PALM COAST
Observer
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. VOLUME 7, NO. 3
Sheriff faces $6,200 ethics fine Judge: Manfre violated the law on two counts. Ethics Commission has yet to rule. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
A Florida administrative law judge has recommended fining Flagler County Sheriff James L. Manfre $6,200 over two ethics violations. The judge’s order, issued Feb. 16 by Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk, suggests a fine much less than the $19,000 recommended by the Ethics Commission advocate in a report filed Jan. 19. But it still holds Manfre responsible for two of the three charges brought against him by the Ethics Commission, all of SEE ‘NEITHER’ PAGE 9
ONLINE: NASCAR DRIVER GIVES BACK
Flagler County’s Habitat for Humanity completed revitalizing its 32nd home on Tuesday, Feb. 16, with the help of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Michael McDowell. See the story online, at palmcoastobserver.com.
INSIDE TWO BIG-TIME GROUNDBREAKINGS
The Palm Coast Arts Foundation and Florida Hospital Flagler each began new projects this week. PAGE 3
FREE
TALL NEWS EDITOR
Most people like their neighborhoods to have clear cell phone signals and efficient emergency services. Fewer people like their neighborhoods to have the tall, often ugly communications towers needed for crisp cell reception and clear radio communication between first responders. But Palm Coast may need more towers — the big, metal lattice kind, about 350 feet each — for the county to upgrade the radio system its emergency responders use. That may cause problems. “Palm Coast is not aware of any proposed lattice towers — high, tall lattice towers — (proposed) in our community,” City Manager Jim Landon said in an interview Feb. 16. County staff, Landon said, hadn’t yet told the city administration that a proposed upgrade to the county’s 800 MHz emergency radio system could well require multiple 350-foot tall, lighted, hurricane-proof lattice towers in developed areas of the city of Palm Coast. “If that’s the case,” he said, “We need to start having this conversation now.” Each proposed tower, Landon confirmed, would have to be approved individually by the Palm Coast City Council. Residents tend to protest proposed towers in their area, telling their elected representatives that the towers would ruin the view or pose a danger to wildlife or to nearby homes. Just last year, the County Commission rejected applications for two towers after residents came to County Commission meetings to complain about the towers’ potential impact on the scenery and local wildlife. HOW HIGH?
Most of the current towers in the county are between 220 and 230 feet, according to Flagler SEE PAGE 10: COMMUNICATIONS
WHAT IS AT STAKE? When a sheriff’s deputy responds to a shoplifting call in a store, such as Walmart, the deputy loses radio communications. Same is true for firefighters in certain cementblock buildings. To change that, the County Commission would have to commit to more towers — and it wouldn’t be cheap. The county’s emergency management director, Kevin Guthrie, said there will need to be a compromise between level of service and cost, because Flagler can’t afford 100% radio coverage. Photo: The lattice tower on U.S. 1 is located near the Forestry Station.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016
Will the city of Palm Coast need to add 350-foot towers by 2020? The county’s emergency director thinks so.
ORDER JONATHAN SIMMONS
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BELLE TERRE’S 5K 21