Tuesday Morning on January 28th, 2025, at 9 am, The Palm Coast City Council held their morning workshop meeting, where multiple presentations were provided, including SRG’s presentation on City Manager applicants and a presentation on the City’s golf course, Palm Harbor Golf Course. The public was present to share their feelings on the presentations and items not on the agenda.
The initial presentation that the Council heard was regarding the search for a new city manager. SRG started their presentation by stating that they had roughly 35 candidates in the applicant pool currently for the City Council to consider. They went through the process of narrowing down the applicants into smaller and smaller pools until the Council could choose who they would hire. Following this explanation, SRG gave quick presentations on the candidates who they felt would be the best fit according to the parameters that City Council had given them. Out of the list of presented candidates, the city council narrowed it down to 16 names, and after rating all of the names, it was further narrowed to 6 names that will move forward to the next step. During the process of discussing potential candidates, the entire city council voiced their opinion on the candidate pool, echoing Pontieri’s sentiment of disappointment regarding the applicant pool. The council gave consent to move forward with six candidates while reopening the application process in hopes of attracting more candidates for a broader pool to choose from.
The applicants chosen to move forward were Jerome Wilverding, Kara Boyles, Michael Reese, Paul Trombone III, Richard Hough, and Robert Hemminger. These candidates will now undergo extensive questionnaires, video interviews, media checks, and answer questions to better allow the Council to learn about them. SRG will reopen the job listing for additional time, to allow for more applicants to continue applying, and to provide the council with more potential candidates.
City Council continued their meeting after a brief break to discuss the Palm Harbor Golf Club, which is a city-owned and operated golf course. During the presentation, the budget was discussed, as well as the past year’s financial standings. Ultimately, there are a few options that the city council can consider as they continue reviewing the issues around the golf course. Selling the golf course is one option, turning it over to a management firm is another, and the city can also spend more time trying to bring the revenue up on the golf course themselves. Currently, the city is going to continue reviewing the options, stating they will work to find the best avenue to ensure that they are being fiscally responsible with tax money.
