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Palm Coast council forwards ethics complaint to state commission and signs formal cover letter
Summary
Following a months‑long internal review and public testimony, Palm Coast City Council authorized staff to forward a written ethics complaint and sworn statements to the Florida Commission on Ethics; Vice Mayor Pontieri agreed to sign Form 50 accompanying the submission.
Palm Coast City Council agreed May 6 to forward a draft ethics complaint, supporting sworn statements and a formal cover letter to the Florida Commission on Ethics. The council instructed staff to attach a Form 50 (official submission cover form); Vice Mayor Francesca Pontieri agreed to sign that form on the council’s behalf.
City Attorney Marcus Duffy told the council he had contacted the Commission on Ethics to confirm submission and that the commission suggested certain sworn statements be excluded from the package "out of an abundance of caution" until they reached final form. The draft complaint in the council packet was revised to remove the earlier‑referenced, still‑unfinalized material and to include an explicit summary of the council’s prior public censure action.
Duffy asked the council for direction on changes and for any additions; several council members requested small edits to language that describes the alleged behaviors. Councilmember Gamberro (also spelled variously in the record) asked that the cover letter explicitly note the council’s 4–0 vote of censure taken earlier in the process. The council reached consensus to include that sentence. City staff confirmed they were still collecting sworn statements and would append them to the package when received.
Vice Mayor Pontieri and other council members repeatedly urged caution about public disclosures that could expose the city to litigation requests; Mayor Mike Norris said he planned confidential discussions with law‑enforcement counsel and the county sheriff’s office as needed. Marcus Duffy said sworn statements would be verified and confirmed before submission. Once assembled, the complaint packet and Form 50 will be sent to the Commission on Ethics for investigation of alleged charter and conduct violations referenced in the council’s draft.
The vote to approve the complaint transmittal and the cover letter language was unanimous. Duffy said staff would add the additional sworn statements and finalize the package for mailing; the motion instructed staff to file the report with the ethics commission and to circulate copies to council as required.
