CITY WATCH: Palm Coast to stop using secret list of 'difficult citizens'

Palm Coast Observer
News

Palm Coast's "naughty list" will no longer be used: The Palm Coast City Council voted 4-0 at its June 1 meeting to stop using the city's list of difficult citizens as council members apologized to the public for its existence, saying they'd been unaware of it until it was revealed in a Daytona Beach News-Journal story last week.

Wastewater treatment plant capacity to double

An $18 million expansion of Palm Coast's Wastewater Treatment Plant No. 2 will double the plant's capacity from 2 million gallons per day to 4 million gallons per day.

"We need that capacity with our current projections for development and growth within our city," said city engineer Alex Blake. "This … should basically hold us over for a good 8 to 10 years."

The expansion, with construction expected to end in January 2023, will be funded by a 20-year $18.15 million State Revolving Fund loan with 0% interest.

Palm Coast's City Council voted 4-0 at a June 1 meeting to apply for the loan. The proposed expansion will be presented to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection before the city puts it out to bid in July.

The expansion is part of the city's five-year capital plan.

The list had been created in 2016 under a former city administration, on the advice of a former City Council member who believed that city staff deserved a fair warning before dealing with members of the public who were known to their fellow staff members to be engage in harassment or threatening conduct.

The list's existence was not publicly revealed, and it had only a few dozen entries. Those who were on it weren't made aware that they were, and there was no process through which they could remove their names.

"I realize that this was put together possibly with good intentions to protect our city workers: I think we do have to protect our city workers," City Councilman Ed Danko said. "But a secret list is no way to do that. It's like something out of East Germany, as far as I'm concerned."

BY THE NUMBERS

$188,000
estimated cost of a July 27 special election to replace former Palm Coast mayor Milissa Holland, who recently resigned. The city government will be responsible for the cost of the election and must pay $25,000 to the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office by June 15.

$204,206
Florida Department of Transportation reimbursement to the city of Palm Coast to cover the cost of repairing impacts to landscaping at the State Road 100/Interstate 95 interchange as a result of state construction projects there, including the addition of a right turn lane on the southbound I-95 ramp and a pedestrian path on the north side of S.R. 100. A city landscape improvement project's full construction cost is expected to be $389,595. The amount not covered by the state will come from the city's Street Improvement Fund.

10
acres of property north of Whiteview Parkway on the east side of U.S. 1 to be rezoned from light industrial to high-intensity commercial so that the land can be used for retail and general office use. The City Council approved the proposed rezoning of the parcel, known as the Alamo Business Center, 4-0 at its June 1 meeting.

Government should not be putting people on lists without giving them a chance to defend themselves, he said.

"If we have a list, we need to have some form of due process," he said.

Danko made a motion that the city stop using the list.

Councilman Nick Klufas agreed with Danko that there should be a notification process, "So if you're on this list, you know, and you have the ability to appeal."

Municipalities, Klufas added, should be transparent.

Councilman Eddie Branquinho agreed while emphasizing the value of warning workers about potentially dangerous residents, noting that one man had said after a recent council meeting that he'd put a gun to the head of any city workers who showed up at his house.

"I think that should be noted," Branquinho said.

The council voted 4-0 to stop using the current list and create a new, more open process.