AskFlagler Palm Coast City Council Interview: Dana ‘Mark’ Stancel

Dana ‘Mark’ Stancel is one of three candidates running for the Palm Coast City Council’s District 3 seat. The seat is being vacated by an outgoing Nick Klufas, who is term-limited and running for County Commission. Stancel’s opponents are Ray Stevens and Andrew Werner. None of the three have held elected office before.

The 2024 primary election is on Tuesday, August 20th. Palm Coast voters will be able to vote for Mayor, and the City Council seats for Districts 1 and 3. Whether residents reside in a given district does not prevent them from voting in all districts that are up for election.

Other Candidate Interviews

Flagler County Commission:

• Andy Dance – Flagler County Commission, District 1
• Fernando Melendez – Flagler County Commission, District 1
• Kim Carney – Flagler County Commission, District 3
• Bill Clark – Flagler County Commission, District 3 (Did Not Complete)
• Nick Klufas – Flagler County Commission, District 3
• Ed Danko – Flagler County Commission, District 5
• Michael McElroy – Flagler County Commission, District 5
• Pam Richardson – Flagler County Commission, District 5

Flagler School Board:

• Derek Barrs – Flagler School Board, District 3
• Janie Ruddy – Flagler School Board, District 3
• Lauren Ramirez – Flagler School Board, District 5
• Vincent Sullivan – Flagler School Board, District 5

East Flagler Mosquito Control Board:

• Julius ‘Jules’ Kwiatkowski – East Flagler Mosquito Control Board, Seat 1
• Perry Mitrano – East Flagler Mosquito Control Board, Seat 1
• Lance Alred – East Flagler Mosquito Control Board, Seat 3
• Ralph Lighfoot – East Flagler Mosquito Control Board, Seat 3

Palm Coast City Council:

• David Alfin – Palm Coast Mayor
• Peter Johnson – Palm Coast Mayor
• Alan Lowe – Palm Coast Mayor
• Cornelia Downing Manfre – Palm Coast Mayor
• Mike Norris – Palm Coast Mayor (Did Not Complete)
• Kathy Austrino – Palm Coast City Council, District 1
• Shara Brodsky – Palm Coast City Council, District 1
• Ty Miller – Palm Coast City Council, District 1
• Jeffery Seib – Palm Coast City Council, District 1
• Dana ‘Mark’ Stancel – Palm Coast City Council, District 3
• Ray Stevens – Palm Coast City Council, District 3
• Andrew Werner – Palm Coat City Council, District 3

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: August 10th, 1950

Hometown: Portland, Maine

Career/Educational Resume: 

“I was born in Portland, Maine and grew up in Hazelwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. I have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. After an early marriage ended, I became a single parent, raising 2 of my kids on my own. So, I know how hard raising kids can be. During this time, I was an Assistant Cub Master, Boy Scout Quartermaster and Scoutmaster for my son’s Scout troops. After many years, I reconnected with Donna Marie Stancel at our 50th high school reunion in 2019. Donna and I were married a year later in 2020, and we relocated to Palm Coast in 2021. I played competitive softball until the age of 64. I am now an avid golfer and bowl in 2 leagues. I also ride my bicycle an average of 50 to 60 miles per week on our beautiful trails here in Palm Coast. I also enjoy playing Canasta and Bingo.

“My Career The Military

• When I was 20, I joined the United States Army, and served for over 20 years. During this time, I served four tours in Germany and one tour in South Korea.
• As a non-commissioned officer, I held many positions of authority in both Germany and South Korea. I served in the Military Postal System as an Operations NCO, COPE (Custodian of Postal Effects), Physical Training Instructor, Weapons Instructor, Urban Tactical Instructor.
• While in Germany, I was tasked by the ‘U.S. Army Postal Group Commander’ to consolidate the cities of Frankfort, Geissen, and Hanau postal units into one postal finance unit. I received an award for successfully accomplishing this task.
• My last duty was at Fort Ord, California. I was Chief of Admin for the Directorate of Reserve Component Support. I handled the finance and personnel records for Army Reserves and National Guard that came to Fort Ord for training.
• Along the way in my career, I was also a U.S. Army Recruiter, helping to recruit young men and women to serve our country. In addition to working in a recruiter’s office, I also went to high schools to speak to gymnasiums full of soon-to-be graduates about the benefits of becoming part of our military.
• During my entire military career, I was known for making good, sound decisions, adding valued improvements to operational systems.”

“After the Military

• “After retiring from the military, I worked 19 years for the United States Postal Service as a Letter Carrier and Carrier Technician. Everyone knows what a Letter Carrier is. A Carrier Technician, however, is a position that requires knowledge of five different routes, so every day was a different route to service. In this job, I had the privilege to meet and get to know lots of people on ALL of those routes. This was an enjoyable experience in those jobs. I retired from the Post Office in 2012.”

1. Describe your experience forming and managing budgets, aside from personal/home finance.

“See my military experience above. As a non-commissioned officer, I held many positions of authority in both Germany and South Korea. I served in the Military Postal System as an Operations NCO, COPE (Custodian of Postal Effects), Physical Training Instructor, Weapons Instructor, Urban Tactical Instructor.

“While in Germany, I was tasked by the “U.S. Army Postal Group Commander” to consolidate the cities of Frankfort, Geissen, and Hanau postal units into one postal finance unit. I received an award for successfully accomplishing this task.

“My postal duties had me responsible for millions of dollars and equipment. At any one point in time, I had control of over $20 million dollars on a daily basis. I believe I could be trusted to handle the resources of this city.”

2. Is Palm Coast growing too rapidly? If so: what makes the growth excessive, and what should the City Council be doing differently? If not: what would you say to ease the concerns of those worried about the pace of growth?

“I oppose any additional multi-family dwellings for two reasons: 1) we currently only have 80% occupancy of the units that exist now, with even MORE under way; 2) young couples that are forced to live in apartments can never get enough money ahead to buy a home in Palm Coast because housing costs are too high and way out of reach for them.

“In terms of future land use, because homeowners who currently live in high-valued homes would object to having lower-cost homes built near them, their perspective is that affordable housing would reduce their home values. We need to designate new communities consisting of ONLY affordable housing ($200k or lower). These new communities would put like housing all together and provide places for young people to start families and get a financial foothold. Likewise, people of similar income levels and growing families will have these communities to form relationships within their community for the future.

“I oppose the over $40 million to annex the area west of Highway 1, and because our city is already financially strapped, we should use that money to address the issues we already have in relation to our water treatment and wastewater facilities to get ahead of our existing growth. We can always go back in a later year to annex that area west of Highway 1 when we have had a chance to climb out of our financial hole.”

3. What do you make of the expression ‘development pays for itself’? Is that true in Palm Coast?

“Totally untrue. Palm Coast needs a diversified development which it doesn’t already have. The Council has depended ENTIRELY on residential growth and has placed the tax burden ENTIRELY on the citizens of our city.”

4. Are there any new or underutilized revenue streams you can name that Palm Coast could tap into to support its operating budget? If so, expand upon your plan for implementation.

“We need to bring industries to our city to provide for additional tax revenue and job growth. We need to reach out to companies that can build here, provide jobs here, and provide less of a tax burden on the residents.”

5. What’s your opinion on the firing of City Manager Denise Bevan? Was the firing necessary, and was it handled well by the City Council?

“I found the firing of the City Manager to be made for wholly political purposes. Denise dared to bring a utility tax to the Council, and she was fired because she had the audacity to do that during an election year. My wife and I witnessed what happened to her during a Council meeting. The mayor turned over the gavel to Ed Danko strictly to enable him to make a motion for her firing. Ed Danko had apparently not planned to attend that meeting on that day because he had other campaign plans for that timeframe. It was apparent because the moment that the City Manager was fired in a 3-2 vote, he handed the gavel back to the Major and left the meeting for his campaign event. I believe this was a ‘hatchet job’. They did this humiliating process in front of the City Manager herself and the public that attended the City Council meeting, and she was summarily sent to Personnel to be processed out.”

6. Give your evaluation of these city leaders: interim City Manager Lauren Johnston, Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo, and Stormwater & Engineering Director Carl Cote.

“All three of these Palm Coast employees are doing an exceptional job and should all be commended for their dedication and passion for the betterment of Palm Coast.”

7. Though Palm Coast has taken steps to plan educational and vocational opportunities for its graduating residents, many Gen-Z Palm Coast residents complain of little recreation or entertainment in the city that appeals to them. Is there anything the City Council can or should do to address these complaints?

“With the recent line-item vetoes of cultural funding by the state (millions of dollars), the money that was originally intended to develop a performing arts and cultural center in our Town Center area, the future of cultural development in Palm Coast is much more limited. Private investors should be sought out to help grow our cultural community in Palm Coast.”

8. City Council members are paid $24,097 a year, thanks to a raise the Council approved for itself in 2022. The Mayor makes $30,039 comparatively. Are you in favor of revisiting these figures, either to increase or decrease them, if you’re elected to the City Council?

“No, they should stay the way they are unless and until the City digs itself out of its financial ‘hole’.”