Moorman: 'Nothing but service'

Palm Coast Observer
News

City Council Incumbent Holsey Moorman served 39 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a brigadier general.

When City Council District 1 incumbent Holsey Moorman was 19, he dropped out of college. His mother was ill, and it came down to either him or his sister: One would have to start working to help the family with bills. So he volunteered, knowing that, in 1957, it would be easier for him to find a job than it would be for her.

And he would do anything. He would dig ditches if he had to.

After four years of factory work, carpentry and postal service, Moorman enlisted in the U.S. Army, at 23. He was accepted into Officer Candidate School at 26, and went on to become a demolitions expert and a brigadier general, seven pay grades higher than enlistment rank.

“It’s up to you to successfully complete the course,” he said, telling the story of a survival test he was put through during training. He was thrown into a covered truck, driven around till nightfall, then dropped off with a canteen, a compass, a knife and a map, and was told to be at a drop point by morning.

“You had to work your way back,” he said. Crossing swamps, he could see alligator eyes reflecting moonlight above the water.

By dawn, Moorman reached the drop point. He passed the test. Thirty-nine years later, in 2000, he retired from the military and moved to Flagler.

That’s when he became a politician.

“I’ve been in uniform all my life,” he said, first in Boy Scouts, then ROTC and then in the army.

But today, he wears a different kind of uniform, one with a power tie instead of stars on his chest, and with election signs on the doors of his white SUV, instead of camouflage coloring his tank.

Although Moorman was never stationed in combat zones, he did a lot of traveling. He rubbed elbows with other countries’ highest ranking officers, he said, and gave integration speeches to South African troops during the abolishment of apartheid.

His most “enlightening” trip, though, was to New Guinea.

Arriving at camp, “bucket-of-rust” tanks were littered around the premises. There were guns in such bad shape “they’d turn into hand grenades if you ever shot them.”

There was also a woman, about to give birth on an old cot with no mattress, just a blanket spread over springs. His team got to work. With flashlights and cigarette lighters, they sterilized their bayonets and performed a successful C-section.

After leaving, Moorman was informed that the woman used his name, and the name of another general, for the name of her child.

“So, somewhere over there, the general and I have this little baby running around with our names!” he said, laughing.

In Moorman’s three-year political career, his missions have been different. A resident will call with a code issue, and he’ll go to work, researching the issue and doing something with his colleagues, which, at first, felt unfamiliar from his army life: compromising.

“(Government) is a whole lot of people working together to make it work,” he said. “I’ve just acquired a tremendous appreciation for the team effort … It’s not just me against the world. It’s not a one-person show. It’s a team effort. It’s everybody working together for the betterment of the whole.”

It’s a family philosophy. In reference to the down economy, Moorman says he couldn’t imagine not being able to provide for his loved ones. That instinct has extended toward his community.

A trustee for his church, he is also involved in the Flagler County NAACP, the African American Cultural Society, the School Board, the African American Male Mentor Program, the Flagler County Youth Coalition and the Community Partnership for Children.

He calls his lifestyle “rewarding.” Politics has given him a different perspective on life; through politics, he has gotten to know people, learned how things work, been given the opportunity again to make a difference.

“In the army, you’re not a single individual. You’ve got a person on the left, a person on the right, and you’re all working together to accomplish the mission,” he said. “It’s the same in government.”

After retirement, Moorman says he was pressured into politics by acquaintances. Until deciding to run, he was enjoying his new life: landscaping, “attempting” to play golf, taking it easy.

But he had spent most of his life in service. He’s a “service-focused” person, he says — “nothing but service.”

It was only a matter of time before he got back into uniform.

CANDIDATE Q&A
NAME: Holsey Moorman
AGE: 73
FAMILY: wife, Carrie; one son, two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren
CAREER: served 39 years in the U.S. Army, retired brigadier general
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Palm Coast City Council since 2007
QUIRKY FACT: Children at church call him “Pop-pop.”

Is the city budget as lean as it should be? If not, what specific changes would you make?
I would have to say, in my experience working with the budget for the past three years, that is not true. We are sensitive to the budget. It is as lean as we can get it right now without sacrificing some essential services.

We have laid off, in the past four years, about 26 or 27 people, and we have trimmed $8 million off our budget …

I don’t think anyone’s willing to sacrifice any of our emergency services … If you want us to cut down on response time to a fire or an emergency, we could do that … Closing firehouses would increase the response time, and that would increase the risk of your house being severely damaged, or of you having a heart attack or a stroke and not being able to survive it. I don’t think you will find anybody that will say, “Close my fire station.” They might say to close your fire station …

I think we have trimmed our budget right down to the bone, without laying off more people. People don’t understand that when we lay off people, Palm Coast doesn’t just say, “Thank you very much,” and you go out the door. We have to pay that unemployment check until the unemployment credit runs out ...

I think we are at the bare bone. If we cut essential services, we are going to hurt the taxpayers.

What are the biggest obstacles to economic recovery in Palm Coast? How can you remove those obstacles?
The biggest obstacle is the economic slowdown. Palm Coast was growing so fast that that’s where your money was. People were building and moving to Palm Coast, or people were investing to flip …

When the economy crashed, all those guys and ladies who were working, were out of work … We were a construction community, basically. You were a Realtor, a banker, a title company or you were in the construction trade itself … When that slowed down, the banking industry slowed down, the people who used to do the title searches were out of work, the Realtors were out of work — it impacted everybody.

The best thing people can do is retrain. I was talking to (Center for Business Excellence President) Rick Fraser in reference to funds available to retrain individuals who were in the trade industry. He has scholarship money that they can (use to) go to school and take courses to retrain. But a lot of the trades people are not willing to do that. They have a mindset: “I’m a carpenter, and I’ll always be a carpenter.”

But they have to be flexible. They have to retrain. That’s the problem. We need a different mindset. We’re not a construction community any more, so we need to refocus our energy on something else. We’re a green community. Let’s do something high-tech. Let’s do something that will bring in the high-paying jobs …

The (Business Assistance Center) is a great idea that we’ve put into play now, to help those businesses that are here to stay here, and to help them expand and improve ...

The BAC is producing. The monthly report shows the amount of energy they’ve put into the community. The (Oct. 7 Business Expo) will be good for business. They can get out and talk to each other, business-to-business, and communicate. A lot of the companies that are in Palm Coast don’t even know that their next-door neighbor owns a business. This way, they can meet each other and say, “What are you doing? Maybe we can do something together.”

But the economy is so tied into the national economy that when things turn around nationally, we’ll turn around, too. We’re making improvements now. You saw the report: We did $178 million in building permits last year. That tells you something is going on.

Should the users of athletics fields pay the bills, or the taxpayers as a whole?
We’re going to relook at that. That’s a tough call. I’m really involved with the youth in my church, and I mentor two young men down at the school, and I encourage them to get into athletics because that keeps them out of trouble ...

A large number of people my age don’t get involved with the kids. So they say, “Why should my tax dollars go for this?” But ... I’m saying, “You either pay me, or you pay the sheriff.”

Because, those guys, if they’re not out there participating, they’re going to get into trouble. The good kids are going to follow somebody. And, innocent as they may seem, they’re going to do something stupid and get in trouble, and we’re going to be the ones paying for it, because we’ll be paying for the sheriff to patrol the streets. If the kids get in trouble, it’s taxpayer dollars …

Maybe we can have a fair share of this. Not have the taxpayers pay the full bill, but maybe let the athletics associations and the taxpayers share in the cost. Let’s have a happy medium.

Hypothetically speaking, if the research and data lead to conclusion A, but some residents are vocal that they want conclusion B, what is your responsibility as a City Council member?
If there’s an issue that they want on the ballot as a referendum, let the residents speak. If it’s something for the betterment of the entire community, then I would have to vote for what’s good for the entire community ...

At City Council meetings, or the phone calls or the emails, you only hear from the individuals that are more vocal. And most of the time, it’s a negative comment ... Then, you meet other people in Publix and Walmart, and they say, “You’re doing a good job. That’s what we need” ... I really think that if it’s an issue that’s critical, that’s very important to the people, then maybe it should be on the ballot, and let the people speak and let them decide. It’s their taxpayer dollars that are being spent. Maybe they should have a voice.

If it’s for the good of the entire community, then I would say, I would do it for the entire community, not for a vocal few.

That’s a problem: Politics, not so much in Palm Coast, but on a grand scale, always bend to the special interests. The special interests are the ones that call the punches. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. But a lot of times, those special interest groups are not speaking for the majority of the population.

So if it’s that important and if it’s raising that much interest, then maybe it should be on the ballot ...

(In reference to the city park fees): That should not be put on the ballot, because the impact is so small. Those dollars that we’re talking about … with lighting the fields and the scoreboards … I’m not sure the dollar amount would be worth the referendum …

One way to try to address it is to hold town hall meetings … Everybody that has something to say about athletics fields, and scoreboards and lights — come out. Now that you’ve given them the opportunity to speak, if they still don’t show up, then the squeaky wheel is going to get the oil. But at least you are saying, “It’s in the newspaper, it’s on the website, it’s on the radio.” We’re going to tell everybody in Palm Coast ... Come out and voice your opinion. Now, if the athletic association is the only ones that show up, then, you say, “Fine, you had your opportunity.” So, we will move based on what we hear.