- April 18, 2025
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.
Dave Sullivan has been appointed to the Palm Coast City Council District 3 seat after a 40-minute debate and multiple failed votes.
It took two votes for Sullivan to be appointed at the April 15 meeting. The first vote failed after tying 2-2, with Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri and Mayor Mike Norris voting against Sullivan and the second vote prevailed in a 3-1 split with just Norris against it.
Sullivan is replacing former council member Ray Stevens, who stepped down in February, and will serve out the remainder of Stevens’ term. Norris wanted candidate Candace Stevens in the position, though his motion for her appointment also died with a 2-2 split. Council members Ty Miller and Charles Gambaro voted against Stevens.
During the council meeting, Norris did not make much comment about Sullivan filling the seat except to say that he felt “appointing Mr. Sullivan would be the same as appointing David Alfin into that seat.”
Resident Jeremy Davis agreed, saying that Sullivan “is not for the residents.”
“I really think y'all are missing, missing the point here,” resident Jeremy Davis said. “The residents really want fresh eyes up there.”
According to the Palm Coast City Charter, a majority vote is needed to pass a motion, meaning a tie automatically fails the motion. Since no motion was made to appoint the third finalist, Dave Ferguson, Pontieri motioned to reconsider the vote on Sullivan.
Several residents in attendance agreed with Norris. Sullivan has served two terms as a Flagler County Commissioner, choosing to finish his term in 2024 rather than run for reelection. His experience in government was a large factor in his consideration for the seat, according to comments made by Pontieri and Miller.
“As difficult as it is, I think this council dearly needs experience and centering,” Miller said, “so I would advocate that we should lean heavily towards experience.”
Though Pontieri’s flipped vote was ultimately the deciding factor for Sullivan’s installment, she did not come to the vote easily. In comments during the discussion of both Stevens’ and Sullivan’s, Pontieri noted that Stevens would bring a fresh perspective to the council while Sullivan had experience that the current council - herself included, she said - sorely lacked.
She said the council needed to consider what kind of analytical thinker the members want on the council.
“Is it somebody who's been in the government for a really long time, and who we could probably predict a lot of decisions that there a lot of ways are going to vote, I don't know,” she said. Of appointing Sullivan, Pontieri said: “My concern, in all candor, is that we will miss out on new, innovative approaches to solving problems in our city.”
Before reconsidering her vote on Sullivan, she proposed the council appoint Mark Stancel to the seat, though he did not make the top three candidates. Stancel, she said, lost to Ray Stevens by just two votes in the 2024 primary and had experience serving on various boards. Her motion did not receive a second.
During the meeting, as the motion to reconsider Sullivan was going back to public comment, Norris interrupted the proceedings to state that Ray Stevens was trying to call him. He received consensus to call Stevens back from the dais.
"Did you want to say something, because we're opening up for public comment?" Norris asked Stevens.
"No, I was returning your call," Stevens said.
"Okay, all right," Norris said. To the room, he said: "I called earlier to check on him before I came in the council."
Some residents in attendance urged the council to vote for Candace Stevens as a candidate. Resident Denise Henry said, regarding experience, the District 3 residents would prefer to have someone who represented them.
“We want fresh and new blood,” she said.
After swearing his oath of office, Sullivan said he acknowledged the decision was not an easy one. He said he guaranteed to the board and the residents that he would do the job the way he said he would: by the facts.
"I look at the facts, and then I make a decision," he said. "I'm in nobody's pocket. Never have been, never will be."
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.