- March 26, 2025
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Dear Editor:
Someone is lying and that’s a big deal since it involves people in the highest levels of city government. In the “she said/he said” allegation that Mayor Norris tried to unilaterally fire the city manager and the chief of staff in violation of the city charter, the city manager is on record saying Morris did do that and the mayor publicly denied it.
An independent investigation, agreed to by the City Council, has begun. Violations of the city charter are always of major concern. But which high level city employee is lying should be of even bigger concern.
We probably know what the outcome would be if a city manager was found to have made a false allegation. But it is less clear what sanctions are available if it is a mayor who lied. It’s messy, even though the punishment should be equal.
Whatever the outcome of the investigation, one thing is clear. It’s already taking too long and costing taxpayer money along the way. From what we know so far, this should be a pretty quick investigation with little or no need to drag out the turmoil by “slow walking” it at probably $500 an hour or more.
Actually, given that the city attorney was reportedly present via phone at the meeting in question, he can easily corroborate what was said. Before the allegation was made public, the responsible and prudent thing to do would have been to check beforehand with the city attorney to ask if he confirms the truthfulness of the allegation made by the city manager against the mayor.
We can presume that was done and the council members all know the answer. And in the interest of transparency that seemingly very simple yes or no question has been asked of every council member with no response. A yes or no as to the veracity of the allegation would, for the most part, have closed the case already, at least in the minds of the public who are rattled and divided by the accusations.
Margaret Minutaglio
Palm Coast
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