- November 18, 2024
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During a rowdy Friday afternoon canvassing board meeting attended by about 20 members of the public — including poll workers who repeatedly interrupted the proceedings with comments and angry outbursts — Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kimberle Weeks rejected a proposal created as a last-ditch effort to settle her running dispute with the city of Palm Coast over facility use during elections.
The draft protocol for the 2014 general election, drawn up by County Attorney and Canvassing Board Attorney Al Hadeed, suggested Weeks and city staff work together to monitor and resolve any parking or access issues at the Palm Coast Community Center.
Weeks would have none of that.
“I don’t think we need two staffs,” she said. “I think it should be up to the elections office to monitor it.”
County judge and Canvassing Board Chairwoman Melissa Moore Stens had tasked Hadeed with creating a draft protocol for the general election to avoid the wrangling between Weeks and the city that marred the primary.
The dispute largely centered around parking and parking signage at the Palm Coast Community Center, where Weeks had designated parking spaces, including disabled spots, as “voter only” during early voting, and the city repeatedly removed what it called excessive — and in the cases of signs placed on disabled spots, illegal — signage.
Hadeed said he’d gotten a commitment from Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon that voter access would be a priority during the election.
His draft protocol also spelled out an arrangement to let elections staff and city parks and recreation employees at the community center park in designated overflow areas, freeing up more spots for voters, and to allow Weeks to store election signage overnight at the community center.
But for Weeks, that wasn’t enough. She’d repeatedly bemoaned the city’s continuation of regularly scheduled events like bridge club meetings at the community center, saying she should have full control over the building and its parking lot during elections and early voting. Hadeed’s document wouldn’t give her that.
So Friday, when Hadeed showed up with the draft protocol, Weeks showed up with her own attorney, Roberta Walton, and designated her the “canvassing board attorney” — Hadeed’s position. Walton, based out of Orlando, has not attended any previous canvassing board meetings or been around for the dispute between Weeks and the city.
With Walton at the head of the canvassing board table — the rest of the canvassing board, and Hadeed, hardly commented on her prescence — Weeks dismissed Hadeed’s attempts to arrange an accord between Weeks and the city.
“I don’t believe we need any outside interference. I don’t believe I need to work with the city, work with their staff, work with their director,” Weeks said. “They use that facility all the time. There’s no reason every two years for every election they can’t give it up and let the voting take place.”
Weeks repeatedly referenced the interlocal elections agreement between her office and the city, which contains a clause that states that the city shall not remove election-related signage.
Hadeed said the interlocal agreement, even with that language, doesn’t necessarily give her the authority she thinks it does.
“You think that the interlocal agreement gives you property control over parking,” he said. “That’s not what it does. Yes, it says that they can’t interfere with your signage, but when your signage is grabbing and identifying property for exclusive use, that is not within the four corners of the document. That is an interpretation that you are giving it.”
Weeks also, he said, seemed to be misinterpreting the document by which the county had deeded the community center over to the city. She’d stated repeatedly that the city had been given the center “for government services,” questioning the legality of its use for civic events that she said ate up parking during early voting.
Hadeed said, “If what you’re saying is correct, if your position is correct, then that means all the activities that the City Council has been scheduling, for recreational activities and civic activities are illegal — ”
“Could be,” Weeks interjected.
" — Well, I think in your heart and in your intellect you know that that’s wrong," Hadeed continued, "and I think you’re well aware that part of government’s function is to provide recreational opportunities and civic opportunities for its citizens.”
As to the interlocal agreement, he said — his voice rising and his words clipped with frustration — “I looked at that. I studied that. It does not give you any express authority over parking so as to surmount their ownership interests. They own the property. There is a special status that comes when you’re the fee simple owner over any other user.”
Weeks repeatedly turned in her seat to address the 20-or-so people in the audience, saying she was simply standing up for voters’ rights and trying to ensure access.
She said it wasn’t the city’s reputation on the line if people had trouble finding parking at polling places.
“If I run for reelection, if I run for any other office, they’re going to remember the service that I provided,” she said. “It’s not going to be the city’s name on there. I have an obligation to the people that elected me to do the job the best that I can.”
Moore Stens allowed audience members to interject opinions throughout the discussion, an unusual move in a government meeting, where input from the public would usually be confined to a designated public comment period.
There was finger-pointing and swearing.
“I can’t understand the city’s position on why they are fighting with a duly elected supervisor of elections over the most precious day that we have. Move the goddamned events,” said poll watcher Linda Hansen.
County Commission Chairman and canvassing board member George Hanns, noting how contentious the issues between Weeks and the city had become, wanted to maintain Hadeed as a go-between and move forward with Hadeed's protocol.
“Kim has the ability to be argumentative, and rightfully so in many areas, but you tend to get people’s emotions involved,” he said. “We’re trying to resolve it, with calm minds and not shouting or raising our voice or being on a soapbox, if you will. … Weeks may not agree with it, but the canvassing board is three people. I believe, like the judge does, that we have to go with the legal advice of somebody who has represented this county and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for Flagler County in a court of law.”
But Hanns’ carefully qualified use of the word “argumentative” to describe Weeks drew the ire of audience members there to support her.
“I find it appalling that city officials are going to tell us how we can vote at our building,” said audience member Kim Olsen. “So, nobody’s being ‘argumentative,’ we’re standing up for the most important thing we have in this country.”
“And no one’s disagreeing with that,” Hanns said.
“Yes you are,” Olsen said.
A man jumped to his feet. “Because you just attacked her!" he said to Hanns, pointing at Weeks.
Canvassing board members and audience members spoke over each other.
“You said that,” the man yelled at Hanns.
“You interpreted what I said, “ Hanns said.
“No, I heard what you said,” the man continued.
Moore Stens halted what was becoming a shouting match.
“We need to calm down and stick to our agenda, or else we’re going to get through this really quickly,” she said.
Without Weeks' assent on the protocol, the board couldn't move forward with it. But Moore Stens said she was not convinced by Weeks’ interpretation of the interlocal agreement, and wanted to see her work with the city.
“The parking issue, for me, is not as clear as it is for you,” she said to Weeks. “I would like to see you and the city work together. ... I don’t see why it has to be so adversarial in this circumstance.”
She questioned whether it was the canvassing board’s functions to deal with the logistics of early voter convenience, and noted that voters have been provided more opportunities than required by law.
“It is not our obligation to provide three places, and (Weeks) goes above and beyond to make everybody have as much access as possible,” she said, addressing the audience. “But the reality is that it’s not always going to be easy. You are sometimes going to have to wait in line. You are sometimes going to have to park far away. If you drive by early voting one time and say, ‘Wow, that parking lot’s really full, I’m going to have to come back another time,’ — that is going to happen. That is just the reality of our civic and democratic process, is that it’s not always going to be that you walk in and vote an you’re out in five minutes. If anybody expects it to be that way, then they’re expecting too much.”
Moore Stens suggested the canvassing board reevaluate whether to use the community center as an early voting location after the November election. In the meantime, Weeks — and her attorney, Walton — will be left to work things out with the city.
“We were trying to smooth everything over, and clearly that is not going to happen,” Moore Stens said. “So we are going to have to evaluate after November and moving forward, if we continue to use the community center … Obviously, the way the city handles this election for early voting in November is probably going to be the critical and deciding factor in whether or not we keep it open. And I don’t know what else we can do as a canvassing board. I’m really not sure what else we can do.”
