In a Shift, Palm Coast Council Agrees to Leave City Manager Hire to Next Council, But Will Pick Search Firm

The Palm Coast City Council today in an effortless shift from its previous intention to hire new city manager before the election agreed to let the new council make that decision. But it also agreed to help the process along by putting a search firm in place by late summer to get started on the work.

The shift was spurred by Council member Ed Danko–one of the two council members who is stepping down; the other is Nick Klufas: both are running for County Commission seats in separate districts–and refined by Council member Theresa Pontieri. She had originally been in a minority one as she urged the council to defer the decision to the new council. But she was willing to make the search firm hire now, not seeing that as interfering with the new council’s prerogatives.




Mayor David Alfin and Council member Cathy Heighter joined the new majority.

The search firm they agreed to hire is Keller, Texas-based Strategic Government Resources, commonly known as SGR, the company that led Palm Coast’s city manager search in 2018. That search, which included community input and extensive input from council members well before the interview rounds, ended with the hiring of Matt Morton, who resigned in 2021, days after the resignation of then-Mayor Milissa Holland.

The council in workshop today was to get an update on a search firm. Before the discussion started, Danko announced his new position. “I’m actually agreeing with Councilwoman Pontieri that perhaps we should let this be a decision not from us, but from the next city council,” he said. “I certainly won’t be here. Mr. Klufas won’t be here. Ms. Heighter will. Mr. Mayor, hopefully you’ll be here. We don’t know what elections will bring. But I really do think that if Ms. Pontieri is here, if you’re here, if Ms. Heighter is here and there’s two new council people, I really think you folks should be making that decision.” Danko was also willing to let the new council choose its own search firm.

“I don’t disagree. I’m kind of listening to everybody’s comments today. And I accept that,” Alfin said. He had favored going ahead with the hire before the election, but not dogmatically so: he had left the door open for different approaches. He was still asking questions today: In two years, there will be more turnover on the council, he said. “When does the circle stop spinning?” Danko didn’t quite accept the analogy: it will all depend on the next council, he said, which may not even have that turnover.




The reason the council is certain to lose at least Danko and Klufas is because Klufas is term-limited and Danko chose not to run for a second term. Alfin is also up for re-election. In two years, it’ll be Pontieri’s and Heighter’s turns, but incumbents who avoid controversy and are responsive to the electorate are usually re-elected.

If Alfin and Heighter easily changed their mind, Klufas did not, and seemed prepared to address his colleagues’ switch. Reading from a prepared statement on his iPad, he said: “Although we’re not under pressure to appoint a new city manager before our terms end, I believe we should fulfill our responsibilities now, instead of deferring this important decision to the next electoral cycle. If our search isn’t successful, I’m confident that the newly elected officials will competently handle their new selection. However, I don’t want to waste the valuable experience I’ve gained over my eight years here in office that should be put to good use, ensuring a smooth transition. I think right now it’s really a critical, critical time that we have experience up here. No offense to the newly elected officials out of the candidates. They don’t have much historical, political backgrounds.”

To Pontieri, two other factors argued for waiting: Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo have risen to the occasion and are providing the necessary leadership in the absence of a permanent city manager. And waiting will also ensure a better pool of candidates if the candidates know that the new council will be making the choice, “rather than being at the whim of the new council to possibly terminate them because the old Council hired them.”

Seven local governments in Florida are searching for a city or county manager. The city administration presented two search-firm contracts from other local governments on which Palm Coast could “piggy-back,” meaning that the city would use another government’s contract already in place to use the same search firm that government is using. Piggybacking saves the city time and money in landing a search firm.




One of the contract is from St. Johns County, using Colin Baenziger & Associates of Daytona Beach. Baezinger helped Flagler Beach land City Manager Dale Martin last year. The other is the New Smyrna Beach contract with Strategic Government Resources. That company cannot help Palm Coast until late summer.

The city could have also created its own bid to select a search firm, but there’s no interest for that on the council.

Like Alfin, Pontieri was supportive of the SRG contract despite its delayed start time. “It’s also specifically for a city manager whereas the St. Johns contract is not there for other administrative positions,” she said. “But I do feel that the ultimate decision of who the city manager is going to be should fall within the purview of the new council, being that the new council will be working with this person day in and day out, as we all do with our current staff.”

Danko supported the compromise.