Palatka, FL — City Manager Interview Dossier

1. Executive Snapshot

Class & form. Small city (~10,700 ✓), county seat of Putnam County, ~60 mi south of Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. Commission-Manager form ✓: five at-large numbered seats (Mayor + Groups 1–4); manager hired/fired by majority of full membership (3 of 5) ✓; mayor directly elected, weak-mayor variant.

Council composition. Robbi Correa (Mayor, not seeking re-election 2026) ✓; Annie Henderson Davis (Group 1, term 2028) ✓; Justin Campbell (Group 2, term 2026, re-filed) ✓; Will Jones (Group 3, term 2028) ✓; Rufus Borom (Group 4, term 2026, not re-filing) ✓. All nonpartisan, four-year terms.

Top-3 fiscal facts.

• All-funds adopted budget FY2024-25: $75,098,556 ✓; General Fund ~$23M ✓. FY2026-27 millage proposed flat at 6.2397 mills ✓.
• FY2024-25 went to adoption with a $2.1M structural shortfall closed via 4.45%-over-rollback millage hike (6.4000 mills); ARPA allocation $5.234M now past its 12/31/24 obligation cliff ✓.
• Three single-employer DB pension plans (Police Ch. 185, Fire Ch. 175, General Employees), NOT FRS ✓ — funded ratios unverified ⚠ (city PDFs returned binary; flauditor.gov TLS-failed).

Top-3 current issues.

1. Third CM ousted in 24 months. Marcia Carty fired 4–1 on April 24, 2026, ~16 days ago, after a 70-day swing from "meets expectations" (Feb 12) to termination. Davis sponsored both the November 2025 cure and the April firing. Borom dissented both votes in his "process" lane ✓.
2. Live public-safety crisis as of yesterday (May 9). Saturday block-party shooting at city-approved event; pickup truck plowed crowd, returned, struck patrol vehicle and bystanders; Palatka officers fired; FDLE investigating OIS; ~1,000 people regrouped at Middleton Shopping Center; five agencies (Palatka PD, PCSO, Clay SO, St. Johns SO, FHP) dispersed. Acting CM Shaw is the chief whose officers fired ✓.
3. Property-tax-elimination ballot push (HJR 201/203/205/207/209/211/213) is existential. Palatka's median tax bill is $1,131 ✓; ad valorem dominates the GF; FY28 exposure is real.

One number to know cold. $23,000,000 — General Fund operating budget (FY2024-25). On all-funds, $75.1M. ($170,000 — Carty's salary — is the second number; the panel will probe what Charles thinks the role is worth.)

2. The Position & The Predecessor

The seat is open because the City Commission fired Marcia Carty 4–1 on April 24, 2026 ✓, sixteen days before this interview window. It is the third forced CM exit in roughly 24 months (Shanahan fired 3–2, April 2020; Bell fired 4–1, September 12, 2024; Carty fired 4–1, April 24, 2026). Both Bell and Carty were finance-promotion CMs. Both were 4–1 votes. The pattern is not random.

Marcia Carty's narrative arc. Hired February 25, 2025 from inside (she was the city's Finance Director, CPA/CGFO, at $170,000) ✓. Three HR complaints filed September 3–5, 2025; placed on administrative leave September 11; external investigation grew the complaint set to nine items — workplace climate, race/age-related comments, using public-works staff for personal errands at her home, blurring city and personal business, retaliation during the investigation ✓ (News4Jax Oct 16, 2025). On October 27, 2025 the commission voted (Davis motioning) to retain her under a 30-day corrective-action plan: outside CM mentor, employer-employee relations training, employees reporting through Chief Shaw as Acting Assistant CM during the cure, written warning, 30/60/90-day evaluations ✓ (Action News Jax Oct 21, 2025). On November 24, 2025 the commission voted unanimously to retain her after she completed the plan ✓. On February 12, 2026 her annual evaluation rated her as "meeting expectations" ✓. Ten weeks later, on April 24, Davis added termination as an emergency item, motioned the firing, and prevailed 4–1 ✓ (Palatka Daily News April 24, 2026).

What changed in 70 days. The April rationale was not the workplace-climate bucket the November cure addressed. It was operational performance — Carty was publicly criticized for providing incomplete/incorrect information on agenda topics (forcing decisions to slip), failing to follow up on promised resident meetings, and delayed delivery of the 2025 annual report (due April 29) ✓. The commission did not articulate a single on-the-record reason at the firing meeting itself ⚠. Former Commissioner Allegra Kitchens, in public comment, advised Carty to "get the meanest employment attorney she can find and sue the city" ✓. Carty's contract included a 30-day cure period ✓ (First Coast News, October 2025); whether the April firing bypassed it is the central litigation-risk question.

Acting CM Jason Shaw. Police Chief since 2015 ✓; previously the Acting Assistant CM during Carty's cure period. Promoted to Acting CM effective immediately on April 24. The commission separately resolved that the interim shall be ineligible for the permanent position (Davis's motion) ✓ — Shaw is a stopgap by design. The commission stated it will work with FCCMA and the Florida League of Cities to identify both a true interim CM (separate from Shaw) and the permanent successor ✓; a search firm has been authorized 4–0 but not publicly named in coverage retrieved ⚠.

Why the commission moved. Three structural readings, in descending order of certainty:

1. The cure didn't hold. The November plan addressed climate; April complaints were about competence and information flow. Davis (who owns both motions) concluded the second bucket was unrepairable.
2. Political math. Mayor Correa is not seeking re-election ✓. She has political room to back a hard call without facing voters. Davis (the swing actor) had turned. The 4–1 math was clean.
3. The pattern of "promote from finance" wasn't working. Bell came up through finance/operations; Carty was the finance director. Both fired within ~14 months. A panel that has watched this twice will be unusually attuned to whether the next CM brings an outside skill set or replicates the internal-feeder pattern.

What this means for Charles. He walks into a commission that has demonstrated four behaviors to expect: (a) it will fire on 4–1 if the math is there and process is procedurally clean; (b) it will reverse a positive evaluation when staff complaints continue; (c) it will use the agenda-emergency-item mechanism rather than wait for a noticed meeting; (d) Davis is the swing actor — both motions in 70 days came from her seat. The interview answer to "who hired you?" will not match the answer to "who will evaluate you?" by Charles's first anniversary, because three of five seats reset between the Aug 18, 2026 primary and the November general (Mayor + Groups 2 & 4). Plan accordingly.

3. Open questions to ask the panel

On the open seat & search.

1. Of the four firing votes, which is the single most non-negotiable expectation for the next CM you wish had been on the table earlier?
2. What's the commission's intended timeline — appointment before or after the November 2026 general election?
3. Will the next CM contract preserve the 30-day cure period, or has the experience changed your view of cure mechanics?

On governance & process. 4. Has the commission discussed a self-imposed cooling-off rule for CM-personnel emergency items, given Sept 2025 and April 2026 procedural friction? 5. What's the commission's expectation for CM-mayor communication frequency and format on agenda-packet quality?

On the live crisis. 6. What's the city's risk-pool notification status on the May 9 OIS, and what's the after-action framework for the block-party permitting that's independent of the FDLE criminal track? 7. When does Chief Shaw return to PD-only duty, and how will the commission name an acting chief in the interim?

On fiscal exposure. 8. At what threshold of state property-tax cuts does Palatka have to consider service reductions vs. fee increases, and which fee tools (fire assessment, stormwater, franchise) are most elastic? 9. The FY2023 audit had a revised compliance section — what was the underlying finding and how was it resolved?

On economic development & CRA. 10. With the 2025 CRA plan-update in flight (boundaries unchanged), what's the sequencing memo from the John Jones consultant for what closes in this cycle vs staged later? 11. Is there an active employer-partnered workforce-housing conversation with Georgia-Pacific or Saint-Gobain, and would the commission support the next CM leading it?

On the listening tour. 12. Six months from now, what would an excellent performance review for this position look like, and how would it be conducted?

4. Governance Map

Form. Commission–Manager Plan (Florida nomenclature for council-manager) ✓. Five seats, all elected at-large city-wide: Mayor + Groups 1–4 ✓. The "Group" designations are at-large numbered seats, not geographic districts ✓ (City of Palatka Data sheet). Four-year terms, nonpartisan, August primary / November general / runoff to general if primary doesn't decide. Charter origin January 8, 1853 ✓; most-recent major amendment year unverified ⚠.

Charter mechanics the next CM uses month one.

• CM removal: majority of the total membership of the commission may remove; 3 of 5 sufficient; no super-majority ✓ (News4Jax April 24, 2026).
• Cure period in current CM contracts: 30 days ✓ — unusual for FL CM contracts; whether template or Carty-specific is?.
• Contracting threshold: $25,000. Above that, the CM needs Commission approval. This is a tripwire, not a guideline — Bell was fired in part for releasing a $50K Blue Crab Festival check without that approval ✓ (Action News Jax Sept 12, 2024).
• Ethics/conduct: Mayor Correa's articulated standard — "a higher standard for city leadership" (Oct 16, 2025) ✓. Charter codification of residency, code-of-conduct provisions:?.

The commission, member by member.

Two non-obvious composition facts: (1) two of five commissioners (Campbell, Borom) are PCSD employees — structural alignment with a top-three in-county employer, not a conflict but worth knowing; (2) the prior Group 1 incumbent McCaskill withdrew in December 2024 citing "the public's hostility toward commissioners during the search for a new city manager" ✓. Combined with Correa declining 2026, two incumbents in two cycles have left the dais citing political cost.

Voting math. On personnel, this is a 4–1 board with Borom in the persistent due-process minority. The 4-vote majority (Correa + Davis + Campbell + Jones) fired Bell 4–1 in Sept 2024, voted with conditions in October 2025, retained Carty unanimously in November 2025, and fired Carty 4–1 in April 2026. It is not a stable ideological bloc — it is a personnel-management majority that recalibrates. Davis is the swing actor — she sponsored both the November cure motion and the April firing. Borom is the principled lone dissenter ("I'm not voting on the blind"; "Why are we not appraised?") ✓. He's structurally suspicious of moving fast on personnel and rewards procedural propriety. The next CM should treat him as the one commissioner most likely to defend the CM against an emerging majority's personnel pressure, conditioned on demonstrated process discipline.

Implication for any 3-2 or 4-1 future vote: the panel will not be looking for someone who can win 5–0. They will be looking for someone who can survive a 3–2 vote and not generate the conditions that produce a 4–1.

2026 election cycle. Mayor + Group 2 + Group 4 — three of five seats reset before Charles's first anniversary. Filed candidates:

• Mayor (open): Tatyiana Henry Daniel; Constance Daniels; Karl N. Flagg — former Palatka mayor 2000–2009 + former Putnam County commissioner, first elected city commission 1989; pastor Mt. Tabor First Baptist; highest name-ID in the field ✓.
• Group 2 (open if Campbell shifts to Group 4): Jamaad C. Batts Sr.; James Norwood; (Michelle Jeansonne announced but not filed at last reporting).
• Group 4 (Borom not running): Justin Campbell (filed) + Breanna Pierce (filed) ⚠ — Campbell filing for Group 4 while currently in Group 2 strongly suggests a seat-shift; verify with Putnam SOE.

Aug 18, 2026 primary; Nov 2026 general; January 2027 swearing-in. At minimum a new mayor takes office; at minimum one of the four "yes" votes is up; the "no" vote is up. Three seats reset before Charles's first full budget cycle.

Compensation. Carty: $170,000 salary ✓; 10 weeks severance at hire ⚠; 30-day cure period ✓. An unnamed ex-mayor reportedly asked for $187,000 for the interim role ✓ — implying a permanent salary band around $170–190K. Florida small-city CM total comp clusters $135–200K; Carty's $170K was at the upper-middle of that range, not a discount hire. Residency:?.

State delegation. Sen. Tom Leek (R, SD 7) — district office in St. Augustine ✓. Rep. Judson Sapp (R, HD 20) — district office physically located in Palatka at 620 S. SR 19 ✓; up 2026. Rep. Randy Fine (R, US-6) elected April 2025 special; up 2026. Sen. Ashley Moody (appointed Jan 2025 to fill Rubio vacancy; up 2026) and Sen. Rick Scott.

Regional bodies. Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC; voting share small within seven-county region) ✓. No MPO — Putnam County is below the urbanized-area threshold ✓. Palatka participates in the Northeast Florida Mobility Coalition but has no voting MPO seat. Project funding runs FDOT District 2 direct + LAP program — FDOT has a ~$220M five-year work program for Putnam County ✓. The leverage point is FDOT, not an MPO TIP fight. Florida League of Cities member; FCCMA explicitly named as a search partner by the commission ✓.

Sunshine Law posture. Florida Statutes Ch. 286.011 (Sunshine) + Ch. 119 (Public Records) — two-commissioner rule applies the moment two members of the same board discuss any matter that may come before them. The Sept 2025 admin-leave reversal showed a procedural-fragility lesson: city HR/staff put Carty on leave without a commission vote; commissioners (Campbell visibly) were angry the elected body had not been convened; the commission reversed and put her back to work pending the formal action. The April 24 emergency-item firing is legal under Florida agenda rules but politically aggressive by FCCMA professional norms — Charles may want to ask whether the commission would adopt a self-imposed cooling-off rule for CM-personnel matters. No active enforcement cases against the city surfaced ⚠.

Boards & commissions. Planning Board (3-yr terms); Zoning Board of Appeals (5-yr, in-city residents only); Historic Preservation Board; Code Enforcement Board (7 members + 2 alternates, 3-yr terms). Plus the CRA (Ch. 163 Part III; 1983, extended 2012 for 30 years to ~2042) with three TIF districts (Central Business District + North Historic + South Historic) ✓; CRA Coordinator name disputed in this research — city directory lists Kristin Odom ✓, October 2025 Citizen Portal coverage names "Kristen Carty" ⚠, and at least one operations source surfaced "Nicole Auth" ⚠ — three-way conflict that must be cleared with the City Clerk. Palatka Housing Authority is an independent county-wide authority (8 municipalities served) ✓; Port Putnam (FL deepwater port at Palatka, member Florida Ports Council) — whether city-, county-, or special-district-controlled is?.

5. The Books

Top-line. All-funds adopted FY2024-25: $75,098,556 ✓. General Fund operating ~$23M ✓. Mid-year FY24-25 GF run-rate: ~$11M revenue / ~$9.9M expense through April 30, 2025 ✓ (Citizen Portal). FY24-25 went to adoption with a $2.1M structural shortfall closed via a millage hike to 6.4000 mills (4.45% over rolled-back) ✓. FY25-26: 6.2397 mills ⚠. FY26-27 in workshop May 2026: proposed to hold at 6.2397 mills ✓ (Palatka Daily News May 2026).

Revenue mix. Ad valorem property tax is the dominant GF source. Median Palatka property-tax bill: $1,131 ✓ — a striking number that reflects the low median home value (~$150,500 ACS) plus a large nontaxable footprint (Putnam County government, HCA hospital, SJR State College, churches, public housing). The city operates a separate Fire Service Assessment at $2.46 per $1,000 of property value (50% for churches/nonprofits) ✓ — authorized by 2015 Circuit Court order, outside the millage cap and outside the property-tax-elimination risk surface. No city sales tax; Putnam County imposes a 1% discretionary surtax on top of FL's 6% ✓. Major non-property revenue: water/sewer enterprise (city-owned), public service tax, communications services tax, franchise fees, state-shared revenue (Half-Cent + Municipal Revenue Sharing). CRA TIF flows through three districts; specific revenue ⚠.

ARPA. Allocation $5,234,421 ✓ (Palatka ARPA page). Obligation deadline (Dec 31, 2024) past; expenditure deadline (Dec 31, 2026) live. $2.69M toward potable water-line replacement (~36,510 LF — addresses chronic "red water" complaints downtown and at Wilson Cypress site) and a tranche toward 38 smart sensors in lift stations and manholes to monitor I/I tied to St. Johns River discharge violations ✓ (City ARPA page; Sewer Sensors grant page). How much went to revenue replacement vs one-time capital is ⚠ — but the structural FY24-25 deficit plus the standard small-city pattern suggest material revenue-replacement use, which means the cliff is now.

Expense mix. Direct PDF extraction blocked by encoding. From the Aug 9, 2024 budget workshop: total decision units $3.157M (GF $1.258M; PW $1.767M; Sanitation $132K). Code Enforcement $312K (two part-time officers added; 85% lien-enforcement success; >$220K in lien-reduction fees collected ✓). HR $236K (down from $2.654M prior — large drop, may be reallocation). Parks $307K. Public Safety (PD + FD + Code) is the dominant GF cost center at the typical FL small-city share of 50–60% ⚠. Personnel + benefits ~70% of GF is the standard pattern. Specific shares ⚠.

Reserves. "Contingencies and Reserves" line in adopted FY24-25 reported as $23.32M ⚠ — almost certainly a misread of the GF total appropriations side, not a discrete reserve figure. True reserve in a city this size would be ~$4–7M (~20–30% of GF). Fund-balance policy floor: not surfaced ⚠. FL GFOA best practice is 17% (two months of operations). FY24 ACFR reportedly shows a $9.5M increase in net position ✓ — that's government-wide and includes capital additions, not the same as a GF surplus.

Debt. Total long-term debt outstanding (FY2024 ACFR): $22,910,279 ✓ — +$8.33M over the prior year. The increase is concentrated in utility enterprise debt and likely tied to the water reuse system expansion (Ayres Associates: 2.5-MGD reclaimed-water pump station + ~14,900 LF of 16" PVC mainline + 350-LF 20" HDD at SR 19) ✓ (Ayres project page). Debt service as % of GF: ⚠.

Pensions — corrected from anchor. Palatka operates three single-employer defined-benefit plans: Police (Ch. 185), Firefighters (Ch. 175), General Employees ✓ (City Pension Funds page). Not FRS. Employees contribute 6%; city contributions actuarially determined. Police and Fire are eligible for Ch. 175/185 state premium-tax distributions (insurance-premium tax revenue earmarked to local police/fire pensions) — that offsets city contributions but is volatile. Funded ratios for each plan: ⚠ — the §112.664 fact sheets returned binary on HTTP fetch and the city site's PDF links must be re-pulled in a browser. This is the single most important ⚠ in this dossier — the panel will almost certainly probe pension funded ratios as the highest-leverage technical fiscal question, and they are genuinely unknown as of this draft. North-FL small-city Ch. 175/185 plans typically cluster 65–85% funded; below 60% would be a red flag.

OPEB. Implicit-rate-subsidy liability virtually certain under FL Statute 112.0801; magnitude ⚠; funding posture almost certainly PAYGO ⚠.

Bond ratings. No public Moody's, S&P, or Fitch action surfaced in this research ⚠. Most likely posture: outstanding utility revenue debt is unrated (small private placements, FL DEP SRF, USDA Rural Development); where rated, FL small-city water/sewer credits typically land A2/A. GO debt requires referendum in FL; no recent record.

Audit posture. Auditor: Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC (CRI) ✓ — top-25 national CPA, deep FL local-government practice, Palatka office presence (CRI Palatka). FY2024 ACFR reportedly carried a clean (unmodified) opinion ✓. Yellow flag: the FY2023 ACFR has a revised compliance section posted at flauditor.gov ✓ — revisions are uncommon; this signals a notable defect in the original filing that the candidate should ask about directly. GFOA Certificate of Achievement: not visible on the Finance page ⚠ — also notable as a quality-signal question.

Carty-era controls overlay. Carty was the city's Finance Director and CGFO from ~2023 until February 2025 when she moved up to CM. The person responsible for designing and operating the city's internal control environment for two-plus years was then dismissed for misconduct in April 2026. There is no public allegation that her misconduct involved financial controls — the record cites workplace climate, race/age comments, blurring city and personal business, and retaliation. But a panel will reasonably ask whether the next CM should commission a controls/forensic review of the FY23–FY26 period, and Charles should have a calibrated answer ready.

Recent fiscal history. FY22 audit issued 10/25/2023; FY23 audit issued 2024 with revised compliance section (date ⚠); FY24 audit clean, +$9.5M net position, +$8.3M debt; FY25 in adoption with $2.1M deficit closed via above-rollback millage; FY26 at 6.2397 mills (a 0.16-mill cut, ~flat revenue with assessed-value growth); FY27 proposed flat at 6.2397.

CIP. Active per FL Statute 163.3177 ✓. Major active capital: water reuse system expansion (Ayres). Other FY24-25 capital touches: City Hall Annex roof (R-2024-30), PD roof (R-59-B), Jenkins Community Center improvements (R-41), TB Landmark Palatka Heights Phase II change order (R-55), 512 Emmett Street CRA acquisition (R-60), $83K splash pad. CDBG-DR mitigation pipeline: five applications, ~$19.64M (three lift-station upgrades among them) ✓ (CDBG public notice). 14th/15th Street Drainage Basin + St. Johns Avenue Improvement Project (~$10.5M flood-reduction) are the named drainage capital items ✓.

Peer benchmarks (inferred). Palatka's all-funds-per-capita ($7,000) is on the high end for cities its size driven by the broad enterprise footprint (water/sewer + golf + airport + Palatka Gas Authority). GF per capita ($2,150) is comparable to Lake City and Live Oak. Per-capita debt (~$2,140) is moderate for a utility-operating city. Bottom line: Palatka runs a broad municipal footprint for a city of 10,700 — both a fiscal asset (multiple revenue streams) and a management complexity (multiple enterprise funds, multiple pension plans, multiple regulatory frameworks). The CM choice is consolidate / contract out / sustain.

Property-tax-elimination as 2026-27 fiscal threat. The FL legislature's slate of ballot proposals (HJR 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211, 213) targets property-tax repeal in various forms ✓ (Florida Policy Institute; Barnes Walker). City Attorney Jane West has indicated the FY27 budget cycle likely won't be affected ✓, but FY28 exposure is real and unmodeled in publicly-available work product. Pierre flagged this risk publicly at the May 2025 commission financial report ✓. For Palatka — where ad valorem dominates the GF and the median tax bill is already $1,131 — this is the single dominant external fiscal threat.

6. The Footprint

The framing fact. Putnam County was Florida's #1 per-capita job generator in 2024 (+1,103 jobs / +4.1%) ✓. The county is in a generational industrial expansion cycle — Saint-Gobain CertainTeed completed a $235–240M buildout in October 2025 (now the world's largest gypsum wallboard plant + first net-zero in NA + 110 permanent jobs) ✓ (Saint-Gobain North America press); Georgia-Pacific broke ground March 13, 2026 on a $83M Phase 2 warehouse at the Palatka mill (400,000 sq ft, ~12-month build, +20 jobs) ✓ (PaperAge March 18, 2026). Yet Palatka the city has a median household income of $32,021 — roughly 41% of the Florida state median — with an individual poverty rate of 37.3%, ~3x the state. The wealth split runs along the county-vs-city geographic line: industrial wins are mostly adjacent to city limits, not inside. Saint-Gobain may be just outside city limits at 886 US-17 ⚠ — meaning direct ad valorem capture is indirect (wages, ancillary commercial, utility), not ad valorem.

Demographics. Population ~10,650 (2024 ACS) ✓; 2026 projection ~10,768; +0.6% projected annual growth — modest reversal of decades of flat-to-decline. Race/ethnicity is the single most unusual demographic fact: 46.5% Black (non-Hispanic), 38.6% White (non-Hispanic), 9.1% Hispanic ✓. Putnam County overall is 70% White / 15.1% Black / 10.9% Hispanic. Palatka is plurality-Black in a majority-White county — a rural-FL pattern where the historic Black community concentrated in the county seat. The North and South Historic CRA districts overlap historically Black neighborhoods. Any CRA, housing, code-enforcement, or downtown-investment conversation carries an implicit equity dimension that an incoming CM should treat as a first-rank political fact, not a footnote.

Age & income. Median age 35.3 — ~11 years younger than the county (46.8) and ~7 years younger than the state. The retirees concentrate in the unincorporated lakefront communities (Crescent City, Welaka, Interlachen); the working-age population stays in the county seat. Median HH income $32,021 (city) vs $47,934 (county) vs $77,735 (FL). Individual poverty 37.3% (city) vs 23.4% (county) vs 12.1% (FL). ALICE + poverty share for Palatka city almost certainly exceeds 60%.

Top employers. GP Palatka mill ~1,000 ✓ (largest private employer in Putnam County; ~$620M cumulative invested); Putnam County School District (largest public employer; HQ in Palatka; specific FTE ⚠); HCA Florida Putnam Hospital (~300-500 ⚠; 99-bed acute care; ICU; formerly Putnam Community Medical Center); Saint-Gobain / CertainTeed (~400-500 post-expansion ⚠; world's largest gypsum facility); Putnam County Government; Seminole Electric Cooperative (~270); Veritas Steel (bridge beams); St. Johns Ship Building; Vulcan Materials; St. Johns River State College (Palatka main campus, 1,227 degrees awarded 2023); Comarco (eggplant frozen food, ~120 projected jobs at announcement — current status ⚠); City of Palatka itself; Wal-Mart Supercenter, Publix, Home Depot, Lowe's, Beck Auto Group. ACFR principal-employer table is canonical.

Industry concentration risk. Palatka's regional employment is unusually concentrated in paper & wood products, gypsum/drywall, and structural steel — three building-products industries that all run on housing-starts and durable-goods cycles. A national construction downturn hits GP + CertainTeed + Veritas Steel + Vulcan simultaneously. The risk is correlated, not diversified. Mitigating signal: GP and CertainTeed just sunk ~$320M combined in capex — multi-decade commitment to these specific sites.

Housing market. ACS-derived owner-occupied median property value: $150,500 ✓ (+34% YoY); transaction-weighted median sale price varies $153K–$269K depending on source/window. ~40% of FL state median valuation — affordability matched by income gap. Days on market 128 (vs 122 prior year) — slow-velocity market. Median market rent ~$1,300–$1,500/month. 30%-of-income rent threshold for the median-income Palatka HH ($32,021) is $800/month — meaning the median-income Palatka renter is severely cost-burdened (50-60% of gross income on rent). Tenure: 50.8% owner-occupied (vs FL ~66%) — renter-heavy. Rental vacancy ~5% — tight.

STRs (data only — see Current State of Play for any policy fight). ~109 active listings in Palatka ✓ (AirDNA); ~2.3% of housing stock; modest by FL standards; demand is bass-tournament + Azalea Festival driven, not year-round vacation.

Affordable housing & PHA. Palatka Housing Authority is independent county-wide (8 municipalities served) ✓; 422 public housing units + 402 Housing Choice Vouchers; High Performer status since 2018; PHA runs RIVER and BREADWINNER$ resident-support programs. LIHTC inventory in city ~757 income-restricted units across Woodland Point (120), Kay Larkin Apartments, Grand Pines (78 senior), Carriage Gate (47), Sandhill Forest (16). No employer-partnered workforce housing initiative surfaced ⚠ — a natural CM-led conversation given the GP/CertainTeed wage scale and the wage-rent gap.

Homelessness. FL-508 Gainesville/Alachua, Putnam Counties CoC; TaskForce Fore Ending Homelessness lead agency ✓. 2024 PIT 752 (270 ES / 38 TH / 444 unsheltered) across 5-county region; 2025 PIT preliminary ~831. Florida HB 1365 (effective Oct 1, 2024) — Unauthorized Public Camping/Public Sleeping Act — preempts permissive local ordinances and creates a civil-action remedy against cities that fail to enforce (residents/businesses can sue with attorney's-fee shifting). Combined with Grants Pass v. Johnson (2024), this is a structural compliance obligation, not a policy choice. Operational implication: Palatka PD (currently led by Acting CM/Chief Shaw) is the front line; there is no published HB 1365 enforcement action against Palatka surfaced ⚠.

Economic development structure. Palatka does not operate a stand-alone in-house ED office. Putnam County Chamber of Commerce / Mark Litten (VP ED) is the lead county-wide voice ✓. Elevate Putnam is the 5-year private-public initiative (raised $3M+ by June 2024 launch; already exceeded its 750-job 5-year goal in year one) ✓. City of Palatka CRA (Ch. 163; 1983, extended 2012 to ~2042; three TIF districts) handles downtown ✓. Main Street Palatka runs the FL Main Street program ✓. Three Opportunity Zones in Putnam (two in Palatka) — utilization ⚠. State Capital Investment Tax Credit + Quick Response Training Grant in the CertainTeed package + Putnam County local grant (>$7M public-side support). Putnam County Business and Aviation Park houses the Comarco spec-building deployment.

Where the value lands. The defining political-economy question for the next CM: the GP and Saint-Gobain expansions are wins that mostly land in unincorporated Putnam, while the city government runs the schools, services, code enforcement, and downtown that the same mill workers' families consume. The interview will probe how Charles frames "where are the wins landing?" The answer is not a complaint — it's a strategy: workforce-housing partnerships, downtown placemaking for new engineering hires, utility-revenue capture, business-tax base-broadening, school-district coordination.

Regional comparison. Palatka is poorer than the county across every metric despite being the county seat. The wealthier county zones are East Palatka / coastal Putnam (St. Johns east bank), Crescent City / Welaka (lakefront retirees), and the unincorporated industrial corridors near the GP and CertainTeed sites. Within the city, the relative-wealth split mirrors the historic-district / Black-resident geography. Tourism is real but secondary — Florida Azalea Festival (35,000-40,000 visitors annually since 1938), Bassmaster Elite Series on St. Johns ("Bass Capital of the World" — ~$2M per tournament). Hotel inventory thin — Planning Board approved a 15-room downtown hotel in September 2024.

7. The Operations

The dual-hat. Acting CM Jason L. Shaw, Sr. has been Palatka PD Chief since 2015 and remains Chief — the city has not formally named an acting chief, and Assistant Chief Matt Newcomb is the de facto operational lead during Shaw's CM tenure ⚠. This is itself an operational risk with a 30-60-day shelf life — either the commission names an acting chief and lets Shaw be CM, or it identifies an acting CM separate from Shaw and lets Shaw be Chief. Running both indefinitely degrades both functions. The next permanent CM inherits whichever resolution the commission lands on.

Police. Chief Shaw ✓ (PD since 1999; Chief since 2015; SJR State alumni). Asst Chief Matt Newcomb. Captains Tobby Williams + Brad Forsythe. Sworn 32 + civilian 9 (~41 FTE) ✓. PD as % of GF ~13–15% ⚠ (indicative; ACFR confirmation pending). 2024 crime: ~29 violent / 0 homicides / ~404 property — property rate ~2x national; violent rate below national ⚠ (crimeexplorer; aggregator data — FBI CDE direct queries time out for sub-25K cities). 2023 had 64 violent / 2 homicides — the 2023→2024 drop is large; could reflect NIBRS-transition classification artifacts or genuine improvement ⚠. CFA-accredited (Feb 23, 2023) ✓; 2026 reaccreditation cycle is now — worth asking. No DOJ consent decree, no civilian review board ✓. PCSO (Sheriff H.D. "Gator" DeLoach III, re-elected 2024; 125 sworn, ~4x PD) is co-located in Palatka and provides assistance on major incidents, SWAT, K-9 ✓.

Fire. Chief Chris Taylor ✓; Asst Chief Chad Branford. ~16 sworn per about-page, ~25 per FL Firefighters directory ⚠. Two stations: Main (100 N 11th St) + Kay Larkin (500 N Moody Rd at the airport). ISO/PPC rating not published ⚠. Fire Service Assessment ($2.46/$1,000) funds operations outside the millage cap. EMS transport is not Palatka FD's job — Putnam County Fire Rescue (Chief Quin Romay) is the licensed county-wide EMS transport provider ✓ (827 sq mi, 109 career personnel, 17 volunteer departments, 8 ambulances). PFD does suppression + first-response medical; PCFR transports. The split is operationally fine, politically opaque (residents do not always know PCFR transports them; complaints route to city hall).

Emergency management. Local hazard profile: St. Johns River flooding (including reverse-flow during sustained NE winds — Hurricane Milton caused exactly that in Oct 2024) ✓; inland tropical-storm wind; severe-thunderstorm tornado risk. Helene/Milton (Sept-Oct 2024) city damage was relatively limited — outages, downed trees, minor flooding, James C. Godwin Riverfront Park floating dock damage (initial estimate >$150K, expected FEMA-reimbursable) ✓. Putnam County EM is the lead EOC for major events; Palatka coordinates upward. Putnam County Fairgrounds has historically hosted FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers.

Public works & utilities. Director not published as a named position ⚠ — itself a finding. Address 1010 Ocean St. Water utility: R.C. Willis WTP ✓ — Floridan aquifer, 8 wells, ultrafiltration treatment, 6.0 MGD permitted capacity. UF on a Floridan source is more sophisticated than typical for a city this size. Average daily demand ~1.2–1.8 MGD (rough) — headroom likely. Lead service line inventory not published — federal LCRR inventory deadline (Oct 2024) past; the city should have a published inventory by now ⚠. Superintendent Rhett McCamey ✓; Locator/Construction Coordinator Aaron Kerwin ✓. Wastewater: Platt Drew WRF (1985-vintage) ✓ — 3.5 MGD permitted (upgraded from prior in 2011), 1.7 MGD avg daily flow (~50% utilization). Secondary biological + disinfection to reuse-grade. 40 lift stations. Reuse to municipal golf course, airport, cemeteries, ball fields. Superintendent Brian McCann ✓. CDBG-DR pipeline: 5 applications totaling ~$19.64M (Palatka CDBG public notice) including three lift-station upgrades and the 14th/15th Street Drainage Basin + St. Johns Avenue Improvement Project (~$10.5M) ✓. Without these grants the city cannot self-fund the full stormwater backlog on current revenue. Whoever is the next CM will live or die on grant performance. Stormwater MS4 status: Palatka is below Phase II auto-threshold but FDEP regulates MS4s in urbanized areas regardless of population ⚠. Solid waste: Waste Pro USA under inter-local with Putnam County (orig 2004 contract, multiple extensions) ✓. Gas: Palatka Gas Authority (PGA) — listed as a city department but operates as a separate authority with its own board ⚠; President Jud Neufeld ⚠; 518 Main Street.

Planning & development. Planning & Zoning Department at 205 N. 2nd St. Director not currently published as a named position ⚠. Scope: site dev plans, subdivision review, rezoning, annexations, historic preservation, sign permits, comp plan + LDR maintenance. Comprehensive Plan EAR cycle dates ⚠. Historic preservation is significant — recognized historic downtown corridor + three CRA districts (Central Business District + two named for historic character). Permit authority: Palatka partners with Putnam County Planning & Zoning to process building permits ✓; permits originate at the county. The city retains its own Planning Board for conditional-use, comp-plan amendments, downtown design review.

CRA (operations). Independent under FL Ch. 163 Part III; established 1983, extended 2012 for 30 years (to ~2042) ✓. Three TIF districts. Active May 2026 program: 2026 CRA Building Improvement Grant — 50% reimbursement up to $25,000 for exterior improvements; window May 1–June 15, 2026 ✓. 2025 CRA full plan update in progress — Oct 23, 2025 vote 3-2 to update without expanding boundaries to include public housing properties; finding-of-necessity budgeted ~$104K via consultant John Jones ✓. CRA Coordinator name disputed in research (Kristin Odom / Kristen Carty / Nicole Auth) ⚠.

Parks/rec/culture. Bundled under Community Affairs (Code Enforcement, Cultural Affairs, facility rentals, Parks & Rec). Library: Putnam County Library System (HQ at Palatka Public Library, 601 College Rd) — county-run, not city-run ⚠ — verify funding-split. Riverfront Park (James C. Godwin) is a city-owned signature park; floating dock damaged in Helene with FEMA-PA repair underway. Palatka Municipal Golf Club is city-owned 18-hole; reuse-water customer of Platt Drew WRF; municipal golf typically a structural drag on small-city budgets — worth asking whether it covers operating costs.

Airport. Palatka Municipal Airport / Lt. Kay Larkin Field (FAA 28J) ✓; general aviation; co-located with Kay Larkin fire station — useful for hurricane staging and aerial firefighting. Airport Manager Yul McNair ⚠. FDOT and FAA AIP grant eligible.

IT & cyber. CIO/IT Director not published as a named position ⚠. No recent city-specific cyber incident surfaced ✓ — but upstream regional risk: a Florida water-district-related cyberattack reported late 2023 ⚠ — verify whether it touches SJRWMD (which directly touches Palatka's water permits and stormwater coordination). ERP/permitting/financial stack not published ⚠. Cautionary peer-FL-city precedent: Lake City paid ~$460K ransomware in 2019 and fired the IT Director — directly applicable lessons. If Palatka hasn't run a recent cyber-tabletop with FDLE / Florida Cyber Range, that is a 30-day item.

Workforce. Total city FTE not published in a single number ⚠ — plausible total ~120–170 based on department aggregations (excluding PGA which has its own employees). Bargaining units almost certainly include PBA or FOP for sworn police and an IAFF local for fire; the city's specific affiliations and contract status ⚠. Many FL small cities have no general-employee union outside police/fire. Senior leadership churn has thinned the bench: two CMs fired in 18 months, Public Works director not visibly named, Planning director not visibly named, CRA Coordinator transition in flux, Finance Director (Pierre) recently promoted into Carty's old seat. Stabilization, not transformation, is the first-90-day mode.

City Clerk / HR / City Attorney. City Clerk Sunni Krantz ⚠ (WebSearch only — verify on city site). HR Director not pinned ⚠. City Attorney Jane West confirmed by presence at FY27 budget discussions ✓ (Palatka Daily News); firm and tenure ⚠. FL small-city standard is contracted outside counsel.

8. Public Safety Crisis Posture

This is a NOW issue, not a historical context. The most recent precipitating event happened yesterday (May 9, 2026).

The May 9 block-party shooting. At ~8:00 p.m. Saturday May 9, 2026, at a city-approved block party at North 20th Place and Eagle Street, a pickup-truck driver plowed through the crowd, fled, returned, struck a Palatka PD patrol vehicle and additional bystanders. Palatka officers and others fired at the suspect; the suspect was hospitalized; multiple bystanders were injured ✓ (News4Jax; Action News Jax). About 1,000 people regrouped at the Middleton Shopping Center at 18th and Reid streets afterward, requiring response from Palatka PD, Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Clay County Sheriff's Office, St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, and Florida Highway Patrol to disperse ✓. FDLE is investigating the OIS as standard Florida protocol ✓.

The structural conflict. Acting CM Jason Shaw is the police chief whose officers fired the shots. The FDLE will conduct its OIS investigation independently of city management; but the city's after-action review of the block-party permitting, crowd-management plan, and police response protocols is a different track, and that track will run through the CM's office. The next CM inherits the conflict-of-interest problem in this dual oversight: the chief is also the CM, the chief's officers fired, and the city's review of its own permitting process cannot credibly be led by the chief. The commission may resolve this by accelerating the search and naming a true outside interim CM (which they have stated intent to do via FCCMA + Florida League of Cities) before the FDLE report drops.

The December 25, 2024 antecedent. Less than 17 months ago, a triple shooting in the Palatka Daily News parking lot killed 17-year-old Dorrion McKinnon and 23-year-old Tyree Gilyard ✓ (Action News Jax; News4Jax follow-up). The community-pressure drumbeat on the commission and PD to "do something about violent crime" has been steady at least since 2023 ✓. Commissioner Justin Campbell hosted a January 2025 town hall on ending violence ✓.

Community-pulse implication. Palatka's violent-crime rate is roughly in line with national averages, and property crime is the operational story. But the visibility of two mass-casualty-adjacent events 17 months apart shapes the political space the next CM operates in. Public-records pressure on the city in May–June 2026 will be high — block-party permit file, crowd-management plan, dispatch logs, prior similar events. The CM's job is to ensure those records are produced cleanly, that the after-action review is independent of the FDLE criminal track, and that the city is not seen as protecting its own.

What Charles should walk in committed to. Not opining on the OIS while FDLE is active. Not characterizing the suspect or victims. Confirming the after-action / city-side review will be commissioned independently of any FDLE finding. Pointing out that special-event permitting policy across the city is now on the agenda whether the commission has scheduled it or not.

9. Regional Cooperation

Palatka runs a broad municipal footprint but is materially dependent on three categories of interlocal cooperation that an incoming CM should understand on Day 1.

Putnam County Sheriff's Office. PCSO (Sheriff DeLoach, 125 sworn) is co-located in Palatka at 130 Orie Griffin Blvd. and operates the county jail, unincorporated patrol, court services, and major-incident support for the city PD ✓. No public interlocal makes PCSO Palatka's primary patrol provider — Palatka retains its own PD — but the operational dependency is real: SWAT, K-9, major-crime support, dispatch coordination during multi-jurisdictional incidents (e.g., the May 9 block-party response). Sheriff DeLoach is a strong, three-term elected figure; the Sheriff-CM relationship is one the next CM should cultivate explicitly within the first 30 days.

Putnam County Fire Rescue (EMS). PCFR (Chief Quin Romay) is the licensed county-wide EMS transport provider under Florida BEMO ✓; Palatka FD provides suppression and first-response medical inside city limits, PCFR transports. The political-fiscal implication: the city pays its FD costs from city revenue (and the fire assessment), but residents pay county EMS bills (via insurance) and county property tax indirectly funds PCFR. Be ready for "do we save money or lose service by combining?" — Palatka has not seriously studied fire-EMS consolidation in any public record. Mutual aid is constant on major incidents and during hurricanes — the Taylor (PFD) / Romay (PCFR) relationship is operationally critical.

Saint-Gobain / Georgia-Pacific tax-capture posture. Both anchor industrial sites are arguably just outside city limits in unincorporated Putnam — Saint-Gobain at 886 US-17 ✓, GP also on the unincorporated side ⚠. The city's direct ad valorem capture is therefore indirect (wages spent in city, ancillary commercial, water/sewer if connected to city utility) rather than property tax on the mill itself. This is the structural defining feature of Palatka's industrial economy — the wins are county wins, the services are city services. The CM's strategic question is whether the city has annexation, business-tax, utility-revenue, or interlocal-revenue-sharing levers worth exercising — and whether the political appetite exists.

FDOT (not MPO). Putnam County is below the urbanized-area MPO threshold ✓. The city has no voting MPO seat. Project funding runs FDOT District 2 direct + LAP program; FDOT has a ~$220M five-year work program for Putnam County ✓. Active near-term FDOT work touching Palatka: Reid Street (US-17/SR-15) raised median project starts mid-May 2026 ✓; SR 20 access elimination at Crill Avenue and Morris Street starts mid-May 2026 ✓. The leverage relationship is FDOT, not an MPO TIP fight.

Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC). Service area includes Palatka; NEFRC assisted with Palatka's Comprehensive Plan 2045 visioning ✓. Voting share is small within the seven-county region — useful for visioning and planning coordination, not for capital programming.

Florida League of Cities + FCCMA. The commission has explicitly named both as search-pipeline partners for the interim and permanent CM search ✓. This telegraphs the commission's preference for a credentialed, vetted search rather than a political-network-only process — and is itself a Charles-favorable signal for an external candidate with FCCMA credentialing.

Putnam County School District. Two of five commissioners are PCSD employees (Campbell, Borom). The District is the largest public employer in the county and HQ'd in Palatka. The CM's working relationship with the Superintendent matters for: facility-use agreements, school-resource-officer coordination (city PD provides), Title-funded after-school programs, transportation/traffic-pattern coordination at school sites, and any future workforce-development partnership with St. Johns River State College (which would naturally pull PCSD in).

10. State Preemption Pressures

Three live state-level pressures that directly affect Palatka in FY26-27 and FY27-28.

Property-tax-elimination ballot push (existential). The FL legislature's slate of ballot proposals (HJR 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211, 213) targets property-tax repeal in various forms ✓ (Florida Policy Institute). City Attorney Jane West indicated the FY27 budget cycle likely will not be affected ✓; FY28 exposure is real and unmodeled. Pierre flagged this risk publicly at the May 2025 commission financial report ✓. For Palatka — where ad valorem is the dominant GF source and the median tax bill is $1,131 — this is existential. The Fire Service Assessment ($2.46/$1,000), franchise fees, public service tax, stormwater fees, and utility transfers are the non-ad-valorem revenue tools the city would have to lean on. The interview answer: at what threshold of state cuts does the city move from cost-trimming to service reduction, and which fee tools are most elastic.

HB 1365 (anti-public-camping). Effective October 1, 2024; civil-action remedy effective January 1, 2025 ✓. Prohibits public camping/sleeping on public property county-wide; municipalities must enforce or face civil suits from residents/business owners with attorney's-fee shifting. Combined with Grants Pass v. Johnson (2024) removing the constitutional bar on enforcing camping bans on unsheltered persons. Palatka has not been the subject of a published HB 1365 enforcement action ⚠. The next CM still needs: a documented intake process for resident complaints; defined SLAs for response; a referral pipeline to county and faith-based shelter capacity; coordination with PHA and the TaskForce CoC. The CM's job is to keep the city out of the suit, not to litigate the policy.

STR preemption (not a current Palatka fight). FL Statute already broadly preempts most local STR regulation. Palatka does not appear to have a unique local registration scheme, and STRs are only ~2.3% of housing stock — not a tourism-driven fight on the scale of coastal cities. State licensing through DBPR applies. Worth tracking but not currently a flashpoint.

Putnam County impact fees (county-level, not state, but a near-cousin). In 2025 the Putnam County BOCC unanimously approved impact fees on new construction on previously-undeveloped land, both commercial and residential, deferring consideration of an affordable-housing exemption ✓. City impact: developers pricing projects inside city limits — including the D.R. Horton site under contract along SR-207 in East Palatka and parcels near HCA Florida Putnam Hospital and Round Lake Road — are now factoring county impact fees into pro formas. The city's CRA grant programs partially offset, but the developer-incentive math has shifted in 2025.

11. Current State of Play

The 2026 election cycle. Qualifying complete as of early May 2026 (Palatka Daily News):

• Mayor (open; Correa not seeking): Tatyiana Henry Daniel, Constance Daniels, Karl N. Flagg ✓
• Group 2 (Campbell re-filed but may be moving to Group 4): Jamaad C. Batts Sr., James Norwood, Michelle Jeansonne (announced, not yet on petitions)
• Group 4 (Borom not running): Justin Campbell (filed), Breanna Pierce (filed) ⚠ — Campbell filing for Group 4 while currently in Group 2 strongly suggests a seat-shift; verify with Putnam SOE
• Mayor fee $1,741.97; commissioner $1,297.59

Aug 18, 2026 primary; Nov 2026 general; Jan 2027 swearing-in. By the time a permanent CM is sitting in the chair (likely Q3 2026 or later), the city is heading into an election that replaces the mayor and at least one commissioner — possibly two.

Pending council items (next 30–60 days). CM permanent search firm authorization (4-0 on April 24); firm name not yet public ⚠. Annual State of the City special meeting was April 29, 2026 ✓ (substance likely tilted to stabilization messaging given the firing 5 days prior). FY26-27 budget adoption deadline September 30, 2026 (proposed 6.2397 mills, $2.46 fire assessment). CRA 2026 Building Improvement Grant applications through June 15, 2026. Reid Street (US-17/SR-15) raised median project starts mid-May 2026 ✓. SR 20 access elimination at Crill Avenue and Morris Street starts mid-May 2026 ✓. Port Consolidated former-site community workshop ran February 16, 2026; redevelopment master plan likely a recurring item. River Street Retaining Wall replacement (closure since January 12, 2026; ~3-month project) wrapping up. James A. Goodwin Riverfront Park playground reopening slipped from "early 2026" to November 2026 ✓.

Active investigations / litigation risk. FDLE OIS probe on May 9 block-party shooting (active, standard protocol). Carty wrongful-termination / contract-cure breach risk — speculative but plausible given (a) Kitchens's public-comment encouragement, (b) the contract's 30-day cure provision, (c) the absence of articulated on-the-record cause at the firing meeting ⚠. HB 1365 civil-action risk is structural for any FL city. No major pending lawsuits otherwise surfaced ⚠.

Live policy fights. Crime and gun violence (the dominant community-pulse issue). Putnam County impact fees and the deferred affordable-housing exemption. Property-tax-elimination 2026-27 ballot push (state-level, but locally existential). No live STR ordinance fight surfaced ✓.

Disaster recovery. Florida is in active recovery from Helene/Milton with FEMA Direct Housing Program ending April 11, 2026 ✓ (FEMA fact sheet). Palatka's specific damage was relatively limited (the city is 60 mi inland on the river, not Gulf-coast); open Public Assistance projects for the city specifically were not enumerated in research ⚠. Day-1 task: pull the city's open PA project list.

ARPA / SLFRF status. $5.234M allocated; $2.69M toward 36,510 LF of potable water-line replacement (addresses chronic "red water" downtown and Wilson Cypress); a tranche toward 38 smart sensors in lift stations and manholes (tied to wastewater plant NPDES posture and basement-flooding complaints) ✓. Obligation deadline (12/31/24) past; expenditure deadline (12/31/26) live.

Community pulse. Palatka Daily News is the dominant local outlet and has reported the CM saga with continuity. Campbell is FBC-LEO president — state-level political profile beyond the city. No meaningful r/Palatka Reddit community. Civic energy concentrates in chamber and CRA channels — chamber tracking 9 development projects; FY26 budget includes $1M in downtown improvements (sidewalks, repaving, trees, lighting).

12. What Would Surprise Me

A working set of opinionated observations Charles should walk in carrying — observations that are not "headlines" but are non-obvious enough that a generic candidate would miss them.

1. The firing wasn't about workplace climate at the end. It was about agenda-packet quality. The November cure addressed the climate complaints. The April firing was driven by Correa's and Davis's frustration with incomplete information on agenda topics, missed resident meetings, and a late annual report. The takeaway for the next CM is not "manage staff complaints" — it's "build a packet-quality discipline that gives every commissioner the same complete information on the same cadence." Borom's "I'm not voting on the blind" line is the framing.

2. Davis is the swing actor, not the mayor. Correa is the mayor but is not seeking re-election; she has framed standards publicly but the votes that moved both the cure (November) and the firing (April) came from Davis's seat. The next CM should treat Davis as the most consequential single relationship on the dais, full stop. Her tolerance for ambiguity is low; she rewards demonstrable improvement; she sponsored two opposite motions on the same person in seven months. Whatever changed her mind between February (meets expectations) and April (does not meet criteria) is the single most important thing to know.

3. The CRA Coordinator name is genuinely unknown to this research, and there are three candidates. City directory: Kristin Odom ✓. October 2025 Citizen Portal coverage: "Kristen Carty" ⚠ (likely transcription error or personnel change). One operations source: Nicole Auth. Three different names in three sources is unusual — and the CRA is the single biggest econ-dev lever Charles has. Day-1 question for the City Clerk.

4. Saint-Gobain is the bigger industrial story, not GP. The anchor surfaced GP's $83M Phase 2 prominently but understated Saint-Gobain. Saint-Gobain CertainTeed completed $235–240M in October 2025 — world's largest gypsum wallboard plant, first net-zero in NA, +110 permanent jobs. That's ~3x the GP Phase 2 capex. The site appears to be outside city limits — tax capture is indirect — but the workforce-housing-partnership opportunity is real: 110 new permanent jobs is enough volume to support a meaningful employer-led housing initiative, and no public conversation on this has surfaced ⚠.

5. The pattern is two CMs out of finance promoted to CM, both fired within 14 months on 4-1 votes. Bell (Feb 2024-Sept 2024, fired 4-1 for releasing a $50K check without commission approval) and Carty (Feb 2025-April 2026, fired 4-1 after climate/competence complaints). The internal-feeder model is broken for this commission. The panel will be unusually attuned to whether Charles brings outside operating discipline rather than a finance-shop succession pattern.

6. The Acting CM is the Police Chief whose officers fired in an active FDLE investigation, and that conflict cannot last past about 30 days. Either the commission names an acting chief (so Shaw is CM-only), or it names a true outside interim CM (so Shaw is Chief-only and the dual-hat ends). The latter aligns with the commission's stated intent to work with FCCMA + Florida League of Cities to identify a true interim separately ✓ — but no name has been announced as of this research window.

7. The FY2023 revised compliance section is a yellow flag the panel won't volunteer. Revisions to audit compliance sections are uncommon. Combined with the predecessor-CM being the prior Finance Director, this is a forensic-controls-review question the panel will reasonably want a calibrated answer to. The expected answer isn't "I would immediately commission a forensic review" — it's "I'd want to understand from CRI and Pierre what the original finding was and whether the corrective action has been validated; if either is unclear I'd want a Step 2 conversation about scope."

8. No GFOA Certificate visible on the Finance page is itself a signal. Most FL small cities pursuing professional finance discipline run for the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Its absence doesn't mean Palatka's books are bad — but it does say something about either capacity or priorities. Pierre is freshly promoted; the question is whether GFOA pursuit is on the FY27 to-do list.

9. The two-PCSD-employee composition (Campbell + Borom) is structural alignment with the largest public employer in the county. It is not a conflict per FL law (the District is an independent special district), but it shapes how the commission thinks about school-related interlocals, SRO funding, facility coordination, and workforce development with SJR State. The relationship a CM builds with the Superintendent matters in ways that aren't obvious from the org chart.

10. "Group" designations are at-large numbered seats, not geographic districts. Confirmed. The anchor flagged this as uncertain; it is now resolved ✓. Every voter votes on every seat — meaning a citywide political base, not a ward base. Karl Flagg's name-ID advantage in the mayor's race is therefore amplified, not diluted.

13. Source & Confidence Notes

14. All sources (consolidated)

City of Palatka (.gov)

• https://palatka-fl.gov/130/Departments
• https://palatka-fl.gov/131/Planning-Department
• https://palatka-fl.gov/137/Boards-Commissions
• https://palatka-fl.gov/141/Planning-Board
• https://palatka-fl.gov/144/Gas-Authority
• https://palatka-fl.gov/145/City-Manager
• https://palatka-fl.gov/146/Zoning-Board
• https://palatka-fl.gov/147/Finance
• https://palatka-fl.gov/148/Public-Works
• https://palatka-fl.gov/151/City-Commission
• https://palatka-fl.gov/178/Water-and-Sewer
• https://palatka-fl.gov/197/Community-Redevelopment
• https://palatka-fl.gov/227/Annual-Budgets-and-Budget-Amendments
• https://palatka-fl.gov/231/Police-Department
• https://palatka-fl.gov/236/Administration
• https://palatka-fl.gov/241/Palatka-Reclamation-Plant
• https://palatka-fl.gov/242/R-C-Willis-Water-Treatment-Plant
• https://palatka-fl.gov/255/Pension-Funds
• https://palatka-fl.gov/257/Fire-Service-Assessment
• https://palatka-fl.gov/309/Sanitation-Garbage-Collection
• https://palatka-fl.gov/314/Accreditation
• https://palatka-fl.gov/328/Learn-about-Palatka-CDBG-DRI-Matthew-Imp
• https://palatka-fl.gov/340/American-Rescue-Plan-Act-Funds
• https://palatka-fl.gov/343/City-Attorney
• https://palatka-fl.gov/356/Palatka-Kay-Larkin-Airport
• https://palatka-fl.gov/507/Vision-for-Palatkas-Future
• https://palatka-fl.gov/580/After-the-storms
• https://palatka-fl.gov/588/Kristin-Odom-CRA-Coordinator
• https://palatka-fl.gov/590/Chief-shares-crime-stats-programs-and-im
• https://palatka-fl.gov/593/City-of-Palatka-Sewer-Manhole-Sensors-Wa
• https://palatka-fl.gov/594/Meet-New-City-Manager-Marcia-Carty
• https://palatka-fl.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=877&ARC=1387
• https://palatka-fl.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=885&ARC=1382
• https://palatka-fl.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=962
• https://palatka-fl.gov/Directory.aspx?did=10
• https://palatka-fl.gov/Directory.aspx?did=22
• https://palatka-fl.gov/Directory/Home/SingleStaff?EID=10
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1072/City-of-Palatka-Data
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3871/CITY-OF-PALATKA-AUDIT-REPORT_FY2022
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5176/...General-Employees-§112.664
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5608/ADOPTED-2024-2025-BUDGET-REVENUES
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5609/ADOPTED-2024-2025-BUDGET-EXPENSES
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6193/CITY-OF-PALATKA-ACFR_FY2023
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6194/CITY-OF-PALATKA_ACFR_FY2024
• https://palatka-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6402/FY2025-2026-Final-Budget
• https://palatka-fl.gov/directory.aspx?did=5
• https://palatka-fl.gov/directory.aspx?did=9
• https://palatka-fl.gov/m/newsflash
• https://palatka-fl.gov/139/City-Clerk
• https://palatkafd.com/ + https://palatkafd.com/about-us/
• https://palatkagasauthority.com/
• https://palatkahousing.org/about/

Other Putnam County (.gov, government, schools)

• https://putnam-fl.gov/2025/01/10/completioniof-flood-reduction-project-nears-on-st-johns-avenue/
• https://putnam-fl.gov/departments/emergency-services/fire-rescue/
• https://putnamsherifffl.com/
• https://voteputnamflorida.gov/elected_officials/federal.php
• https://voteputnamflorida.gov/elected_officials/municipal.php
• https://voteputnamflorida.gov/elected_officials/state.php
• https://sjrstate.edu/spotlights/alumni-jason-shaw

State & federal government

• https://data.fema.gov/api/open
• https://dms.myflorida.com/workforce_operations/retirement/local_retirement_plans/municipal_police_and_fire_plans
• https://edr.state.fl.us/Content/local-government/data/revenues-expenditures/munifiscal.cfm
• https://edr.state.fl.us/content/area-profiles/county/putnam.pdf
• https://fema.gov/fact-sheet/florida-helene-and-milton-recovery-0
• https://flauditor.gov/pages/mun_efile%20rpts/2023%20palatka%20revised%20compliance%20section.pdf
• https://flauditor.gov/pages/mun_efile%20rpts/2024%20palatka.pdf
• https://flsheriffs.org/staff/sheriff-homer-gator-deloach-iii/
• https://floridajobs.org/economic-data/quarterly-census-of-employment-and-wages-(qcew)/employment-wages-by-county
• https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/taxesfees/Pages/discretionary.aspx
• https://frs.fl.gov/forms/LOC5340622PDF10012022N1.pdf
• https://huduser.gov/portal/datasets/cp.html
• https://lmsresources.labormarketinfo.com/library/releases/arearelease_region8.pdf
• https://myflfamilies.com/document/64946
• https://myfloridalegal.com/open-government/the-quotsunshinequot-law
• https://leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0200-0299%2F0286%2FSections%2F0286.011.html
• https://nefrc.org/
• https://nhipdata.org/local/upload/file/2024-PIT-Counts-by-CoC-%20EDITED%20table.pdf
• https://opportunityzones.com/cities/palatka-florida/
• https://opportunityzones.com/zones/12107950900/
• https://census.gov/construction/bps/statemonthly.html
• https://census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/palatkacityflorida/PST045224
• https://census.gov/quickfacts/putnamcountyflorida
• https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/fasp-2043---airport-profiles/28j-(4-4-2024).pdf
• https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FLPUTN7URN
• https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDDAYONMAR37260
• https://sjrwmd.com/localgovernments/flooding/
• https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-02244450/

Legal & professional

• https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1983/63003-0.html
• https://library.municode.com/fl/palatka/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICHRELA_SPACH_ARTIINGE_S1OLMUAB
• https://criadv.com/location/palatka/

Local & regional press

• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/after-milton-st-johns-river-flood-risk-increased-due-milton/PEAAOU2XV5DFHC7FCV6NTIBNSQ/
• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/officer-involved-shooting-reported-connection-palatka-block-party/IR3FPI2HEJCAFGPAB6S7XZZ33I/
• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/palatka-city-commission-fires-city-manager-troy-bell/IF6LWI7OFNBIZKDAF3LSVOVDWI/
• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/palatka-city-commissioners-approve-new-terms-city-manager-marcia-carty-amid-investigation/A65HDOQYDFBKTPKXUMM2BHX4NA/
• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/palatka-city-manager-received-multiple-complaints-regarding-workplace-environment-city-says/6METT3TPSVGBTCM7TJ4JXOZFJ4/
• https://actionnewsjax.com/news/local/update-names-victims-palatka-triple-shooting-christmas-night-released/PCPZU7LAMREFRAYAD6CGVU7ADY/
• https://citizenportal.ai/articles/6228217/Florida/Putnam-County/Palatka/Commission-hears-financial-report-staff-flags-potential-state-changes-to-property-tax-revenue
• https://citizenportal.ai/articles/6608958/Palatka/Putnam-County/Florida/Palatka-CRA-board-votes-to-update-redevelopment-plan-without-expanding-boundaries
• https://firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/marcia-carty-30-day-period-palatka/77-f13fa092-f96b-457c-84ae-dda39872db2b
• https://firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/palatka-city-manager-marcia-carty-fired/77-57ca7461-684d-49a0-baa0-5423c50ff6b0
• https://firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/palatka-retains-city-manager-marcia-carty-misconduct-investigation/77-5b2232b3-27a2-4b7c-940f-9d3eb3bfd3fd
• https://jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/apr/28/georgia-pacific-announces-83-million-expansion-of-palatka-facility/
• https://jaxtoday.org/2025/10/17/palatka-city-manager-complaints/
• https://mainstreetdailynews.com/news/local/unofficial-data-homelessness-increase-2025
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2025/01/02/palatka-commissioner-hosts-town-hall-to-discuss-ending-violence-other-topics-in-the-community/
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2025/01/09/palatka-police-say-men-killed-in-christmas-day-shooting-were-armed-more-suspects-believed-to-be-involved/
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2025/10/16/ive-never-disrespected-anyone-palatka-city-manager-breaks-silence-after-investigation-into-misconduct-claims/
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2025/11/24/palatka-commissioners-to-review-city-managers-progress-during-30-day-corrective-action-plan-after-misconduct-claims/
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2026/04/24/palatka-commission-votes-to-terminate-city-manager-after-misconduct-claims-last-year/
• https://news4jax.com/news/local/2026/05/10/palatka-block-party-ends-in-shooting-after-driver-plows-through-crowd/
• https://palatkadailynews.com/articles/featured-stories/palatka-commissioners-fire-city-manager/
• https://palatkadailynews.com/articles/local-news/city-exploring-options-for-next-years-tax-fire-rates/
• https://palatkadailynews.com/articles/local-news/qualifying-deadlines-near-for-political-hopefuls/
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/agencies-jubilant-following-new-hires
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/all-quiet-city-front
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/city-reverses-course-city-managers-admin-leave
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/commissioner-bows-out-2024-election
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/ex-mayor-asking-187k-be-interim-city-manager
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/former-city-palatka-officials-throw-hats-back-ring
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/holmes-appointed-city-manager-unanimous-decision
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/land-opportunity
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/officials-launch-plan-elevate-putnam
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/officials-blindsided-city-manager-candidates-return
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/palatka-elects-new-mayor
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/putnam-approaching-crossroads-development
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/putnam-named-floridas-top-job-generator-2024
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/something-new-horizon
• https://palatkadailynews.com/local-news/50k-check-excludes-former-official-30k-severance
• https://thelocallens.org/palatka-city-commission-grapples-with-city-manager-investigation-amid-employee-turnover-concerns/
• https://thelocallens.org/palatka-city-commission-tackles-budget-deficit-code-enforcement-and-community-projects/
• https://wuft.org/business-news/2015-02-13/downtown-development-anchors-palatka-revitalization
• https://wuft.org/business-news/2026-02-01/palatka-businesses-thrive-despite-economic-setbacks-in-2025
• https://wuft.org/florida-votes/2022-10-31/mayor-terrill-hill-and-robbi-correa-head-for-runoff-election-for-palatka-mayor
• https://wuft.org/politics/2025-10-16/palatka-city-commission-struggles-to-agree-on-next-steps-for-city-manager
• https://wuft.org/politics/florida-votes/2024-10-15/meet-the-candidates-running-for-palatka-city-commission-group-1
• https://wuft.org/public-safety/2023-10-24/palatka-commissioner-holds-forum-addressing-high-rates-of-violent-crime

Industry, contractor & advocacy

• https://airdna.co/vacation-rental-data/app/us/florida/palatka/overview
• https://ahd.com/free_profile/100232/HCA_Florida_Putnam_Hospital/Palatka/Florida/
• https://airnav.com/airport/28J
• https://avalara.com/taxrates/en/state-rates/florida/cities/palatka.html
• https://ayresassociates.com/project/palatka-water-reuse-system-expansion/
• https://barneswalker.com/florida-property-tax-elimination/
• https://bassmaster.com/tournament/2025-bassmaster-elite-at-st-johns-river/
• https://beautifydata.com/united-states-crimes/fbi-ucr/2023/number-and-rate-of-violent-crimes-per-city/florida/palatka
• https://businessfacilities.com/why-putnam-county-florida-a-qa-with-mark-litten/
• https://businesswire.com/news/home/20251017781698/en/Saint-Gobain-Celebrates-Completion-of-Major-Expansion-at-CertainTeed-Gypsum-Facility-in-Palatka-Florida
• https://crimeexplorer.com/florida/palatka/
• https://areavibes.com/palatka-fl/crime/
• https://floridapolicy.org/posts/bill-summary-hjr-201-203-205-207-209-211-and-213
• https://flaports.org/ports/port-putnam/
• https://flfirefighters.com/Putnam.htm
• https://hcafloridahealthcare.com/locations/putnam-hospital
• https://isssource.com/florida-water-district-group-hit-in-attack/
• https://klosingwithkassidy.com/azalea-festival-palatka-florida/
• https://mainstreetpalatka.org/
• https://nflp.org/
• https://ownwell.com/trends/florida/putnam-county/palatka
• https://paperage.com/2026news/03-18-2026georgia-pacific-breaks-ground-for-new-$83-million-warehouse-at-palatka-mill.html
• https://putnam-fl-historical-society.org/a-brief-history-of-palatka/
• https://putnamcountychamber.com/economic-development/existing-industries-companies/
• https://putnamcountychamber.com/economic-development/taxes-incentives/
• https://saint-gobain-northamerica.com/company/newsroom/news-releases/saint-gobain-announces-235-million-expansion-its-certainteed-gypsum
• https://saint-gobain-northamerica.com/pressrelease/saint-gobain-celebrates-completion-major-expansion-certainteed-gypsum-facility-palatka-florida
• https://siteselection.com/from-paris-to-palatka-why-a-global-giant-picked-a-small-town-in-florida/
• https://taskforcefl.org/news-new
• https://theridesolution.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Putnam-2021-26-TDSP-APPROVED-November-24.pdf
• https://unitedforalice.org/state-overview/florida
• https://visitpalatka.com/dining/
• https://wasteprousa.com/blog/waste-pro-awarded-another-new-municipal-contract/

Data aggregators & market platforms

• https://apartments.com/rent-market-trends/palatka-fl/
• https://bankrate.com/real-estate/housing-market/fl/palatka/
• https://ballotpedia.org/Robbi_Correa_(Palatka_Mayor_/_Commissioner,_Florida,_candidate_2022)
• https://ballotpedia.org/Will_Jones_(Palatka_City_Commission_Group_3,_Florida,_candidate_2024)
• https://britannica.com/place/Palatka
• https://censusreporter.org/profiles/06000US1210792574-palatka-ccd-putnam-county-fl/
• http://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US12107-putnam-county-fl/
• https://datausa.io/profile/geo/palatka-fl
• https://datausa.io/profile/geo/putnam-county-fl
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatka,_Florida
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putnam_County,_Florida
• https://florida-demographics.com/palatka-demographics
• https://florida-demographics.com/putnam-county-demographics
• https://lowincomehousing.us/fl/palatka.html
• https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-search/Florida/Palatka
• https://movoto.com/palatka-fl/market-trends/
• https://rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/fl/palatka/
• https://redfin.com/city/13927/FL/Palatka/housing-market
• https://rentometer.com/average-rent-in/metro/palatka-fl-2
• https://towncharts.com/Florida/Education/Putnam-County-FL-Education-data.html
• https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/florida/palatka
• https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/florida/putnam-county
• https://zillow.com/home-values/53785/palatka-fl/
• https://zumper.com/rent-research/palatka-fl
• https://rufusboromcitycommissionergroup4.weebly.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-shaw-sr-91386b14/
• https://www.facebook.com/100064570574515/posts/palatka-police-department-receives-reaccreditation/1314565690705771/
• https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Rufus-Borom/1892423606