The Palm Coast City Council did the right (and impressive) thing when it voted down both of the last two remaining candidates for city manager on Tuesday. It looked messy. But that’s what deliberative democracy is like, especially on high-stakes votes. It would have looked more suspicious if the council were in lock-step, especially in this case.
Instead, we had two council members–Theresa Pontieri and Ty Miller–staking out the difficult but necessary position: why settle for anything less than the stellar candidate they have been seeking? We had another, Dave Sullivan, refusing to lend his vote to anything non-unanimous, even if it meant sacrificing his preferred candidate. We had a fourth, Charles Gambaro, who set aside his natural predilection for leaders with military credentials as he went for the civilian, then stood firm against the mayor’s pressure to switch.
We even had the fifth, Mayor Mike Norris, willing to go either way for the sake of a decision, though that would have been more capitulation than decisiveness. Compromise is essential on most decisions in government. This was not one of those decisions. Clear-eyed leadership distinguishes between compromise and surrender. Four council members showed that leadership Tuesday. The city manager decision will not be half-baked.
Let’s hope they stick to that resolve. As of this writing, one of the last two dropped out. Of course he did. It’s the only thing to do when a majority of a board votes against you, especially when you are already near the tail end of a threadbare list whose top choices dropped out a long time ago. Remember: the leading candidate who was nearest to the unanimous support of the council opted to run with the caribou near the Arctic Circle rather than so much as risk a job interview in Palm Coast. He was right: who wants to be interviewed by the tailpipe of a truck?
The question is why is Rich Hough still in it? The desperation is concerning. If it’s not desperation, it’s obstinacy, and that’s even more concerning, because it reflects a damn-the-torpedoes temperament unsuited for a civil, local government that needs more steering than fixing.
And no, let’s not confuse it with tenacity. Tenacity would have been Hough’s willingness to stick out an arduous process on equal footing with three or four other candidates going through the same stress tests. That’s not what’s happening here. He’s the last man standing by elimination, not by right. As a city councilman from a distant era told me, “Palm Coast needs a city manager, not a Survivor winner or a commanding officer. Picking Hough just because he self-selected as the last man standing would not be good.”
If there is pressure to appoint a manager, it’s artificial.
Let’s not take our cues from the misinterpretation of public-comment segments at council meetings. Every time the council has discussed the city manager hire, the chamber has been mostly empty. It’s the case in most instances. Contrary to the mayor’s misconception about crowds, empty chambers are not a sign of indifference or lack of engagement. They’re an endorsement from the city’s 100,000 residents that the council can do what it was elected to do: take care of business while the 100,000 take care of theirs–work, school, golf. Chambers fill only when councils fail.
Thoughtful people do show up to address specific issues. But they don’t recycle. That leaves the floor to vainglorious commenters, the same six and a half misinforming and disinforming dregs who keep monopolizing the lectern during public comment segments.
These aren’t dissenters, challengers or insurgents, which every government needs. They’re gadfly demagogues. They keep blabbering on about corruption and forensic audits and that damn splash pad or the utility or the legitimacy of Charles Gambaro, spitting falsehoods, slandering city staff and shrilling to the old propagandistic standard: repeat a lie often enough and people will start believing it.
They create the disproportionate impression that they stand for more than the performative grouchers they are. Their three minutes are their stage, their self-validation. They address anything and everything because they don’t have anything better to do than play Joe McCarthy in Town Center. These days they’re Mike Norris’s amen corner. They’re the reason these council meetings have degenerated into circuses, with Norris’s gavel-armed encouragement. But they represent a cult, not a majority.
The council has at times been swayed by the din. Tuesday showed us that it also knows where to draw the line. Now it has to find a way to defuse the IED in its midst, as the mayor has become a one-man demolition show.
That task aside, and as Sullivan put it, the city is “not in crisis.” Nor is the administration lacking leadership. There are rumors that a staff exodus is under way at City Hall–the kind of rumors those dregs I just mentioned would spread to further fabricate the image of a city adrift. There is no exodus from the numbers I’ve gathered. There are some 600 employees in the organization. Ten resigned in March and April. A year ago in those two months, nine resigned, and the year before that, 10. Only one of those 29 was in the central administration. So let’s not confuse the one-man debacle on the City Council with instability at the city, or even on the council as a whole.
Lauren Johnston has the council’s and the city’s confidence to manage City Hall. The council should see her as the regent the city needs right now (or the manager pro tempore, if we are to stay away from monarchic allusions), until the council gels and restores the kind of reputation that draws 120 applicants next time it searches for a city manager, not 38. If anyone doubts Johnston’s capabilities, they only need listen to the final two minutes of Thursday’s council meeting, when she capped three hours of manure with wisdom and proved that she is the right person in the right place at the right time. She’s not acting. She is steering a sturdy ship. Only its captain is mistaking it, with disturbing zeal, for the Titanic.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
Purveyor of Truth says
Oh the irony of this dysfunctional lot to judge the worthiness of the candidates. The candidates should breath a sigh of relief they were “unworthy “.
Wasted money AGAIN says
How many taxpayer dollars did it take for these clowns to get back to square one ??
Gina Weiss says
Congratulations Lauren Johnston! People always remember people by
their last action and I remember we once had a disagreement and you
handled it like a real pro, you remained humbled and unbias and in fact
told me you are open for further discussion, you even apoligized to me
which you did not have to do because of the way I felt which showed me
that you do care, you always gave me a big inviting smile and hello the few times
I have shown at city meetings despite our disagreement. I remarked to our Mayor at a
meeting in your presence that you should be the one and I am quite impressed at
your gracefullness and of how fast you have grown and how informative and
active your voice is at meetings. Wishing you all the best and full speed ahead.
Critical Eye says
Pierre, you wrote precisely what my spouse and I have been saying to each other every time we watch the 6 1/2 people distorting the truth at the Palm Coast city council meetings. Many other people of Palm Coast also agree with you. Thank you for wording it so perfectly. Everything that you wrote is 100% right on the mark. You hit the bullseye. And a big thank you for giving Lauren Johnson the praise that she so rightly deserves.
Thomas Hill says
Pierre now that you have bestowed your political beliefs on us remember
Mayor Norris won by a good majority!
Mike says
If it wasn’t for her mother she would never of had a job. Nasty,arrogant and unqualified.
Using Common Sense says
Who wrote this crap? Completely disagree with ALl of it. Yes, Lauren seems like a nice person, but she undermined the Mayor, invalidated his trust in her. In addition, she lacks the experience, credentials, and charter requirements for city manager. Salary should reflect experience, and many city employees do not qualify for the exorbitant compensation packages they receive and are not working for the residents! Those that want Ms. Johnson to stay on as city manager have an agenda that she is willing to push for them as she did for Alvin and his band of merry elf and Kluless and she will ensure more government bloat as her dismissal of the Doge offer demonstrated. Good on Mr. Miller for pursuing this option they may ferret out waste and corruption, which many feel is rampant in Palm Coast
JimboXYZ says
Interesting spin on the fact that 4 of the top 5 candidates, 1 of the final 2, for City Manager rejected relocating to Palm Coast ? One of them chose the Arctic Circle over Sunny FL, another chose to remain in dreary NJ ? Interesting spin, a council requiring a white paper for budgeting. I’ll ask for it again, does a Palm Coast White Paper already exist for budgeting ? Let’s see the P&P white paper if one does exist ? Let’s see that policy & procedure write up for the step by step budgeting process, rather than what is already in place and the budgeting process is just a matter of using the same budget as modified from the previous budget approval ? If a white paper doesn’t exist already, anything that any candidate would have provided as a white paper would have been uncompensated work as a contracted deliverable for a City Manager position that really has a high turnover rate ? While I do appreciate the due diligence the council had to fill the position, the fact remains there has been very little stability in being the City Manager of Palm Coast. Beating up the next round of candidates for what the last several City Managers have endured. Remember, this is how we got here ? Was Bevan blind sided & sucker punched, that was a 3-2 vote, the next City Manager has to be a 5-0 unanimous from this council ? Using this most recent candidate pool as the punching bag, doesn’t change facts for those with short memories. A 13+months ago 18% increase was the number for the utilities hike. Somehow, that number nearly doubled in the last year to 36, before 32 % was approved. And that is how Palm Coast got to this point where a new city manager was being considered for a hiring process, the Alfin Hangover lives on in 2025.
https://flaglerlive.com/out-of-her-control-palm-coast-mayor-david-alfin-explains-why-he-fired-city-manager-denise-bevan/
Pierre Tristam says
Yes, near the same majority that Kimberle Weeks won by in 2012 before she was convicted on a slew of felony charges. Your point?
Billy says
Does she work for developers or citizens?
t.o. Doug says
I think I’ve come to agree, though I certainly didn’t at first.
Unless there is a rockstar, flying someone across the country and giving them an exorbitant salary to perhaps do a job as well as Ms. Johnston -if we’re lucky- is a gross mismanagement of much needed funds. This city has already wasted so much on the search alone.
At least she has prioritized customer service and community outreach.
MLL says
By your write up it sounds and comes across that you do not like Mike Norris at all. As a writer should you not be open minded and not so critical of one person. Yes, I agree I think Ms Johnston wrote a very nice letter saying let’s get to work for the people and Palm Coast. Move on! MLL
Critical Eye says
Great point Pierre. Who could ever forget Kimberlee Weeks ?
There’s absolutely no comparison between Ms Lauren Johnson and Kimberlee Weeks. On the other hand Norris could certainly be the male version of Kimberlee Weeks.
Same mentality.
Pierre Tristam says
In my previous column I made it very clear that I liked Mike Norris personally. This isn’t about like or dislike. It’s about responsible governing. Running a city is not a Facebook page emoji. Nor is a serious discussion of city issues.
celia pugliese says
She’s not acting: Lauren Johnston, Palm Coast’s city manager. Your words FlaglerLive and if so our city charter again is violated as on it the manager has to reside within city limits.
Pierre Tristam says
She’s not acting, Celia, as in: what she’s doing is not an act (like, say, Ronald Reagan was doing for eight years).
Duane says
I don’t know Lauren but as I have stated before, it would be in her best interest to negotiate her exit strategy before it is too late. Even if she works out the issues with the Mayor, a new manager will see her as a threat and she will not last long. She is good at keeping the ship afloat but she in not the long term manager this city needs. My recommendation to the council is to contact the Range Riders of FCCMA and request a temporary manager to help this city get though this process in one piece (peace). A Range Rider is a very qualified city manager who is retired. He or she will come in with no expectation of a permanent job and hep this city not only get on track with its budget and operational needs but also work with the council to get the city manager position filled properly.
celia pugliese says
I am not posting to undermine the CM, but realistically her last minute lecture to council sounded like “too little too late” as the golden opportunity we gave (I was one that supported her) Lauren is still unfulfilled. Her conciliatory lecture intentions should have been used from the start by avoiding the circus and resolve the issue thru the HR department like some real malfeasant actions by some city employees regarding “hours not worked or monies for services” surfaced and then we never heard of it again…This mayor has not commited any crime even worthy of shamefully referred to the Ethic Commission. Same unfairness to those that by large majority voted for this mayor while enduring these punishing never ending meetings battling for our safety, health, value of our homes and quality of life being scorned now by the very media we have supported all these years: We are the David in this uneven fight with Goliath and for our 3 minutes or less pleads are called: recycled gadfly demagogues, vainglorious commenters, the same six and a half misinforming and disinforming dregs and gadfly demagogues, keep blabbering on about corruption and forensic audits and that damn splash pad or the utility or the legitimacy of Charles Gambaro, spitting falsehoods, slandering city staff and shrilling to the old propagandistic standard: repeat a lie often enough and people will start believing it, the performative grouchers they are, they represent a cult, not a majority. Meanwhile if the city has a city manager since Bevan was unceremoniusly booted why our charter is being violated as the CM is supposed to reside in Palm Coast? Or the council decides when to observe the charter and when not? In this county and now PC there is a long list of witch hunted in the not distant past: our former DA excellent resident and Attorney Mr. Tanner, former Sheriff Manfre, former honest SOE Kim Weeks and now Mayor Norris. Skewed report it enough so the gullible will believe it.