Paul Trombino, one of the last two finalists for the Palm Coast city manager job, withdrew his candidacy this morning, less than 24 hours after the Palm Coast City Council made clear in a series of split votes that he doesn’t have the council’s full confidence or enthusiasm. That leaves one man standing: Richard Hough. The council did not feel any differently about him. Three other finalists had dropped out before they were interviewed.
“I can confirm that Paul dropped out,” Brittany Kershaw, the city’s communications director, said in late morning today. Doug Thomas of SGR, the recruiting firm a previous city council hired to lead the search for a city manager, “talked to Lauren and Renina this morning and let them know that Mr Trombino had removed himself from consideration.” Lauren Johnston is the acting city manager. Renina Fuller is the director of human resources.
Trombino and Thomas did not return calls and texts. Trombino’s decision is less of a surprise than Hough’s to stay in. Three-member council majorities voted against hiring either of them at Tuesday evening’s meeting. Council member Theresa Pontieri was especially concerned about what she saw as a lack of budgeting experience in both candidates.
Then, in somewhat of pile-up of humiliations, the council agreed to assign them both homework: they’d have to draft a “white paper” on budgeting and submit it to the council for review at next Tuesday evening’s meeting. That’s after the mayor interviewed both of them by the tailpipe of his pick-up truck in City Hall’s parking lot because he refused to conduct the interviews in his office.
All council members lauded the two candidates and all said they’d be willing to vote for one of them, but a majority–Pontieri, Ty Miller and Dave Sullivan–was reluctant, while two of the five did not want to appoint anyone without a unanimous vote. Council member Charles Gambaro motioned to appoint Trombino, but would not lend support to a Hough majority.
Being left with one candidate “doesn’t change anything for me,” Miller said today. “My position is, they’re not necessarily what I envision what our city manager to be, and that’s no slight to them. Both candidates have an obvious career projection and experience, they’ve done a lot of things that are important.” But Miller sees them more as department heads than city managers who will “fundamentally change the way the city does business.” He said they are “not necessarily the rock stars we were looking for.”
But there’s a third choice, Miller said, echoing Sullivan: the city has a city manager in Johnston. The city needs time to get past the turmoil of the last few months and burnish the council’s reputation so that in a renewed search, the candidate pool would be of a higher caliber.
“We have to keep the city running,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think the staff is doing a bad job, I think Lauren is doing a pretty good job, I don’t think it’s a crisis or anything like that, and we’ve got other issues to work on.” Sullivan was close to giving Trombino the third vote he needed to be appointed, and in a mistaken vote, did exactly that until he reversed. He appeared willing to affirmatively cast a vote for Trombino in a re-vote, but opted not to once he realized it would not be unanimous. As the newest member of the council, he said, he did not want to be the swing vote on such an important decision.
Sullivan was not ready to say what he would do next Tuesday, though the council may discuss that sooner: it has a special meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday (May 1), when it is to discuss the results of the independent investigation that found Mayor Mike Norris to have violated the charter.
Norris, the investigation found, unilaterally and out of public view sought the resignations of Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo, among other improprieties. The investigation was conducted by Tallahassee attorney Adam Brandon, who is appearing before the council at the special meeting. Brandon found a case of malfeasance could be made against Norris.
Allegations against Norris, compounded by Norris’s own unsupported allegation that Charles Gambaro, one of the council members, is serving illegally (the city attorney dismissed the claim), have contributed to council instability that pre-dated the current majority, projecting a difficult work environment for any prospective manager. Barely three dozen people applied when SRG recruited last winter, forcing an extension of the application window. It didn’t help.
Johnston, the city manager, has not received any direction regarding next Tuesday’s meeting in light of Trombino’s withdrawal, meaning that as things stand now, the council would still discuss Hough’s lone white paper. In a text, Pontieri said today: “My concerns regarding lack of large-scale budgeting experience at the magnitude our city requires are not alleviated by the withdrawal of Mr. Trombino.”
A clause in the SGR contract provides that SGR would restart the search if the council does not find a candidate to its satisfaction. But the chances of the council sticking with SGR–the firm the city used when it hired Matt Morton as city manager in 2018–are diminishing.
Editor’s note: An earlier headline for this story characterized the council’s actions as a “debacle,” suggesting council malfunction. The description was not reflective of the meeting—or the article as reported—and was therefore inaccurate. While there was a minor malfunction involving Dave Sullivan’s initial vote for Paul Trombino, caused by technicalities out of Sullivan’s control, that malfunction was corrected in the re-vote. The headline should have reflected the fact that the candidate dropped out because the council majority voted against him. The number of votes to get there was not reflective of malfunction but deliberation, none of it improper, discourteous or unusual when the stakes are this high. The headline has been edited accordingly.
Denise Henry says
This does not surprise me after talking to both candidates at the Meet and Greet. Richard Hough has my vote and I fully believe he will do well for the city. I felt Trombino seemed wishy-washy and wasn’t well-prepared in his presentation and interview. What this article did not mention is that residents gave a thumbs up to Mr. Hough but just like the decision of the Council for the replacement of Mr. Stevens, they totally ignored the residents. I for one did not vote for them to ignore the will of the people.
Dennis L says
This whole thing is a shit show that should certainly discourage any new home buyers to Palm Coast. I don’t know Norris, but I was excited about his motion for a moratorium on new construction given the state of the cities water issues. If the city can’t handle the current population of Palm Coast needs, why keep adding to the problem until it’s resolved! Only thing that comes to mind is money. Somebody is getting it and the sooner we learn who the better off this city will be. In the mean time we pay way too much for water that stains are sinks and toilets. Makes me sorry I moved here. I understand there has to be growth, but it should be done without or as little a inconvenience to the folks that reside here,
FlaglerLive says
The previous evening’s article on the votes reported that Hough got several endorsements from members of the audience who addressed the council.
Choice is Easy says
I understand that budget experience is important, but the city manager doesn’t work in isolation — there are experienced staff in place to handle the technical aspects. Leadership, vision, and the ability to work well with the team seem far more critical. At this point, the budget concern feels more like an excuse than a reason.
Personally, I thought Hough gave a stronger interview and came in more prepared- he is the rock star. The other candidate dropping out doesn’t feel like a loss to me — if anything, it clarifies the path forward.
justbob says
Note to the City Council: OK…time for a time out in the City Manager selection. It’s clear nobody wants us and do we wonder why? Nope, because it’s a messed up council and city… attributable mainly to the mayor. Who would ever want to work in the atmosphere he created. So, stop, re-group, get your act together, keep the excellent Acting City Manager on board, wait for all the investigations to end and hope the mayor for the good of the city does the right thing and hang it up. It really has gotten downright humiliating. If you can’t reach a majority consensus of one out of two candidates, that’s a big deal. And to settle for the “last man standing” … to win by default, isn’t the way at all to conclude things.
t.o. Doug says
No surprise after the council repeatedly embarrassed themselves last night.
Perhaps keeping Lauren is the sensible option- at least she knows the ins and outs of the city and the personalities involved. She has also shown the deft ability to change course at the whims of the elected- a skill that shouldn’t have to be as useful as it is, but here we are.
DwFerguson says
Can be a Unanimous Vote Now
Deborah Coffey says
Elect clowns…get a circus!
Rm says
Mr Richard Hough, has the resume to be the City Manager. He is clear concise. His Resume represents him well.
The dude says
The one who actually wants this job, is not the one we want.
I can certainly sympathize with the gentleman… after all MAGA has crashed a robust economy and we’re heading into a deep trump slump due to these new high taxes imposed by the president… it’s hard to find a job, or eggs, or toilet paper in a MAGA economy.
But I stand by my previous comments. If he actually wants it, he’s either not done the research or he’s not qualified.
Who won ? says
So is the last man standing the winner,by default, or.
Is he the biggest loser ?
Sinan Wiese says
Start the City Manager search anew but without SRG. The process under SRG’s auspices was less than optimal. The City has the luxury of having a qualified Interim City Manager; she is far more qualified than the last man standing. The Residents of Palm Coast deserve better than to settle for a City Manager. Give them what they deserve!!!
JimboXYZ says
“Then, in somewhat of pile-up of humiliations, the council agreed to assign them both homework: they’d have to draft a “white paper” on budgeting and submit it to the council for review at next Tuesday evening’s meeting.”
Now that’s funny, making the City Manager pool of candidates write them an essay on how to budget. I doubt any of the council can write a white paper themselves that hasn’t been policy & procedure since Palm Coast was founded, that was most likely a stolen document from another City where those people ever worked. It’s no secret that I’ve even seen City of Palm Coast job postings that have been plagiarized as stolen from other SE USA states for a government position. One of those City of Palm Coast RPF PDF’s downloads even had the watermarks of that out of state government. If you’re going to claim to be a ball of fire & superstar, at least do your own work ? And those folks know who they are that have recycled another’s job description. That’s HR in any industry or government though. Recycled labor has been like that since the dawn of HR & recruiting.
“That’s after the mayor interviewed both of them by the tailpipe of his pick-up truck in City Hall’s parking lot because he refused to conduct the interviews in his office.”
This is irrelevant where anyone interviewed. If one can’t satisfactorily answer those questions in the parking lot, does the answer become any more satisfactory for better after registering for a temporary access badge for an office or boardroom interview ? At least in public parking space/lot there are those that can hear the answers, know the interview was conducted & what questions were asked ? Is that a new level of recruiting transparency ? And if the council is going to reject the candidate anyway, based upon resume, why even answer the questions. It’s obvious the responses aren’t ever going to impress the panel of judges. The “illusions of the best”, that’s what life has always been in this world. Any job opening is filed with what the best candidate in the moment was hoped was selected. Imagine all the 1syt round NCAA QB’s the Cleveland Browns brought in that failed, ruined their careers. Sometimes it’s not the player, it’s how the game plays out on the field. Tom Brady was a 6th round pick, look at what his accomplishments are. The one’s we do have, Norris said it, some of them haven’t earned being retained as employees. That happens everywhere. Not like nobody ever/never got fired in their lifetime. Even the “yes men” that every corporation has ever had. Those folks needed to have been fired at least once, at some point for actual performance. Just keeping that much real. Nobody is that good, even Bill Bellicheck got fired as head coach of the Patriots after building that dynasty when the team went in the other direction for W-L record. Sports analogies aside. There isn’t one human being that can’t be replaced. Anyone remember a guy named Steve Jobs at Apple ? Apple seems to have not skipped a beat ? How long ago was that ? 2011, that was 14 years ago. That’s almost 60 percent of the way to a quarter of a century.
Greg says
All I can say is, laugh my ass off
celia pugliese says
Has become pretty difficult to find a city manager that will follow the still current trend in Palm Coast to satisfy special interest and the “wants” of developers/contractors that looks like set up camp in city hall, versus the “needs” of the residents! This is sadly my current view in the last 20 years of the satus of Palm Coast and also Flagler County.
Russell says
Celia, I agree with you. I’ve been here since I started building a home in 1999, so like you, I’ve seen a lot. I’m not sure that I can name who is backing the ” Move West ” movement. But most likely it is the developers. One of the problems with this is that once a developer finishes a project, they leave the area, and we will never see them again. Compare this with the local single home builder, who lives here and wants to build more homes in the future and cares about the community.
Drive somewhere in PC and see the backup in traffic. Look at the new water / sewer bill. Schools are crowded. I see new houses not being sold but rented. Some of these issues are what the current citizens are concerned about. I for one am embarrassed about are city council. Looking at what is going, makes me think that our local government is very concerned about future residents, not existing residents, so much.
Anyone agree?
Willy James says
Perhaps it’s time to appoint either Ed Danko or Joe Mullins to be the new City Manager!
Dennios C Rathsam says
Make Mike Chumento, city manager…He already has the keys to the city!
Peter Wass says
Having been there and done that, I would opine that the council is looking for someone who does not exist or at least so rare, it is unlikely one is available to be hired. The problem with most citizens who run for elected office is most of them do not posses enough knowledge for the position they get elected to. That is a dilemma, for sure. How to involve citizens who do not know much about the specifics for government is a worthy question. In my experience, it takes about two years for a new official to learn what is required to serve properly. There is a lot more involved in service than rendering one’s opinion. In my opinion, the council should be more interested in searching for someone who is more nuts and bolts oriented than a Rock Star. A great manager vs a GOD.
Mark K says
In my mind, an city manager for Palm Coast should focus first on the current population of the city. In that way you make Palm Coast a more desirable place to hold residence that will drive higher real estate values at a sustainable growth rate. Quick money grabs in the real estate place are common but often lead to sub-optimal results for the population.
As for the city manager, perhaps the city should look beyond people with just municipal experience to those who have both industry and big 4 leadership experience. The ability to create a budget is relatively simple compared to the skills required to lead the city forward. Do the prospective leaders have integrity? Can they foster a learning environment? Can they build a winning team and maintain that team’s morale? Can they communicate effectively? What is their process for crisis management? Do they have effective negotiations skills? And can they set strategic goals as to how they view the future of our city?