City Council Special Workshop

City Hall City of Palm Coast 160 Lake Avenue Minutes Palm Coast, FL 32164 www.palmcoastgov.com City Council Special Workshop Mayor Michael Norris Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri Council Member Charles Gambaro Council Member Ty Miller Council Member David Sullivan City Hall - Jon Netts Tuesday, February 24, 2026 9:00 AM Community Wing City Staff Michael McGlothlin, City Manager Marcus Duffy, City Attorney Kaley Cook, City Clerk  Public Participation shall be in accordance with Section 286.0114 Florida Statutes.  Other matters of concern may be discussed as determined by City Council.  If you wish to obtain more information regarding the City Council’s agenda, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 386-986- 3713.  In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 286.26, Florida Statutes, persons needing a reasonable accommodation to participate in any of these proceedings or meeting should contact the City Clerk at 386-986-3713, at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.  City Council Meetings are streamed live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@PalmCoastFL.  It is proper meeting etiquette to silence all electronic devices, including cell phones while Council is in session.  Any person who decides to appeal any decision of the City Council with respect to any matter considered at this meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose, may need to hire a court reporter to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. NOTICE: This meeting is being live streamed on the City of Palm Coast YouTube channel and audio recorded for public record and transparency. A CALL TO ORDER Mayor Norris called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. B PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG AND A MOMENT OF SILENCE C ROLL CALL Deputy City Clerk Alison Palmer called the roll. All members were present with Council Member Gambaro appearing virtually. D PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Page 1 of 10 Public Participation shall be held in accordance with Section 286.0114 Florida Statutes. And pursuant to the City Council’s Meeting Policies and Procedures: (1) This agenda item has a thirty (30) minute limit. (2) Each speaker shall at the podium, provide their name and may speak for up to 3 minutes. (3) The Public may provide comments to the City Council relative to matters not on the agenda at the times indicated in this Agenda. Following any comments from the public, there may be discussion by the City Council. (4) Public speakers may address their comments to the Council as a whole, the Mayor, or to an individual Council Member (5) When addressing the City Council on specific, enumerated Agenda items, speakers shall: (a) make their comments concise and to the point; (b) not speak more than once on the same subject; (c) not, by speech or otherwise, delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the City Council; (d) obey the orders of the Mayor or the City Council; and (e) not make any irrelevant, impertinent or slanderous comments while addressing the City Council; which pursuant to Council rules, shall be considered disorderly. (6) Any person who becomes disorderly or who fails to confine his or her comments to the identified subject or business, shall be cautioned by the Mayor and thereafter must conclude his or her remarks on the subject within the remaining designated time limit. Any speaker failing to comply, as cautioned, shall be barred from making any additional comments during the meeting and may be removed, as necessary, for the remainder of the meeting. Members of the public may make comments during the public comment portion of the meeting. Please be advised that public comment will only be permitted during the public comment portions of the agenda at the times indicated by the Chair during the meeting. Mayor Norris provided the rules and procedures of public participation. Jeani Duarte requested written legal explanations on several subjects related to the charter and City Council and provided a document which is attached to these minutes. Jeremy Davis discussed permit records and concerns, swale and culvert maintenance, and asked about City processes. Bruce Stone discussed campaign donations to Council from developers, voting for new developments, and asked how Council is going to solve the problems. Mark Webb discussed the agenda, policies and procedures, first read versus second read, prior ordinances and the Easthampton ordinance, information not in the packet, and questioned the process. Vice Mayor Pontieri responded to Mr. Webb’s comments and discussed the Easthampton Ordinance being conditional on the land being donated. Council Member Miller responded that Council checked to make sure this was the correct procedure and then moved forward with the amendments that were made conditional. Page 2 of 10  Mayor Norris responded that he asked to have the item tabled, had not received the letter of intent, and does not think we should do business like that. E PRESENTATIONS 1 PRESENTATION - CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT Mayor Norris introduced the item and asked for consensus for a supermajority on any items moving forward at the Business meeting for possible charter amendments. Council held discussion on supermajority, simple majority, change via referendum versus policies and procedures, precise wording, and moving proposed changes to the ballot. Council did not give consensus: Council Member Sullivan gave consensus, Vice Mayor Pontieri, Council Member Miller, and Council Member Gambaro did not give consensus. Mayor Norris welcomed Dr. Georgette Dumont, and to follow up on public comment, asked if changes have been made to our charter without it going on the ballot. Dr. Dumont responded that legally you cannot change the charter without it going to referendum for the citizens. Dr. Dumont made introductory remarks including a recap of the work of the committee, the memo with the committee’s proposed changes ranked by order of importance, the townhall meetings, determining what goes on the ballot and when, voter turnout, and substantive changes versus clean-up items. Dr. Dumont presented the proposed changes to Council: Filling of Vacancies and Elections Proposed changes: 1. Requires the City Council to refrain from appointing anyone to an open position within six months of an election. 2. Requires that a vote on any appointee occurs at the next regular, special, or primary election. 3. Requires the City Council to announce the date of a special election within 30 days if no election is scheduled within 12 months of an appointment. 4. Aligns City Council vacancies and Mayoral vacancies so they are treated the same. 5. Updated language to align with proposed changes to filling of vacancies. Council held discussion on the following topics: vacancies after qualifying, length of vacancies, historic Council vacancies, appointing to fill a vacancy, costs of a special election, and adopting the current process for filling a vacant Mayor seat for all Council seats. Vice Mayor Pontieri asked for a redlined copy of the proposed changes to the charter. The redlined copy was provided to Council. Page 3 of 10 Council continued discussion on the following additional topics: the role of the supervisor of elections and municipal versus constitutional offices. Mayor Noris asked for consensus that if there is a vacancy an election will be called within 90 days to fill the seat. City Attorney Duffy and Council continued discussion on the topic. Vice Mayor Pontieri suggested that if there is going to be an election otherwise within 6 months, that the election for the vacancy occur at that election rather than having to call a special election. If there is not a scheduled election, then call a special election within 60 or 90 days, whatever the Council decides. Vice Mayor Pontieri asked what is the time period for having to qualify, can we mirror the language for a special election for Mayor. Council, Dr. Dumont, and the City Attorney continued discussion of the timelines, proposals, and scenarios. Council Member Gambaro asked for clarification on the guidance to the City Attorney. Dr Dumont provided a response: adopt all the recommendations for filling of vacancies, except for that six-month period. If a vacancy does with occur within six months of a general election, a person can be appointed. However, that person then has to go up for an election to earn the seat within 90 days after the general election. Compensation Proposed changes: 1. Ties City Council and Mayoral salaries to annual CPI increases received by City employees. Any increase beyond CPI must be approved by referendum. 2. Prohibits Council Members and the Mayor from receiving employee benefits, including health insurance and retirement benefits. Council held discussion on salary, COLA, CPI, health benefits and cash equivalent, retirement benefits, and adding changes to the charter versus amending prior ordinance. Council provided unanimous consensus for CPI increase, further increases going to referendum, no retirement benefits, and to update the ordinance to remove cash equivalent for health benefits. Council provided unanimous consensus to decide charter versus ordinance changes at a later date, when moving items forward. City Council – Qualifying for Elections Proposed changes: 1. Signature requirements now apply to registered voters citywide, not just within a candidate’s district. Candidates must have lived in their district for at least one year; mayoral candidates must have lived in the City for at least one year. Page 4 of 10  2. Reduces required signatures and filing fees. Council held discussion on hard work, the importance of knocking on doors in your district, that barriers should be higher, keeping the requirements as-is, and whether making one small change is worth taking up limited space on the ballot. Council provided unanimous consensus to keep the signature requirements as-is and reduce the filing fees from 10% to 4%. Charter Officers Proposed changes: 1. Requires Charter Officers be evaluated on an annual basis by the City Council. 2. Adds a timeline for City Council to act on any Charter Officers vacancies. 3. Clarifies qualifications by adding required education, and experience managing a government of similar size. 4. Broadened the area in which the City Manager can reside from within the City limits to within 50 miles of the City limits. 5. Added a required Budget Assumptions section to the annual budget message. 6. Added expertise in municipal law to the City Attorney Qualifications. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to put 1 and 5 in policies and procedures, no action on 2, 3, and 6, and change 4 to Flagler County. Council Contracting Abilities Proposed changes: 1. The committee strongly recommends that the Council conduct an in- depth study on what the contracting limit should be, given that the public has made it clear they do not want no limit, but the current limit of $15,000,000 was set around 1999. The hope is that the new limit would be a percentage of the City’s budget to ensure it adjusts naturally over time. 2. Clarify these restrictions are to borrowing from the City’s General Fund, not the enterprise funds. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to have the City Attorney research the issue to bring the 15 million up to date, tie to CPI, and to look at terms of 8-10 years. Non-interference by City Council Proposed change: Clarifies that this clause applies to both City Councilors and the Mayor. Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus for no action. Preamble Proposed changes: Adds a preamble explaining the source of City authority and the purpose of the Charter. Page 5 of 10 Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus to accept with the additional language ‘Council Manager form of government.’ Censure and Removal from Office 1. City Council members can be censured by an affirmative vote of the supermajority of City Council members. 2. A supermajority of City Council Members can request the removal of one of its members by the Governor after multiple censures. 3. Cleaned up the language around the issuing of an indictment of a sitting City Council member. 4. Clarified the types of meetings and updated the number of meetings a member can miss within a specific time period, which could lead to censure. 5. Updated the number of required meetings from one per month to two per month to align with current practice. 6. Added that Council members must be present to vote. They can still participate in the discussion remotely. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus for 1 and 2 with at least 3 censures and supermajority, no action on 3 on advice of the City Attorney, 4 accept the proposal for six meetings, and 5 and 6 under policies and procedures. Terms of Office Proposed change: The Committee recommends changing the term limits of City Council members to a total of two terms but not precluding an individual who has served for two terms as Mayor from running for a City Council seat, or an individual who has served two terms as a City Council member from running for Mayor. Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus to accept asking for clarification to the language. Council Expenses Proposed change: The City Council must approve any expenses incurred by its members during the budget approval. If there are any additional expenses in the excess of 2% of a council member’s salary, they must be approved by the City Council. Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus to keep as-is and also add guardrails in policies and procedures. Throughout the Charter Proposed changes: 1. Replaces “electors” with “registered voters” for clarity. 2. Replaces “by law” with “Florida Statute” for accuracy. Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus to add to administrative clean-up and bundled changes. Form of Government Proposed change: Page 6 of 10 Clarify the Council sets the goals and policies that are to be implemented by the City Manager. Council held discussion and gave unanimous consensus for no action. Council Member Gambaro left the meeting at 11:48. Powers and Duties of the Mayor Proposed change: Specifies that powers or administrative duties not explicitly granted to the Mayor require Council authorization and approval. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to classify this as a lower priority. Interim Vice Mayor Term Proposed change: Clarifies that the Vice Mayor serves as Interim Mayor when the Mayor’s seat is vacant until a new Mayor is elected. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to classify this as a lower priority. City Council District Boundaries Proposed Change: 1. Requires appointment of a special commission of registered voters to develop new council districts and authorizes hiring a consultant. 2. Moved the process to how and when City Council districts are redrawn from Article IX, Special Provisions, to Article VIII. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to accept. Initiative and Referendum Proposed Change: Requires the City Council to act on any voter-approved initiative or referendum within 90 days. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to classify this as a lower priority and fix the language on when the clock starts on the 90 days. Limit Employment of City Council Members Proposed Change: The recommendation is to clarify that this restriction only applies to executive positions within the city (e.g. Director or Deputy Director and above). Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to classify this as a lower priority and to include charter officers as executive positions. Charter Review Proposed Change: Cleans up the internal references and current language by removing the date at which the decennial review of the Charter began and clarifies that a review must be done at least every ten years but can be done sooner. Page 7 of 10 Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to accept. Non-Charter Recommendations: Citizens’ Bill of Rights Proposal: The Committee reviewed and amended a draft Citizens’ Bill of Rights. While it summarizes rights already provided by law, its purpose is to gather them in one place for clarity. The Committee recommends adoption by ordinance as soon as possible. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to have the City Attorney bring this forward as an ordinance. City Council Manual/Ethics Proposal: The Committee recommends adopting a separate policy document outlining ethics, decorum (referenced in Article IV, Section 7(b)(4)), and responsibilities. This will help current and future Council Members understand expectations and can be updated more easily than Charter language. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to accept. Size of City Council Proposal: The Committee discussed anticipated population growth and determined that the current Council size (four members plus the Mayor) is sufficient for now. However, the Committee recommends considering expansion to seven members, with two at-large seats in the future to increase representation. Council held discussion and provided unanimous consensus to continue to work on a policy. Council ranked the proposed changes: Top three Council priorities 1. Filling vacancies 2. Borrowing limit 3. Removal and censure Remainder of proposed changes: 4. Salary 5. Qualifying to get on the ballot 6. City Manager in Flagler County 7. Term limits 8. Smaller adjustments over time Council held discussion on this election year, bundling issues, contacting the Supervisor of Elections for procedures and costs, inviting the Supervisor of Elections to future meetings for questions, and next steps. Mr. Duffy discussed holding a future workshop and two reads for the ordinance. Page 8 of 10  Council thanked Dr. Dumont and the Charter Review Committee. Public comment: Jeani Duarte commented on different versions of the charter and discussed the ten-year review. Tony Amaral asked clarifying questions about special elections, Council salary increases, Council terms, expenses, charter amendments versus policies and procedures, qualification fees, and bonds. George Mayo discussed audio issues and not being able to hear online, appointments, special elections, and concern for being disenfranchised, is in favor of appointment so that everyone is represented, does not believe in term limits, it is up to the voters, and asked for Council to clarify acronyms. Jeremy Davis discussed the lack of participation and resident disengagement. Perry Mitrano shared thanks to Dr. Dumont for facilitating and shared praise for her qualifications, discussed borrowing terms, and thanked Council for allowing him to serve on the committee. Council Member Miller stated that he will make sure to clarify acronyms. Vice Mayor Pontieri discussed the Army Corp of Engineer letter and that the deadline for Council to respond is March 3. Vice Mayor Pontieri asked for consensus to submit a letter that states that our City will not incur any additional environmental impacts based on this application. Council provided unanimous consensus for the City Attorney to prepare a letter. F PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Remainder of Public Comments is limited to three (3) minutes each. There were none. G DISCUSSION BY CITY COUNCIL OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA Council Member Miller discussed the Florida Gators. Vice Mayor Pontieri discussed the USTA tournament. Council Member Sullivan congratulated the US women’s and men’s hockey teams for winning gold medals in the Olympics and thanked the Charter Review Committee. Mayor Norris discussed the FSU baseball team. H DISCUSSION BY CITY ATTORNEY OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA There were none. I DISCUSSION BY CITY MANAGER OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA Page 9 of 10  There were none. J ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Alison Palmer Deputy City Clerk Page 10 of 10 Attachment to Minutes