- April 26, 2024
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Directly after voting to fire City Manager Denise Bevin, Vice Mayor Ed Danko left the city's March 19 business meeting, even though the council had not even begun to review the items actually on the day's agenda.
The action drew council member Theresa Carli Pontieri's ire. Danko did not contribute his opinion on Bevan during the vote's discussion and left the council meeting directly after the vote to go to the public library where he was campaigning on behalf of former President Donald Trump for Florida primary election.
At the end of the meeting, Pontieri said the fact that Danko showed up specifically to vote on Bevan's termination, only to leave immediately after, indicates, to her, a violation of sunshine.
"He clearly came to to cast his vote for this motion," Pontieri said. "Now he's campaigning from the library when we have a business meeting that requires voting on serious city matters."
The Observer reached out to Danko for comment on Bevan and his absence after the vote. The vice mayor had no comment on the former but to say he wished her well.
As for his absence, Danko said, as it is election day and he is a member of the Flagler Trump Club, it was always his plan to leave after public comment at the March 19 meeting.
"Then the mayor passed the gavel to me, so I had to do my job," Danko told the Observer. Mayor David Alfin passed Danko the gavel directly after public comment so Alfin could motion to terminate Bevan's contract.
Klufas said this was not the first time Danko had skipped a city meeting specifically to campaign. Pontieri said the issue needs to be addressed, even if the council does not have the ability to censure another council member.
"This is a problem," Pontieri said. "And I think that there needs to be some light shed on what happened here today."
