Flagler Beach, FL – When a new family moves in to the neighborhood, in the South it’s customary to welcome them with a dish and a hello.
Making the new Flagler Beach City Manager William Whitson and his wife Becky feel welcome, a meet-and-greet style reception at Wickline Park offered residents and business owners a chance to stop over and shake hands with the new guy in town last week.
A man who chooses his words carefully, Flagler Beach City Commissioner Jane Mealy has been impressed with Whitson’s succinct memos and preparedness to hit the ground running.
“It is wonderful. We were a ship without a rudder for over a year. We have fantastic staff that managed to keep us together for all that time,” said Mealy.
“It’s time to move on with new ideas and new things and he certainly is full of those. He’s very organized. His memos have been amazing,” noting Whitson has already began to tackle the beach and wastewater plant issues since stepping into his new role.
Chatting with Whitson, Flagler County Commissioner Dave Sullivan, whose district encompasses Flagler Beach, is pleased to see the position filled as the city takes on a number of big issues and prepares for the start of hurricane season.
“Stabilization is what we need right now. There are some major things going on with the beach re-nourishment, a whole bunch of major projects that because of COVID and other reasons like the previous city manager passing away. It’s time for stability and moving ahead in a good orderly fashion,” said Sullivan. “Things are looking up.”
Amid the handshakes and well-wishers, Scott Fox, co-owner of the popular Tortugas Florida Kitchen & Bar was eager to meet the new city manager.
“We’re really excited to have a new city manager. It gives us the opportunity to really help shape Flagler Beach and protect the integrity that it has,” said Fox.
“He believes in Flagler Beach and what we’ve created over the years for the paradise it is, but he also understands smart growth and we’ve got to get in front of the change as opposed to being blindsided by it.”
Whitson was thankful for the warm welcome and ready to roll up his sleeves for Flagler Beach.
“We have some major infrastructure problems that we need to address to preserve the quality of life for the environment here and we’re going to get right on it.”
“This is like paradise,” shared Whitson. “I feel so welcomed. This is such a great community family and I’m just enjoying trying to fit in and do my little part.”
