The Palm Coast City Council’s special meeting today heard and discussed an attorney’s independent investigation sustaining allegations that Mayor Mike Norris violated the charter by unilaterally seeking the ouster of top staffers, behaving unprofessionally at City Hall and repeatedly demeaning staff. But the report was almost a sideshow as the meeting devolved into often baseless screeds from the floor and self-pity from Norris.
Palm Coast
Recruiter’s Advice to Palm Coast Council in City Manager Hire: Pause, ‘Settle Down’ and Gel Before Restarting Search
The consultant who coordinated Palm Coast’s search for a new city manager is recommending that the council pause its search for now, that it regroup, go through a facilitated process for its members to better understand each other and “gel” before moving on to another search. Only one candidate remains, Rich Hough. The council had asked for a white paper on budgeting from him earlier this week. That will not happen, for now.
Yet Another City Manager Candidate Drops Out After Palm Coast Council’s Disfavor, Leaving Last One Standing in Uncertainty
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.
A Sharply Divided Palm Coast City Council Fails to Appoint a New City Manager In Series of Messy Votes
As with so much in the recent history of the council, tonight’s attempt to appoint a permanent city manager was messy, it lacked unity, and it ended in deadlock as the council voted in zigzags against both Paul Trombino and Richard Hough in a half dozen 3-2 votes. The council opted to ask both candidates to write white papers on budgeting by next week to allow for yet another vote. Whether either candidate will agree is unclear, especially after this evening’s deliberations.
Palm Coast Absent as Ground Breaks on $11.2 Million General Aviation Building at Flagler County Airport
Eight years after it was conceived–and at almost three times its original cost–the future 15,000 square foot general aviations building at Flagler County Executive Airport finally got its ground ceremonially broken this morning before dozens of local officials and spectators. The $11.2 million building is financed by a $5.6 million grant from the state Department of Transportation, a $5 million appropriation from the legislature, and $620,000 in local airport funds.
Palm Coast’s Choice for City Manager: One Candidate With Extensive Civil Experience, the Other Military
In Richard Hough and Paul Trombino, the last two candidates for Palm Coast city manager still standing at the end of a thin and self-eroded field, the City Council has two distinct choices if it decides to offer the job to one of them at its evening meeting Tuesday: one brings extensive military experience, the other brings even more extensive civil experience. For all their differences, they have one thing in common. Neither has been a city or county manager, though both have managed large operations with large budgets and sizeable personnel.
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris’s Choice: Change Conduct or Become Irrelevant
Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris doesn’t have to change his politics. But if he is to be a relevant mayor rather than an isolated nobody on the council for the next four years, he should change his conduct. He would benefit from giving his Napoleonic ego a four-year sabbatical and from giving up the illusion that his power is more than one-fifth of the council’s, that his word is law, or that the mayor’s position is defined by authority more than ceremony. He has plenty of time to rescue his mayorship. The council would be his first ally. So would the administration. He doesn’t seem interested.
Another Stunner from Mayor Norris: He Interviews City Manager Candidates By His Truck in Parking Lot
Less than 24 hours after he posted a sepia-colored “WANTED” poster of himself, thumbing his nose at his critics, Palm Coast Mayor this morning held his two interviews with prospective city manager candidates in the City Hall parking lot, standing by his truck–and forcing the two candidates to do likewise.
Palm Coast and Flagler County Issue Burn Ban as Drought Index Rises and City’s Water Consumption Raises Concerns
Flagler County and Palm Coast have jointly issued a seven-day burn ban starting today as a result of increasingly dry conditions, which heighten the likelihood of wildfires. The fire danger index is moderate for the county. In Palm Coast, water use is rising to alarming levels, a city official said, which could hinder firefighting efforts in big wildfire emergencies.
Divider. Coward. Bully. Dictator: 4 Palm Coast City Council Members on Mayor Mike Norris, In Their Own Words
As the Palm Coast City Council in a pair of unanimous votes censured Mayor Mike Norris, expressed its no-confidence in him and forwarded a complaint to the Florida Ethics Commission, each of the four council members spoke at length about their vote on motions unprecedented in Palm Coast’s 25-year history. Their statements follow.
Timing of YMCA’s $16 Million Facility in Palm Coast May Hinge on City and School Board Cash Contributions
The Volusia Flagler YMCA is prepared to build a $16 million, 44,000-square-foot YMCA in Palm Coast’s Town Center with a 50-meter Olympic-size swimming pool. But the organization is asking Palm Coast government for $3 million, and to take over management of the city’s Aquatic Center, known as Freida Zamba pool. The Y is also asking the Flagler County School Board for $3 million, which the board will see as a very heavy lift, and will be approaching the county with a similar request. The Y’s Palm Coast project does not appear to be contingent on the government’s cash contributions, but its immediacy will be.
Palm Coast Council Excoriates an Absent Mayor Norris in Extraordinary Unanimous Censure and No-Confidence Vote
“Coward.” “Bully.” “Dictator.” “Abysmal.” “Shocking.” “Conspiracist.” “Ego.” “inferiority complex.” “An embarrassment.” Those are some of the terms Palm Coast City Council members used today to describe their colleague, Mayor Mike Norris, before a pair of unanimous votes extraordinary for their reach and intent–one to formally censure him and express the council’s no-confidence in him, one to forward a formal complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics. If sustained, the council intends the complaint to be the precursor of a request to Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Norris from office.
Selling Palm Harbor Golf Course: Palm Coast Will Seek Buyer for City’s Deficit-Prone ‘Gem’
Possibly ending the city’s 17-year ownership of the Palm Harbor Golf Club, the Palm Coast City Council will look for a buyer for the 137-acre course and backyard to hundreds of properties in the C-Section. The request for proposal will include the condition that the land remain a golf course in perpetuity. The council is framing the initiative as an “option” and as information-gathering rather than an absolute commitment to sell. But it would also be the first time in the course’s history that the city has taken this step.
Palm Coast Council Poised to Call on Governor to Remove Mayor Norris, Who Is a No-Show at Today’s Meeting
Less than a day after an independent investigative report blistered Mayor Mike Norris for violating the city charter and for chronically unbecoming conduct at City Hall, Council member Charles Gambaro this morning called on the council to request that Gov. Ron DeSantis remove Norris from office for “malfeasance.” Norris was a no-show for a 9 a.m. workshop this morning.
Independent Investigation Sustains Accusations of Interference and Hostility By Mayor Norris, Suggesting Malfeasance
Raising the possibility of malfeasance, an independent investigation sustained allegations that Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris violated the charter by interfering with city management and calling for the resignation of City Manager Lauren Johnston and Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo. The findings go much further, drawing the portrait of a mayor at times unhinged with hostility, rudeness, foul language, misplaced humor and demeaning statements, revealing “a pattern of inappropriate conduct and unprofessional behavior” that undermines Palm Coast’s government “and creates a hostile work environment for city employees.”
Palm Coast Invites Residents to Participate in City Manager Selection
The City of Palm Coast will host the two finalists for the City Manager position this week and invites residents to take part in a day of public engagement on Thursday, April 24, 2025.
Modest Surplus Projection at Palm Harbor Golf May Temper Pressure on Palm Coast to Sell or Change Course
The Palm Coast Parks and Recreation Department is expecting to almost break even this year and to generate a $93,000 surplus next year at the city-owned Palm Harbor Golf Club. By the city’s estimate, the surplus would decline if the city were to take over course maintenance from a private contractor. Both findings, to be presented to the Palm Coast City Council Tuesday, relieve pressure on the city and the council to end general fund subsidies to the golf club, let alone sell it. At least for now.
Oops: Palm Coast Sends Out 13,000 Outdated Utility Bills
A vendor working for Palm Coast government inadvertently issued 13,000 erroneous utility bills to city customers last week, the result of a software update. The city is asking recipients–residents or businesses–to ignore the bills which carry no payable balance anyway.
If You Think Palm Coast’s City Manager Search Is a Shrill Show, You Should See Sarasota’s
What started as a routine city manager search unraveled into a public spectacle recently at Sarasota’s City Commission. The breakdown on April 11 played out over two separate meetings—a morning workshop and an afternoon special session—where commissioners openly admitted to confusion, mistrust, and having no clear path forward. Commissioners contradicted each other, the search firm hired to oversee the process struggled to provide basic materials and information, and the public was left in the dark—literally and figuratively—about how the process would move forward.
Flagler County Unemployment Dips Back to 4.1%, But Inventory of Single-Family Houses Rises to 13-Year High
Flagler County’s unemployment rate fell back to 4.1 percent, from 6.6 percent the previous month, according to figures released by the state Department of Commerce this morning. The rates are not seasonally adjusted. But the county’s housing inventory continues to rise, and is now at its highest level in 13 years, and rising.
Palm Coast YMCA With Olympic Swimming Pool Planned for Town Center
A long-awaited YMCA in Palm Coast’s Town Center will be an arrestingly built 44,000 square-foot, two-level facility with a wellness center, a spin room, a fitness room, a gym with three volleyball courts and an outdoor Olympic swimming pool, among other amenities. The swimming pool will have 18 to 21 lanes and a zero-entry section allowing for a sloped walk into the water, without stairs or ladders. The indoor facility will include a child care center. The plans are brimming, and the YMCA is “ready to get started right away.”
Palm Coast Bans Homeless From Sleeping on Public Grounds and Will Seek Potential Alternatives with County
The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance aligning the city with a state law that prohibits local governments from allowing the homeless to sleep or encamp on any public grounds, including parks, public buildings and rights of way. Flagler County enacted a similar ordinance last November. The bill, signed by the governor in March 2024, allows local governments to designate certain grounds as encampments. But that process is onerous and expensive. The city will look for alternatives with the county.
9-Month, $6.67 Million Reconstruction of Whiteview Parkway Will Add Turn Lanes and Alter Median
Whiteview Parkway is about to be a construction zone for the next nine months. It will also be unrecognizable along most of its 3.4 miles as crews begin the reconstruction and repaving of the road, adding numerous turn lanes, eliminating or changing the look of the median, and extending the foot path the entire length of the road, from Belle Terre Parkway to U.S. 1.
224 New Houses Cleared to Build Off Royal Palms Parkway as Worries About Nightmare Intersection Intensify
The backups at the intersection of Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center Boulevard are nightmares. They’re about to get worse as the Palm Coast City Council cleared the way for the first 224 of a planned 333 single-family houses at “Sabal Preserve.” A three-way stop may be on the way. But city planners say a roundabout is the surest solution.
Ex-County Commissioner Dave Sullivan Appointed to Palm Coast Council After Bruising Process
Dave Sullivan, the former county commission member, was appointed to the Palm Coast City Council’s District 3 seat vacated by an ailing Ray Stevens in late February. It’s a wonder Sullivan wasn’t himself ailing by the time he got the council’s vote: his appointment was not elegant. The council’s decision was on a 3-1 vote following several fractious, at times injurious and ageist public comments about Sullivan.
‘Enough Is Enough’: An Open Letter to Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris
Aghast at Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris’s paranoid and accusatory performance at the State of the City Address this week, a resident asks the mayor for a reckoning with himself–whether he is truly up to the job of serving the community to the best of his ability, to do so within the requirements of the city charter, and to bear the title of mayor honorably and responsibly.
Palm Coast Assures DeSantis “DOGE” Team: The City Is Financially Sound
The Palm Coast government administration certified in late March to the governor’s office that the city has not encountered any of five criteria suggesting “financial emergency or distress” since 2018, and does not anticipate any ahead. Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston sent the letter confirming the fact to the governor’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” team on March 20. The letter is prompting some inaccurate speculation that the city manager was “declining” the state’s offer to audit the city.
Palm Coast Carnage: Mayor Norris Stuns Audience With Bleak Litany of Grievances at State of City Address
A day after he pulled up his truck to City Hall and cleared his office, Mayor Mike Norris delivered what amounted to a Palm Coast Carnage address to a stunned audience at the State of the City Thursday evening at the Community Center. A prickly, aggrieved, and paranoid-sounding Norris fabricated the story of a “blockade” of City Hall by homebuilders, attacked unnamed forces for allegedly orchestrating city employees’ complaints against him to drive him out of office, and referred to land owners as “swamp peddlers,” and challenged residents to chart a new course away from “people that have failed our community for more than 40 years.”
Lessons from Palm Coast’s Fuel Dump Folly
The push for building the ill-fated Belvedere Terminals fuel dump in Palm Coast was tied to a series of myths: that somehow Palm Coast’s overwhelmingly residential tax base is unsustainable. That its tax burden is lopsidedly on residential homes. That commercial and industrial development lowers property taxes. The premises are taken as gospel in this county and never tested. Not one of them is true.
At Ralph Carter Park, Thousands of Children’s Sports Will Not Be Curbed Just to Benefit Few Homeowners, Council Says
After hearing a resident complain about noise and light–a resident familiar to every council member who’s served since 2009–Palm Coast City Council member Charles Gambaro Tuesday evening got the presentation he requested on Ralph Carter Park. It did not go as he expected. The park’s popularity is too broad, the complaints about it too finite, to justify dimming the park’s operations in response to a handful of complaints, if that.
Eager for Experience, Palm Coast Council’s Top Two Choices for Appointment Are Dave Sullivan and Dave Ferguson
In Dave Sullivan and Dave Ferguson the Palm Coast City Council’s choices clearly point to its eagerness for a tested, knowledgeable colleague who won’t need much of a learning curve as the council readies to appoint a new city manager and start budgeting for the coming year. Ferguson and Sullivan also have close ties with the local business community. Neither is a firebrand. Neither is foreign to humor and a degree of self-deprecation that has been lacking on a council more high-strung than an unsecured trigger.
County Buys Into $110 Million Speculative Sports Complex Palm Coast Voters Rejected in November
The Flagler County Commission signaled it was happily turning to an untested and financially risky public-private partnership with a company that would build a $110 million sports complex (in Palm Coast) in exchange for $6 million a year “lease payments” from the county. It is the same complex and concept that was behind Palm Coast voters’ rejection of a referendum last November.
Three County Commissioners Now Opposed to Sales Tax for Beach Management, Putting County Plan in Doubt
Just as Palm Coast and Bunnell had been increasingly coaxed to support the county, a majority of county commissioners–Leann Pennington, Kim Carney and Pam Richardson–spoke in opposition to a sales tax increase to support a comprehensive beach-management plan. Without that increase, the plan Petito devised to rebuild and manage all 18 miles of the county’s beaches would collapse, and with it any hope of continuing the beach renourishment the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started in Flagler Beach.
Fuel Farm Off U.S. 1 Appears Dead as Palm Coast Mayor Norris Pulls His Support, Joining Council Skeptics
The proposed Belvedere Terminals fuel farm off U.S. 1 in Palm Coast appears to be dead. In an email to City Manager Lauren Johnston on Friday, Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris pulled his support without equivocation, joining three council members who are extremely skeptical of the proposal. Belvedere couldn’t afford to lose Norris’s support. Until then, the mayor had been the company’s champion in the city.
Three of Five Finalists for Palm Coast City Manager Drop Out as Council’s Instability Takes a Toll
The shortlist of Palm Coast city manager candidates who were to interview with the City Council at the end of April is down to two, from five. The last two were among the somewhat less favored of the five when the council ranked them on March 11. Today, Sonia Alves-Viveiros, the Edison, N.J. city manager, withdrew, citing the lack of stability on the City Council as a reason.
Proposed Fuel Farm Off U.S. 1 Draws More Fire as Public Urges County to Reject Palm Coast Location
Already bruised by mounting opposition since it was announced almost two weeks ago, Palm Coast and Flagler County governments’ proposal to buy 78 acres for a 12.6-million gallon fuel farm off U.S. 1 took more fire today, this time at the County Commission, even though the county last week pulled the proposal from today’s agenda. Numerous residents, all opposed to the fuel farm at the U.S. 1 location, addressed the commission, but commissioners themselves raised sharp questions about the plan, adding to its uncertain future.
Team Wins $4,000 in MedNexus Challenge on ‘Becoming a Mental Health Influencer’
Bright minds, bold ideas, and a passion for mental health advocacy took center stage at the 2025 MedNexus Innovation Challenge, held April 3 at the Palm Coast Community Center. This year’s theme, “Becoming a Mental Health Influencer,” invited students to explore how social media can be used for positive change in adolescent mental health.
Palm Coast Approves Final Step for 489 New Houses, 147 of Them Near Proposed Fuel Depot
The Palm Coast City Council on Tuesday approved final plats for three residential subdivisions at three of the four cardinal points of the city (north, west, south) totaling 489 single-family houses. Of these house, 147 are to be built on land adjacent to an industrial tract slated for a massive fuel depot.
County Pulls Massive US1 Fuel Depot from Consideration for Now as ‘Pause’ Gives Palm Coast Time to Study Options
The Flagler County Commission was set next Monday to approve a $10 million state grant to buy a 78-acre parcel off U.S. 1 in Palm Coast for a planned fuel depot and rail head. The county administration pulled the item from the agenda after the Palm Coast City Council opted to look for a different location in response to mounting public opposition to the plan. The pause is also a reflection of deepening skepticism among elected officials about a plan that was barely vetted before it was sprung on them just weeks ago.
Palm Coast’s Arbor Day Celebration Marks 20 Years on May 3
Palm Coast’s favorite eco-friendly event is back! Get ready to dig in, branch out, and celebrate two decades of environmental stewardship at the 20th Annual Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, May 3, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Central Park in Town Center (975 Central Avenue, Palm Coast.)
Palm Coast Council Seeks Analysis to Move Proposed Fuel Farm Off U.S. 1 as Opposition Builds Fast
The proposed 12.6 million-gallon gas and diesel depot on U.S. 1 has quickly gone from an economic development triumph, as Palm Coast and county officials described it last week, to a political liability fueled by public opposition spreading at the speed of a wildfire. On Tuesday, the Palm Coast City Council agreed to seek an analysis to determine whether there’s an alternative location better suited to the depot, a planned $75 million facility to be built by a start-up, Belvedere Terminals, with no track record in the industry.
Interviews of 10 Candidates for Appointment to Palm Coast Council Give a Choice Between Experience and Ideals
A defining line sharpened as the interviews progressed. It was drawn between candidates who spoke the pragmatism of public-service experience on one side, and candidates who spoke of ideals and private-sector careers they hope to translate into public service. This council has limited time to make a limited appointment with specific aims ahead, in a term limited to less than two years, and for a position whose learning curve typically takes two years fully to scale.
Three Palm Coast Council Members Return from Tallahassee With Some Hope for City’s Utility Needs
Three of the Palm Coast City Council’s four members–Theresa Pontieri, Charles Gambaro and Ty Miller–returned from a lobbying trip to Tallahassee last week with some potential successes to help pay for the city’s utility-infrastructure needs despite legislative appropriations far more constrained than they’d been the previous two years.
Company Will Build Massive Fuel Depot and Distribution Plant at Rail Spur Off Peavy Grade in Palm Coast
Belvedere Terminals, a start-up company developing a new gas and diesel distribution network by rail, will build a fuel depot and distribution plant on a 78-acre site on Palm Coast’s Peavy Grade, next to the city’s Water Treatment Plant 3 off U.S. 1. The company intends to start operations in late 2026 at a plant with half dozen fuel tanks with a total capacity of 300,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel storage, or 12.6 million gallons–the equivalent of 17 water towers like Palm Coast’s off I-95.
A Moratorium Won’t Help the Crappy Utility ITT Left Palm Coast. Painful Rates Might.
There’s no question that water and sewer rates in Palm Coast are among the most expensive in the state. That was true even before the City Council this week approved the sharpest and fastest rate increase in the city’s 25-year history. But neither a building moratorium nor blaming the City Council is a solution for a problem seeded by ITT, the original owner of the utility.
Board Approves New Tattoo Parlor for Palm Coast’s St. Joe Business Center
Tattoo artist and business owner Ryan Sherwood had a much easier time than a self-storage facility when he requested a special exception from the Palm Coast Planning Board to open a new tattoo parlor and art gallery in Unit Seven of the St. Joe Business Center, off Palm Coast Parkway. The board voted unanimously to grant the exception.
In Rare Rebuke, Palm Coast Planning Board Denies Application for Self-Storage Business on Pine Lakes Parkway
The Palm Coast Planning Board in a 4-2 vote denied an application for an 850-unit, 100,000 square foot self-storage facility on Pine Lakes Parkway, halfway between Belle Terre and Palm Coast Parkway. The facility would have 26 outdoor recreational vehicle and boat storage spaces. The decision is not final, and may not have been reached within the legally permissible parameters of the Planning Board’s responsibilities.
13 Applicants, Including Several Familiar Names, Apply to Fill Palm Coast Council Seat Vacated by Stevens
Thirteen candidates have filed for the District 3 seat on the Palm Coast City Council that Ray Stevens resigned at the end of February. The list includes several familiar names, among them Dave Ferguson, a former appointee to the council, Dave Sullivan, who just ended two terms on the County Commission, Cornelia Manfre, who has had three unsuccessful runs for a council seat or the mayorship, Mark Stancel, who lost a primary vote to Stevens by two votes, and Andrew Werner, who lost to Stevens.
County’s Kim Carney, Crucial Vote on Sales Tax Proposal, Appears to Waver, Putting Beach Plan at Risk
County Commissioner Kim Carney’s support for the county-wide beach-management plan she endorsed just weeks ago appeared to waver when she raised questions about it at last Monday’s commission meeting, potentially putting the entire plan in jeopardy, especially with an undecided Palm Coast looking on.
10 Years on, Palm Coast Finally Breaks Ground on Nerve-Center Maintenance Facility’s $12 Million 1st Phase
Palm Coast hosted a groundbreaking for what will eventually be a nearly 100-acre maintenance facility gathering public works, stormwater and utility departments in one location off U.S. 1, to the northwest of the city. The $12 million phase is the first of three. The City Council in 2016 set the project in motion, but funding has been a challenge, as has the criticism of the project.