Flagler County’s quest to find a permanent county administrator was reset after the final candidate withdrew, the commissioners found out during a workshop on Sept. 14, 2026. The workshop was scheduled to discuss the county administrator search, proposed Bunnell landfill, and a contract with the Flagler County Humane Society.
HR Director Charlie Pecano informed the commissioners about the status of the search. “Mr. Van Cleek has withdrawn his name from consideration, so that leaves us with no applicants moving forward,” he said. The board had been focusing on Aaron Van Cleek after other candidates dropped out.
Pecano presented three options moving forward: Go back to the prior group of approximately 30 eligible candidates and try to get them back for interview; wait until after November when at least one commission seat will turn over; or go with an executive recruiting firm and start over. He said the most likely route will be to wait until after November, then either go in-house or use a recruiting firm.
Commissioners disagreed on the specifics. Commissioner Pam Richardson was pushed for speed, stating “Time is of the essence,” and “six months is too long to wait.”
Commissioner Kim Carney pressed Pecano for solid cost figures, as some executive recruiters take a large portion of the new administrator’s first-year salary, up to one-third, and others are cheaper. She said she needed to know the nitty-gritty, like if there’s a guarantee of a hire, before she could decide. “I’ve never hired an administrator before,” she said. “So this doesn’t help me.”
Pecano and the interim administrator said they were waiting to get new quotes because they didn’t want to “jerk around” the firms, as they didn’t know which direction the board would go, and the purpose of the workshop was to get the board to agree on something.
During the workshop, the board also voted on the proposed Bunnell landfill. The county’s legal counsel announced that the commissioners would appeal it later that evening at their regular meeting.
