At least two seats on the Bunnell City Commission will have new members following Flagler County’s municipal election in March 2025. Incumbent City Commissioners Tonya Gordon and Tina-Marie Schultz have both decided that they will not run for another term. Mayor Catherine Robinson, meanwhile, has announced that she will be running again.
The decision marks a reversal for Schultz, who went into the election cycle intending to run again before changing her mind on the basis of health issues. This reasoning was first reported by FlaglerLive. She was one of four individuals who’d filed to run for City Commission, alongside David Atkinson, Bonita Robinson (no relation to Catherine), and Lyle Sechrist.
The tenures of Gordon and Schultz have both been brief; the former will have served for four years on the City Commission and the latter for three. Gordon decided not to run in order to wrap up her time in office at a natural ending point, allowing her to devote more time to her family.
The winners of the 2025 municipal elections will join Vice Mayor John Rogers and Commissioner Pete Young, neither of whom are up for election this year. Mayor Robinson is as-of-now unopposed, and has served as mayor with little to no opposition from the community for over 20 years. She is among the longest-serving elected officials in Flagler County’s history, and has made it clear she has no intention of stopping now.
Neither Atkinson nor Sechrist have any campaigns for office in Bunnell under their belt nor any immediately obvious online campaign infrastructure. Bonita Robinson, meanwhile, once served on the City Commission from 2014 to 2017. Outside of her political involvement, she’s the Community Services Area Manager of the Carver Center. Robinson’s campaign website cites the late Commissioner Daisy Henry as a source of inspiration, and cites improvements to public roads as one specific goal if elected again.
Chris Gollon is a Flagler County resident since 2004, as well as a staple of the local independent music scene and avid observer of Central Florida politics, arts, and recreation.