Palm Coast council interviews finalist Richard Huff for city manager; focuses on infrastructure, emergency preparedness

Palm Coast City Council members interviewed finalist Richard Huff for the city manager position at a special workshop on Thursday, April 24, at City Hall's John Netz Community building. Huff, introduced by the council's recruitment consultant, delivered a 10‑minute presentation and answered roughly an hour of council questions in a 90‑minute session scheduled for each finalist.

Huff framed the first year of city management as "a chance to set expectations and demonstrate steady leadership," saying he intends "to build trust quickly with both the council and our staff through clear communication, disciplined follow through and transparency." He told the council he would prioritize infrastructure projects, an organizational review, workforce development and improved project delivery.

The interview is part of a multi‑month search run by a consultant that included questionnaires, video interviews, reference checks and criminal‑background screening. The consultant, Doug Thomas, told the council that background checks and reference checks for both finalists are complete and would be delivered to the city's HR office in a password‑protected file if the council selects a candidate.

Huff, who identified himself as a public works director and county highway commissioner in his current role, described experience building utilities and coordinating large capital programs. He said the city should implement a citywide asset‑management framework and an infrastructure coordination team to scope, sequence and deliver projects efficiently. "This is not about paperwork or patchwork," he said, arguing the work is about long‑term resiliency.

Council members pressed Huff on specifics. On emergency management, Huff said he has hands‑on disaster response experience, has organized large‑scale exercises and has completed FEMA Emergency Management Institute training up through the 800 series. "I've been through all of it, all the advanced levels," he said when asked about his NIMS and FEMA coursework.

When asked about handling multiple elected officials with differing priorities, Huff said he would keep the "big picture" in view, conduct a current‑state assessment, translate council guidance into staff work plans and rely on delegation and regular reporting. He described a 30/60/midyear timeline of deliverables that includes setting performance goals with the mayor and council in the first 30 days, deeper staff engagement and creation of an infrastructure coordination and asset‑management approach by 60 days, and a midyear community sentiment dashboard and peer benchmarks.

On budget experience, Huff acknowledged the difference in scale between his prior oversight and Palm Coast's most recent budget; council members noted Palm Coast's FY2024 budget was about $452 million. Huff said his largest prior capital and operating budgets were smaller but that he has led processes to centralize and validate capital requests and prioritize projects against strategic goals.

Huff also emphasized workforce retention and succession planning, and proposed expanding a workforce development roundtable to connect employers, education and city leaders. He told the council he supports investing in technology and said artificial intelligence and other tools should be treated as infrastructure that can deliver returns on investment.

Council members thanked Huff for attending; Thomas reminded the council that each finalist will also have an evening meet‑and‑greet with residents from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. that evening. The panel recessed the interview until 2:30 p.m. to continue with the day's schedule. No vote or appointment was taken at the workshop.

The session included public and council questioning and did not conclude with a formal decision. If the council moves forward with a selection, the consultant said personnel‑sensitive documents (for example, criminal‑history reports) would be provided to HR in a secure format for the city's records.