The Flagler County Public Library in Palm Coast will see a sharp, 23 percent reduction in hours of operation–from 52 to 40 hours a week–and a significant reduction in staffing as the new south side library, known as the Nexus Center, opens later this year, itself with slightly fewer staff than originally planned. Each library will be closed two days a week. For the Palm Coast branch, that means no more Monday hours. It’s been closed on Sunday.
The Flagler County Commission today agreed to the more restrictive staffing and operation plan today. It discarded a more expansive plan that would have added six net new positions to staff both libraries (with a total of 24, plus a part-timer) and enabled the Palm Coast branch to remain open six days a week instead of five.
The county administration calls it “operational efficiency adjustments.”
On one hand, the new plan slightly dims what was expected to have been a celebratory ribbon-cutting at the new library as it amounts to a net reduction in service for the county’s largest population center and reflects the commission’s limited commitment to the library system: it would have never required such a cobble job if, say, it was opening a sheriff’s substation or a firehouse, when staffing at full strength and maximum hours is never questioned.
On the other hand, the county is getting the second library that previous commissioners and the Library Board of Trustees have been envisioning for over a decade, with expanded services in a building that can serve the growing population in Bunnell and Palm Coast’s south side. Between the two libraries, Flagler County residents will have seven-day service, since the operation hours at the two libraries are staggered in such a way as to never have a day without a library open at either location.
It was half a victory for Commissioner Kim Carney, who on May 28 had told the county administrator, “You want six new employees for the library? Forget it. Forget it.” She had not specified how many she would support, but the plan she’d proposed at the time was to cull five existing employees, including Assistant County Administrator Holly Albanese, and send them to the Nexus Center.
Instead, commissioners agreed to add three net new positions to library staffing, one of them Albanese, who still oversaw the library as assistant administrator, after being the library director for years. There will be a total of 21 library employees, plus a part-timer.
That option will cost the county an additional $178,000, which County Administrator Heidi Petito suggested could be offset with revenue the library draws from issuing passports. In 2024, the library processed more than 3,500 passports and generated $170,000 in revenue. Commission Chair Andy Dance would rather not use that money for personnel right now.
“I’ve reduced administration’s budget to ensure that the Nexus Center has adequate staffing, which does include moving Holly’s position back to the library,” Petito said. Five staffers from the Palm Coast branch will be moved to the Nexus Center. Two staffers employed at the temporary Bunnell branch at Marvin’s Garden will also move to the Nexus Center, which will have 11 employees (or the equivalent of 11 full-time employees). Palm Coast will have 10, and a part-timer. Because of conditions attached to grant funding that financed the Nexus Center, that library must have a minimum staffing of 11.
“ This is a pure example of why grants aren’t free,” Albanese said. “We had to commit to 11 employees to get that grant, so I wasn’t here again. I’m not passing judgment on anybody, but grants are not free.” She added: “I want to see a very successful Nexus center. I want to see a very successful Palm Coast library, and I know we can get it done.”
The administration submitted three library-funding options to the commission. One of the other two would have added six net new positions. A third would have reduced operational hours in Palm Coast even more, to just 37, and added no net new staffers, though Palm Coast would have been left with a skeletal crew. The option that Albanese had previously included–closing the Palm Coast branch–was not among the three that made it before commissioners today. They opted for what was designed as the middle ground.
The library in Palm Coast is currently open six days a week–Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 9 to 5. When the Nexus Center opens, Palm Coast will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. only on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will be open from 10 to 5 Thursday and Friday, and from 9 to 5 Saturday.
“We’ve made some operational efficiency adjustments to ensure that our resources are aligned with community’s highest priorities,” Petito said, addressing the larger budget overview. “These changes should really not come as a surprise. I know that we’ve discussed some of these during our one-on-one meetings.”
Beyond library funding, budget reductions from earlier projections amount to $1.4 million, which includes reducing firefighters’ overtime by $300,000 and eliminating three positions from the county’s fleet-management division, for a saving of $246,000.
It also reduces the county’s administrative overhead by $113,000, and a cut in what had been a projected six new positions to staff the new south-side library, known as the Nexus Center, to three, reducing costs by $179,000. But Flagler Beach will also be losing the county’s contribution of $106,000 for lifeguards.
