Perhaps it’s something in the water. When the Palm Coast City Council deals with its water and sewer utility, tempers flare and the gavel bangs, as was the case on two occasions Tuesday evening during council approvals of expensive but unremarkable and expected appropriations for long-planned infrastructure improvements.
One resident was silenced, if appropriately so–she appeared to be violating the council’s public speaking rules–another (a council candidate) was almost thrown out, and a third (a county commission candidate) lectured the council about its public comment segments and warned that “you are on your way to a major lawsuit.”
All this over pedestrian approvals that nevertheless are intended to show the public the transparency of the city’s utility improvements.
Palm Coast’s Wastewater Treatment Plant 1 in the Woodlands, its oldest, is under a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Protection to build up capacity, which is at times overwhelmed during heavy rain events (though never to the point that sewer service in the city is compromised). The consent order was also the trigger for the council to do what the council a year earlier had declined to do–approve an extensive, nearly $600 million utility-improvement plan that hinges on a $330 million bond issue.
The expansion and modernization of the plant will account for about a third of that–“the critical element of the consent order,” Utility Director Brian Roche said. To put the figures in perspective: the city’s general fund, which pays for all municipal services such as public safety, fire, parks, code enforcement and government administration, totals $67 million.
The existing plant processes 6.83 million gallons per day. It accounts for 75 percent of the city’s effluents, serving customers between U.S. 1 and Palm Coast’s eastern boundary. The expansion will allow for an extra 4 million gallons per day, producing what Roche described as “high-quality” effluent–meaning that treatment will filter it in a more environmentally friendly way.
The council previously approved spending $6.89 million for pre-construction services and electrical upgrades. The $3.6 million appropriation the council approved Tuesday is to build ground-stabilizing foundations for the coming expansion. The foundations of stone columns would reduce the potential for ground settlement. “Still a very large amount of money, but small compared to the overall project,” Roche said. “A good bit of this is funded through the bond funds,” with a small portion covered by grants.
The next ask from Roche to the council, in about six months, will be closer to $100 million.
“We’ve approved a major, major program to upgrade Wastewater Treatment Plant 1, millions and millions of dollars,” Council member Dave Sullivan said. “Bringing these back individually as you start to do the job realizes that this isn’t just one deal. This is going to be multiple actions that had to be taken to complete that project. I think it’s good.” He said the public often questions the visibility of the city’s works. “Well, this is visible. Nobody’s hiding anything here,” he said.
That did not stop an F-Section resident, Marilyn Mack, from almost immediately attacking Sullivan’s claim. “That’s really laughable, that you don’t have anything to hide,” she charged.
“On this particular point, I am correct,” Sullivan snapped, drawing a caution from Mayor Mike Norris to ensure that the resident’s three minutes in the public comment segment on the given item were not interrupted.
“I just want to make a public comment here while I’m back after a year and a half, and not coming here to this clown show,” Mack said. The moment she said that, it was Norris who interrupted her, questioning whether she was in fact addressing the utility item specifically, as required by the public comment rules. She said she was, but then started talking about the city hiring a consultant for the utility fund and never auditing it in 27 years, which is not accurate. The fund is audited yearly, as are all city funds. (See the 2025 audit here.)
“I’m going to have to cut you off,” Norris told Mack. “You are not talking about this specific item.” She eventually went back to her seat and the council approved the item unanimously.
The council moved on to another utility item, a $4.7 million management plan that would address a half dozen aspects of the utility system, from compliance details with the consent order to planning needs for the next 20 years, including an analysis for a third wastewater plant. “These are the extra steps that we need to do to make sure that we meet all regulatory requirements,” Roche said.
“Yes, this has a high price tag, but to your point, this is a multi-million dollar project,” Council member Theresa Pontieri said. “So we need to make sure we’re doing everything right, not wasting money by not properly planning.” The contract is with Dallas-based Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. The company may not exceed the contracted amount.
As the council opened the floor before its vote, one of the speakers was Jeani Duarte, the council candidate who has been removed from the chamber twice before. “Violating a resident’s rights to speak is also a violation of our rights to be informed,” she began, drawing an interruption from the mayor. “You’re not sticking to the agenda. We have policies and procedures for public comment,” he said.
There was a verbal duel, a gaveling, a directive by the mayor to a sheriff’s deputy to remove Duarte, but City Attorney Marcus Duffy put on his blue helmet, advised Duarte that she could address other topics at the end of the meeting, and to stick to the contract if she intended to speak at that given point. Duarte returned to her seat. The council–after a comment from Darlene Shelley, yet another candidate in this year’s election, about transparency in spending–voted, again unanimously to approve the contract.
“We are doing everything we can from an impact fee standpoint for utilities,” Pontieri said, addressing Shelley’s concerns. “None of us wanted to enter into $250 million worth of debt, that’s for sure. But a lot of this should have been addressed back in 2018, 2020 and we were just so far behind the ball. We had to. First of all, we do have the DEP consent order that we have to comply with. But from a health and safety standpoint, this was a step that had to be taken, and there is no feasible way of getting it done. You’re talking about–ultimately to Brian’s point–a $600 million project in total, and we had to take out a loan for this.”
If there is a silver lining, Pontieri said, it is that future residents–future rate-payers–will be assuming a share of the bond repayments.
That’s assuming future rate-payers materialize on the city’s timetable. The city made the same bet during the previous vast housing expansion in 2004-2008, only to face a housing crash and raise rates on current residents to make up for payments nonexistent new residents were not generating. That risk looms. (See, from 2013: “Palm Coast Approves 17.6% Water-Rate Hike, Pleasing Bond-Holders More Than Residents.”)
It was Ray Royer, the county commission candidate–he is running as an independent in the same District 2 race in which Pontieri, along with Greg Feldman, are running–spoke to the council about its public-comment periods, and of its risking a lawsuit. (The risk appears slight, considering the council’s explicit rules and the combined arbitration and mediation of the mayor and the city attorney.)
There seemed at Tuesday’s meeting to be a concerted–if not quite orchestrated–effort to attack incumbents, as Pontieri herself took fire, seemingly out of nowhere and based on misinformation, from the previous president of the Palm Coast Historical Society over cultural grant awards the council itself had ratified but not selected.
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