Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris on Tuesday was accused of attempting to initiate the firing of multiple high-level city staff members in a manner that would violate the city charter. Councilman Charles Gambaro, attending Tuesday’s workshop via phone, said that Norris had tried to ask acting City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo for their resignations, in what would be a major overstep of his mayoral authority.
According to Gambaro, Norris had not only tried to initiate these firings but had done so after being advised not to by the city’s legal counsel. Gambaro said it was not his first time doing so. The hiring and firing of city staff, with the exception of the city manager and the city attorney, is under the sole authority of the city manager. Even if Norris wished to broach the topic of firing a department head, his ability to do so would be limited to bringing up that employee in more vague terms during a meeting.
Norris strongly denied having tried to tell Johnston to fire city staff, saying he knew better than to do so. Johnston herself had confirmed just minutes earlier that Norris had in fact done so according to Gambaro’s description. Both other Council members, Ty Miller and Theresa Carli Pontieri, strongly rebuked the actions described. “We’re working together, and I think Lauren understood I was a bit frustrated,” Norris said. “But I certainly didn’t tell her to fire anybody, because I know better than to do that. I would never do that.”
L-R: Councilman Charles Gambaro and City Attorney Marcus Duffy. ⓒ AskFlagler
“I think it’s very concerning,” Miller said. “The [city] charter directly prohibits any member of this council from directing staff decisions that are solely the purview of the city manager.” Norris contested that the appointment of Gambaro by the prior City Council was itself a charter violation, though this did not seem to be an effective deflection.
Moving forward, an independent investigation into Norris’ actions appears to have reached consensus to move forward. Norris himself invited this to happen, maintaining throughout that he did not commit wrongdoing. He declined to comment further when reached by text message Tuesday night.
