- May 1, 2024
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Flagler County has made some last-minute updates to its local legislative priorities before an upcoming meeting with Rep. Paul Renner and Sen. Travis Hutson, adding requests for floodwater mitigation projects on the county’s west side and an end to the loophole that allows the sale of illegal-to-use fireworks to private individuals.
The priories — a kind of wish list of desired legislation that cities and counties pass to their elected state representatives each year before the legislative session begins — already includes requests to preserve local regulatory control of vacation rentals, add a county judge in Flagler County, and make texting while driving a primary offense, among others.
The county has also compiled a much shorter, three-item list of regional priorities: home rule, water quality and infrastructure funding, and maintaining and funding beach restoration and renourishment.
County Commissioner Donald O’Brien was not pleased with the last-minute nature of the changes to the local priorities list.
“I understand that the majority of this stuff is what we already talked about at workshop, but you have to admit that there’s a couple wrinkles to this ... we didn’t have at the workshop,” he said to County Administrator Craig Coffey at an Oct. 16 meeting. “And I just have to again express my frustration that I’m just getting this today, because you want me to put my name on this and say that I approve this and that I own this. ... I just wish that we would have had a little more time to do that or to really read it or react to it, because our name’s on it.”
Coffey apologized, saying, “Unfortunately, I think the draft that was put together was not as good as I would like to see it, and I like to present a professional project.”
He said the late additions aren’t the norm.
“This has not been a typical year,” he said.
The county's legislative delegation meeting will be held at 4-6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, at the Palm Coast City Hall.
