PALM COAST
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VOLUME 6, NO. 30
Step-Up program cuts services
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TRUE TEA PARTY? PAGE 10
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
A NEW ERA
Matanzas beats Flagler Palm Coast for the first time ever. Check out coverage of the Crosstown Showdown: PAGES 19-22
The program for adults with disabilities settles for reduced services to avoid shutting down. JACQUE ESTES STAFF WRITER
A somber audience listened as Flagler Technical Director Kevin McCarthy asked the School Board Sept. 1 to approve a measure that wasn’t what he wanted— it wasn’t what anyone wanted — but that was, he said, the best option available. McCarthy once again reviewed the events that, on June 30, ended the Step-Up Program, a program that has provided services for adults with disabilities in Flagler County for the past 20 years. The program had its funding stripped by Gov. Rick Scott’s veto because the Legislature did not go through the correct process. None of the 40 Step-Up programs in the state had time to prepare or react to the vetoed bill, and most were left with no option but to shut down the programs. The deleted grant funding resulted in a loss of $535,892 to Flagler County, and while McCarthy and his team searched for a way to continue the program, the School Board continued services through July and August. “Two weeks ago I came before the board and presented a dismal future. We have exhausted our options,” McCarthy said. “Tonight I present a new program we are still calling Step-Up in name, but the program we’ve known for 20 years does not exist.” McCarthy listed the steps that had been taken to reduce expenses to bare bones, including cutting staff. He told the board that if there was a silver lining, it would be that those employees who lost their jobs had been placed in new positions. A fee schedule has also been implemented which will result in most clients having less time at the center. Only 26 will be able to attend five days a week, while the others will be limited to three or four days a week. “We are down to serving 59 clients based on the survey, and have a wait list of 73,” McCarthy said. The 10-month, Septemberthrough-June revenue projection SEE OLIVA PAGE 4
Photo by Jeff Dawsey
Philip Moultrie and his teammates celebrate his 30-yard touchdown reception.
Pool members plead for city aid The Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club will close if another entity doesn’t take it over. JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
The city of Palm Coast will place the issue of the endangered Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club on the agenda for a proposed meeting with the Flagler County Commission, City Council members decided at a Sept. 1 City Council meeting. The issue of the pool, which is owned and run by the Flagler County school district but may soon be closed because the district can’t afford to run it, wasn’t on the city’s agenda for its regular Tuesday evening council meeting. But a dozen people, most of them Palm Coast residents, came
to the meeting anyway, asking the city to take action to save the facility. CarMichael McMillan, a member of the Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Advisory Board, a council formed by club members to seek a way to keep the facility open, said the club benefits city residents. “If it needs some support, the amount of money that would go toward keeping that facility afloat is not that great for what it gives to this community,” he said. The club, donated to the school district in 1996, before the city’s formation, made $138,000 in revenue last year, but required $352,000 in operating costs. The district, facing budget cuts from
the state, says it can’t afford to keep it open. The YMCA talked with the school district about taking it over, but would need $200,000 to operate it until it could sustain itself. So the School Board put out a request for proposal for other entities to take it over. The Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club Advisory Board is collecting money to try to make a bid, but would need to raise about $50,000 by Sept. 21 to do it, board director Doug Courtney told club members at an Aug. 21 meeting. Marion Fox, an instructor at the facility, told City Council members that revenue from the facility was down because it hadn’t been advertised. Other club members said it SEE FUNDING PAGE 5
“We do give money to golf courses, and we do give money to this and that, and I think they have a good argument with that.” HEIDI SHIPLEY, City Council member