- November 18, 2024
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The Palm Coast City Council voted unanimously at an April 1 City Council meeting to approve two potential interlocal agreements with Supervisor of Elections Kimberle Weeks for the city’s upcoming 2014 elections, and to ask for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s assistance if she rejects both.
One agreement is based on an interlocal elections agreement with Flagler Beach, with alterations to make it specific to Palm Coast and to a combined election, and another is based on an agreement submitted to the city by Weeks on March 17, with alterations on some matters objectionable to the city.
“The way I look at it, there’s only a couple of things here,” Councilman David Ferguson said. “One, we don’t want the supervisor to renege on the prior agreement as to the rooms, No. 1.
"No. 2, in the unlikely but possible event that an amendment be placed on the ballot, we’d like the opportunity to do that. You know, these shouldn’t be deal-breaking kinds of things.”
Ferguson said he felt the city and Weeks were “90-some percent in agreement with the exception of these picayune items,” and said he hoped the city wouldn’t have to ask for Detzner’s mediation.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts replied.
Weeks was not present at the meeting.
The major sticking points for the city council in Weeks’ proposed agreement included one provision that would have allowed her unfettered use of city facilities for an election if a location not run by the city became unavailable, and another that stated that the only items on the city’s ballot would be the two council seats currently up for election.
That provision would prevent the city from adding a referendum such as one that has been proposed to end red-light cameras, or from putting another seat up for election if a council member were to die.
“That provision is unrealistic,” Netts said. “I would not want to be a harbinger of doom, but we have had council members pass away while seated at city council. And in those circumstances, depending on the timing, we might need to put that seat on the ballot also. You cannot limit it to just two.”
City staff will present the signed interlocal agreements to Weeks tomorrow, before a noon deadline she set in an email to city officials. She can choose one agreement, or, potentially, reject them both, leaving the city to appeal to the state for direction.
“For the voters, I hope that the supervisor will negotiate in good faith,” Councilman Jason DeLorenzo said. “This is an agreement, and so far all we’ve received is a demand and no opportunity to negotiate. And we’re trying to send some options back. They’re not big deals. They just keep in place the deals we already have. And I hope we can solve this now — finally — and have a good election.”
