Twice charging Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris with “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, and incompetence,” the rest of the Palm Coast City Council today issued a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis, asking him to suspend Norris from office and appoint an acting mayor in his place.
It would be an unprecedented step, certainly for Palm Coast or any Flagler County government, but not in Florida. While a governor will suspend an elected official for committing a felony, DeSantis in 2022 suspended Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, and in 2023 suspended Orange and Osceola counties State Attorney Monique Worrell. Neither had committed a crime. Neither had a record of misconduct. DeSantis suspended both over their decisions as state attorneys.
Both Warren and Worrell are Democrats. Norris is a Republican. The issues with Norris are related to his conduct–or misconduct, according to an independent investigation–and what the cost of that misconduct in actual dollars to taxpayers.
“As conservative representatives who have voluntarily taken part in the State’s DOGE efforts,” the letter states, “we hold with the utmost importance the best use and protection of taxpayer dollars. The Mayor’s actions have cost our residents[] tens of thousands of dollars since being elected in November of 202[4], and despite our voiced concern for this waste of tax dollars, Mayor Norris recently stated during a public meeting that he didn’t care if his actions cost the City a million dollars—he would continue onward. For these reasons, we urge you to take action to immediately suspend Mr. Norris from office and to appoint a temporary replacement to fulfill the duties of Mayor.” (The hyperlink was not part of the letter, which included several exhibits.)
The letter appealed to the governor’s affinity for the state’s version of the federal Department of Government Efficiency, which has been auditing certain local governments or agencies–not in Flagler County, though the letter’s intimation is that Norris’s actions are hurting the city’s finances.
The letter cites his recent lawsuit against the city and Council member Charles Gambaro, whose appointment Norris was contesting. Norris lost the lawsuit. It cost the city about $30,000 to defend. Norris said he would not pay any of it. An independent investigation of Norris’s misconduct toward city staff, including conduct that violated the city charter, cost $15,000.
The letter to DeSantis notes that Norris is represented by Anthony Sabatini, the Mt. Dora lawyer and not particularly a friend of the governor’s. On Thursday, Sabatini filed a motion for a rehearing of the Norris lawsuit, which may add legal costs to taxpayers and almost certainly lead to the same result against Norris, who was found to have no standing to file the lawsuit to start with. (A motion for rehearing, typically denied, suggests an appeal to the 5th District Court of Appeal will be next.)
The council members’ letter makes the point: “What made this situation even more egregious was that the Mayor was repeatedly advised by the City Legal Department that he had neither standing to bring such a lawsuit nor merit in his position, yet when asked if he was previously advised of such during a public meeting, and lied to both the City Council and to the public, stating that he was never advised.”
The letter was signed by Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri and Council members Gambaro, Dave Sullivan and Ty Miller. The council voted 4-1 to approve sending the letter last week. Norris dissented. It was signed only today by Pontieri, an attorney whose signature was delayed by an ongoing, unrelated (and less controversial but more consequential) case involving a different elected official in Flagler County.
The four council members are asking for a suspension, not removal, suggesting disciplinary rather than terminal intent, and leaving it to the governor’s discretion to decide how long that suspension should be. But the approach may forge untested legal grounds.
The council members cite five reasons to relieve Norris of duty. The first is “Unsafe Behavior and Harassment,” such as his demanding the unilateral resignation of Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo (DeLorenzo has since taken a job as assistant city manager in Palm Bay with former Palm Coast City Manager Matthew Morton, who resigned in 2021).
The second is “Dereliction of Duties and Responsibilities of the Office of Mayor.” The letter cites Norris’s declaration at a council meeting that he would no longer fulfill his responsibilities on committees, with one exception, as other council members do, and that he has “repeatedly failed to attend ceremonial occasions as required by the City Charter,” or meet with city staff, including the city manager–whom he refuses to have meetings with–to get briefed on city issues, or economic development investors.
The letter does not mention that the mayor has also refused to hold the meetings–more than a hundred a year–his predecessors held with civic, neighborhood and non-profit organizations as part of a mayor’s routine ambassadorial role in the city.
Nor does the letter mention Norris’s refusal to take part in a series of town hall meetings the city organized for all council members through the summer. Norris opted to hold his own town hall at a private venue (next Monday) and specify in social media messaging that it was not sponsored by the city. Norris has previously accused city staff of spying n him, and chose to interview two prospective candidates for city manager by his pick-up truck’s tailpipe rather than use his office at City Hall.
The letter’s third justification for suspension is the “frivolous lawsuit” (a term repeatedly used by Gambaro). The fourth is the ethics complaint the council filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics, a complaint stemming from many of the issues cited above. And the fifth are the two censure votes the commission took, making Norris the only elected official in Flagler County history, municipal or county, ever to be censured, let alone twice in three months.
“All of these examples demonstrate a pattern of malfeasance, misfeasance, dereliction of duty, and incompetence that has irreparably harmed—and continues to harm—the City of Palm Coast and Flagler County,” the letter states.
In a clause very likely inspired or required by Pontieri, who showed great unease and reluctance in calling for the removal of an elected official absent criminal behavior, the letter continued: “We do not take lightly the sanctity of elections, and we hold dear the right of our citizens to elect their representatives. However, Mayor Norris has shown a complete disregard for our City Charter, the importance of governing as one part of a five-member elected body, and the duty to protect and safeguard taxpayer dollars.”
The letter was distributed to the council members by email, and electronically signed by them.
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