- March 6, 2025
Colleen Conklin is getting creative — and going virtual — to get the word out about why the Flagler County School Board is asking voters for a 0.5 mill property tax.
At 8 p.m. tonight, Conklin will host her second online town hall meeting through a Google Hangout session. Using the technology, anyone with a Google email address can use a device with an Internet connection to hear a short presentation about the proposed tax and to ask questions about it. Using a webcam, Conklin will be able to speak to an unlimited number of viewers. Using screen sharing, she will be able to show charts to anyone watching the broadcast.
“I’m hoping to reach a lot of people this way,” Conklin said. “I think there’s a lot of appeal in being able to watch the meeting from your own couch.”
After the School Board decided to hold a June 7 special election for the tax, Conklin and her fellow board members were determined to share with residents why they felt the tax was necessary. One of Conklin’s strategies was to hold a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday in the superintendent's office of the Government Services Building.
Initially, those meetings had a high turnout, but attendance quickly dwindled. Conklin will still continue to host the meetings every Wednesday until the election, but she also knew she had to find another way to reach voters. She thought of using Twitter, and is planning to host a Twitter town hall forum next week, but found the social media platform limiting because she wanted to be able to share slides and statistics with voters.
“Then, I thought of Google Hangouts,” Conklin said. “I’ve heard even the president uses them. I thought, ‘Why not just try it?’”
Conklin sent invitations to her first virtual town hall, held May 9, to as many residents as she could. About 80 accepted the invitation. However, because of a nuance in the set-up process, her first meeting was not broadcast to the public but instead was limited to the first 10 attendees.
“I’m not a techie by any means,” Conklin said, laughing. “I’ve figured out the right setup now, and anyone will be able to watch tonight if they want to.”
The online forum will allow 10 people inside the chat room at a time. Conklin is asking residents to come in and type their questions in the chat bar of the room and then rotate out. That way, everyone will be able to watch the broadcast of the forum and enter it to ask questions if they wish.
“It’s important for us to get information about the referendum, and (about) how we got to the situation we’re in now, out to as many people as possible,” Conklin said. “We’re finding that, often, when people get the facts about the referendum, they’re supportive of it.”
The meeting is open to anyone with a free Gmail account. To RSVP to the meeting or to access it once it has started, click here.
