Acting Manager Lauren Johnston Honored with Rare Ovation as She Prepares to Hand Reins to McGlothlin

Lauren Johnston made history this morning as the first Palm Coast city manager, acting or otherwise, to get a standing ovation, let alone two, in the city’s 26-year history, ending an unsettled streak that saw two of her predecessors fired and two resign, one of them after getting passed over for the permanent top job. 

The council and city staff applauded Johnston at the end of Johnston’s nearly two-year tenure as acting city manager. She was appointed after the firing of Denise Bevan in March 2024. Johnston didn’t get fired. She’s not resigning. “I’m going back into my assistant city manager role,” she said after today’s council meeting, a role she’s been yearning for soon after getting handed the manager’s job, not entirely of her own choice. 

“I’m rooted in this community. My goal is to stay here and to continue to do good works,” Johnston said. In the city? “In the city,” she said without hesitation. There’d been questions about Johnston’s wish to continue in the administration after she earned her master’s in emergency management, a profession she’d love to take on. “I look at that as an added bonus,” she said. “It’s something that I’m passionate in. But my plan is to stay here and to keep serving and be a member of the community.”

Today is Johnston’s last day as acting city manager. Michael McGlothlin, formerly the city manager in Redington Shores, takes over the permanent manager’s job on Wednesday. 

The ovations near the end of the council meeting were the culmination of rounds of tribute by all council members and earlier, by members of the public, capped by a laudatory speech by Council member and Vice Chair Theresa Pontieri. 

“Public service, especially at the local level, is rarely easy,” Pontieri said from the dais at the end of the meeting. “It requires steady leadership, thoughtful decision-making and the ability to balance competing priorities while never losing sight of the people who call this wonderful city their home. Throughout your tenure, you have exemplified those qualities with professionalism, integrity and the utmost of grace. You’ve led during times of growth and challenge, always guided by a commitment to transparency, compassion and the long-term health of our community.” (See the full speech below.) 

Pontieri presented Johnston with a glass, trophy-like tribute, “With Gratitude to Lauren Johnston/For stepping up and serving with strength, professionalism, and heart as Acting City Manager for the City of Palm Coast.” 

She was applauded, and what looked like the entirety of City Hall staff was on its feet, thronging the back of the council room and echoing the ovation. 

Johnston was in tears when Mayor Mike Norris asked her if she had anything. “Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your mentorship. Thank you to our residents that supported me and those that did because they challenged me to do better,” she said, suggesting against reading the comment section on FlaglerLive (which can out-sewer the city’s most challenging effluents). 

“I appreciate this team, this wonderful team of 600 employees, every single director, every single manager, every single supervisor, and everybody who continues to pour their heart and soul into their job every single day,” Johnston said. She singled out Mark Strobridge, the sheriff’s chief of staff, who pinch-hit as assistant city manager for a few months, and Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill, who filled her role on occasions when she needed time off. She also thanked her two children and her husband. 

Every member of the council had praised her, as did City Attorney Marcus Duffy. And there were the kindest words Johnston heard from Norris in her tenure, at least publicly: “I’d also like to thank Lauren, and we’ve had difficulties, but she’s a fantastic person and an asset to the community,” the mayor said. “Lauren transitioned me into this position. The outgoing mayor didn’t even give me a phone call to say, congratulations. So think about that and the stuff that we have gone through this past year. But we have done what the residents have asked us to do. We’ve done quite a few things, and we’re going to keep moving forward.”  

The staff had readied a huge cake decorated in the University of Florida’s Gators colors, a concession Pontieri agreed to (“Go Knights,” she said, a reference to the University of Central Florida). And everyone stood in for the last staff picture of the year, and the last with Johnston as City Hall’s leader. 

The size of the shoes McGlothlin is stepping into Wednesday seemed to grow bigger all morning. Luckily for McGlothlin, it is now Johnston’s job to make them fit. 

Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri on Lauren Johnston:

 Today, it is both an honor and a privilege to recognize and thank our acting city manager, Lauren Johnston, for her dedicated service over the past nearly two years to this city. This very important, very stressful and very demanding job was thrust upon you, Ms Johnston, without any warning, and you stepped up. 

You accepted the call, and you rose to the challenge. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” And Lauren, we know that you probably did not choose this and didn’t see it coming, but God chose you to step up into this position when we needed it, and you’ve helped the city bear some wonderful fruit. 

Many of Palm Coast’s accomplishments under your leadership can’t quite be seen yet, but I know we have truly done a lot of good that will have lasting positive effects on our city for the unforeseeable future. Public service, especially at the local level, is rarely easy. It requires steady leadership, thoughtful decision-making and the ability to balance competing priorities while never losing sight of the people who call this wonderful city their home. Throughout your tenure, you have exemplified those qualities with professionalism, integrity and the utmost of grace. You’ve led during times of growth and challenge, always guided by a commitment to transparency, compassion and the long-term health of our community. 

Whether navigating complex policy issues, managing day to day city operations, or supporting the hard working employees who keep Palm Coast running every day, you’ve approached every responsibility with diligence and respect. Equally important is the culture you’ve helped foster, one of collaboration, high standards and public trust. 

This council has challenged you so much. We challenged you to do more with less, to push boundaries in order to protect our residents and to tap into the talents of our staff that they didn’t even know they had. City staff has benefited from your strength and leadership, and residents have benefited from your steady hand and your positive attitude, which we so needed in so many instances. They’ve also benefited from your thoughtful stewardship of public resources, which all of this council holds in such high regard. 

Leadership is often measured not by only the accomplishments, but by the stability, the professionalism and the confidence left behind. You’re handing over a good ship to Mr. McGlothlin, so by that measure, your impact will be felt long after your tenure concludes.

As we welcome Mr. McGlothlin, I on behalf of the City Council, City staff and the residents that we serve, want to thank you for your service. Thank you for your dedication, your commitment to this community. We’re so very grateful for the time, energy and heart that you have given Palm Coast, and we wish you continued success and fulfillment and all that lies ahead for you and your family, hopefully still with our city for a very, very long time.