Flagler County School Board member Sally Hunt today confirmed that she will resign her seat before November. She did not say when precisely between now and then. She appears to be purposefully doing so late enough to have prevented an election to fill the remaining two years of her terms.
Gov. Ron DeSantis would fill the seat with his own appointment, which could take months after the seat becomes vacant.
Hunt had coyly spoken about her impending resignation for months. Property records show she bought a $615,000 house in Peachtree, Ga., last November. A state law calls for the governor to make an appointment for a vacated seat “if there is less than 28 months remaining in the term; otherwise, until the first Tuesday after the first Monday following the next general election.” Hunt is at the 28-month mark of time left in her term.
The matter came up again toward the end of today’s workshop of the board when board members were discussing “board member requests,” which is when each member asks to have a certain topic, issue or procedure discussed at a leather meeting.
Board member Cheryl Massaro had asked for a streamlined way of keeping track of such requests so they can be both documented and so they are not duplicated in the future. Hunt jumped in.
“The board to my knowledge is about to have three new members,” she said, going on a discursive tangent about how she’d bring things up at a workshop and it would go nowhere. She went on from there, talking about how “three new members” could benefit from different procedures in place.
Board member Colleen Conklin seized on her “three members” comment, twice repeated by Hunt with the kind of cryptic coyness she clearly intended.
“Can I just ask,” Conklin said, “I mean, our seats are up, but are you definitely resigning?”
“Oh, yeah,” Hunt said.
“So, when is that?” a startled Conklin asked.
“That is when I’m able to,” Hunt replied, again evading precision. She then hesitated, and added: “I will not be here in November.” She did not say when she will resign. Only thar “there will be three new board members.”
Conklin and Massaro are not contesting their seats. With Hunt resigning, that ensures a turnover of three seats.
“The reason I guess I’m surprised,” Conklin said, “I didn’t believe that that was going to be the case. Because there could have been an election for that third seat, right?”
“And I did consider that,” Hunt said. But she appears to have purposefully opted against it, in essence intentionally denying voters the chance to fill the seat for the next two years.
“Now it’ll be an appointment,” Massaro said.
Conklin let out an “OK” in a disbelieving sigh.
