Palm Coast City Council to Discuss City Manager Search, Norris Investigation

Two of the most important topics facing the City of Palm Coast will be discussed in the coming week across two City Council meetings. The status of the recruitment process for a new permanent city manager and the recent investigation into alleged misconduct by Mayor Mike Norris will both have their own special meetings in the coming days.

The first meeting will be on Tuesday, April 29th at 6:00 pm regarding the city manager search. The second will be on Thursday, May 1st at 1:00 pm regarding the Mike Norris investigation.

City Manager Search

The updates on the search for a new city manager will come just five days after City Council members interviewed candidates Richard Hough and Paul Trombino at City Hall. Two of the Council members, Theresa Carli Pontieri and David Sullivan, interviewed the candidates in their offices with open availability for the media. Mike Norris, on the other hand, interviewed the candidates outside of City Hall in the parking lot next to his pickup truck. The matter will be the subject of a special meeting on Tuesday, April 29th at 6:00 pm.

The search has been an ongoing priority in Palm Coast for over a year now, since then-Mayor David Alfin motioned for the firing of Denise Bevan from the city manager job. He was backed up on the unexpected motion by two other former Council members, Ed Danko and Cathy Heighter. Pontieri, the lone holdover from the previous Council, and former Councilman Nick Klufas dissented. There hadn’t been any obvious air of dissatisfaction with Bevan’s job performance, and so her firing sent shockwaves through the city government. Still, it’s possible that the present state of affairs is even tenser.

Mike Norris Investigation

The subject of the second special meeting is the recent investigation into Mayor Mike Norris, in which an independent firm found he likely violated the city charter knowingly and repeatedly. The accusations against Norris were numbered: different individuals alleged that he illegally attempted to coerce the resignations of acting City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo, that he spoke vulgarly and inappropriately toward female city employees, and that he suggested workplace discrimination against older employees. Norris has vehemently denied wrongdoing, while acknowledging regretful elements of certain conversations described in the investigation.

On Thursday, May 1st at 1:00 pm the City Council will receive a presentation from Adam Brandon, an attorney with Lawson Huck Gonzalez. Brandon interviewed thirteen individuals involved in the matter and reviewed statements by several more. He recommended that the City Council refer the issue to the Florida Commission on Ethics (which they’ve already done), censure Norris (which they’ve already done), and strengthen the language of the city charter to safeguard against infractions similar to what Norris was accused of. This has yet to pass. Councilman Charles Gambaro urged the Council to write Gov. Ron DeSantis asking for Norris’ removal from office, but the Council reached consensus to start with an Ethics review for now.