McMillan

The Observer doesn’t ‘go after’ any elected official or business. It’s also not our job to protect them.

BRIAN MCMILLAN

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Some community members have expressed concern about the Palm Coast Observer “going after” Coastal Cloud. Here is my perspective.

If any company hires the mayor of Palm Coast while that mayor is in office, and then the city enters into an agreement with that company, the community should be on high alert. In such a situation, the potential for abuse of power is obvious.

It was obvious to Coastal Cloud owners Tim and Sara Hale, and it was obvious to Mayor Milissa Holland; that’s why Holland recused herself from the votes that made the agreement official in 2018, and that’s why the agreement made sure no money would exchange hands between Coastal Cloud and the city. From what I can tell, their intentions were good.

Their attempts to eliminate any perception of abuse of power was further accomplished by the support of the other four members of the City Council, who voted in favor of the agreement.

Still, there have been unintended consequences.

Since the fall of 2019, I have interviewed more than a dozen former and current employees who have used words like “tricky,” “complicated,” “awkward” and “unethical” when describing the practical fulfillment of the agreement.

I have done my best to gather and publish these voices, as well as the responses and rebuttals of the Hales and City Hall.

The stories have cause distress to some of those parties, and I don’t take any delight in that. I also don’t claim to have done any of the writing or reporting perfectly.

But ultimately, as editor of the newspaper, it’s not my role in the community to make sure that City Hall and Coastal Cloud are happy. I didn’t tell Coastal Cloud to hire the mayor. I also don’t tell companies to move to Palm Coast or to stay away from Palm Coast; I don’t “go after” any business or any person to make them look bad.

Rather, I serve the community by trying to follow the example of the great journalist Robert A. Caro: to report how the government is using its power.

I believe that the way staff has been impacted by the Coastal Cloud-mayor-Palm Coast arrangement is significant.

I have published these stories because in the United States of America, you, the reader, are entitled to know.

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Record number of vote-by-mail ballots received

Ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections Office — not just postmarked — by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 18, to be counted. Drop boxes are available on several locations.

JONATHAN SIMMONS

NEWS EDITOR

As of Aug. 10, the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office had already received far more mail-in ballots than it ever had in a previous primary election. Meanwhile, early voting is down as voters forgo in-person voting during the pandemic.

So far, Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart said 11,472 ballots have been returned to the office of the 28,607 which were mailed out.

In 2016, the Election Office had only mailed out 11,679.

“We are seeing the trends change in this election year,” she said. “We saw that in the March primary, where we had a tremendous amount of vote by mail and less in person. I think those trends are going to hold steady this year. ... Overall I think we’ll probably hit our 30% [turnout] as we usually do, it’s just that the method of voting has certainly changed.”

As of the eighth day of early voting, she said, only about 2,800 people have voted early in person.

“We haven’t hit over 500 voters for any single early voting day this entire election,” she said, “whereas in the 2016 primary, going back to a similar election, I think our average daily total was around

Photo by Brian McMillan The Supervisor of Elections Office at the Government Services Building complex in Bunnell.

700. It’s down drastically.”

In 2016, the highest single day of early voting saw 821 voters, and the average was about 600 voters daily; this year, there have only been about 200-300 early voters daily.

“The weekend was very slow: We only had 119 voters yesterday,” Lenhart said. “We’re just not seeing people turn out in early voting.”

Election Day itself, she said, always brings out a group of voters who are loyal Election Day voters.

“This is a very important primary election,” she said, noting that races that will or could be decided in the primary include races for School Board, County Commission, public defender and

WHERE AND WHEN CAN YOU VOTE EARLY OR DROP OFF A MAIL BALLOT?

In-person early voting is proceeding at the locations below from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Aug. 15.

Mail ballots can also be dropped off in a drop-box at any early voting site during voting hours, or also at the exterior drop box at the Supervisor of Elections Office after hours. Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 18, to be counted.

Flagler County voters can vote at any early voting location in the county regardless of their address, but must vote at their assigned precinct if they vote on Election Day.

Flagler County Supervisor Of Elections Office

1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Suite 101 Bunnell, FL 32110

Flagler County Public Library

2500 Palm Coast Parkway NW Palm Coast, FL 32137

Palm Coast Community Center

305 Palm Coast Parkway NE Palm Coast, FL 32137

circuit judge. “If [voters] wait to vote in the general, they’re going to lose the chance to have a voice in our local government here.”

DROP-BOXES AVAILABLE

A ballot mailed from a home in Flagler County typically takes about five business days to make it to the Supervisor of Elections Office, Lenhart said.

First-class mail flows through an out-of-town distribution center and then comes back.

Ballots must be received by the elections office — not just postmarked — by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 18, to be counted.

In 2018, about 200 ballots trickled in after the deadline on Election Day and could not be counted, while 14,649 were returned on time.

“If they’re worried about the mail delivery, you can return your ballot in person,” Lenhart said.

Secure drop boxes are available at early voting sites and outside of the Supervisor of Elections Office in Bunnell. The drop boxes at the early voting sites will be open only during early voting hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, including weekends, through Aug. 15), but the drop box outside of the Supervisor of Elections Office is available 24/7. See the box above for details.

“We have a really high return rate for our vote-by-mail ballots,” Lenhart said. “Typically 75%- 80% return for a primary, and for a general it can be even higher.”

Man arrested after punching deputy

A man tried to flee a felony traffic stop in Palm Coast and punched a deputy twice after the deputy stopped the man’s car to investigate an allegation that he’d threatened someone with a knife.

The suspect, 29-year-old Bunnell resident Anthony Michael Petrillo, is at the county jail on $55,000 bond on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting arrest.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office had responded to the initial weapons complaint at a home on Bird of Paradise Drive in Palm Coast at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, where the reporting party told deputies Petrillo threatened one of them with a pocket knife when they arrived home.

FCSO conducted a felony traffic stop and reported Petrillo was visibly irate and would not comply with verbal commands. He exited the vehicle and began yelling at deputies while pacing back and forth. Petrillo soon tried to run away, but lost his footing.

When he stood up, he threw two punches at an approaching deputy, striking him in the chest and the abdomen.

Petrillo was secured in handcuffs and paramedics treated him for minor abrasions. Throughout the encounter, Petrillo remained irate, irrational, uncooperative and combative.

Petrillo was booked into jail. Inside his vehicle, deputies found two pocket knives and narcotics paraphernalia.

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