Deputy City Manager Lauren Johnston Leaves Palm Coast For Top Operations Role At Flagler Schools

A few months ago, as county government was in turmoil and Palm Coast government was getting new leadership, School Superintendent LaShakia Moore spoke to County Administrator Heidi Petito and Deputy City Manager Lauren Johnston, as top executives often do when they run into each other at various functions. Moore mentioned to them that there would be leadership changes at the school district, too. A couple of department heads or chiefs were retiring. Moore mentioned to Petito and Johnston that the district could be a good place for a safe landing. 

Petito did not take her up on it: she was in talks with Clerk of Court Tom Bexley, among others, and it looks like that’s where Petito will end up. 

But Johnston did, somewhat to Moore’s surprise. As the district was collecting applications for the Chief of Operations position that Dave Freeman is retiring from by July, Johnston’s was one of them. When a district staffer told Moore about it, Moore replied: “You mean the Lauren Johnston?” None other. 

This morning, Moore announced that Johnston will be the next chief of operations, starting April 20. The position oversees several departments, including transportation, custodial, plant services and food services. Johnston will also be responsible for intergovernmental relations, all matters relating to intergovernmental agreements known as “interlocal agreements,” or ILAs, and impact fees. Johnston’s start will overlap with Freeman’s end as the position transitions. 

Moore also announced the appointment of Joshua Walker as director of human resources, replacing the retiring Bob Ouellette, also starting on April 20. Both Johnston and Walker are Flagler schools products, both graduating from Matanzas High School (Johnston was a graduate of the very first class, in 2005).  

Walker cut his teeth on district challenges when he was in charge of making sense of the finances of the Belle Terre Swim and Racket Club, before moving to human resources. Johnston’s broad experience appealed to Moore. 

“We need her to come and be a fantastic resource within the school district to continue elevating us on the operations side,” Moore said in an interview his morning. “Dave Freeman has been an amazing chief in the role. I think Lauren will be great as well.” 

It’ll be a significant pay cut for Johnston, who is paid $197,000. Her new salary, which has not been precisely negotiated yet, will be in the $120,000 range, Moore said. 

“It’s not always about money, it’s also about time and stress and relationships I get back with my family,” Johnston said. “I believe in the mission, I believe in what she’s accomplishing,” she said of Moore, who is regarded as arguably the most accomplished and charismatic executive in local government, and–of particular importance to those who work with her–a very strong buffer between her elected board and her staff. The School Board has not exactly been less unpredictable than the Palm Coast City Council, and at times in the last few years has been more so. But Moore has maintained a stronger firewall between the elected and her staff than executives on other local boards. 

“I think it’s great for me professionally to enhance my skills, utilize them in a different capacity,” Johnston said. “Flagler schools is the county’s largest employer, so it’s going to give me a great opportunity to enhance my knowledge and continue to make an impact.”

Johnston has two young children, a son in second grade at Old Kings Elementary and a daughter starting VPK there. 

Theresa Pontieri, the vice mayor and long a champion of Johnston, said she saw her move as positive from a professional standpoint given the great pressure Johnston had been under–as interim city manager for two years but even since then, as the new city manager, Michael McGlothlin, has leaned on her heavily during his transition, which just marked its first 90 days. 

“So from her perspective, it’ll allow her to still have a positive impact on the community while at the same time step back from a lot of the pressure she’s been under there for the last several years,” Pontieri said. Both Pontieri and Johnston are young mothers who value what Pontieri described as “reasonable work-life balance.” 

But it will also be “a very big hole to fill, and I think it has to be a top priority for us to fill that gap,” Pontieri said. Johnston started her career at the city as a 17-year-old camp part-time camp counselor in 2007, then as a full-time supervisor of the city pool in 2011, rising to head the parks and recreation department. Former City Manager Matt Morton appointed her co-chief of staff with Jason DeLorenzo, leading to her shift into the interim manager position after the summary firing of Denise Bevan. “I don’t think anybody in the immediate future will be able to fill that gap, so it’ll be an all hands on deck” for the city, Pontieri said. 

DeLorenzo, another font of institutional knowledge, left less than a year ago to join Morton’s administration in Palm Bay. 

Pontieri, Johnston and McGlothlin stressed that the departure is not an indication of anything amiss in the dynamics between Johnston and McGlothlin. Johnston described McGlothlin as well on his way to “do great things for the city.” 

“Ms. Johnston decided she wanted to take another avenue in her professional life. I wish her nothing but the best,” McGlothlin said. “Everybody’s got to make their individual decisions and decide what’s best for them.” He credited her for keeping the city stable during her interim years and for her “organizational history. But in a  brief interview he twice stressed that “we also have to have the mentality of the next person up” because “time slows for no man or woman.” 

McGlothlin said he intends to make an interim appointment “definitely within a week. I wouldn’t want to go two weeks.” He would then search for a permanent replacement, looking internally first. “There’s several people on our leadership team that I know have leadership potential,” he said, though he’s not excluding an external hire.

Unquestionably of course, Johnston has bittersweet feelings about her departure. “You know I love the city. It’s my home, it’s where I’ve grown up,” she said. “I think the leadership here is on a great path forward. The department directors are great. It’s like a piece of me. But when I take a step back and try to think a little bit about Lauren, I’m looking at this as a great opportunity.”  

Johnston had consistently rebuffed pressure to apply for the city manager’s position in the last two years, a position that, from the sound of council members’ assurances, was hers to take. Similarly, she is not interested in applying for the county administrator’s job, now that the county is looking to fill that post by July. Not long ago Johnson earned a master’s degree in emergency management, which she has described as her passion. 

An emergency management question was part of the interview for the district job. The scenario was that a storm had just barreled through, it’s 72 hours after the event. What do you do as chief of operational services? Having handled city emergencies, the question was made to order, as Johnston hopes the position will be, too.