A new Palm Coast City Council, anchored in the intently precedent-breaking mayorship of Mike Norris, was seated this morning amid the cheers and encouragements of a sizable crowd as Ty Miller and Ray Stevens joined the mayor on the dais alongside Theresa Pontieri and Charles Gambaro.
With notable pockets of reserve, not just among city staffers and directors, the audience was mostly triumphal ahead of an uncharted future for the council with a collective service total of two years and a few weeks.
The council has the least institutional memory by far in the city’s 25-year history, a reflection of the break with the city’s past that voters, and some members of the audience who addressed the council, appear to be seeking.
Pontieri, whose two years on the council make her its senior member, was elected vice mayor in an oddly divided 3-2 vote. Norris, Stevens and Pontieri were in the majority, Miller and Gambaro in dissent.
The item immediately brought out the new council’s dynamics. “I guess if anyone wants to make a motion, who they might want in that position. I would prefer it not be me,” Norris had said about the vice-mayorship, though the mayor does not make motions, nor does he second them, unless he passes the gavel.
City Attorney Marcus Duffy, himself still finding his sea legs on the council–he worked his first meeting only seven months ago–did not offer guidance, though he will necessarily be required to do so often in coming months if council procedures are to be followed.
Norris continued: “I don’t want to be the person making the final decision. I will, but I shouldn’t have to. The city council should come to a consensus and my vote should just be a foregone conclusion.” In fact, the mayor does not carry more weight, or more tie-breaking weight, than any of his colleagues, and is not likely to find himself in position to be “making the final decision” any more than any council member who might be the swing vote on a given issue.
Stevens nominated Pontieri for vice mayor. Customarily, the nomination is an internal matter for the council alone to decide, without the public comment segment that accompanies proposed resolutions or ordinances. Norris chose to open the floor, and several members of the public weighed in. Some were critical of Pontieri, some praised her, before the split, and perhaps revealing, vote. As it turned out, Norris had to make the “final decision” in his very first vote, breaking a 2-2 tie.
The council then parceled off its committee assignments.
Members of the public addressing the council included representatives of the local chamber of commerce and the Flagler Holme Builders Association, who welcomed the new members with invitations to working relationships ahead. Both organizations are more nervous than buoyed by the new council since Norris, Pontieri and Stevens, to varying extents, have been critical of growth and developments, though Gambaro and Miller are still safely in the chamber’s and builders’ camp.
Today’s meeting began with the previous council still seated. The council certified the election results (overlooking a scrivener’s error that listed the number of voters as 190,000 instead of half that number: Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart said the figure was mistakenly reported from unofficial results. The official results contain the correct figure.)
Nick Klufas was absent. Ed Danko had no final words before he stepped down. David Alfin did, evoking the city’s past in a nearly desperate appeal to the new council not to overlook it. Alfin referred to Palm Coast’s founding by ITT half a century ago, its incorporation 25 years ago and the present.
“At this juncture, our community has been honoring the fond memories of our past we are living for today in the realities of our present, and we are anticipating tomorrow by planning for our future,” Alfin read from a statement. “It is my genuine belief that focusing on this interweaving of these three time periods will safeguard Palm Coast’s strength, innovation and solvency. Multiple priorities, technologies and expansions have taken over our lives since our city’s past, each affecting our present and future goals and responsibilities as they’ve amplified the ways we make decisions. It is my hope that our council and community will be unified when considering these elements to invest in a city where we will always be proud to call home.”
He added: “As a new future begins today with our new mayor, Mr. Mike Norris, I am honored to hand over the gavel so we can begin the next journey that evolved together with ingenuity and pride.”
But it is also true that the election was a repudiation not just of Alfin, but of the past he stood for. He stood by Norris during his swearing in in the well of the chamber, stood nearer the exit as the swearing-in of Miller and Stevens continued, then slipped out, barely three years after winning a special election to replace Milissa Holland.
Norris preferred not to take the gavel Alfin offered him. Instead, he will use a gavel that’s been in his family for many years: “This gavel is from Tracy’s grandfather, my wife, Tracy’s grandfather,” Norris said. “He was a mayor of South Florida for 20 years.” The family had held on to it. Norris also asked for prayers and support for his own family, various members of whom are struggling through grave illnesses. He then opened the floor to another round of public comment, which started with a friend of Norris’s reading an ardent Christian prayer.
It was not an exclusively ceremonial meeting. The new council turned to its most pressing priority: discussing the job description that will solicit the city’s next city manager, a recruiting process that will dominate the council’s coming weeks, and whose result will define both the city’s direction and the council’s power dynamics.
City Council members assigned themselves the following liaison responsibilities:
Affordable Housing Advisory Committee: Norris
Family Life Center: Pontieri
Flagler County Cultural Council: Pontieri
Flagler County Transportation Disadvantaged Local Coordinating Board: Norris
Flagler Schools Oversight Committee: Miller and Gambaro.
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Circuit 7: Stevens
Joint Cities and County Workshop: Miller and Norris
Volusia-Flagler Transportation Planning Organization (previously known as River to Sea TPO): Norris
St. Johns River Water Management District: Gambaro.
Stewart Marchman Act (SMA) Healthcare Board: Miller (tentatively).
Tourist Development Council: Pontieri
Flagler Humane Society Board – Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri
Justin says
Finally in with the new and will not miss those leaving.
Wallingford says
And you naively thought that Mr. Danko was not still on the City Council. It is quite obvious that Messrs. Gambaro and Miller are Dank 2.0. Mr. Gambaro showed his allegiance at the November 12, 2024 Meeting when he tried, without success, to have the vote to Censure Mr. Danko not taken by asking questions about precedence; He was the lone dissenting vote. One would have thought that, since this Council Meeting was ceremonial, they would have played nicely with others for just once and showed their true colors at a later date when a piece of business had to be voted upon. I guess that they couldn’t help themselves.
Billy says
Probably be the same old thing. Development after development strip the city to make it look like Orlando.
Backslapping Commission says
It is quite obvious where Gambaro’s loyalities lie which is
why he was stragetically elected by the 3 losers, Pontieri
wanted Daryl Boyer who would have fit in perfectly
plus he has the experience and background, this is what you
get when we don’t have an electorial process carried
out by the citizens. And how anyone can elect Miller another
developer crony is beyond insanity after all the complaints about
irresponsible overdevelopment and the circumstances of hundreds
of flooded homes I guess the ones who are not affected just
don’t care about their neighbors. On a good note we don’t
have to look at the other 3 faces anymore especially
Alfin the baloney salesman.