Last of Palm Coast’s City Manager Candidates Withdraws, Clearing the Way for Pause and Reset Months from Now

Richard Hough, the last remaining candidate for Palm Coast city manager, withdrew his name from consideration this morning, ending a year-long search that began on a previous council’s crutches and ended amid unprecedented turmoil for the council seated since November.

Along the way, four council seats changed hands, one of them twice. That was the least of it. Since his swearing-in last November Mayor Mike Norris has upended City Hall and been the subject of an independent investigation that found him to have violated the city charter and demeaned city employees. He in turn has continually attacked the legitimacy of one of his fellow council members and the integrity of the administration. 




Earlier this year the council narrowed a threadbare pool of applicants for city manager to a shortlist of five. The shortlist eroded to two before the interviews, then to nothing. 

“I wanted to advise you that Richard Hough officially has withdrawn from the Palm Coast City Manager search,” Doug Thomas, executive vice president of SGR, the consultancy conducting Palm Coast’s search, emailed Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston and Human Resources Director Renina Fuller just before 8 this morning. Johnston forwarded the email to the council members in mid-morning. 

A majority of the council is likely more relieved than regretful to have a chance to pause the process and start over a few months from now. 

That, in fact, is what several council members wish to do. They will discuss their next steps at Tuesday evening’s council meeting. 

“I’d like to follow the advice of the consultant by waiting a little while and then re-posting the position,” Council member Theresa Pontieri, who as vice mayor has also led the council on occasions when Norris has been absent, said. 

Thomas, in an interview with FlaglerLive last week, after one of the two remaining candidates withdrew, said the council should pause and, before restarting a search, seek a facilitated process that would train the council members to work more cohesively. That would then send a message to prospective applicants that the council is not irremediably unstable. 




Four of the five council members are working cohesively without necessarily agreeing with each other. Norris has self-isolated. He has gone so far as to stop meeting with leaders in the administration. He cleared out his City Hall office. He continues to upbraid colleagues and city staffers along conspiratorial claims that they want to oust him because he’s been wanting to impose a building moratorium in the city. After the council reviewed the investigative report about him last week, Norris apologized for some of his behavior, but contested violating the charter. 

“Like it or not, the county is not broken, trains are running pretty much on time and we can continue on even if Mayor Norris remains as Mayor Norris,” Council member Dave Sullivan said. His prescription matches Pontieri’s and Council member Ty Miller’s: “Delay until things settle down a little bit. We’ve got the budget we’ve got to work on. I’m not saying wait until the total end of the budget cycle because that would be October but I would wait until pretty much the end of the process.” 

To Miller, “we need to move on from the chaos and lay a foundation of stability before we seek a new hire at the city manager position,” he said this morning. “In the meantime we have a great acting city manager who has been holding it all together and I’m thankful for that.”