- April 23, 2024
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The first deadline is here for candidates who are planning to run for one of the two Palm Coast City Council seats or for the mayor’s seat. The primary will take place Sept. 13.
The deadline to submit petitions to qualify to run for a seat on the Palm Coast City Council is noon July 1.
According to City Clerk Virginia Smith, candidates running for the District 1 seat need 135 petitions, and District 3 candidates need 130 petitions. The numbers represent 1% of the district’s electorate. For the mayor’s seat, candidates need 527 petitions — which is 1% of the city’s 52,673 registered voters.
People who plan to run for one of the three available seats must either submit the petitions by the July 1 deadline or pay a fee between 8 a.m. Aug. 1 and 5 p.m. Aug. 9. The fee is 10% of the seat’s salary. For either district seat, the fee would be $960; the mayor’s seat would be $1,140.
Inside the races
After current Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts declared last week that he is running for re-election, the mayor race includes four candidates as of June 24: Netts, Charles Ericksen Jr., Joe Cunane and Ray Minami.
District 1 is currently occupied by City Council member Holsey Moorman. As of June 24, the only candidate who has filed to run agains Moorman is Bill McGuire.
The District 3 race has been the most controversial because of the city’s districting requirements.
City Council member Mary DiStefano, who holds the District 3 seat currently, can’t be re-elected because of term limitations, so someone new will take her seat. Jason DeLorenzo, Dennis Cross and Charles Ballard have declared as of June 24.
More candidates two years later
The 2011 election is much different from the election two years ago, when City Council members Frank Meeker and Bill Lewis won their respective seats unopposed.
According to Meeker, more than 20 candidates ran in the city’s first election.
This year, there are currently nine candidates for two council seats and the mayor’s seat.
“I think a lot of what’s going on in the national scene is filtering down to the local — even if it’s not applicable,” Meeker said.
Meeker, who ran in 1999 and lost, said having a plethora of candidates is good for the citizens on two levels: More candidates means more options and more ideas.
“No one person has all the answers,” Meeker said. “And, a lot of the time ... through the debates ... you get some dialogue going that gets the juices flowing, and you can really get some creative solutions to the problems we are facing. And that’s a good thing.”
Meeker also said the interest in the Tea Party has helped increase the number of candidates.
“The more the merrier,” he said. “I think it’s going to be great that the citizens will have some choice here.”
