- April 26, 2024
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In the two months since county commissioners selected Jerry Cameron to be the county's interim administrator, replacing Craig Coffey, Cameron has impressed the commissioners enough that they've decided to stop searching for a permanent administrator to replace him.
"Mr. Cameron's demonstrated out of the box that he not only can do the job, but he can take us to new heights."
— CHARLIE ERICKSEN, Flagler County Commissioner
County Commission Chairman Donald O'Brien proposed halting the search during the commission's meeting April 15, suggesting that the commission "slow down the process, or discontinue it right now."
"I am extremely pleased with Mr. Cameron's performance at this point and his dedication and commitment to our county," O'Brien said. "We know, longterm, we're going to have to do that (search for a new administrator), but he's also given indications to me, and I'm sure maybe some of you as well, that his time horizon is not necessarily what we thought it might have been originally of maybe six to nine months, but maybe two to three years."
County Commissioner Joe Mullins said he agreed with O'Brien, as did Commissioner Charlie Ericksen.
O'Brien's proposal came shortly after the commission came to a resolution on how to move forward on the problem of the Sheriff's Operations Center building, which has been evacuated since June of last year because of mold issues and sick building concerns. The issue, which developed under the previous administration, had spurred calls to oust Coffey, and the commission ultimately fired him. Commissioners were pleased by the proposals Cameron presented.
"Mr. Cameron's demonstrated out of the box that he not only can do the job, but he can take us to new heights, and he's got some vast knowledge of other options available to that as he brought forth tonight to keeps on a straight line towards coming up with the positive vote," Ericksen said.
The county will present a report to county commissioners regarding issues at the Plantation Bay utility plants, County Administrator Jerry Cameron said at a commission meeting April 15.
Cameron expects the report, which will address both water quality and wastewater matters, to be issued by the second County Commission meeting in May.
"Preliminarily, it looks like we're going to be able to resolve those issues out there without a rate increase," Cameron said.
Cameron also met with an engineer who'd been suggested by a Plantation Bay citizens group. The engineer proposed an alternate, $1.8 million solution.
"We met wth him and his product looks really good. We had our engineering department there and could find no real fault to the product, but we do need to be clear: Although it's a totally redundant system, that it is for machinery only — piping and blowers and pumps, valves, those kinds of things," Cameron said.
The county would still have to construct the tanks and buildings to house them, he added.
"We are talking about a substantially higher figure than $1.8 million," Cameron said. "I don't think it's a bad solution, but they would have to competitively bid."
That will slow the process somewhat, he said.
"I think we're going to be able to bring you ... a report that will take care of the water quality and the wastewater issues and satisfy the consent order — and, as it appears now, that we would be able to do that without increasing rates," Cameron said. "If that's true, the Plantation Bay utility problem should be a thing of the past sometime in May."
