- April 16, 2024
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The Flagler County Commission declined to respond to a petition signed by more than 125 Plantation Bay residents, despite continued attempts by Jane Gentile-Youd to bring it to commissioners’ attention in two public comment portions of the April 1 meeting.
The petition, first discussed at the March 18 meeting, asks the county for a moratorium on the issuance any permits for construction that would connect to the troubled Plantation Bay wastewater treatment and water facilities, until all regulatory requirements are satisfied.
Donald O’Brien, commission chairman, ignored Gentile-Youd’s comment on the petition the first time. When she brought it up the second time later in the meeting, he said, “I don’t care to comment.” He asked if other commissioners would like to respond, and they also declined or were silent (Dave Sullivan, Greg Hansen and Charlie Ericksen were in attendance; Joe Mullins was absent).
"The lack of response is your answer," O'Brien told the Palm Coast Observer after the April 1 meeting. "I'm not interested in responding to what they had in the petition. I haven't even read the darn thing. But it had to do with a moratorium on any additional permits or hookups, which means you can't build, and I'm not interested in that."
Gentile-Youd, who lost in her bid to be elected to the commission in 2018, often sends accusatory emails expressing her "disgust" at officials. She made some good points in some of her comments at the April 1 meeting, O'Brien said, and he tries to consider carefully her main points regardless of her delivery. She and others who signed the petition do deserve to be heard, he said, adding: "They voted for us, and they want us to do our best."
But in a recent training for being a commission chairman, he said he was told not to "engage" when public comments get confrontational. His view now is, "Don't engage when it gets like that," he said. "It's not going to serve anybody any positive purpose."
Also after the meeting, the Palm Coast Observer asked Commissioner Dave Sullivan how he would feel if he had brought forth a petition that wasn’t addressed.
“I probably wouldn’t be happy,” he said. “I’d say, ‘Hey, they aren’t listening.'”
Given a second opportunity to respond to the petition, he said a moratorium is too drastic.
He has visited Plantation Bay in the past, and, he said, “I do think there is a question arising … as to what is the real status and are we in danger of having a catastrophe at the actual plant. I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
Staff has assured Sullivan that, “anything can happen, but the probabilities are that it’ll hold until we can get that fixed.”
Phase 1 of repairs on the wastewater treatment plant are scheduled to be completed this year. The commission voted on March 18 to pursue design of phase 2.
Aero-Mod, a Kentucky-based firm that some Plantation Bay residents hope will provide a less expensive and quicker fix for the wastewater , is meeting with staff and Interim County Administrator Jerry Cameron on April 15.
