s not known for his political or rhetorical propriety, to upstage a local official’s election announcement in her presence, on her own turf, when she turned up to support him. 

Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri was among the eight elected officials arrayed behind Fine this morning at a press conference on federal beach funding coming Flagler County’s way. Fine acknowledged the officials by name, Pontieri among them.

“She’s doing a great job,” he said. He could’ve stopped there. He did not. “I hear she may be making a big announcement about her future and to serve Flagler in a new way. Looking forward to hearing about that, not today, but soon.”

There it was. The announcement Pontieri had been holding back for several days so as not to upstage Hansen after he announced he was not running again, the announcement she was preparing for later this week, if not possibly later today, was suddenly not hers to make. Fine did not say what office Pontieri would be seeking, but he might as well have. 

Pontieri was startled. “I guess my official response to him would be,” she said after the press conference, “I will be taking the next progression in local politics, and we will be likely moving to represent the county. So I haven’t filed yet, obviously, because my intent was to file and release to you guys with a kind of announcement.” The necessary papers were in her car, but for her treasurer’s signature. (In mid-afternoon, Pointieri issued the announcement she had been preparing. She filed her papers just before 5 p.m.)

Pontieri will serve out the 15 months remaining on her City Council term and run for Hansen’s seat. She had only told a handful of people about it previously. FlaglerLive had learned of the coming announcement but had agreed to embargo the news, as is common with certain announcements. She had not told Fine. She doesn’t know how he found out. She had told Hansen, who was among the elected shmoozing with Fine today. 

“I had committed to Greg several years ago I wanted to work with him because we a lot of the same constituents, obviously, in counterpart districts,” Pontieri said, “but that I would not run against him. I would wait until he decided on his time when he was done, and then I would be happy to take up the torch when he was done.” When he announced he wouldn’t run again, Pontieri had a serious conversation with her family, and went for it. 

Winning isn’t a given. In the last election, then-Palm Coast City Council members Nick Klufas, who was term-limited at the city, and Ed Danko, who was finishing his first term, ran for County Commission seats and lost. Andy Dance, who chairs the commission, successfully made the jump from the school board. But the last one to successfully jump from the city to the county was Frankl Meeker in 2012. He died in office in 2016. Then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed Hansen. And now Pontieri is seeking the one seat that has smiled on a council member before.

“I do feel that, from a fiscal standpoint, I can have a larger impact on our full county,” she said, “We’ve done some really good things fiscally for the city, as far as lowering taxes, doing it at the same time as improving public safety and expanding our fire service. We’ve done a lot of good things on a really, really good budget. So I want those skills to translate over to the county, and I think that I can. I know that there’s a heavy focus on conservation and responsible development, particularly in the Hammock area.”

The one hesitation Pontieri had about moving to the county was creating the certainty that three seats on the City Council will again turn over, on a council where she is the senior voice on the panel (not counting Dave Sullivan, who has eight years of county commission experience behind him, not to mention a lifetime.) The three open seats also set up a possibility for Mayor Mike Norris to be joined by members more aligned with his vision, in a city likely to have a new city manager also short on sea legs. 

“It’s concerning,” Pontieri said. “I thought about that, and to be quite frank with you, that’s been a concern of mine, and the reason why I struggle with whether or not I wanted to move to the county or resign from my city seat. There’s a big part of me that wants to stay in the city and finish a lot of the things. But when I look back at a lot of the things that we’ve been able to accomplish, I’ve been able to tie a bow on a lot of our accomplishments, and so I don’t feel like I’m leaving anything kind of hanging.”

Pontieri does not see issues of dynamics on the current commission. She considers its propensity for debate healthy and sees alignments ahead with current members, should she be elected. She described herself as more fiscally conservative than Hansen.

Dance had no idea who was going to run for Hansen’s seat when Hansen announced. Now he knows. “All you can ask for is somebody who comes prepared, understands the issues, can  speak to the issues to the public,” he said after the news conference. Pontieri, he said, “has good rapport with the public as well. Those are good, those are positive points.”

County Commissioner Leann Pennington said she respects the work Pontieri has done on the council. “I welcome anyone that will do that kind of work, especially on the commission,” Pennington said, “and will help, obviously, with all of our issues, with the beach and what’s going on with us. I think she’d be a good addition for that. I think she’s a strong voice, and we need that.”