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Palm Coast council approves city manager contract after lengthy debate on emergency pay and termination language
Summary
The City of Palm Coast unanimously approved an employment contract for a new city manager after council removed language limiting 'cause' terminations, agreed to tighten emergency-compensation wording, and added evaluation expectations amid public concern about compensation and severance.
The Palm Coast City Council unanimously approved an employment contract for the incoming city manager on Dec. 2 after extensive debate over emergency compensation, termination language and severance terms.
Council members spent much of the discussion refining compensation and accountability provisions. Several members said the contract’s clause that would pay 100% for hours worked during a “declared local state of emergency” needed clearer limits; one council member suggested defining the pay period as the dates the emergency operations center (EOC) is activated and deactivated. City staff said emergency duty pay is applied when employees are working crisis operations, not for all post-storm hours.
Council also agreed to remove a sentence that staff and several members worried would make it difficult to terminate a city manager for performance problems unless the official acted in "bad faith" or without a reasonable belief that their actions were in the city's best interest. The council reached consensus to scratch that sentence and retain other cause provisions that permit termination for material injury to the city.
During public comment residents criticized the pay and benefit levels and urged strict accountability. City staff and council members defended the compensation as competitive for an experienced executive managing a roughly $400 million budget.
Mayor Michael Norris called for an annual evaluation process and the contract includes language tying merit increases to council discretion. The resolution passed by unanimous roll-call vote: Vice Mayor Pontieri, Councilmember Gambarro, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Sullivan and Mayor Norris voted yes.
The city manager is expected to begin duties following contract execution; council directed staff to tighten the emergency-pay language and return final contract documents for execution.
