- December 15, 2025
County Commission is considering spending $5,000 per month on a federal lobbyist.
Palm Coast has a federal lobbyist. So do Flagler Beach and Bunnell. But the county, which has often been successful in securing earmarks, grants and other assistance, never saw the need to extend an advocacy arm beyond the state level. Until now.
The Flagler County Board of County Commissioners discussed, in a Dec. 5 workshop, the possibility of hiring a federal lobbyist, at $5,000 per month, with a 30-day termination option.
According to County Administrator Craig Coffey, securing federal aid has been increasingly difficult, and to obtain funding for initiatives like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ beach study, Marineland Acres, manatee and transportation issues, and Commissioner Milissa Holland’s Farm to Flag initiative, lobbyists may be necessary.
Flagler has received a proposal from national lobbyist firm Alcalde & Faye, which recently represented the Florida High Tech Corridor for Farm to Flag, a Northeast Florida-based agricultural business model seeking $16.5 million in funding.
“I believe there’s substantial return-on-investment here,” Holland said, noting that the company would also assist in grant-writing. “We have a greater opportunity than a lot of other counties, because we are so economically distressed.”
A former member of Congress also serves as a senior partner in the firm, Holland said, which opens a lot of doors. Already, through Farm to Flagler, she says she has seen “a ton of grant opportunities come out of this firm that I would not have known about.”
Randy Morris, a consultant with Alcalde & Faye and former politician, elaborated on the grant-assistance element, a service he said few other firms offer.
“A vast majority of grants fail because they don’t meet the qualifications or criteria,” he said. “This firm is going to be brutally frank.”
Consultants would help find money, tell staff from the outset their chances of winning any given grant, then review all documentation to ensure nothing is overlooked.
“That advice in the front-end saves you time,” Morris added.
And most of the board agreed.
“You’ve got to have the right tool for the right job,” Commissioner Nate McLaughlin said. “This is the right tool for this job.”
“I’m looking to move forward,” Commissioner George Hanns added.
But Commissioner Alan Peterson was wary that the investment would pay off.
“If you’re ever going to use a federal lobbyist, I think this is the time to do it,” he said. But for the annual price they’d pay for one, they could hire two more employees.
He asked that staff put together information on what the cities have been able to accomplish through their lobby firms for the commission’s Dec. 19 meeting.
After reviewing that information, there are two key questions he wants to analyze: “What can a federal lobbyist do for us?” and “Is this the right firm?”
Contact Mike Cavaliere at [email protected].
