The City of Palm Coast has published a small booklet, that explains the annual report for the city. In this report you can read over where and how the fiscal budget that as adopted last year, will be implemented this year.
In the booklet is a message from the mayor. It reads as follows:
“Greeting to my fellow Palm Coast Residents:
This year will mark the 24th year since the citizens of Palm Coast determined they were prepared to take the lead in governing themselves by voting to become an official municipality in Florida. Over these past 24 years, we’ve watched Palm Coast transform from a small rural town to a multi-generational community, building together on our strengths and working hard to meet our challenges. As Palm Coast\s fourth Mayor, I’ve had a ringside seat to witness many of the struggles, the humanity, the effort, and the effectiveness of the knowledge and compassion that motivates people in our City. We step up where and when we are needed. Our employees who work at City Hall, the fire stations, community center, or water treatment plants keep services moving forward. Our businesses, medical facilities, or factories – from home, on job sites, or in vehicles – keep up informed of their concerns and needs. Their instincts and input are the center of our daily work and decision-making. This coming year in Palm Coast promises much more progress to make us all truly proud. And this is where we need YOU – our citizens – as our partners. In the coming months, you will be encouraged to attend meetings or complete surveys or mailers to let us know how you feel about planning and building our future together. I will always believe that without each of YOU, there is no US. ”
At the end of the article you will find all the information for the leadership team, and their contact information.
This annual report talks about the vision of Palm Coast, and it’s priorities. The goal of the City is to provide exceptional service, protecting our natural resources while still delivering diverse, and high quality amenities for the residents of the area. The priorities of the city are to support the growing population and businesses, safety in all amenities, to build an engaging relationship with residents, and to sustain the environment, and protect the natural beauty of our area.
The booklet the City has prepared covers the budget and how it is broken down by department, along with details regarding the capital improvement plan for the fiscal year of 2023.
Following this information is a breakdown of the different departments. The booklet starts off by giving some details about what the Communications and Marketing Department does. Over the course of 2022, they published 262 News Releases, had a social reach of 400k, and 148 videos created. This department handles many different areas, such as public and media relations, videography, photography, graphic design, social media, website content, emergency communications and so much more. This department helped IT with the brand new city website, and they work towards keeping the residents and community up to date on a wide variety of things from construction projects to community events.
The Community Development Department has worked to return 44 pets to their homes, issued 17 thousand permits, and had 68 orders for development. They have completed 20,194 building plan reviews, performed 61,360 building inspections and have brought in $917.5 Million in private community investment. Community Development hosts events, such as Arbor Day and Intracoastal Waterway Cleanup. In 2022 the 17th annual Arbor day event was a huge success; they handed out 400 trees, 450 butterflies were released, and 3,000 lbs of paper was recycled, and roughly 1,200 lbs of food was collected, which is enough to feed 30 Flagler County families for 2 weeks.
Financial Services Department has a Fiscal year budget of $328 millions, they have completed 378 hours of training, and has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for 19 consecutive years, and a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, from The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.
The Fire Department for the City of Palm Coast is comprised of 61 firefighters, 5 stations and 17 volunteer firefighters. in 2022, Engine 21, which had served the City for 21 years, was replaced with a new one. The City’s fire department was deployed throughout the year to other areas of Florida when they needed help with wildfires and hurricanes. In 2022 our former chief, Jerry Forte, retired after 32 years of service, and the City sworn in the newest chief, Kyle Berryhill.
Human Resrouces works hard to handle a wide variety of tasks at the City. They handle staffing, planning, compensations, benefits, labor relations, training, and development. They handle 600 employees, have hosted 2 job fairs, and 9 college internships. They also work towards positive employee experiences year-round; with contests like the biggest loser to promote health, the Holiday Honors Event to recognize employee service milestones, Public Service Appreciation Week breakfast for all employees, Bio-Metric Screening, Numerous City wide training opportunities.
Information Technology, IT, for the City of Palm Coast offers 2 internships, has 18 technicians, handled over 4 thousand tickets for city employees and city equipment. They work hard to provide enterprise-wide solutions, quality customer service and ensure the technological resources and investments.
Parks and Recreations maintains and serves the existing 13 city parks, over 130 miles of trails and have hosted 21 events. The events the Parks and Rec Department hosted included, Egg’Stravaganza, Movies in the Park, Food Truck Tuesdays, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Parks and Rec also offer programs for everyone, including swimming, pickle ball, history, arts, summer camps, golf, tennis, and so much more.
Public Works Department has handled over 8 thousand miles of median mowing, picked up over 100 thousand pounds of litter, and handled 3553 work orders. In 2022 Public Works finished a couple of projects, including the Fleet shop office remodel, Palm Harbor Golf Course retention wall, Pedestrian Bridge refurbishment, and a Concrete entrance at WTP1. The Public Works Department hosted the 2nd annual ‘Touch a Truck’ event in 2022, and saw over 4,000 attendees.
Storm Water and Engineering has 66 full time employees, they handle 1,222 miles of swales, 84 miles of canals, and 14 control structures. The Stormwater and engineering department has worked and accomplished multiple projects such as the E-Section Drainage project, the Old Kings Widening, I/95 Interchange Beatification Project and more.
Utility Department handles over 700 miles of pipelines, handled 27 water main repairs, and installed over 2,000 meters. For the third year in a row, Palm Coast was awarded the “Best Tasting Water” award for Region II by Florida Water Environmental Association at the Best Tasting Water Drinking Contest.
The City Clerk has handled 594 Public Records Requests, has done 44 Council Meetings, and handled one general election.
Customer Service Division has seen a 55% increase in cases being reported online in the Customer Service Portal, has 2 operating facilities, has resolved 11 thousand connect cases.
City Information:
The leadership team includes Denise Bevan, the City Manager, Lauren Johnston the Ass. City Manager, Jason DeLorenzo Chief of Staff.
Executive Directors are:
Doug Akins, Information Technology; Helena Alves, Financial Services; Carl Cote, Stormwater & Engineering; Matt Mancill, Public Works; Renina Fuller, Human Resources; Brittany Kershaw, Communications; James Hirst, Parks and Recreation; Kyle Berryhill, Fire Chief.
Contact information for the departments are here:
Customer Service: 386-986-2360; City Manager’s Office 386-986-3702; City Clerk Records 386-986-3713; Parks and Recreation 386-986-2323; Building and Permits 386-986-3780; Planning and Zoning 386-986-3736; Code Enforcement 386-986-3764; Fire Department 3868-986-2300; Animal Control 386-986-2520; Urban Forestry 386-986-3758.
Your Mayor and City Council Members are as follows:
David Alfin – Mayor
Ed Danko – Vice Mayor – Disctrict 1
Theresa Carli Pontieri – Council Member – District 2
Nick Klufas – Council Member – District 3
Cathy Heighter – Council Member – District 4
