In a letter remarkable for its grace and sense of service, Assistant County Attorney Sean Moylan on Monday night told Flagler County commissioners he was withdrawing from contention to replace Al Hadeed as the county attorney.
That leaves just two candidates in the running: Marsha Segal-George and Michael Rodriguez. The County Commission interviews them July 15. Scott McHenry had also been short-listed. He withdrew.
Moylan told commissioners they deserved to know why he was withdrawing. “In a nutshell, I did not want my candidacy or appointment to foster division on the commission,” he wrote. That division was on display the last two times the commission discussed the job opening, in mid-June and at the end of June, both times undermining Moylan’s path to the job. (See: “Assistant County Attorney Sean Moylan’s Lock on Job to Succeed Hadeed Looks Anything But Certain.”)
“I was saddened by the receipt of the withdrawal but completely understood his position and thanked him for his service,” Commission Chair Andy Dance said. He had no idea the email was coming until he received it that evening. But he was not entirely surprised.
Dance and Commissioner Greg Hansen were ready to appoint Moylan the next county attorney. Commissioners Leann Pennington, Kim Carney and Pam Richardson were not. Four had agreed at the end of May to appoint Moylan interim county attorney (Pennington had been absent from that meeting). Carney and Richardson, with Pennington’s support, reversed course when they were to formalize the decision in June. They did not want the appointment to scare off potential applicants. They said they’d appoint Moylan to the interim post in July. Moylan’s withdrawal does not foreclose on that possibility. But the sloppy process that shadowed the search for a new county attorney reflects continuing dysfunction on the commission.
“This is a troubling pattern that I hope our commission can grow through,” Dance said today, “and that is on the heels of the half-penny consensus to move forward and then retracting, and then the consensus to move forward and retracting. Hopefully that’s the end of a troubling pattern that we can coalesce around our decision making, so that we can move forward without retracting.”
Moylan’s credentials were not in question. He has been the assistant county attorney since 2014 and has a master’s in education in addition to his law degree. But the three commissioners did not want the succession at the county attorney’s office to be a done deal. The more they debated it over a succession of meetings, the more Moylan’s star dimmed. They did not injure his name. But they robbed his name of the full commission’s confidence it would need to assume the top role.
“I came to the conclusion that the best thing for the County is for me to continue as the deputy to the attorney you ultimately choose,” Moylan wrote. “Rest assured, I will use my institutional knowledge to get the new attorney up to speed on the many issues facing the County. My goal in applying for the County Attorney position was to put the office in the best position possible. My goal in withdrawing my application is the same.”
He acknowledged the commissioners’ concern that appointing interim might chill others’ interest in applying. “That issue is now resolved,” he wrote. “There could very well be a gap between the start of Al’s retirement and the time the new County Attorney can begin working for you. If that scenario pans out, I will be happy to step up as interim to ensure a seamless transition to the next permanent attorney. This is the duty of deputies.” Hadeed is retiring on Aug. 2 after 27 years’ service through two stints as county attorney since 1990. He had championed Moylan’s candidacy.
“I think in stepping aside he was true to his duty to Flagler County,” Hadeed said today. “It was obvious to him, to me, to everyone, that his candidacy created division within the commission. When I was hired, the County Commissions–actually on two occasions, once in 1990 and again in 2007–were by unanimous votes. If I had thought that they weren’t of the common view that they could trust me, well, I would have withdrawn.
“I can’t speak for Sean’s status with each commissioner. He knows that best. I think that some of the commissioners just wanted a separation from what has been established. That’s very common by people that get elected. But this is a highly responsible position that the commissioners all must have confidence in. They entrust in the attorney a great deal. I think he believed that with the divisiveness, he could not be an effective counselor to the board.”
The withdrawal letter, Hadeed said, reflects the county attorney’s office’s values. “We do not rest, we do not stop, we keep pursuing the objectives of the county commission,” Hadeed said. “We keep pursuing the well-being, the integrity of the county, in all the challenges that it faces.” Hadeed noted that the county attorney’s office banks on its reputation for probity and for having the commission’s trust. If the county sent the message that it is not unanimously behind its attorney, “that attorney, no matter how brilliant, how capable, is not going to be that effective.”
For over a decade at the county attorney’s office, and increasingly over the last many years, Moylan had been as much as Hadeed the face of the office, and at times more so, representing the county on joint boards such as the oversight committee on school impact fees (which includes representatives of all local governments), a successful resolution of litigation with Ormond Beach, sustained and ultimately successful representation on the vexing and drawn out Old Dixie motel controversy, representing the county on the Tourist Development Council, the county’s Planning Board and often the County Commission. He built a reputation for working collegially with fellow government attorneys and presenting the county’s positions with clarity and courtesy that could never be mistaken for docility.
When Moylan was short-listed at the end of June for the July 15 interviews, he was one of three short-listed candidates in a field of just eight who had applied. Three more have applied since, including former Flagler County Sheriff Jim Mafre, Keith Merritt, an in-house lawyer for Fidelity National Financial in Ft. Lauderdale, and Marsha Segal-George, a senior associate at Fowler, Feeney and Associates, a three-attorney Orlando law firm, for 15 years. (Senior Partner Tom Feeney is the former Florida Speaker of the House.) She’s been practicing law for 44 years, and served as Deltona’s city attorney for two years and its assistant city attorney or legal counsel for 15 years before that.
Dance said Moylan’s withdrawal letter speaks of his “continued commitment to the commission and doing whatever he needs to do to make sure the legal office is running efficiently.” Hadeed said he does not expect Moylan–a Flagler Palm Coast High School graduate and a father of three–to want to leave the community, citing his attachment.
“I’m excited about our work ahead,” Moylan concluded. “I have worked for thirteen Flagler County Commissioners, and sometimes my job requires me to read Board minutes from decades ago. It has taught me this: the decisions you make in the coming months and years of your terms will have a lasting impact, beyond your actual terms of office and even in ways that are not now apparent. Tens of thousands of people voted for each of you. It’s not an easy job, but it is incredibly exciting.”
