It’s not exactly what the short-listed candidates want to hear: you’re OK, but we’d rather not settle for you. We’re still looking.
That was, putting it kindly, the message the Palm Coast City Council sent the six candidates it short-listed, out of a shallow pool of 37, as it seeks to hire a permanent city manager. The more precise message is that a majority of council members aren’t happy with the candidate pool it got, and that it’s re-opening the search for at least a month.
While each of the short-listed candidates may have had his or her individual advocate among council members, none of them drew anything resembling the collective enthusiasm of the full council. That’s unusual. In every recent search for a top government executive among local governments or the school board, elected officials have coalesced around at least two or three candidates, decisively separating them from the rest.
Not this time. The council members’ choices and scores reflected it. Their top choices were so scattered that they collectively picked 16 names. They then assigned them grades on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1 reflecting best quality. A perfect score would have been 5. The closest a candidate came to that was Paul Trombino, a public works director in Greeley, Colorado, who’s never managed a city, with an 8, followed by Richard Hough, another public works director (in Wisconsin) who’s also never managed a city, with a 9. The other three scored 10’s. Hough and Trombino have a military or homeland security background that appealed especially to Council member Charles Gambaro, who gave each of them a 1, as did Council member Theresa Pontieri.
The other short-listed candidates are Robert Hemminger, Michael Rees, Kara Boyles, and Jerome Wilverding. One of the most qualified candidates in the original pool of 39, Sonya Alves-Viveiros, the city manager in Edison, N.J., whom Pontieri had liked especially, had withdrawn, as had John Vonglis, who had caught Gambaro’s eye.
They may be short-listed, but against the backdrop of a re-opened search as the council hopes to get something, or someone, better. The decision, and council members’ explicit reactions to the pool, means that if one of the short-listed candidates is eventually hired for lack of better, the council will have already tainted the new manager as second-best.
“Are you as a council, comfortable with the applicants that we have received?” Mayor Mike Norris asked when Doug Thomas of Strategic Government Resources, the consultant the city hired to recruit and parse through candidates, was done with his overview.
“I am not,” Pontieri said without hesitating.
“I think we’re a little top-heavy,” Council member Ty Miller said, addressing the matter diplomatically. “There’s several that are good candidates. I was hoping to see more so that we could find that perfect fit here for our city.”
“But you’re not happy with the pool of candidates?” Norris asked him.
“No, I’d like to see more higher end candidates,” Miller said. Council member Ray Stevens agreed.
“There’s a few that are worth taking a look at, but we can’t afford to get this decision wrong, and there’s absolutely no reason to rush to failure,” Gambaro said. “Our community deserves the right fit for us to move forward. We’ growing fast. We’ve got all sorts of current issues that we need to address. And as much as I would like to proceed to move forward, I think we need to continue to keep this open to receive more candidates. I’ve got my top five, based on the pool. There are some very intriguing candidates. But I think the unicorn might still be out there, to use the vice mayor’s term. I don’t think we kept it open long enough.”
SGR had, in fact, kept it open longer than the 30-day window, which was supposed to close on Dec. 29. Thomas kept it open into the first half of January, stretching the window from 30 to 47 days. “I was comfortable we got past the craziness the holidays to allow candidates that were expressing some interest in applying,” Thomas said. “So I don’t know that that was a factor, per se, because we did extend the deadline.” He acknowledged that the city shouldn’t hire someone it’s not comfortable with.
But he did not offer was an explanation for the shallow pool, though the council’s recent history fills in that non-mystery: though the majority of the council has turned over since the November election, its new members took seats still rattling from the dysfunctions and controversies of the past year or more, and from furies leveled at that council from the floor, however misinformed the furies often were. It’s been calmer since. But it’s likely that a number of potential candidates chose not to risk it. The new council is managing the consequences.
Because the pool was shallow, and because of Palm Coast’s recent past, the position drew a carousel of candidates especially leaden with questionable baggage. Gambaro noted the fact, telling Thomas that going forward, he’s not interested in receiving candidates about whom a simple Google search would reveal serious issues, such as criminal charges.
So SGR will continue to market the position for another month even as the council vets the six short-listed so far.
“It’s not a knock on any of these candidates, because, you know, everyone’s career is different,” Norris said. “But I don’t think anyone is comfortable right now with with the pool.” He favored going with the short-list at least to let the remaining people in the pool that they are no longer of interest here. At the same time, Miller said the risk of a longer search could cause existing, favored candidates to drop out or find work elsewhere.
Norris said some “fairly local” candidates have reached out to him, showing interest in the job, after the application window had closed. He appealed to those interested to apply. “I’m really leery of hiring somebody from across the country, because I don’t really as a professional, I don’t want to hire someone and move them halfway across the country and then have to terminate them in two years,” he said, again, and perhaps unwittingly, sending the sort of message that would make any top-flight applicant think twice before risking it in Palm Coast.
Applicants for Palm Coast City Manager, 2025: How Council Members Short-Listed
| TM | CG | RS | TP | MN | Score (Short-listed) | ||||
| Andrew (Drew) Willison | Washington, D.C. | Attorney, Oldaker & Willison | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 (No) | |
| Bradley (Brad) Gotshall | Lower Paxton, Pa. | Township manager, Lower Paxton (pop. 53,000) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 (No) | |
| Cesar Garcia | La Marque, Texas | City manager, La Marque, Texas (pop. 19,600) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 (No) | |
| Daniel (Danny) Coviello | Landsdale, Pa. | CEO, Goliath Engineering Technology | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 (No) | |
| Darren Coldwell | Page, Arizona | City manager, Page, Arizona (pop. 7,300) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 (No) | |
| David Strahl | Crest Hill, Ill. | Interim human resources manager, City of Crest Hill (pop. 21,000) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 (No) | |
| Denise Fitzgerald | Pittsburgh | Township Manager, Scott Township, Pa. (pop. 17,700) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 (No) | |
| James (Jim) Manfre | Palm Coast | Attorney in private practice | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 (No) | |
| Jerome (Jay) Wilverding | Stockton, Calif. | County administrator, Stockton County, Calif. (pop. 320,000) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 (Yes) | |
| Kara Boyles | Elkhart, Ind. | City engineer, South Bend, Ind. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 (Yes) | |
| Michael Reese | Maplewood, Mo. | Not employed. Was city manager, Maplewood, Mo. (pop. 8,000), until 2023. | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 (Yes) | |
| Paul Trombino | Greeley, Colo. | Public works department director, Greeley, Colo. | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 (Yes) | |
| Redmond Jones II | Iowa City, Iowa | Not employed. Was Deputy city manager in Iowa City from 2021 to 2024. | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 (No) | |
| Richard Hough | Fort Atkinson, Wis. | Public works director, Walworth County, Wis. | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 (Yes) | |
| Robert Hemminger | Iowa Colony, Texas | City manager, Iowa Colony, Texas (pop. 15,000) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 (Yes) | |
| Scott Moye | Waycross, Ga. | Not employed. Was County manager, Ware County, Ga. until October 2024. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 (No) | |
The resumes are presented here as submitted to Strategic Government Resources, Palm Coast's recruiter for the city manager search, and turned over to the city and to FlaglerLive. The candidates' current location is based on the candidate's listing of his, her or their hometown. When not listed, the location defaults to the candidate's current job location.
The dude says
A simple Google search will discourage the Best from thinking they could make any sort of difference here.
That and the MAGA shenanigans of just up and firing key city and county employees on a whim over perceived grievances.
Who’s gonna take a chance on moving their family here based on what is easily researched from just the last 4 years? Just more MAGA, so definitely not the best.
Villein says
Why does Palm Coast need a city manager? Can the counsel define the actual need for one? Can we just have the the developers lend the city administration an employee to serve as city manager and every six months be ceremoniously fired? That should make everyone happy. And likely very little would change.
Joe Turner says
Palm Coast is simply not an attractive opportunity for many public sector executives. I will explain why as succinctly as I can:
1. Council has a terrible reputation for being dysfunctional and treating their managers poorly – two recent executives have left the public sector entirely
2. Lack of salary range transparency and below market compensation – candidates do not want to waste their time applying for jobs when they have no clue what the salary will be, especially in Florida. And Palm Coast underpays. To give you an idea of where salaries are going, Springfield, MO with a much lower cost of living and more stable government is offering $350,000 to start.
3. Florida transparency laws outing all candidates that are currently employed makes it too risky. It is quite common for city managers to get fired or pushed out when the council learns they are candidates elsewhere. Why would an executive expose themselves to this risk for some unknown salary. Laughable.
4. Florida caps the severance at 20-weeks and it often takes managers up to a year or more to find a new job if they get fired. We only have one job we can apply for in each city. Most managers will get a minimum of 6 months in other states and 12 months is incredibly common.
5. Factor in 30-year mortgage rate risk – any manager with a sub 3% mortgage needs to make $20,000 more a year to cover a 7% mortgage on a $400,000 home — not counting all of the other expenses of moving
6. Flagler County home values are declining year-over-year by about 9% according to Redfin and insurance costs are skyrocketing
There is nothing attractive about this job and elected officials need to understand that local government executives talk and share notes. So when they treat one of us like garbage or don’t honor their word — we know.
Palm Coast needs to understand that she “ain’t the Belle of the Ball” and needs to pay a premium salary to attract the candidates it desires.
Sincerely,
Joe Turner
American Association of Municipal Executives
Endless dark money says
Just check the sex offender roles, good republicon candidates on that list. Nothing a pardon can’t fix right…
Dennis C Rathsam says
LETS DRAFT JOE TURNER! He,s perfect for the job, he has a brain!
Endless dark money says
As long as the hire doesn’t try to do anything that benefits actual people. If they do the cult of cons will remove them and attack them with their hate. Helping people is woke. Wanting a non fascist government that actually cares about humans is woke. Science is woke. So until the cons are gone we’re going to be fascist. Sorry to all those who will suffer as a result. We may try to fix it once enough of you have suffered. The Nazis are already building the concentration camps so should get nasty. May beat the old fuhrer’s record of 53 days before the democracy died. Stay tuned!!