PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
FIRE PLAN PAGE 3
VOLUME 11, NO. 23
Mask mandate
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2020
Palm Coast is requiring masks in situations where people aren’t social distancing. PAGE 5
NAACP calls for police reforms Local agencies consider proposals PAGE 9 INSIDE HIRING FLAW?
Two black educators sue Flagler Schools for discriminatory hiring practices. PAGE 2
TALKING POINTS
Uncomfortable Conversations about race: empathy, police and economics. PAGE 14
COVID CREATIONS
WATER TESTS
Palm Coast City Council announcies city will begin testing wastewater for COVID-19 RNA PAGE 4
PAGE 13
“Quarantine,” by Marilyn Leverton, is one piece of art inspired by the pandemic.
FUGITIVE SHOT
Flagler Sheriff: During traffic stop, fugitive pulled gun, deputies shot fugitive. PAGE 8
City’s investigator absolves City Hall
STALKING CASE
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland acknowledges an ‘honest mistake.’ Also, her private employment with Coastal Cloud has made some staff members uncomfortable.
Deputy arrested for making 50 threatening phone calls. Racist accusations. PAGE 8
INDEX
Briefs................PAGE 8, 12 Letters................... PAGE 6 Real Estate...........PAGE 16 Your Town.............PAGE 15
BRIAN MCMILLAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Mayor Milissa Holland said it was “an honest mistake” for her to use her city email account to conduct private business in 2018 with the city of Orlando. She said it was an isolated incident and that ever since she has a track record of keeping her city and business roles separate. The emails from Holland to the city of Orlando have become the focus of some controversy. The Palm Coast Observer requested the emails in November 2019, but the city did not provide them
because City Attorney William Reischmann deemed them “personal in nature” and not public records, by law. An internal investigation, conducted by Palm Coast Compliance Manager Jay Maher without City Manager Matt Morton’s knowledge, found that the city had withheld the emails inappropriately. Morton questioned the validity of that internal investigation, and he hired a third party, Jeffrey E. Mandel, to look at Maher’s process and his findings. On June 29, 2020, the city received Mandel’s report, which said the city had been correct
to withhold the emails after all. Moreover, the city’s in-house internal investigation process was called into question as a result, with reforms suggested. Maher, the leader of the city’s in-house investigation, recently told the Daytona Beach NewsJournal that the city management is trying to cover up its own misdeeds. “I was the head of ethics investigations until they discovered that I had so many investigations related to their misconduct,” Maher said. SEE MAYOR PAGE 10