One after the other they took to the podium.
But not before Palm Coast City Councilman Victor Barbosa requested to make a motion to redirect staff to continue negotiations with The Green Lion in an effort to stave off the brewing storm that had become a hurricane on social media, spilling over into reality on Tuesday morning in Palm Coast City Hall.
Helping to diffuse the situation, with an assembled crowd of more than 100 people between the Palm Coast City Council chambers and the overflow room, Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin was determined to let the people be heard.
And heard they were.
From long-term employees, to friends, patrons, fellow business owners, even strangers who wanted to see what the dust up was about and visited the restaurant and golf course out of curiosity, it was an onslaught of support for the Marlow family, owners of the Golden Lion in Flagler Beach and operators of the Green Lion at the Palm Harbor Golf Course in Palm Coast, the location in question.
The litany of speakers was a virtual who’s who from across Flagler County. After two long hours of scathing remarks kept respectable by the mayor who wielded the gavel like a hammer, there was little the city council could say.
A dressing down by Carolyn and Tony Marlow conveyed their shock and disbelief over the situation, but it was the haunting, haggard look on the face of their son Chris Marlow and the angst in his voice as he shared the history of the location they transformed from blight into one of the top restaurants in the community, that was the biggest heartbreak.
Epitomizing the very ideals shared so often by elected officials in the cities across Flagler County – to provide the next generation with the best education possible and the ability to stay in Flagler County to live, work and raise their families, it was difficult for those in attendance to hear the pain in his voice as he spoke.
The Marlows have established themselves as pillars of the community over the past 30 years, and it was angered residents – voters, they reminded those sitting on the dais, that came to their defense.
Palm Coast resident Diana McLemore said was shocked to learn of last week’s Palm Coast City Council workshop that sparked the countywide upheaval, and spoke in support of the family.
“I felt it important to come to the City Council meeting in support of the Marlow family because of all of their hard work and dedication to help to bring the Palm Harbor Golf Course back to a profitable entity for the city. They should have never been treated so poorly at the planning committee meeting last week by certain council officials,” she said.
But it wasn’t just residents who frequent the establishment at the municipal golf course who stepped up to the podium. Pleading for his job and that of 29 other employees, Marcus Hanna was desperate.
“What Chris and the Marlows have done there is just really, really good,” said Hanna.
“I really like my job, honestly and I really hope we can find a way to do this right,” he continued.
“The fact that I have to read articles that I could lose my job, at one o’clock in the morning, it’s just not right, and you know it’s my obligation to say something for those 30 families. I moved to Flagler to work in Palm Coast.”
When all was said and done, the city council unanimously agreed by consensus to resume negotiations with the Marlow family to renew their lease at the Palm Harbor Golf Course for The Green Lion, gather the needed information to establish fair market value, accelerate their rent to fair market value within three years, not five, and remove the “for convenience” clause.
Whether it was miscommunication, a lack of information or simply jumping to conclusions without due diligence, the situation tarnished the business-friendly reputation the city has been working diligently to restore, and Palm Coast City Councilman Victor Barbosa was the first to offer the Marlow family a heartfelt apology.
“I would like to be the first one to apologize to the Marlows and staff. It was a lot of information that wasn’t put into this,” he said, thanking the Marlows for making themselves accessible for questions.
“You should be proud of what you built here being the number one restaurant, proud of Chris, that speech was tremendous, and I’m all for the consensus,” he said.
Cautious as the process moves forward, John Ferguson, the Cobb Cole attorney representing the Marlow family shared a message with the community.
“First off I want to start off by saying the Marlows are so touched by the show of support. Regardless of anything else that happened today, they came away from that feeling so blessed that so many people came out to support them, and they’re telling everybody thank you so very much,” shared Ferguson.
“As far as what occurred, we are very pleased that the council listened to everyone who came and that the council, we think, made the right decision to let’s go ahead and sit down and talk about how we do an extension that’s fair for everybody,” he said.
“That’s all we’re asking for, both sides have it be fair. And so now we look forward to, I’ll reach out to the city staff and we’ll set some parameters on how do we determine some value, some time frames and then we will hopefully have a meeting after we get those values and come up with some of the fixes for both sides.”
After being put through a challenging week, the question was, do the Marlows still want to do business with Palm Coast? Ferguson says yes.
“They are salt of the Earth people. Some of the things that were said last week really hurt their feelings and they did feel like they were being attacked. Some of the council members said some very nice things today and that went a long way to make them feel like there is still a good relationship, this still will work and yes, they are still fully committed to Palm Coast,” he said.
As city staff and the Marlow family lay the groundwork for contract negotiations to resume, there’s still no word if speaker Ralph Lightfoot’s request to include clam chowder permanently on the menu at The Green Lion, will be part of the deal.
