- December 4, 2025
The Palm Coast City Council has once again censured Mayor Mike Norris in a 4-1 vote and will follow that with a formal letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove Norris from the seat.
Councilman Charles Gambaro Jr. was the one to motion for the censure and the letter of the removal at the end of the July 15 council meeting. Gambaro said that there had been enough of Norris' "toxic" behavior. Norris voted against the censure.
The censure follows another leg of the Norris-Gambaro feud where Norris had posted Gambaro's personal cell phone number on Norris' Facebook page, after WNZF CEO David Ayres blasted Norris' public cell phone number on the July 11 Free For All Friday talk show. Gambaro was a guest on that show.
Norris said he posted the number on Facebook because he thought that was Gambaro's city cell number -- it was the only number for Gambaro he had, he said. He said he "corrected the record" when he later changed the number to Gambaro's actual city cell number, which is available on Palm Coast's website, along with all the other council members' city cell phone numbers.
Though neither Councilmen Ty Miller or David Sullivan added any comment to the debate, Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri said she was unsure about the second half of Gambaro's motion to send a letter to the governor.
This is not the first time Gambaro has made this motion. Following the investigation into Norris' conduct with city employees which the council sent to the Florida Commission on Ethics, Gambaro motioned to send a letter to the governor for Norris' removal. Sullivan, at the time, recommended the council wait for a response from the Florida Commission on Ethics before sending one to the governor.
Pontieri said she felt the council should still wait for that response before deciding to request Norris' removal.
"Regardless of what has happened, Mayor Norris was elected,” she said. “And we have to think about the residents that did elect him.”
Despite her concerns, no one suggested that Gambaro amend his motion, and Pontieri, Miller and Sullivan all voted with Gambaro to censure Norris a second time and to send the letter to the governor.
A 'MISREPRESENTATION' OF INFORMATION
Pontieri said her concern with Norris was not what happened on the radio show -- though she did say Norris should not have posted Gambaro's personal number. Instead, Pontieri said she was concerned about Norris misrepresenting information on the dais to the council and to the public.
“It's important that, we as council members up here, what we talk about with regards to city business is transparent and is accurate," Pontieri said. "And I don't feel like I'm getting that from you, Mayor, and that's a concern.”
At the July 8 meeting, Norris told the council that he had not received any legal advice in advance of his lawsuit against Palm Coast and Gambaro's appointment to the District 4 seat. City Attorney Marcus Duffy said Norris had been advised, multiple times.
Rather than calling either man a liar or relying on he-said-she-said, Pontieri said she instead requested all public communications between Duffy, Norris and attorney Jeremiah Blocker regarding the charter and Gambaro's appointment. She also said she rewatched the city's Dec. 3 meeting livestream on YouTube, where Norris requests a formal legal opinion on the appointment.
In that meeting and in an email the next day, she said, Norris is told Duffy had already provided a legal opinion, which was discussed at length with the attorneys at Duffy's firm. Duffy also sent Norris that opinion.
Additionally, Blocker sent the entire council a memorandum on July 14 that detailed nine separate conversations and emails between Dec. 2-9 with Norris that explained Gambaro's appointment followed charter requirements.
The Observer obtained the same records Pontieri requested and the memo, which shows on numerous occasions Norris was advised on his lack of legal standing to sue the city, and that the previous council followed the charter in Gambaro's appointment.
Blocker also writes in the memo that Norris said on Dec. 9 that "he will find someone to bring a lawsuit against the City or pay for a lawsuit. City Attorney Duffy responded by saying if a lawsuit is brought against the City on this item, the City will win."
Norris' lawsuit cost taxpayers approximately $30,000, Duffy said on July 8, though the final invoice is still being tallied.
Based on these communications and the Dec. 3 meeting, Pontieri said she believed Norris had received legal advice, though he had said otherwise on July 8.
But, she said, the council has no legal recourse to get Norris to pay the city's legal fees. That would be up to the mayor to decide to do, she said.
Instead, she asked Norris to "do some reflection" and to "stop."
“You don't need to move forward with this lawsuit any further," she said. "You're never going to gain standing. You will never have standing to sue this city for that appointment. Ever.
