Jane Mealy, the 18-year incumbent, may have had to attend the odd commission meeting with oxygen in tow lately, and James Sherman in his first term has made an art of hesitating about running again, but both are readying for another three-year term.
Sherman picked up his election papers from City Hall on Wednesday, and Mealy said today, in answer to a panicked question about why she hadn’t picked up the papers, that yes, she is definitely running again. There are just so many hours in the day: she hadn’t gotten around to City Hall yet.
Just Mealy’s and Sherman’s seats are up in Flagler Beach’s March 4 election. Qualifying by petition began this week. That window closes at noon Dec. 11. By then, those who wish to qualify by that method will have had to gather 45 valid petitions, certified by the Supervisor of Elections. It’ll save them the $716 qualifying fee.
The regular qualifying window will open between Jan. 10 and Jan. 16, but candidates who do not qualify by petition will have to pay that fee, which is the equivalent of 1 percent of a commissioner’s salary for the assessment fee and 6 percent for qualifying. The salary is $10,238 a year.
Mealy was first elected in 2006, when the commission had two-year terms. She has not lost an election since, more often than not winning unopposed, and usually winning with the leading vote tally if the election was contested. Sherman was first elected three years ago when he defeated two-term incumbent Rick Belhumeur, who made it back on the commission the following year, coming in second to Scott Spradley.
It would have been a surprise had either incumbent opted against running: whoever is in their seat in the next term will mark the reopening of a new, concrete pier, and the centennial of Flagler Beach, two events that would ensure the engraving of commissioners’ names on plaques that tend to outlast local history’s quickening rust.
