Palm Coast Observer Online 2-4-2016

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PALM COAST

Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

VOLUME 7, NO. 1

FREE

DISTRICT CHAMPS! 11 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Officials: School pool? Cool. With the county’s help, Flagler Schools will keep the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club open. PAGE 3

All for $192: City Council gets raise

IS ANYONE HAVING FUN YET?

It will take effect after the next election. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR

Palm Coast’s City Council will get a small salary increase, based on the Consumer Price Index. It won’t take effect until after the next election. The council approved an ordinance on the measure, which would raise the council members’ salaries from $9,600 to $9,792, and the mayor’s salary from $11,400 to $11,628, at a meeting Feb. 2. “This provides a slight adjustment, a one-time adjustment,” Mayor Jon Netts said after the 4-1 vote on the measure. “I don’t see this as particularly onerous, but it puts (the matter) to rest, at least for the moment.” The council had five options in terms of adjusting its base salaries, Netts explained before the vote. It could: n Leave salaries alone; n Take its current salaries and add the equivalent of a one-time annual city employee cost of living adjustment, raising the council’s salary to $9,792 and the mayor’s salary to $11,628; n Add retroactive Consumer Price Index adjustments since 2007, raising the council’s salary to $11,002 and the mayor’s to $13,064; n Tie salaries to the pay of the city’s lowest-paid employee, making the council’s salary $23,782 and the mayor’s salary $28,062, or; n Base the pay on average area salaries, making the council’s salary $33,387 and the mayor’s salary $39,397. After Netts explained the options, Councilman Bill McGuire made a motion for the council to take the second option — giving the council and mayor the equivalent of a city employee cost of living increase, which would raise the council members’ salaries to $9,792 and the mayor’s salary to $11,628. Councilman Jason DeLorenzo seconded Netts’ motion. But Netts and council members

Palm Coast’s first Color Vibe 5K was a big hit for everyone looking for a new look. 12-13

Remembering ‘Sister’ Hall Flagler County’s favorite cook saw her home town go through growing pains. ANASTASIA PAGELLO STAFF WRITER

She was a beloved cook — known for her signature “Twisted Sisters Omelette” — until she retired in 2013, but Hilda “Sister” Hall also lived with the memories of a darker time in Flagler County history, when she had to sneak in the back door to work in the kitchen. Hall, a Bunnell resident, died from cancer on Thursday, Jan. 25. She was 80. Hall started her culinary career at Malphurs Diner, eventually switching to State Street Diner; then she tried her hand at Len Courtesy photo

SEE CITY COUNCIL PAGE 4

Photo by Anastasia Pagello

Hilda “Sister” Hall worked in Bunnell restaurants her entire life.

SEE HISTORY PAGE 2

DID YOU KNOW? Flagler County was the last county in the state of Florida to desegregate the public school system in 1970.


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