Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris was all humor and magnanimity at the beginning of this evening’s council meeting: “We’re all family here,” he told a group of people receiving a proclamation, before asking the audience to be civil and avoid attacks. It didn’t last. One hour later, Norris and Council member Charles Gambaro were verbally dueling, Norris was accusing city staff of spying on him and suggesting it had sabotaged the hiring of Richard Hough, the last candidate remaining for city manager before he withdrew Monday.
Norris attempted to offer the city manager’s job to Hough “on bended knee,” in Norris’s words, and got no support. His motion to fire SGR, the consultancy that led the recruiting for the job since last April, carried unanimously. A majority of the council’s support in SGR had cooled considerably anyway, and it had not been this council’s choice to hire it: that was a previous council’s decision.
Norris wanted to find a different search firm immediately and restart the process. He saw before getting to a motion that he had no support.
“If we go out right now for city manager, we are not going to get the best candidates possible,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said, preferring a pause of at least a month or two. “We just aren’t. Who, in their right mind, honestly, wants to come into this?”
Norris shifted position. He next wanted an immediate, internal search conducted by the city’s human resources department. “I’ve worked as an HR manager. I know how to hire people. I know how to do searches, you know, and you can find them,” he said, as if suggesting that he could do the search himself. He wasn’t. He just didn’t want the city to spend more money on a recruiter, though he’d proposed to do just that moments earlier. The SGR search cost $17,000, not including incidental costs. Norris is heatedly opposed to any delay in finding a new manager, because he is just as opposed to Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston continuing in the job, though she has the support of the four other council members.
His motion was to direct the human resources department immediately to advertise the manager position for 45 days. That motion got no second. Pontieri made a motion to do the same, but to keep the posting open for 90 days. That made Council member Sullivan uncomfortable, the city being at a “low point.”
“Looking does not mean that we’re pressing for somebody new,” Pontieri said, giving the acting manager her confidence meanwhile. The motion, after yet another round of accusatory public comments, carried unanimously. The administration will provide weekly updates. The council voted even though it acknowledged that it had not drafted the qualifications it wants. That will be done next week.
It took some effort to get there. On the way, Norris blamed the unraveling of the failed search on SGR and city staff.
“Mr. Mayor, that’s not the problem. The problem is you,” Council member Charles Gambaro said. “None of us conducted interviews in a disrespectful fashion at our tailgates of our truck.” (Norris did just that with Hough and Paul Trombino, the other finalist. Trombino withdrew last week.) “The reason we don’t have a city manager right now is because of your behavior. I think we need to take a break–” Gambarro had to pause as jeers erupted against him from the audience. Norris gaveled. Gambaro continued: “I think we need to take a break until we get past Norrisgate.”
“To answer your question, councilman, I can interview anybody, any damn where I want to. I am a singular member of this council, and I have the right to do what I want to do. If I want to interview them at Starbucks, I could do that. But when my personal conversations anywhere in this building is either recorded, videotaped or gossiped, that’s a problem.”
When he asked one of the three council members who’d voted against hiring Hough two weeks ago (Pontieri, Ty Miller or Dave Sullivan), Pontieri made clear why she could not go that route. “I was very vocal about my opposition to Mr. Hough, as far as my feeling that he was not qualified,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said. “Looking at his resume, I don’t think he’s qualified to be city manager, particularly because the largest budget per his resume that he had control over or oversaw was $30 million. We have a $452 million budget.” She later put it in sharper terms: she would not “gamble” with the city to make her choice.
She had favored Paul Trombino, but found him wanting as well. “So I cannot make a motion to appoint either gentleman when I don’t find that either one of them were the right fit,” she said. She said the controversies of the last few months have contributed to the erosion of candidates. Taking a breather “would be the right thing to do,” and to do it without SGR.
Norris repeated that he lost faith and confidence in the city manager and chief of staff, or his trust in working out of City Hall. “You can count on your fingers how many times I’ve been in this building since all this mess started,” Norris said.
The several rounds of public comment after each motion again drew out roughly the same core of grievers who tend to speak, hector and deride at almost every such segment (“we’re really the boss, but you guys don’t want to listen to us,” “corruption,” “we’re very intelligent people sitting back here. We see it, and it’s really beyond ridiculous that y’all can’t get anything done,” and so on), along with a few more original voices, and even the occasional compliment.
One resident called Johnston “our rock star.” Rich Cooper of Matanzas Woods was also among the gentler voices. “I just wanted to make sure you guys were aware that some of the citizens are happy, and we think you’re doing a good job. I’m proud to live in the city,” he said, complimenting the council (with a gentle asterisk next to his advice to Norris) and the city staff. “I mean, we live right here in the best place in the world, and there’s a lot of bad talk I’m hearing about being here in Palm Coast. I don’t know what Utopia everybody else came from, but I think we got something good going on right here.”
