U.S. Representative Randy Fine visited the sloshing tanks and purifying basins of Waste Water Treatment 1 this morning as part of a quick tour of Flagler County that also included an ATV ride along the county’s eroded beaches and an afternoon meet-and-greet at the Chamber of Commerce.
after he’s not catering to cameras with racist rants, Fine is funny and curious. He claimed that after he was elected to the legislature, Palm Coast utilities personnel gave him information about the city’s problematic but improving sewer plant, and that he knew more about, you know, poop than he ever wanted to.
Since leaving the Florida Senate on April 1 to fill the congressional seat left empty by Mike Waltz, the district’s former congressman, Fine had kept some of that information. Before being banished to the position of ambassador to the United Nations due to a strangely juvenile error for a former Green Beret, Waltz served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser for 41 days.
Despite its brief duration, one of Fine’s two welcoming committees stated today that his stay has been more controversial than successful thus far. With placards that read “Starve Fine, Randy,” a dozen and a half demonstrators had gathered on both sides of Utility Drive as it split off Old Kings Road to welcome Fine’s vehicle. Randy Fine: “This is Not Fine, Feed Gaza, You Shall Not Starve Children.” Isaiah’s saying about sharing bread with the needy, “Starve Away Randy Fine,” “It’s Town Hall Time,” and so forth.
Republicans have been increasingly critical of Fine’s fiery rhetoric, and his recent call for Gazans to starve away has plagued him despite his claims of nuking Palestinians and other Arabophobic remarks. So far, he has attracted five Republican opponents for the primary next year, including Will Furry of the Flagler County School Board and Charles Gambaro of the Palm Coast City Council. As he concluded his tour of the sewer plant in the unbearable heat, Fine was asked about the major pile-up and responded, “I’m not super worried about it.” I believe we’ll be alright, and the president asked me to run.
During the congressman’s visit, security was discreetly set up by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office to closely monitor him.
Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston, Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri (who has been acting as mayor on multiple occasions when Mayor Mike Norris is not present, as he was today), Council member Ty Miller, and Communications Director Brittany Kershaw made up the sunnier welcoming committee at the opposite end of Utility Drive, closer to the plant. After shaking hands with each of them, Fine sat down in a cool area to give a quick presentation that he extended as much as he could to avoid the heat. Dave Sullivan, a council member, and Brian Roche, the recently hired head of utilities, were already present. Gambaro wasn’t.
The presentation was led in-depth by Danny Ashburn, the manager of wastewater treatment and reuse, who prompted Fine’s pop-related quips but, more importantly, a number of specific inquiries concerning the city’s wastewater system. He wasn’t rushing. He was obviously there to learn, to investigate, and occasionally to share what he knew, not merely to show off. He was taken aback by the size of the city’s pep tank infrastructure, which Ashburn referred to as Palm Coast’s nemesis. There are currently 17,000 pep tanks underground, and another 7,000 will be added as the city’s infill lots in the former ITT-platted areas of the city fill up, which has been happening at a rapid pace in recent years. Waste from those infill lots has flooded WWTP 1.
Are they pep tanks? Fine inquired. He had never heard of them. Outside of Palm Coast, very few people have.
They are separate 1,500-gallon containers. Ashburn advised him to imagine a septic system without a drain field.
The congressman then inquired, “Where does the stuff go?” Ashburn described how the water is piped to the treatment plants after being pumped to lift stations. However, the city must pay a hefty price to maintain and serve the entire infrastructure.
Fine was shocked by the estimated cost of expanding Waste Water Treatment 1 (a $280 million project over the next five years), which he calculated to be $14,000 per house, or $20,000 per house when other expenditures are taken into account.
This brings me full round to my political ideology. “It is essentially the responsibility of the local government,” Fine stated. house rule is what we have, and the ability to house rule entails rule. I take it that there are other options? Impact fees and user fees are two examples. To assist with such matters, state [legislative] members frequently go and obtain appropriations projects. Sometimes the federal government can assist. He claimed to have recently obtained $5.1 million for the sewer plant in Bunnell. However, local accountability should be the main focus. Because it’s a municipal obligation, you know.
Pontieri gently reminded the congresswoman that although she is a strong supporter of home rule, the state has passed laws that force development on us in an attempt to address our affordable housing problems while simultaneously failing to provide the infrastructure and funding that the development is causing. Thus, it is a difficult contradiction. For instance, she was mentioning the Live Local Act.
However, once City Manager Alvin Jackson and Bunnell’s senior director for infrastructure, Dustin Voast, traveled to Washington months earlier, Bunnell had in fact obtained the $5 million. The project, which began as a $14 million endeavor in 2022 and has since grown to $44 million due to the ongoing increase in utility infrastructure expenses, began with Waltz and then proceeded with Fine. (Tariffs aren’t doing anything.)
Bunnell had previously raised more than the $14 million it required, but the demands continued to grow. Jackson stated that although the city still lacks $12 million, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has committed to providing the funds, subject to congressional approval. Jackson stated this afternoon, “We are really grateful to the congressman for guiding that funding source for us.”
Fine went on to describe his strategy for local infrastructure, saying, “I’m primarily interested in things that go beyond Palm Coast.” According to him, the entire Flagler County is impacted when sewage is discharged into the Intercoastal, not only Palm Coast. This has an impact on the entire east coast of Florida, not just Flagler County. “It is essentially Palm Coast’s responsibility to ensure that the next 20,000 homes have sewer,” he said. Making sure we’re not contaminating Florida’s ecology is a bigger duty.
The congressman’s visit was encouraging to Pontieri and Miller. “We’re really looking for eyes and ears on the issue, not just this year but in future years,” Pontieri stated, “because we’re going to have to continue to invest in our system, just to make sure that again, we’re exhausting all funding sources, instead of turning to store residents to bear a lot of the burden of this growth.” She said Palm Coast is just as concerned about improving waterways in and beyond Palm Coast, which ties into Fine s more regional concerns.
It s important to educate [about] what our problems are, so I think we did a good job of that today, Miller said. We made a promise to the residents that we re going to raise the rates, but we re going to seek any avenue of alternative funding. So that s the goal here, is to ultimately reduce the amount that we re increasing the rates.
