- December 4, 2025
Flagler County will likely be cutting hours and staffing at the county library’s Palm Coast branch in order to staff the new Nexus Center.
A proposal to close the Palm Coast branch on Mondays – it is already closed on Sundays – was reviewed by the Flagler County Commission on July 2 as part of a budget presentation that showcased multiple cuts in the county's budget. County Administrator Heidi Petito called the proposal a “scaled-back approach” to staffing both the Palm Coast branch and the county’s new Nexus Center.
The proposal would reduce the branch’s hours from 52 to 40 hours a week, move five Palm Coast branch employees to the new Nexus Center and employ two new full time employees and two new part time employees. This would leave the Palm Coast branch with 10 full-time employees and one part-time employee.
The Nexus Center would operate Thursday through Sunday for 41 hours a week and have 11 employees, including those at the current Bunnell library branch. This would include Library Director Holly Albanese, whose position would be moved entirely back to the library, Petito said; Albanese currently also works as the assistant county administrator.
“When you look at the pros and the cons, it does allow Palm Coast to function, although it does have some reduced staffing and some reduced hours,” Petito said, “you will have some reduced programming and services there. But I think it's probably the best compromise.”
The Nexus Center, which began construction in August 2024, will replace the library’s Bunnell branch but will include additional services: a Health and Human Services wing, a library lobby with a micromarket, and a state-of-the-art conference center.
Petito said the cuts were part of a fiscal year 2026 budget that reflected “operational efficiencies.”
“These changes do reflect our ongoing commitment to responsible stewardship, allowing us to deliver essential services more effectively while continuing to invest in what matters most to our residents,” Petito said. But, she continued, “These changes do come with some challenges.”
Petito presented the commission with two other staffing options as well. One would add the equivalent of six new full-time positions and reduce the Palm Coast branch’s hours by just eight hours. The third option would add zero new employees to the Nexus Center, cut the Palm Coast branch’s hours to 37 and shift eight employees from there to the Nexus.
Petito said she did not support the third option as it would drastically reduce the services offered at the library. Commissioner Kim Carney objected to Petito’s use of the phrase “reduced services.”
“No one has proven yet, just because we have to adjust hours, that our services are going to be reduced,” Carney said. After the center is open for a while, she said, the county will “have a better idea on whether or not the programming we're providing is efficient and beneficial to the citizens of Flagler County.”
Overall, the commissioners supported the “scaled-back” approach. Petito also suggested the possibility of using the revenue from the library’s passport services as a possible way to support additional staffing, as the service raked in $170,000 in 2024. But Commission Chair Andy Dance said he’d like to see it set aside for any needs after the center is open.
“It gives us options to potentially enhance, if we do [have a] deficiency in the next six months, we can use it to offset potential changes to staffing,” he said.
The new hours of operation and staffing have no effective date yet, as the proposal, which was supported by the Flagler County commissioners, will need to be approved as part of the fiscal year 2026 budgeting process.
The Nexus Center is projected to open in the fall.
