- April 24, 2024
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Palm Coast City Councilman Frank Meeker, who is running for the County Commission District 2 seat, has been cleared of accusations that he violated the Hatch Act, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
“I said (earlier) that this had been thoroughly reviewed and researched and found to have no merit, and now it’s been confirmed,” Meeker said Tuesday morning. “If you have no issues to run on, you tend to focus on the negatives.”
Allegations of a Hatch Act violation surfaced in August, when a Palm Coast resident said at a City Council meeting that a complaint was filed against Meeker, who is also a scientist with the St. Johns River Water Management District.
The Hatch Act prohibits candidates from using federal money to campaign for partisan office.
The complaint was filed based on the assumption that Meeker’s job for the St. Johns River Water Management District, which receives a portion of its project funds from federal grants, is in conflict with his run for County Commission.
“(The Office of Special Counsel) learned that the federal grant funding received by the St. Johns River Water Management District is used exclusively to fund projects to revamp and improve existing waterways — projects (Meeker) does not work on in any capacity,” the release states.
Meeker maintained he didn’t violate any rules all along.
“This puts an end to it,” he said.
