- September 18, 2024
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As the Palm Coast City Council sat down to begin its interviews with for District 4 council member candidates, yet another argument between some council members nearly derailed the proceedings.
The council closed application submissions for the District 4 seat on Sept. 11 and scheduled a special workshop meeting on Sept. 17 to interview candidates. Of the 11 who applied for the seat, one was disqualified because they did not live in District 4 and a second candidate did not show up for the interviews.
The council interviewed each candidate who did attend individually, having the remaining candidates wait outside in the hall.
But the first question Vice Mayor Ed Danko asked was what political affiliation the candidate had. City attorney Marcus Duffy paused the question before it could be answered.
Because the seat is nonpartisan in nature, he said, he didn’t want the council to come across as a discriminating against one party or another.
Danko said he had the right to ask the candidates any question he wanted, including about their political affiliations, when the seat, by nature of being an elected official seat, was political. Duffy said he was just providing his legal advice.
“Like normal HR procedures, we're asking questions that do not prohibit this council for making decisions,” Duffy said. “But I don't want it to look like we're picking someone because of they are a Democrat or Republican.”
“I really find your line of questioning almost offensive,” Danko said. “You're overstepping your bounds, in my opinion.”
After a heated back and forth between Danko and Mayor David Alfin who stepped in to moderate — Danko at one point threatened to leave the dais and then later Alfin suggested he do so if he had a problem with the process — Danko was allowed to ask the candidates his question.
Despite Danko’s position, over half the candidates he asked declined to respond with their political party, as the position is a nonpartisan seat.
Other questions the council asked included what areas the candidates thought the city could improve on, ideas for how to improve the city’s economic initiatives, handling growth and questions about trimming the budget. Danko also asked every candidate about how they felt about the charter amendment that is on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The following is a list ofthe applicants who attended the meeting: Robert Boggess, Darryl Boyer, Charles Gambaro Jr., Leslie Giscombe, Vincent Lyon, Demetrios Maroosis, Ronald Nakabaale, Meredith Rodriguez, Sandra Shank and Jared Trueheart.
Some of the applicants are familiar faces. Boyer recently ran for the Florida House of Representatives office while Shank has served on the Palm Coast Planning Board since 2019. Like former council member Cathy Heighter, Shank has a history of supporting affordable housing initiatives.
Lyon served for five months as a Palm Coast City Council member after former council member Steven Nobile resigned in 2018. Lyon was replaced by Eddie Branquinho later that year.
As a part of his previous tenure as a council member, the council chose to prohibit the selected candidate from running for the seat at the end of the term. This time, the candidate chosen to fill the empty seat would be allowed to run at the end of the District 4’s term in 2026.
Other candidates stood out because of their resume. U.S. Army Reserve Brigadier General Charles Gambaro Jr. is one of the candidates, serving as a senior advisor in several posts, including to the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon from November 2020-April 2021.
Beyond his military service, Gambaro was also elected to the Flagler County Soil and Water Conservation District from 2006-2010 and then from 2007-2008 served on the Flagler County School Board after then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him.
When asked about the charter amendment, Gambaro said he would support public private partnerships, though he did not support the charter amendment as it was written.
“Either way, it has to be left to the people in the city of Palm Coast to decide that,” Gambaro said.
Impressed with Gambaro’s extensive resume, Alfin asked him if he would consider applying for the Palm Coast city manager position. Gambaro said he would like to serve as the District 4 representative, but would be happy to consider the city manager position as well.
“I'm coming here because I think we need to make a difference. I want to make a difference,” he said.
Danko agreed that Gambaro would make an excellent city manager, if the council chose elsewise for District 4.
“Your resume speaks volumes,” Danko said.
Because of the surplus of candidates, the council decided to rank their top three candidates to reduce the pool. On the Sept. 24, the City Council will hold another workshop meeting where the council will discuss the District 4 candidates again.
That workshop meeting will be held at 6 p.m. to ensure as many residents can attend as possible in order to voice their opinions.
At the Oct. 1 city business meeting, the Palm Coast council will select vote on who the new District 4 council member will be.
