PALM COAST – The Palm Coast city government hosted its annual State of the City address Thursday evening, with remarks from City Manager Denise Bevan and Mayor David Alfin. It marked Alfin’s second address since being elected in summer 2021, and Bevan’s second since being brought on as permanent City Manager in February 2022.
After an introduction by Assistant City Manager Lauren Johnston and performance of the Star Spangled Banner by Melanie DiMartino, Bevan took the podium to deliver the first remarks. Nothing in Bevan’s speech was unexpected: she thanked the work of city staff and residents and gave an optimistic forecast for the time to come. “Now is the time to unite and share in the creative process while we plan and build our future together,” she said. The line rung true after a period of relatively little contention on a City Council that’s gone through disunity in excess in recent years.
Alfin followed Bevan, speaking publicly after finally confirming he’d pursue a second term as Mayor, and not run for the state legislature as many suspected. While critics of the Mayor have no shortage of perceived gripes about his first one-and-a-half years in the post, Alfin stepped up in-kind with no shortage of city initiatives to tout. Namely, the adoption of the USS Gerald R Ford as a sister city, city staff’s response to hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and recent work on multiple major city roadways.
Toward the close of Alfin’s remarks he took the time to recognize a few community members in front of a packed Palm Coast Community Center:
- The Public Service Award was given to retired Palm Coast Fire Chief Jerry Forte. Forte gave 32 years of service in the Palm Coast Fire Department, capped off when he left the post in October of last year.
- The Citizen of the Year Award was given to Pastor Charles Silano, a leader with the Grace Community Food Pantry, and Chairman of the Open Door Re-Entry and Recovery Ministry.
- The Next Generation Award was given to Emma Stanford, a youth activist known to the community through her work with Emma Loves K9s. Stanford has been recognized by Sheriff Rick Staly and Governor Ron DeSantis for raising money for police K9 handlers.
It’s surprising that if he was doing such a great job, why do so many people want to vote him out. I never liked him from the start because I could see he didn’t care about the citizens of Palm Coast and what was best for the city. All he cares about is himself. He cares so much about himself that even he realized he wasn’t going to win Mr. Renner’s seat if he ran for it so he decided he would try to run for mayor again. Hopefully he will loose and his political career will be over. Then maybe he can go fine Mullins and they can talk about how they both screwed up.