- April 20, 2024
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Local elected officials and residents presented concerns and requests to Rep. Paul Renner and Sen. Travis Hutson at a legislative delegation meeting at the Flagler County Government Services Building the afternoon of Oct. 1.
The meeting, held every year, gives local government bodies a chance to determine and present a set of priorities to legislators for the coming fiscal year.
Hutson and Renner listened to the requests and asked some clarifying questions, but there was little back and forth during the meeting itself: Speakers had three minutes to make their case, and the meeting proceeded briskly so that each person who'd signed up to speak had a chance to do so.
"I just appreciate everybody coming out and providing information to us," Renner said at the end of the meeting. "We're still available, obviously, to chat was we go over to Tallahassee, and we'll be in communication with you about your priorities, and hopefully have a good session."
"I'd like to thank the county and all its staff and support for hosting us here today — everybody coming out, giving us your priorities — we'll continue to work for you," Hutson said.
This year, Flagler County's top priorities include funding for a new county library branch building in Bunnell and the expansion of the Agricultural Museum.
The Flagler County library project has ranked at the top of a state library grant program for six years in a row, but for each of those six years, the state has opted not to fund the grant program, so the county hasn't received the money, Flagler County Legislative Liaison and Library Director Holly Albanese told Hutson and Renner at the meeting.
"These funds will allow us to provide the underserved portion of the county with expanded services," she said.
The new building is already being designed, and construction will begin in the fall of 2022, she said. The county library system's passport application facilities have already brought in $700,000 to be used for the project.
The county is also asking for the state's support for the expansion of the Florida Agricultural Museum, which hopes to build a new visitor center and pioneer village. The museum was moved to Flagler County from Tallahassee in 1997.
"While the museum has been successful preserving the state's agricultural heritage, it has had many financial challenges over the years," Albanese said. "Though the Ag Museum is a 501c3, Flagler County, though a resolution, is committed to supporting this project, and believe we now have a vision and a plan that will not only make this museum a museum we can all be proud of, but one that could be a major tourist destination."
Jarrod Shupe, Flagler County's chief information officer and 911 coordinator, asked the state to increase its 911 fee from 40 cents per device to $1.
The fee was enacted in 1985 at 50 cents per device, then reduced in 2015 to 40 cents, Shupe said. The money pays for equipment and training in 911 dispatch centers.
"The current legislation is 36 years old, with funding priorities that were created when a telephone system was wired to a wall," Shupe said. "We now have mobile- and service-based costs that aren't easily translated to that 36-year-old statute language."
Florida's 911 fees are lower than most other southern states, he said.
"We are very much limiting our next-generation 911 services in Florida under the current funding," he said.
An increase to $1, Shupe said, "will allow the Florida 911 centers in all 67 counties ... to transition to next-generation 911 services as well as get some of the cost off of the General Fund, moving onto those that use the services."
For the city of Palm Coast, the city's pre-treatment effluent pumping (PEP) tank system — which holds residential sewage before it's pumped to the city's treatment centers — has the potential to exacerbate the damage caused by natural disasters: When the power goes out, the system's pumps shut down, and sewage can back up into homes.
Palm Coast has about 34,600 such tanks — the largest PEP system area in Florida — and is asking the state to have power companies like FPL prioritize regions with PEP tanks among the critical infrastructure areas that are fixed first during outages, Mayor David Alfin said.
Several years ago, when the city was responding to hurricanes, PEP tank capacity was overwhelmed and the city spent $750,000 dispatching portage generators and pumping trucks to keep that from happening, Alfin said.
"Unfortunately, the resources could not reach all in need, and sewage backed up into homes — an event that is not acceptable," he said. "We are asking that PEP system areas are deemed critical infrastructure, consistent with water and wastewater facilities. ... During emergency response of restoring power, PEP systems should be prioritized."
Other city priorities include funding for the next phase of the Old Kings Road widening project and additional transportation corridors to access the undeveloped western areas within the city's boundaries.
"We need to open up the western part of the geography," Alfin said.
