Palm Coast City Council on Aug. 19 received a post‑session briefing from the Southern Group lobbyist Laura Beamer and city staff and moved to adopt its 2026 legislative priorities and related policy positions. The council reviewed funding wins from the 2025 session — including a roughly $2.5 million state appropriation toward the city’s wastewater project and a smaller direct appropriation for an equalization tank — and set next steps for appropriation requests due this fall.

‘‘We did very well,’’ Laura Beamer of the Southern Group told council members after running through statewide budget and bill outcomes. She said the city’s two largest water‑project requests were funded and survived the governor’s veto pen: ‘‘You did very well on wastewater,’’ she said, noting the city received an appropriation in the multi‑billion dollar state budget.

City staff then walked through ranked local priorities for the coming legislative cycle. The top items the council advanced are targeted infrastructure and resiliency projects: stormwater capacity improvements near Fire Station 23 and Bird of Paradise/Burbank neighborhoods; short‑ and long‑term solutions for the Old Kings Road/I‑95 parallel corridor (Old Kings Road Phase 2A); a Woodland subdivision stormwater capacity project (new pond acquisition); Seminole Woods dry‑lake weir improvements; a joint Flagler County‑City animal shelter construction request; saltwater canal dredging; Old Kings Road Phase 3 construction; and cultural/historic funding related to Fire Station 22.

Beamer and staff summarized statewide items to watch next session: a number of bills that restrict local land‑use authorities (she flagged Senate Bill 180 for further monitoring and promised the sponsor was open to clarifying language), a state prohibition noted in session materials on fluoride addition to public water systems, and changes to administrative approval for plats. She highlighted that the session left some priorities for local appropriation forms, which are due in November, and that committee work and delegation meetings start in October.

Council members asked staff to refine requests to show local ‘‘skin in the game’’ — for example, city land or local match — to increase the likelihood of securing appropriations. The council also added two policy positions to the priority package: an objection to language in Senate Bill 180 that would preempt certain local regulatory actions, and support for legislation that would recognize dispatchers as first responders (a policy the council plans to coordinate with the county and local first‑responder stakeholders).

Council asked staff to finalize the priority booklet for the legislative delegation and to continue working with Southern Group on appropriation forms. The council also gave consensus to renew the Southern Group contract on a one‑year basis for lobbying and legislative support.

Next steps: staff will refine appropriation language and match descriptions, submit appropriation forms by the November deadline, and attend the delegation meeting in October. Council members emphasized resiliency and infrastructure (stormwater and wastewater) as focal themes for next session.

(Reporting based on the City Council meeting transcript and staff presentations.)