Business stakeholders give Palm Coast high marks

Also in City Watch: City Manager Matt Morton fact-checks Lowe and gets mostly high marks from City Council.


Mayor Milissa Holland. Photo by Brian McMillan
Mayor Milissa Holland. Photo by Brian McMillan
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Is the city of Palm Coast business friendly? Contrary to some anecdotes in the past, new data collected by city staff through surveys and stakeholder meetings show that the vast majority are very satisfied with the city’s permitting, inspections and customer service.

Chief Development Officer Jason DeLorenzo reported at the City Council workshop May 11 that, in recent months, three charrettes, or stakeholder meetings, were attended by a total of 50 people; email surveys were filled out by 287 business stakeholders — people with experience dealing with city business departments.

“This is a great example of why our strategic action plan is so important. I want to applaud our building department for being engaged … in how we can improve things.”

MILISSA HOLLAND

Among the questions asked was how these stakeholders would rate the city’s overall inspection process. Of 165 responses, 160 said they were very satisfied.

“Those are incredible numbers, and we did not expect to have such high scores,” DeLorenzo said.

Mayor Milissa Holland praised the staff-led fact-finding process — and the results.

“If we do hear something in the community that says we’re not business friendly, and that the satisfaction is not high in our city, this certainly demonstrates from our users a very different type of dynamic,” Holland said.

Council member Nick Klufas also said praised the city's work in improving the perception of business friendliness. Based on the data presented, he said, "All entities can approach the city of Palm Coast and be sure they will be treated fairly." 

 

Also at the meeting …

  • City Manager Matt Morton responded to a May 4 comment from political candidate Alan Lowe. Lowe had claimed that it would cost $34 million annually to provide water for the expanded tennis center. Morton said it was more like a few thousand dollars and that the city's entire service, covering most of Flagler County, is only about $25 million per year. He encouraged residents who had questions about funding to get answers directly from the city.
  • City Council member Eddie Branquinho blamed others on the dais, without naming anyone, for spreading false information about the tennis center.
  • A few residents advocated for sidewalks or other traffic control measures on Cimarron Drive. Morton said he visited the street twice recently and met with residents and will talk with the Florida Department of Transportation in the next quarterly meeting.
  • In his annual evaluation, Morton received an average of 3.84 out of 5. Three City Council members — Holland, Branquinho and Nick Klufas — said he was "outstanding" or "exceeded expectations," while Ed Danko said that, in limited interactions so far, Morton "meets" expectations," and Victor Barbosa gave him mostly low marks, saying Morton is unprofessional.
     

 

 

author

Brian McMillan

Brian McMillan and his wife, Hailey, bought the Observer in 2023. Before taking on his role as publisher, Brian was the editor from 2010 to 2022, winning numerous awards for his column writing, photography and journalism, from the Florida Press Association.

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