- December 4, 2025
After a unanimous vote, the Flagler County Commission seeks to hire a former Apopka city attorney to replace County Attorney Al Hadeed, who is retiring effective Aug. 1. He's been the county attorney since 2007.
The commission chose Michael Rodriguez for the position during a special meeting on Thursday, July 17. The commission was choosing between him and former Deltona City Attorney Marsha Segal-George; Deputy County Attorney Sean Moylan, who originally was also in the running for the position, withdrew his application.
"I believe that Mr. Michael Rodriguez packs all the gear," Commissioner Greg Hansen said. "I think he's done everything we need to see done. He's got great experience. I liked his enthusiasm."
At the special meeting, both candidates were interviewed by the commission, followed by a personal meet-and-greet opportunity.
Rodriguez, a resident of DeLand, asked for a minimum $195,000 salary. Most recently, he was the chief deputy city attorney for the City of Palm Bay.
Rodriguez worked for the City of Apopka from 2020 to 2023, when he resigned "in lieu of a protracted constitutional conflict between three members of the City Council and the mayor regarding the legal authority to remove a charter officer," according to his application. Rodriguez also stated that the mayor refused to terminate him and that three council members then "threatened" litigation.
During his interview, Rodriguez said that the issue stemmed from the death of a firefighter while in the line of duty.
"It was a tenuous political situation, and because of the situation that I found myself in, it turned into a legal squabble between two council members," Rodriguez said. "It was really specific to Apopka because of their form of governance. Apopka is a strong mayor form of government, and the way the charter was written, the council has the authority to terminate their charter officer, and the only two charter officers in Apopka are the city clerk and the city attorney."
Rodriguez said it became more expedient to tend his resignation "than to drag the city into a constitutional crisis."
"The city is now currently undertaking a charter amendment to try to change that language due to that situation, but that's unfortunately, the typical political squabbles that are seen in local government in the state of Florida and seeing from the local media, those are things that are not even alien to this area as well," he said.
Chair Andy Dance thanked him for addressing the matter.
Prior to Apopka, Rodriguez also worked as an assistant county attorney for Volusia County. He has over 20 years of experience specific to local government, land use, environmental and litigation.
In his current position with the City of Palm Bay, Rodriguez stated in his application that he makes $12,750 a month, or $153,000 a year.
Flagler County advertised the salary range for its county attorney position as $175,000 to $250,000.
Commissioner Kim Carney said salary and benefits will be negotiated with the county's Human Resources department. She would never make a decision based on salary, she said.
"We have already declared in our budget where we're going to be with this position and I would like the successful candidate to feel comfortable entering into a relationship with our board by negotiating what best works for that candidate," Carney said.
Flagler County's offer of employment isn't the only one Rodriguez has received recently. On July 12, in a 3-2 vote, he was also selected as the top choice to become the city attorney for Titusville.
"Mr. Rodriguez has a choice to make, so best of luck with that," Dance said.
