There was an empty seat on the Palm Coast council dais when Tuesday’s meeting began. By the time it was over, that seat had been filled.
City Council members appointed Palm Coast lawyer Vincent Lyon to take over as the new District 4 city councilman in the wake of former councilman Steve Nobile’s resignation.
“The only comment I have tonight is to thank the council for their confidence in me,” Lyon said moments after he was sworn in. “I hope I live up to the expectations and the high goals that the city has.”
Palm Coast city officials had to choose between the attorney, a retired boat maker and a longtime detective-turned-electrician Tuesday night when they interviewed the three finalists poised to finish out the rest of Nobile’s term. They welcomed Lyon by a 3-1 vote, with Mayor Milissa Holland and Councilmen Nick Klufas and Robert Cuff favoring him. Councilwoman Heidi Shipley, the dissenting vote, threw her support behind Charles Johnson, a retired Sea Ray employee.
Nobile resigned from his District 4 council seat May 16 due to family medical issues that forced him and his wife to move to the Tampa area.
There are currently two candidates vying to be his successor when his four-year term ends in November.
But the city was trying to find the short-term pick for the interim.
Palm Coast’s charter required the four remaining council members to appoint an interim replacement by June 15 to serve out the final five months of Nobile’s term.
Lyon was up against Johnson, and Robert Thomasey, a former New Jersey detective who later spent 22 years as a construction worker. Each of the applicants had five minutes to introduce themselves after which city leaders interviewed them, prodding them about their backgrounds and fitness for the position.
Lyon has served as a civil trial lawyer for the Palm Coast law firm Chiumento Dwyer Hertel Grant and Kistemaker since 2013. The 46-year-old Oklahoma native is a past president of the Flagler County Bar and director of the Flagler Rotary Club. Council members said they favored him because he is active in the community.
Lyon told the council he wants to help fix the city’s relationship with the county and pitch in on the decision for selecting the next city manager.
“His experience and his knowledge and understanding of the laws we abide by and certainly our meetings and how they’re run — and the fact that he has graduated from the Citizen’s Academy — certainly plays a lot in my mind,” Holland said.
Johnson, 66, is a Trenton, New Jersey native who moved to Palm Coast in 1998. He retired last year after working 20 years as a health and safety coordinator at the Sea Ray Boats facility in Palm Coast.
It was not Johnson’s first bid to join Palm Coast’s council. He was one of nine candidates for mayor when the city was incorporated.
Shipley said she favored him because he’s a regular attendee at council meetings.
Thomasey, 68, worked in law enforcement before going into highway construction. He also served 28 years as a volunteer fire fighter.
District 4 covers the city’s R, Z, E and K sections, portions of the W section as well as industrial land west of U.S. Highway 1.