County, city candidates field question on growth, conservation at Tiger Bay meet and greet

While voters got to meet their candidates ahead of the primary, the Supervisor of Elections Office presided over a straw poll to gauge attendees' opinions on candidates.

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Flagler County residents had a chance to ask their would-be representatives questions on the community’s hot topics: growth, taxes, infrastructure and land conservation.

The event, hosted by Flagler Tiger Bay Club and held at the Palm Coast Community Center, included candidates from almost every city, county and state office up for election. Approximately 70% of local offices are decided in the primary election, according to a Tiger Bay notice of the event.

Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart also hosted a voter registration drive and a straw poll while voters met with candidates. A straw poll is an unofficial ballot meant to test opinion.

See the  results of the straw poll for the county and city offices on the right. For School Board results, see the story on the bottom of this page. What follows is a sampling of candidate and resident comments at the event.


EVENT ATTENDEES FAVOR DANCE, RICHARDSON AND CARNEY IN STRAW POLL

Lenhart announced the results of the straw poll at the end of the June 27 meet and greet. 

On the county level, meet and greet attendees favored incumbent Andy Dance for the District 1 seat over Fernando Melendez with 63% of 220 votes. For the District 2 seat, Kim Carney narrowly beat out Palm Coast City Council member Nick Klufas with 47% of the vote to his 44.5%. Bill Clark was a distant third, at  8% of 200 votes.    

For District 5, the straw poll showed Pam Richardson overwhelming 73% of 219 votes, to Palm Coast Vice Mayor Ed Danko’s 27%.

Danko was one of the few candidates to who did not attend the meet and greet. In a statement he sent to the Observer ahead of the event, Danko said the “unscientific, statistically invalid, and meaningless poll” put candidates in the awkward position of having to stack the poll with their supporters instead of focusing on engaging with voters.

“It is unfortunate that Tiger Bay has turned what should have been an excellent opportunity, for both the public and candidates to meet, into a ‘straw poll circus side show,’” Danko’s statement read. “Undoubtingly, this sham straw pole will be reported on by some media as being fact, which clearly it is not. While this straw poll may not be illegal, in my view, involving the Supervisor of Election’s office gives the appearance of possibly being unethical, and thus I have chosen not to attend this event.”

Dance, as Flagler County Commission chair, said he was primarily asked about the beach management plan and residents’ concerns over a special taxing district. 

“It’s great because we’re getting additional feedback,” he said, “which is what we want.”


PALM COAST COUNCIL, MAYOR RACES CLOSELY DIVIDED

The Palm Coast mayoral race has the most candidates involved: incumbent Mayor David Alfin and residents Mike Norris, Peter Johnson, Alan Lowe and Cornelia Downing Manfre.

Of 221 votes, Alfin won 34% of the vote, Norris 27%, Johnson 16%, Manfre 11% and Lowe 10%.

The District 1 seat has four candidates: Ty Miller, Jeffery Seib, Shara Brodsky and Kathy Austrino. Miller and Austrino took most of the 193 votes, with 36.1% and 35.6% of the votes, respectively. Brodsky received 17% and Seib 11%.

Miller said the meet and greet was a great way to meet the candidates.

“You can’t knock on every door in the city, so it’s good to be able to meet people face to face,” he said.

Growth and infrastructure were the main issues voters were asking him about, he said, but, for him, those are symptoms of the city’s unbalanced revenue. Right now, he said, the city’s revenue is primarily funded by residential property taxes.

“It’s not a one-year fix,” he said. Being more welcoming to commercial growth will balance the revenue problem and, in turn, fix the infrastructure concerns.

Seib said during the event he mostly had questions from residents on the city’s major topics — growth, taxes and infrastructure and preserving the city’s green spaces. 

Seib, who is a regular at the City Council meetings, has always made it clear that preserving the city’s environment was one of his priorities.

“My policy is beautiful and livable,” Seib said, “because a city that integrates nature is a great city.”

The District 3 seat has Dana Mark Stancel, Ray Stevens and Andrew Werner splitting 199 votes. Werner came in first with 44%, Stevens in second with 30% and Stancel third with 25%.

Werner said the Tiger Bay event was an excellent way to hear the concerns of all of Palm Coast residents. He had the opportunity to meet people who both agree with his stances and that challenged him.

“You have people from all walks of life, all different sections of the city here in one place,” he said. “So you get to hear the different perspectives that come from the different areas.”


SOME FLAGLER COUNTY VOTERS WANT FRESH PERSPECTIVES

Palm Coast resident Carole Holden said this election would be her first since she moved to the county. She used the meet and greet, she said, as an opportunity to get to know the candidates’ priorities.

“The most important question I’ve been asking tonight is, if you’re elected and you could only accomplish one goal while you’re in office, what would it be,” she said. “Because then I know where their heart is.”

Flagler resident Denise Calderwood said she was looking for younger or fresh candidates, ones who weren’t already connected to the establishment.

For Palm Coast mayor, she said she will support Cornelia Downing Manfre’s campaign because of Manfre’s diverse experience. 

“I believe that she can speak to and be able to separate a lot of the issues because of her ... diverse knowledge [and] broad background,” Calderwood said. 

Other attendees such as Bruce and Carol Stone were already pretty confident in how they would vote. The Stones said they were planning to vote for Norris for mayor and Adam Morley for District 7’s Senate seat.

Bruce Stone, who attends Palm Coast City Council meetings and has been an advocate for safety on Florida Park Drive and Cimarron Drive, said he doesn’t believe Danko or Klufas should be in the County Commission seats.

Carol Stone said it’s less about the party line for her and more about what the candidates stand for.

“I wish we had more of a ‘of the people, for the people’ kind of thing,” she said.



Look for the Observer’s Election Guide, to be published in mid July.

 

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