The Palm Coast City Council late Tuesday night called for an independent investigation of Mayor Mike Norris after Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston confirmed that he unilaterally demanded in a private meeting that she and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo resign, what would be a “blatant violation of the city charter,” in Council member Ty Miller’s words. Norris is denying the charge.
Council members, including the mayor, are legally prohibited from interfering with the administration. Their hiring and firing role is limited to the city manager and the city attorney. Even then, they may not exercise that role without the elected body’s consensus, in open meetings. A trail of fears about arbitrariness and heavy-handedness had long preceded Norris’s election last November, and evidence of both had hissed about City Hall from time to time since. None were as grave or explicit as Tuesday’s allegations as revealed by Council member Charles Gambaro.
“I have a concern that was brought forward to me yesterday that I think we need to discuss,” Gambaro said by phone, as he was attending the meeting from out of town, “and that has to do with your request for the direct resignation of our staff, meaning the acting city manager and Mr. DeLorenzo in your office. I think it could be a major, major ethics violation. And it’s my understanding that it’s not the first time that you’ve tried to directly intimidate or to try to force the city manager to fire not only the chief of staff, but other members of our senior staff.”
Norris tried to protest. Gambaro immediately shut him down. “I have the floor,” he said. “It’s also my understanding that you carried out this request after our legal counsel, both Mr. Blocker and Mr. Duffy, advised you multiple times that your requests were inappropriate and in violation of the city charter.” Jeremiah Blocker and Marcus Duffy of St. Augustine’s Douglas Law Firm are the city’s attorneys.
Gambaro was equally concerned about the manner of Norris’s alleged demand, which he described as Norris telling the executives, “‘This is a one-way conversation, and I’m going to ask for your immediate dismissal [from] your office,’ and then you just basically dismiss them.”
Gambaro asked Johnston to confirm whether that took place, “yes or no.”
“Yes,” Johnston immediately said from the dais, two seats from Norris.
Norris again tried to intervene, and again Gambaro stopped him. “Hold on. Hold on,” Gambaro said. “So by your actions, Mr. mayor I’m real concerned. I really like working with you, but you may be creating a toxic work environment, and one that may be disseminating fear and intimidation across our staff that’s really working hard to meet all of our demands. And so as such, I’m formally asking my fellow council members–not you, Mr. mayor–for consensus to formally request an independent look at this investigation at next Tuesday’s council business meeting into these serious allegations, Mr. mayor. We need to take an independent look to address these issues. But failure to not address the concerns that are brought to you is, in my mind, not an option.”
Miller and fellow-Council member Theresa Pontieri were just as disturbed by the allegation. The fifth seat was empty, Ray Stevens having resigned. The appointment process, now certain to be influenced by the Norris issue, is running through mid-April.
“It’s very concerning, because the charter directly prohibits any member of this council from directing staff decisions that are solely the purview of the city manager,” Miller said. “Anything below the city manager is the city manager’s responsibility in terms of hiring and firing. So that’s one. Two, directing the city manager without the consensus of the council is also a violation of the city charter. And then it’s very hard to get past this, because my concern here is that if we’re not playing by the rules, then they’re going to be abused. And whether it’s you, Mr. mayor, or me or Councilman Gambaro or the vice mayor doing it, it’s still wrong fundamentally.” He spoke his support for Gambaro’s request for an independent investigation, “because that’s how we figure out whether this is right or wrong. To me, what I’ve heard, these are blatant violations of the city charter.”
“Independent” was not defined, though it suggests that a law firm other than the Douglas Law Firm will be retained for the job.
Norris conceded only that “frustrating” discussions took place behind the scenes, but not that he called for anyone’s firing. “There’s three people that were in that room when we had our conversation yesterday,” Norris said. He did not name the three, who would have been himself, Johnston and DeLorenzo, though shortly afterward he referred to someone who was on the phone during the meeting. He alluded to the city attorney. “How can I put this? I said that I was going to discuss with the council. You know about this, and it’s a little bit of frustration. But you know, we are under a lot of pressure here, and me and Lauren, we had a good conversation today, and it’s a lot of frustration, but I did not, I certainly didn’t do what’s being said, and counsel was on the phone.”
He then deflected the issue to a previous controversy last fall when Gambaro was appointed to the council, an appointment Norris tried to challenge, considering it a violation of the charter. The city attorney has repeatedly said that the appointment was done according to the charter. As for his issues with the top staffers, “I wouldn’t even bring up that discussion tonight, because I think we’re where we need to be. We are working together,” Norris said. “I think Lauren understood I was a bit frustrated, but I certainly didn’t tell her to fire anybody, because I know better than do that. I would never, I would never do that.”
“She just said you did,” Miller said, referring to Johnston’s confirmation.
“I have not directed anyone to do it. I’m an above board kind of guy, and I’m frustrated,” Norris said. “I’m frustrated that we’re in this situation. But I did not tell Miss Johnston, Miss Lauren Johnston, to fire anybody. I said I was going to discuss with the council what we need to do to fix this city.”
“She just confirmed that it happened that way,” Gambaro said, with the council as witness.
“I know there’s only two positions I can hire and fire or–” Miller tried to interrupt, presumably to let him know that he cannot hire or fire anyone, before Norris caught himself. “Yes, that council can hire and fire. I know that for a fact, but I am not–I have not directed. But we can take whatever actions we need to. But I think Lauren understands my frustration. We had quite an ordeal today. But you do what you got to do. If you want to investigate, go right ahead.”
Norris and the council have been weathering waves of public criticism over a proposed utility rate increase, what would be the sharpest increase in the city’s history, paired with the largest loans in the city’s history, to finance a gargantuan, $615 million utility capital improvement plan. Norris had approved the plan on first reading only to inform the council last week that he was reversing course unless the plan was paired with a building moratorium. Norris’s reversal seemed to reflect what some city staffers and some elected officials past and present have cited as excessive sensitivity to social media vagaries that end up informing capricious decisions or confrontations like the one alleged took place with the top executives.
Council member Theresa Pontieri, the senior member of the council, had also apparently been made aware of the situation. “From what I hear,” she said, “it definitely warrants looking into.” She was especially concerned that the mayor’s behavior could be clouding the city’s search for a new manager, which has been hampered by the council’s poor image as it is. The council had narrowed its choices to five candidates earlier in the meeting.
“This is not healthy for our city,” Pontieri said. “Decisions like this need to be thought of high level in a robust way. And I understand mayor that you could have been frustrated. Whatever happened that facilitated anything even close to this, I understand you’re frustrated. We’re all kind of frustrated, under a lot of stress for a lot of different reasons. But you said it earlier. We have workshops for a reason. We should have workshopped it. We should have talked about it. They are adults. She has the ability to sit down there and listen to constructive criticism and we talk about things. Poor old Carl Coty gets thrown under the bus more than any staff member I know. And the guy has not been in the position that he’s in now for very long to warrant the type of abuse he takes.”
Coty is the city’s director of stormwater and engineering, and as such has been the point man on several critical issues. Some council members past and present have found it easier to shoot their messengers to silence them than to responsibly grapple with the message.
The council adjourned immediately after that.
Greg says
The whole city leadership is a joke. No wonder the city is on shaky ground. I think you all should resign and turn the city over to the state to be run. Your a God damn joke.
No bueno says
I don’t disagree that Jason has to go. He and Ray knew about the lack of water for all the permits they allowed the board to approve. But Lauren stepped up and volunteered to hold that position while they found a permanent manager. He should leave it alone.
celia pugliese says
My open letter to our Mayor and Council!
To Mayor and Council:
I saw the end of today’s 3/11 at 6 pm Council meeting given that my hubby hospice care does not allow me to attend the meetings.
As a resident that voted for Mayor Norris and knowing him well enough to see his frustration with the projected residents utility increase to pay for growth, I can ressure this council that he knowing as Mayor he can’t hire or fire staff by city charter, his conversation with city manager and else in the meeting was just a comment out of his frustration and probably exercising his First Amendment “as actually no one was fired”.
We voted for our mayor and support him as he is representing our “residents needs” and we want him to continue representing us. To the contrary this was brought up by a councilman that we didn’t elect and was apppointed by the former council members that lost last election. In spite of it all this investigation requested and initiated against our Mayor by Councilman Gambaro the appointed one, as far is my concern may not have any merits given our Mayor First Amendment Right the same right that respectufully I am exercising now.
Today Mayor and Vice Mayor showed us how much they care for us the residents, that voted for them and we want them to continue representing us!
You are right Mayor Norris and we are with you as we all have our First Amendment.
Celia Pugliese/PC resident since 1991
Protect Palm Coast, Friends of Florida Park Drive, Quiet Florida and Blue Skies Member.
Concerned Citizen says
Thank you Mr. Gambaro, for listening to staff and forcing discussion of this behavior into the open. Thank you to the other members of the council for supporting Mr Gambaro as he raised this issue. And a big thank you to PC staff for speaking up and not backing down when challenged.
This isn’t going to be easy or pleasant for anyone, but directly and in the open is how you address bullying behavior in the workplace. Once you set a standard that this type of behavior will not be tolerated (not just words in an HR manual, but consistent actions by management), others with similar behaviors are put on notice, and morale begins to improve. Still a ways to go, but a good start.
John Stove says
Mike Norris acting like a dictator?…..what do you expect from a Republican. Mike needs to get over his “my way or the highway”…attitude and realize that he may be ‘Frustrated”, this does not give him (or anyone at the national level) the right to bypass charters, laws or ordinances.
Of course Mike be suffering from SMS (Short Man Syndrome) and perhaps this is why he is frustrated that no one listens to him as he screams and demands that everyone do what he says.
Dakota Brooks says
After watching the meeting last night, it was clear that the last 10 minutes would overshadow all the other discussions and decisions made. Important conversations about the city’s future will now be drowned out by this controversy.
The charter is clear on the separation of powers, and the acting city manager ignored the comment, as she should have. It’s fair to remind the mayor to be mindful of his words, but it’s hard not to notice that whenever real change is discussed, certain behind-the-scenes forces seem to move quickly to shift the focus.
Making this the biggest issue in the city when there are far bigger challenges feels more like a distraction than accountability.
Fernando Melendez says
This is definitely a Norris behavior, if anyone knows him from past REC meetings and his uncontrolled loud outburst, then you can bet it happened as described. This is nothing new and he should not only be investigated, but censored by the governor. obscenities, defamatory language is right up his alley.
Duane says
As I mentioned to Denise Bevans in the blog weeks before her dismissal, I’m now saying the same to Laureen Johnson: it’s time to start thinking about your exit strategy. Act now before it’s too late and you end up with a termination on your record. When the Mayor and the Manager are not on the same page, it disrupts the city’s operations and creates unease among the staff. While it’s helpful that a commissioner is supporting you, history shows that eventually, the commission’s collective mindset takes over, and the manager is let go for the betterment of the community.
Do it now while you have opportunities to prosper as an assistant manager in another city without a blemish on your record.
Justbob says
A wannabe one man Palm Coast DOGE? This dude has been a disaster since he first sat down in the mayor’s chair. But hey we saw it coming.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Newer Council, same old dysfunction.
Ric Flair says
Yes let’s spend a lot of money on an independent investigation of he said she said. While we are at it let’s spend more money on endless independent studies like has been done throughout the years. This city is a joke. The so called acting city manager is a joke and should never have been put in that position. If you want to spend money on an independent study then lets do one to determine if we should get rid of the city and just let the county run things. Our tax bills would go down and so would this nonsense.
Long time Palm Coast resident says
I find this turn of events very interesting in light of the fact that Mayor Norris recently proposed a building moratorium.
Facts:
1. Jason DeLorenzo is a long-time realtor with just a high school education. After he was ousted from his Palm Coast City Council seat several years ago, he went to work for the Flagler County Home Builders Association until ALFIN became mayor and then suddenly Jason DeLorenzo became chief of staff for the city of Palm Coast. Conflicts of interest.
2. New District 1 Palm Coast City Councilman, TY MILLER, has a direct link to the Flagler County Home Builders association. While running for the PC City Council last year, Ty Miller’s wife was Vice-President of the Flagler County Home Builders Association. She has also worked and/or still works for Hulbert Homes, a home builder in this area. Major conflicts of interest for Ty Miller.
3. Wasn’t Gambaro favored for his PC City Council seat by ALFIN? Another conflict of interest. As I recall, there was another candidate for that seat but ALFIN’ pushed for Gambaro and Alfin’s vote got Gambaro on the city council.
4. Ms. Bevan was ousted from her City Manager position by ALFIN and then Lauren Johnston took the job as acting city manager. Lauren Johnston was in charge of the water park fiasco and signed off on the deal. Yet when the water park turned out to be a fiasco was Lauren Johnston demoted? No she was given a promotion which paved the way for her to become city manager when ALFIN got rid of Ms. Bevan who was the city manager at the time. From what I recall, the way ALFIN handled the firing of Ms. Bevan from the city manager position was very dirty and underhanded.
In my opinion, Mayor Norris upset the powers that be in this county by proposing a building moratorium last week. The powers that be include the Flagler Home Builders Association (Ty Miller), the realtors who run this town and Flagler County and all the other building trades. Time to get rid of Norris. To me, it seems this is nothing but an orchestrated take-down of Mayor Norris by the group of people who REALLY run the city of Palm Coast and who are closely tied to the Flagler Home Builders Association (Ty Miller, Gambaro, Jason DeLorenzo, and Lauren Johnston who doesn’t want to lose her position as city manager.
This stinks. “THEY” don’t want Mike Norris proposing a moratorium on building in Palm Coast. Mayor Norris did the unthinkable and came into direct opposition to the powers that be last week by proposing a building moratorium. Now “THEY” are out to get him (in my opinion).
5.
Matt says
What a remarkable, ethically-conscious, coordinated stance from Gambaro and Miller. All it took is for Norris to mention “moratorium” once.
In all seriousness, we are with you Mayor. Please show us you have a backbone against private interest.
Jimmy says
Mayor Norris cursed out a candidate’s wife during the campaign. The City Manager confirmed Gambaro’s accusations. And that’s just what we know. Norris repeatedly calls Palm Coast “his city.” The guy has a Napoleon complex and thinks he runs the show. Getting what he deserves. Hope the Gov removes him.
Denise Henry says
I was at the meeting and Mayor Norris was broadsided. Investigation? It is two against one so how fair is that? Now we are starting to see the politics played out! Shocking! It is sad Miss Johnston could only reply, “Yes.” She should have been asked to relate the entire conversation last night along with Mr. DeLorenzo who was upfront at the time. Toxic? That was created last night by Councilman Gambaro who wasn’t even attending in person. I rather liked him and was warming to his appointment but my mind has not been changed. I left the meeting feeling sad over how it ended.
John Walsh says
Impeach Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris. He is most unqualified elected official in the history of Palm Coast, Flagler County, the state of Florida and the United States of America.
He is unfit to serve even as a Dog Catcher.
Mike says
I myself don’t trust Mr. Gambaro. I feel he is a puppet of Mr. Alfin and the developers. It’s funny how this is mentioned after Mr. Norris wants to put a building moratorium in place! I stand by you Mr. Mayor and continue to stand up to these developers and others who would like to see you step down! Protect Palm Coast!
Protonbeam says
One constant theme in palm coast –
Challenge the builders, their lawyers or lackeys or challenge the entrenched corrupt staff
They will destroy you- they did to the city, county, chamber – school board – sheriff charity and on and on
James says
Surprised?… Not.
Whatever happens to Mayor Norris is irrelevant. The fact remains that the city is asking to approve a $614 million dollar project. That’s almost a billion dollars.
Does anyone here think that DeLorenzo and Johnston are qualified and capable of overseeing such a costly undertaking? For that matter, does anyone here think ANYONE currently sitting on the city council is capable of overseeing such a task?
I for one, unfortunately, do not.
We’re taking BIG money here folks.
Just an opinion.
t. o. Doug says
The mayor talks about a moratorium and suddenly he needs to be investigated? What a coincidence!
In all seriousness, that is not the right way to handle it, but Jason should be gone. Its clear his loyalties lie with the realtors.
Lawrence Ruggieri says
How much more out in the open could this be an orchestrated hit job on the Mayor for uttering the
“M”word that cuts into the pockets of the Palm Coast Oligarchs ie the Builders and Realtors.
I’m surprised Miller and Gambaro don’t have Orange hair and Red ties that are way too long. I’ve been a resident for over 50 years and have never seen such behavior.