PALM COAST
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 16, NO. 31
SLAUGHTER TAKES 2ND 12B
FREE ON NEWSSTANDS | THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2025
City to keep running golf course — for now With the aim to stop losing money at Palm Harbor, City Council will give rate changes a chance to work. PAGE 3A
INSIDE
Potato Bowl packs Matanzas pulls within a The Ship touchdown late, but falls
BOOK DRIVE
NASCAR racer Erik Jones presents book vending machine to Rymfire Elementary School PAGE 1B
again to Flagler Palm Coast
FAKE SITES
PAGE 10B
Fake Gambaro, Fine websites redirect to Will Furry’s congressional campaign site, as US House race heats up PAGE 5A
FIREFIGHTER DIES
Ormond Beach man training to be a Flagler County firefighter dies after completing physical test PAGE 2A
SAND DUDE
Sticky sand problems — fixed? PAGE 7A
NUISANCE HOGS
Wild hogs mar the grounds at Craig Flagler Palms cemetery, upturning dirt across multiple graves PAGE 8A
FIXED ROUTES
Flagler Schools presents bus transportation improvements PAGE 4A
FTC PLAN?
Janie Ruddy proposed funding for Flagler Technical College dual enrollment, but lack of local funds scuttled the idea PAGE 4A
NEW PIRATES COACH Sean McManus is the new Matanzas baseball coach PAGE 11B
MCMILLAN
A fish store adventure with Kennedy PAGE 12A
ASKING THE STATE
Palm Coast and Flagler County finalize funding requests for fiscally conservative state budget PAGE 3A
INDEX
Business..................... PAGE 6B Calendar..................... PAGE 2B Cops Corner................PAGE 2A Crossword.................. PAGE 2C Letters.......................PAGE 12A McMillan....................PAGE 12A Public Notices............ PAGE 6C Sports........................PAGE 10B Tributes ...................... PAGE 2C Real Estate................. PAGE 8B
FPC’s Nolan Caliendo tries to break a tackle. Photo by Brian McMillan
City manager search attracts 112 candidates Now the Palm Coast City Council must narrow the field, hoping to find a consensus on a candidate this time. SIERRA WILLIAMS
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STAFF WRITER
Palm Coast’s city manager application window has closed, with 112 applications, including 64 Florida residents. The application was open between May 16 and Aug. 15. The applications came from multiple public job search sites, Human Resources Director Renina Fuller said at the Aug. 26 workshop.
The next step is for the Palm Coast City Council to narrow the field of candidates. Palm Coast has been searching for a new city manager since March 2024. Lauren Johnston, the thenassistant city manager, was installed as the acting city manager at that time, and Palm Coast hired a search firm to find candidates for the position. Because of the November 2024 elections, the search was delayed until the new council had been elected. In May 2025, the council held five separate votes on the final two candidates remaining, hoping to get unanimous approval for one. All five votes deadlocked 3-2, and the council decided to instead place the position on public job search sites to
see who would apply. The job requirements listed were for International Capital Market Association certification, a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration or a related field, and eight years of experience in a city manager office or some similar, qualified background. Of the initial 112 applications only 105 are admissible: four candidates have withdrawn, one filed two resumes, one only submitted a cover letter and one only sent in a photo without an attached resume. Council members Charles Gambaro, Ty Miller and Theresa Carli Pontieri all sent in a list of their top 25 candidates to Fuller ahead of the meeting, while Mayor
Mike Norris and Councilman Dave Sullivan had not. Gambaro said he had looked at all of the candidates and that he had narrowed his choices down to two. Before she left the meeting early for a work engagement, Pontieri suggested the council narrow the list with a goal of reaching a consensus. “Unless there are at least three votes for each person, I don’t think there’s any point of advancing anybody forward,” she said. “Because the chances of getting consensus later on are pretty slim to nil.” Norris later on agreed with Pontieri’s suggestion. “That’s paramount,” he said. “Because we’ve already been through this once.”
CONSENSUS
“Unless there are at least three votes for each person, I don’t think there’s any point of advancing anybody forward. Because the chances of getting consensus later on are pretty slim to nil.” THERESA CARLI PONTIERI, city council member