- January 14, 2025
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Citing “aggressive and inappropriate” behavior with staff, the City of Palm Coast fired its utility director, Amanda Rees, in November, after just five months on the job. In a Dec. 4, 2024, letter, Rees defended herself to the City Council, saying the real reason for being fired is that she was bringing too many uncomfortable truths — about the wastewater treatment plants being overcapacity and growth’s failure to pay for itself — to city leadership.
The city, which has a standard six-month probationary period for new employees and so could fire Rees without cause if desired, responded this way: “While we understand that job separations can be emotional, it’s not uncommon for individuals to express their frustration in ways that paint a negative picture. The claims made in the letter are either untrue or misrepresented and do not accurately reflect the City’s operations or values. The City is committed to professionalism, fairness, and transparency in all employment matters.”
Rees indicated in her letter that city leadership suppressed her plans to correct the consequences of overdevelopment.
Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston told the Observer that staff does have a plan. In the coming weeks, city staff will present a Utility Action Plan to the City Council in response to the consent decree issued by the Florida Department Environmental Protection.
The city is in the final stages of expanding capacity at Wastewater Treatment Plant 2 from 2 million gallons per day to 4 million. That will enable the city to divert .5 million gallons per day to Plant 2 from Wastewater Treatment Plant 1, which is frequently near 100% capacity. The plan will give some relief to the system — but not enough relief yet to satisfy the state. To fully comply, the City Council will need to figure out how to fund more than $200 million for Wastewater Treatment Plant 3 — and build it by 2028.
‘MOTIVATED BY FEAR’
In her nine-page letter, Rees defends herself against the city’s narrative of her short tenure, giving context to any situation in which she might have been considered aggressive.
Then she explains her allegations about the city’s handling of the Utility Department. Rees says she discovered soon after she was hired that the city had “overpromised water and sewer capacity” to developers. So, she recalls, “I set out to present to City Council a resolution to have the City stop signing Utility Agreements that were sending flow to [Wastewater Treatment Plant 1].”
She expected to review a draft of such a resolution on Nov. 15, 2024, but she was fired the day before, on Nov. 14.
Rees also questioned whether it was appropriate for her to sign the consent decree from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; she challenged what she believed to be outdated calculations of wastewater treatment capacity; she presented an idea to have developers begin paying for PEP tanks for new homes.
“I suggested that changing the ‘Growth pays for Growth’ line of thinking may be helpful because, in my review of the Utility financials, this was not the conclusion I drew from the numbers. I had heard this phrasing echoed from the council podium, and my advice was that based on the financials and cost of new expansions, this needed to be more accurate to the public.”
Rees concludes her letter by accusing city leadership of being “motivated by fear.” She writes: “The environment created by firing the previous city manager [Denise Bevan] has the executive team paralyzed with fear, and this is evident in my wrongful termination. The working environment created by top leadership made it difficult to solve problems, which is not helping to increase the quality of life for Palm Coast citizens. I made a significant financial investment in my move to Palm Coast to take the Utility Director position. I was hired to protect the infrastructure and the citizens of Palm Coast and was set up to fail. All of my decisions, suggestions to solve problems, and requests to make changes were to protect the citizens of Palm Coast. I was fired for doing my job that would provide transparency to its citizens.”
‘ABSOLUTELY APPALLING’
Rees’ letter to City Council was made public by residents in the Jan. 7, 2025, City Council meeting.
Resident Ken McDowell said his interpretation of Rees’s letter was that she was unjustly fired, and he was frustrated that the City Council members had not acknowledged the matter publicly already. He said he and others were now distributing it widely.
“We’re going to make this a public event,” McDowell said. “The information in here is absolutely appalling. It gives some insight into how business is conducted not just in our Utility Department but in our city government.”
McDowell asked the City Council members to investigate further and “represent us.” He also warned the council — four members are brand new — that the staff members who are accused in this letter are the same staff members currently training them to do their jobs as City Council members.
In response, newly elected Mayor Mike Norris said, “We did receive those letters, and we are dealing with that situation. At lot of it, we can’t — this is not the forum for it, just say that. There are some legalities we have to consider. […] There will be more to follow on this situation.”
