Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
JOHN GAMIN EXPLAINS LAWS ON THIN BLUE LINE FLAG PAGE 2 OCTOBER 2020
VOLUME 7, NO. 3
November 2020
ELECTIONGUIDE County hopes for October transfer of water utility
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Remembering 9/11 Plantation Bay Pentagon survivor shares his story.
Flagler County hopes to be out of the utility business by around the end of October.
JARLEENE ALMENAS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
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loud explosion. A 28-acre building shaking. Smoke flooding the passageways. That is how Plantation Bay resident William Toti remembers the impact of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing inside the Pentagon the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. “It was kind of a remarkable moment because you realize first that you’re alive — ‘I’m not dead’ — and that’s kind of joyous, but at the same moment you realize a whole bunch of other people have just been killed,” Toti recalled. “It was a really bizarre feeling, mixture of emotions. It didn’t last but a few seconds, because then I
JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Flagler County hopes to be out of the utility business by around the end of October, turning the Plantation Bay utility system and two others over to the Florida Governmental Utility Authority, or FGUA. The other two facilities are at Eagle Lakes and Beverly Beach. “There are a ton of things that have to be taken care of,” County Administrator Jerry Cameron said, warning that the timeline is tentative as the county contends with the transfer process for multiple facilities. “It’s a Herculean task to transfer this over.” The Plantation Bay transfer is the most complex. The utility at Plantation Bay became a source of resident frustration for years as locals complained of hard, discolored water. The county bought the utilSEE WATER PAGE 2
Photo by Jarleene Almenas
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. William Toti remembers the events of 9/11 clearly.
COV ID Q+A BOB SNYDER, DOH-FLAGLER HEALTH OFFICER
Schools, long-term care, the super-spreader JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
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SEE 9/11 PAGE 7
fter months of a dropping COVID-19 positivity rate, Flagler County has experienced a spike that the Health Department has traced to three sources: school reopenings, an increase in cases at long term care facilities, and the county’s first superspreader event — a karaoke night at the Social Club of Palm Coast on Aug. 28 that was the source of dozens COVID-19 infections including two deaths and a few hospitalizations. Bob Snyder, health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County, shared with the Palm Coast Observer his thoughts on how Flagler County is faring and what we can expect as more rapid testing kits make their way into the community. SEE Q+A PAGE 4