Flagler County Local Government Leadership Academy Holds Graduation

This release was written by Shelly Edmonson, Flagler County Tax Collector, and is being shared on behalf of the City of Palm Coast to highlight the collaborative effort among local government agencies.

Twelve executives, managers, and professionals graduated from the Flagler County Local Government Leadership Academy at a special ceremony at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center on Thursday, June 12th at 4:30 p.m.

The graduates are:

• Michael Hanson, City of Palm Coast
• Benny Cope, City of Palm Coast
• Jean Ferrer, Office of the Flagler County Tax Collector
• Stephanie Field, Office of the Flagler County Tax Collector
• Bryanna Ivey, Office of the Flagler County Tax Collector
• Megan Scheide, Office of the Flagler County Tax Collector
• Jonathan Welker, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office
• Amanda Raslowsky, Flagler County Board of County Commissioners
• Kelly Bowman, Flagler County Board of County Commissioners
• Toussaint Roberson, Flagler County School Board
• Bill Freeman, City of Flagler Beach
• Sarah Spector, Flagler County Board of County Commissioners

Daytona State College partners with the Flagler County Tax Collector’s Office and local governments to provide this leadership academy, which now has several dozen graduates in executive, managerial, and professional roles serving the citizens of Flagler County. Graduates receive a certificate of completion from Daytona State College. Director Michael Scheck with Daytona State College, was in attendance.

Students master the subjects, skills, and expertise needed to effectively lead and deliver exceptional service to the citizens of Flagler County. It is an intensive four-month executive education program which meets weekly for two-hour classes at the Tax Collector’s Office. The graduates enhance their knowledge of critical topics like leadership, human resources, budgeting, risk management, customer service, program evaluation, teamwork, and organizational culture. Students read two nationally recognized books on leadership and complete a series of challenging real-world assignments. They sharpen valuable competencies like research, writing, presenting, analysis, decision-making, teamwork, project management, communication, problem-solving, and planning. They study the use of best practices, model policies, and data-driven decision-making to best serve citizens.

“My challenges to our graduates going forward are straightforward and simple: be the leaders we all would want to follow and grow more leaders. Lead every day like the success of your team and the community depends on it because it does. Always lead with integrity, professionalism, and purpose,” stated Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly.

“We are looking forward to seeing your continued accomplishments for many years to come using everything you’ve learned. We congratulate you on this highly impressive personal, professional, and academic achievement. We celebrate your commitment to being the leaders who exemplify the very best in public service,” said Dr. Joe Saviak who taught the leadership academy.

“We all strongly believe in investing in the success of our teams. We all want our local government to have leaders successfully serving the public. While we may have different specific functions, we are all one team with the same shared mission of providing effective, efficient, and responsive local government to the citizens we serve. That’s why we partnered together to offer this leadership academy,” stated Flagler County Tax Collector Shelly Edmonson who coordinated this academy and hosted the classes at her main office.

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