AskFlagler Reader Poll: Do You Support the Proposed Raise for the Palm Coast City Council?

That’s the problem!! Everyone is unhappy with the present city council members. However, they are unable to make the connection between the present pay scale and the candidates this low paying full time job attracts. Perhaps if the pay scale would be in line with other executive office positions in the area it may attract higher quality candidates. Make no mistake, being a mayor or a city councilmen is a full time job. If our city officers dedicated only the time this position pays, there would be an outcry that our city officers are ignoring its constituents. For them it’s a loose loose situation, regardless what the council does they will be the recipients of the public’s ire.
I support the pay increase, the timing may be a little off, as the pay raises should have kept pace with the growth of the city since it’s inception in 2000.
I ran for the charter city council in 1999 and was defeated by an individual who has a park now named after him. I remember the questions that were posed to the candidates at various public forums were residents were given the opportunity to ask questions of each and every candidate. We were all asked this one question that I remember very clearly to this day. The question was regarding urban growth! “What are your feelings regarding the future development of the city?”
Councilman Ralph Carter, my opponent for my district responded as follows: “ I am in favor of urban development, because every time my wife tells me we need office supplies I have to drive down to Daytona to get them, so yes I am in favor of urban growth and development.” This is not quite the response I would have expected or appreciated from a city council candidate as I felt then as I do now it was a short sighted answer, however he is the person the voters selected. Today we see in its full glory the short sightedness of him as well as almost every single person who have held a seat on the council, with only a very few who have had the ability to incision the future for this city. At present there is only one man serving on the council who fills that criterial, that man is Ed Danko, who I might as had been the recipient of a considerable degree of attacks. I would take his place for God or money.
What I mean by that is as follows: rampant and disorganized growth, with high density housing cropping up everywhere in the city. No plan or effort being made to attract reasonably high paying jobs to the city capable of providing income for all the people who will inhabit all the new housing, in actuality it is being discouraged. Henceforth, we have massive expansion of fast food restaurants, numerous gas stations/convenience stores, discount stores like Dollar General, etc. etc. The recent relocation of a classic car parts distribution center was touted as a great accomplishment by the city, when at best it will employ 20 – 30 people. This is not the kind of growth I had envisioned for this city. Beyond that, we are still dependent on the County Sheriffs Department for law enforcement, which at best is doing only a fair job, and the cost of those services is growing continually. We have a scandal ridden government administration, as evidenced by the former mayors resignation and city manager under less than controversy free circumstances, and then we have the PC Maury list, a childish response to frustrated homeowners! Our city road system is deteriorating, with no apparent plan to address it. We also have a school system with rampant student on student violence, and two school board members who espouse socialistic/communist views. We have our division of storm water management which is the single department who has shown some little progress getting their act together. For the umteenth time the city council has voted down relaxation of city ordinances regarding commercial vehicles being parked overnight on residential property, (which is being unfairly/unevenly enforced). We now have a mayor who is in real estate business, who is using his position to enhance residential construction, which will ultimately enhance his business bottom line. Shall I continue with my very long list of errors being made by our city officers since the city’s incorporation. Furthermore, the projected population growth is expected to reach 500,000 by the year 2030, however no steps are being made to improve the traffic infrastructure of the main roadway systems in the city. All one needs to do is take a drive down Palm Coast Pkwy in the middle of any weekday to see that the present roadway system will be unable to support a 500% increase in the next 8 years without significant changes.
As for me, there is no amount of money the city could offer me as a city council member to take on the challenges of the issues that will face this city in the short term. So frankly, I don’t understand why voters are in such an uproar over a long overdue pay raise for our city council. I’ve always said, “you get what you pay for.” In this city’s case we have what we paid for and there are people complaining about a pay raise. Stay at the present pay scale and watch and see what happens to this city over the next 8 years, as you will then have a justified reason to complain.