Palm Coast Mayor Won’t Reimburse City’s Legal Fees from His Lawsuit

Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris on Tuesday said he had no intention of reimbursing the City of Palm Coast for legal expenses in a lawsuit he filed against the city. Norris last week was found to have no legal standing by Circuit Judge Chris France. In May he sued to have last year’s appointment of Councilman Charles Gambaro by the last Council vacated. The conversation was initiated at the end of Tuesday’s workshop, when Gambaro asked City Attorney Marcus Duffy how much the city had spent on its legal representation. While the exact invoice is still to come, Duffy told Gambaro it would be in the ballpark of $30,000. The City of Palm Coast contracted the firm GrayRobinson to conduct its legal defense against Norris, being that Duffy himself would be in a blatant conflict of interest if he represented the city given his regular job of advising Norris on the Council dais. Reimbursing the City? Gambaro then asked for his colleagues’ opinion on “asking the mayor to reimburse the taxpayers for the frivolous lawsuit”. Though he didn’t have to refer to the suit as anything but unsuccessful, his word choice betrayed a personal element in his months-long rivalry with Norris. The mayor audibly laughed before any other member could respond. “Take me to court. Any other issues?” Norris responded, attempting to shut down the topic swiftly. Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri asked Duffy whether Norris had been advised prior to the court hearing by city legal counsel as to the legal standing, or lack thereof, in his lawsuit. Duffy said Norris had received such advice. Norris then told Pontieri that this wasn’t true. “I’ll tell you flat out: I blame your attorney in part,” Pontieri said to Norris. “A basic tenet of your attorney’s job is to tell you you don’t have standing to file a lawsuit.” She explained to Norris how the legal costs in his suit would be deducted from the city’s general fund, creating ramifications for taxation, amenities, and public safety. “It’s frustrating for me, and it should be frustrating for the whole Council, it should be frustrating for the residents,” she said. “If in fact there was advice given that there really is zero, maybe little if any merit to this and that there surely isn’t standard if it was ignored, it’s cost the taxpayers money. And that’s frustrating.” One avenue that would be available to pay for the legal fees would be for Norris to volunteer some of his mayor’s salary to cover it. He pledged during his campaign to donate $10,000 of his $30,039 salary to a scholarship and food pantry. Norris has no intention of taking this route. Council members Ty Miller and David Sullivan concurred with a statement made by Pontieri, that there was no formal avenue to pursue the city’s legal costs. Neither one had any faith that they’d be seeing that money reimbursed. As far as a consensus to request Norris repay the fees, Pontieri said she’d be willing if she knew Norris had been advised about a lack of standing but with Norris and Duffy offering different stories she had no such confidence. Mike Norris Responds “I specifically asked for a legal opinion, specifically, and every single one of you denied it,” Norris said. This is true: he had broached the idea of asking for advice on the legality of Gambaro’s appointment by his predecessors, and he didn’t receive support for the proposal. The previous City Council was given legal advice by Duffy before deciding to make an appointment instead of holding a special election. Pontieri, an attorney, raised concerns about legal liability in the event they were given a troublesome assessment. It’s doubtful she expected that the legal action might come from their own mayor. “If you want to try and take me to court, or try and get back money from a law firm thatMr. Duffy should’ve been representing us in that case, not an outside firm that we contract, you go right ahead,” Norris said. Again, Duffy would’ve been in a clear conflict of interest had he represented the city against Norris while simultaneously acting as Norris’ legal counsel in his mayoral capacity. “All the money wasted, the Lawson Report, all the other money that’s been wasted in this city and you want to come after me? Go right ahead and try it,” he continued. “But I’ll stand up, I don’t care if it costs the city a million dollars, if I’m defending our residents’ right to pick their representative, and if I feel something’s wrong, I’m going to do it every time.” Norris’ allusion to the Lawson Report refers to an independent investigation into his alleged violations of the city charter and inappropriate conduct with city employees. The City Council approved this investigation after accusations by Gambaro. The report found that Norris likely had violated the charter. He has steadfastly denied this.