John Kvederis is one of four candidates running for the Palm Coast City Council’s District 4 seat. The seat is being vacated by an outgoing Charles Gambaro, who is running for U.S. Congress instead of seeking another term. Kvederis’s opponents are Dylana ‘Dee’ Galery, Ramon Marrero, and Darlene Shelley. None of the four have held elected office before.
The 2026 primary election is on Tuesday, August 18. Palm Coast voters will be able to vote for the City Council seats for Districts 2 and 4. District 3 was also up for election, but Ray Stevens was the only candidate who filed to run and was thus elected unopposed Whether residents reside in a given district does not prevent them from voting in all districts that are up for election.
If one of the candidates receives at least one vote more than 50.0% on August 18, they will win the election then and there. If none do, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff election on November 3.
Other Candidate Interviews
Flagler County Commission:
- Theresa Carli Pontieri (District 2)
- Greg Feldman (District 2)
- Raymond Royer (District 2)
- Anna Jones (District 4)
Flagler School Board:
- Cathy Moon (District 1)
- Jill Woolbright (District 1)
- Rob Wood (District 2)
- Christy Chong (District 4)
- Ron Long (District 4)
- Trevor Tucker (District 4)
Palm Coast City Council:
- Tony Amaral Jr. (District 2)
- Jeani Duarte (District 2)
- Dylana ‘Dee’ Galery (District 4)
- John Kvederis (District 4)
- Ramon Marrero (District 4)
- Darlene Shelley (District 4)
Interview Criteria
- The object of the interview is not to grill the candidate, nor to give them softballs. Ideally, in their answers the candidates provide to voters a useful insight into their ideology, their priorities, and their knowledgeability and preparedness for office.
- These questions are sent to each declared candidate in Flagler County’s local elections. All candidates running for the same office received the same exact questions.
- The only edits made are for spelling, formatting and basic grammar (i.e., ‘their’ when it should be ‘there’). Censorship of profanity may also be applied if it were applicable. Otherwise, answers are presented in their full form as the candidate provides them.
- Answers are subject to fact-checking if they contain information that’s blatantly misleading or untrue (misrepresenting factually verifiable information, misquoting a statistic, etc). Clarifications will be added underneath the candidate’s answer if applicable. The answers will still be presented as given even if a fact-check or clarification is needed.
Candidate Interview
Date of Birth: January 1, 1992
Hometown: Palm Coast, FL
Career/Educational Resume:
- Owner – Odd Job Connection (Palm Coast, FL)
- Director of Casino Operations/Asst. GM – River Casino (Nashua, NH)
- Casino Operations Manager – JZ Gaming (Blackhawk, CO)
- Table Games Assistant Manager/Casino Shift Manager – Affinity Gaming (Blackhawk, CO)
- Table Games Supervisor – Isle & Lady Luck Casinos (Blackhawk, CO)
1) Describe any relevant experience you have managing budgets, particularly situations that demanded difficult cuts.
“Throughout my career as a local business owner and an executive in casino financial management, I have managed high stakes, multi million dollar budgets where fiscal discipline and accountability were non negotiable. Operating in the heavily regulated gaming industry leaves zero room for error, and when revenue drops or economic shifts hit, you cannot simply kick the can down the road or raise prices on customers.
“In those tough environments, I led line by line financial audits, evaluated operational expenditures, and made the hard choices to trim administrative overhead, freeze non-essential capital spending, and renegotiate vendor contracts all without compromising frontline operations or customer service. I will bring that same sharp, business minded audit approach to Palm Coast’s city budget, ensuring we eliminate waste and prioritize core services like infrastructure before ever asking local taxpayers to pay more.”
2) How would you assess the City Council’s productivity and decorum over the past two years?
“Over the past two years, the City Council’s decorum and productivity have fallen short of what Palm Coast taxpayers deserve, as unnecessary political theater, infighting, and grandstanding have too often overshadowed real work. While some necessary city business gets done, public confidence is continually eroded when council meetings devolve into arguments over semantics and personal grievances rather than focusing on pressing community needs.
“As a local business owner, I know that if an executive team or board acted with this level of dysfunction, shareholders would demand immediate accountability. Our residents are the shareholders of Palm Coast, and they deserve a council that conducts itself with professionalism, mutual respect, and strict financial focus treating public meetings as working sessions to fix basic infrastructure and protect tax dollars, not as political arenas.”
3) Has the advocacy of developers and related professionals been a detriment to Palm Coast in event years? If so, please explain why you think so.
“The issue isn’t development itself, but rather the imbalance created when special interests outpace the city’s ability to maintain existing infrastructure and hold developers accountable for their fair share. In recent years, aggressive expansion has often strained our roads, stormwater systems, and utilities, while existing residents are left paying higher taxes to fix resulting drainage problems and swale failures.
“As a business owner, I value smart growth and economic opportunity, but development cannot come at the expense of current taxpayers. Growth must pay for growth; developers and related professionals must contribute fairly to the infrastructure, schools, and public safety demands their projects create, ensuring that Palm Coast’s existing neighborhoods are never treated as an afterthought.”
4) How is Palm Coast performing at engaging their residents? Do you have ideas to improve communication and/or transparency?
“Palm Coast currently falls short when it comes to genuinely engaging its residents, as too many citizens feel out of the loop or that major policy decisions are predetermined before public meetings even begin. Effective communication should be proactive, not reactive. As a business owner, I know that clear, open communication with stakeholders is essential to building trust, and our local government should operate under that same standard.
“To significantly improve transparency, I will push for plain language, digital financial and project dashboards so taxpayers can easily track city spending, swale maintenance schedules, and infrastructure progress without sifting through 300 page PDF documents. Additionally, we must bring local government directly to the people by hosting regular, informal neighborhood town halls and providing clear, timely digital notifications regarding local development and drainage projects, ensuring residents have a real voice long before votes are cast.”
5) How can Palm Coast approach westward expansion for the best possible outcome? Is the city as prepared for these potential steps as they should be?
“Palm Coast can only achieve a successful outcome with westward expansion by adhering to a strict infrastructure first, growth pays for growth policy, and right now, the city is not as prepared as it needs to be. While long term projects like the Matanzas Loop Road demonstrate forward thinking transportation planning, approving massive development frameworks without ironclad guarantees for funding water, wastewater, schools, and stormwater systems puts current taxpayers at severe financial risk.
“We cannot repeat past mistakes where rapid expansion outpaced municipal capacity, leaving existing neighborhoods with neglected swales and overwhelmed drainage. To be truly prepared, the City Council must slow down, demand crystal clear utility and developer agreements up front, and ensure that new growth fully funds its own demands before a single shovel hits the ground protecting our existing residents tax dollars and quality of life.”
6) What actions should the City Council take now to ensure the resilience of its infrastructure in the coming years?
“To ensure real infrastructure resilience, the City Council must immediately shift from a reactive mindset to a proactive, audit-driven capital strategy that prioritizes our existing neighborhoods before funding new projects.
“First, we must fully address our core drainage and stormwater systems aggressively accelerating ditch clearing, swale regrading, and pipe replacements and back those commitments with transparent progress tracking so residents aren’t left with standing water and flooded property during heavy rains.
“Second, we must safeguard our water and wastewater networks by executing necessary, cost-effective plant modernizations without placing an unfair tax burden on long time residents.
“Finally, the council must enforce strict growth pays for growth impact fees on new developments, ensuring that expansion fully pays for the added burden on our roads, utilities, and stormwater systems rather than subsidizing outside growth on the backs of current Palm Coast taxpayers.”
7) How would you describe your temperament in contentious discussions?
“In high stakes or contentious discussions, my temperament is calm, analytical, and professional qualities refined over years of working in executive casino financial management and running a local business. I view conflict as an opportunity to focus strictly on facts, numbers, and practical solutions rather than emotion or political posturing.
“Having managed complex financial audits and high stress business operations, I am accustomed to heated room dynamics where people have competing interests; my default approach is to listen actively, ask probing questions, and de escalate tensions by keeping the focus on shared goals. Taxpayers deserve a council member who remains composure under pressure, respects differing viewpoints, and treats every debate as a working session to deliver real results for Palm Coast.”
8) What are the most important qualities you’d expect working with Palm Coast’s city manager?
“When working with the city manager and administration, I expect transparency, financial accountability, operational efficiency, and a shared commitment to exceptional public service. Drawing from my background in executive management, I view the City Council as the board of directors that sets policy and the city administration as the executive team tasked with delivering measurable results for our residents.
“I expect city leadership to bring data driven analysis, clear budget breakdowns, and proactive solutions to council meetings rather than reactive excuses. Above all, I expect a culture of open communication where staff feels empowered to streamline municipal processes, eliminate waste, and treat every resident’s inquiry or infrastructure concern with the urgency, respect, and professionalism it deserves.”
