This decision comes on the heels of a 30-day period during which Carty was required to adhere to specific guidelines designed to address concerns about her conduct and ensure her continued suitability for the role. During this time, she underwent training aimed at addressing the issues raised.

The controversy began when nine city employees lodged complaints against Carty, accusing her of fostering a hostile work environment. Allegations included making inappropriate remarks related to race, appearance, and age, as well as using staff for personal errands such as home repairs and car retrieval. While Carty has refuted most of these claims, she did acknowledge that a public works employee assisted her with some tasks at her residence.

Despite the gravity of the allegations, the commission’s unanimous vote suggests a belief in Carty’s ability to rectify past issues and lead the city effectively moving forward. The decision reflects a commitment to maintaining stability in city management while addressing and resolving the concerns that were raised.

Nine complaints from city employees were made against Carty, alleging she created a toxic work environment, made inappropriate comments on race, appearance and age, and used city employees to assist with personal favors like fixing doorknobs at her home and retrieving her car. Carty denied most allegations, while admitting that a public works employee did help with work at her home..

During the cure period, Carty completed classes from a list of topics like public sector leadership and ethics, proper engagement with employees and Florida’s Sunshine Law.

“Thank you for the opportunity, of allowing me to build my skillset and reinforce and reengineer myself even further,” Carty said to the commission Monday night. “I’m committed to being the best city manager that I can be.”

The vote was brought forth to retain Carty based on “completion of the cure period and positive results with staff and work that has been done with the city,” Commissioner Annie Davis said.

Commissioners and the city attorney said they believe they need to work on a better policy to handle grievances filed against city managers.

Commissioner Justin Campbell Sr. said he would also like the city commission to address how to better conduct and meet completion deadlines for city manager evaluations at an upcoming meeting.

Palatka has now had investigations into two city managers in two years, one of which resulted in the firing of Troy Bell from the position in September 2024 for policy violations.

“I will go on record to say we have failed previously with other city managers by not upholding evaluations,” Commissioner Campbell said, “and I do not want the failure of another city manager to be on us, where we’re coming in and we have a discussion where we did not even evaluate in the first place.”

He says these evaluations are critical in making sure the city manager can succeed.