- April 25, 2024
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City staff are carrying out the City Council’s instructions on adding street lights, improving infrastructure and other initiatives, according to a city staff presentation during a City Council workshop the morning of Dec. 11.
The council adopts new priorities each fiscal year, then city staff implements those priorities by breaking them down into smaller “performance measures.” Right now, the city has 56 performance measures related to City Council priorities.
Among the goals: Creating a downtown Innovation District, developing a plan for emergency communication upgrades, and promoting the city’s “Be local, buy local,” campaign that encourages residents to shop locally (see more in the sidebar at right).
One city goal — evaluating possible locations for a new, multi-purpose recreational facility in the southern part of the city — drew a suggestion from newly-elected Councilman Jack Howell: Why not invite the YMCA to build it?
Mayor Milissa Holland said the city had already tried that.
“It’s just always going to be that they want us to invest in the building, and then they will do the programming of it,” she said.
“Well, what if we split the cost of the facility?” Howell asked.
Holland said that might work.
Howell, adding that he’d worked for the YMCA as a young man, said he’d reach out to some YMCA contacts “and start planting a seed again.”
As City Administration Coordinator Denise Bevan pointed out the city administration’s progress in propagating the city’s “Be local, buy local” campaign, Holland said she thought there was a disconnect between city staff and the council about what the council is looking for: Rather than “Be local, buy local” fliers and window stickers, Holland said, she preferred that the city spend its resources on presentations and lunch-’n-learns.
“It’s different when you’re reading it rather than hearing it,” she said. “(Hearing it) changes their perspective entirely.”
Councilman Nick Klufas emphasized the need to inventory cameras at area parks and add new ones where needed. City staff has planned to hire a consultant to analyze their placement, but Klufas wasn’t sure that’s necessary: In areas that don’t have a camera currently and that attract repeat vandalism, he said, it seemed the city should be able to add cameras on its own.
Council members also discussed options for the problem of damaged residential seawalls: The work is so expensive — tens of thousands of dollars — that many homeowners can’t manage it.
But, Howell said, some options — like creating a special taxing district to pay to repair damaged seawalls whose owners couldn’t afford the work — penalize the homeowners who’ve poured money into repairing their own seawalls already and now would have to contribute to pay for someone else’s.
Instead, he said, why not notify the person with the damaged seawall to fix it, and, if they don’t, have the city do it and then place a lien on their house for the cost?
Holland wasn’t sure that that code-enforcement-style process would be effective, given the cost of the repairs.
Palm Coast’s staff is creating a “navigation service” to help guide prospective Palm Coast business owners through the city approval process.
“I think it’s been painful for people,” Holland said. “We want to take that pain and say, ‘Let us help you navigate through this very complex issue.’ ... Let’s give them a great experience, but also let’s not stope there; let’s continue the relationship and then build on the relationship. ... It’s not holding their hand, but we’re making an investment to get them to the finish line.”
