Paul Dyal Severance Fiasco,
Pt-II: the meeting,
Deliberation – Anger – Frustration – Reality,
$5 Grand Gets Dyal off the Hook
February 4 2026 3:59 pm | 8 min read | Part I
LAKE CITY, FL – The Paul Dyal severance fiasco continued Monday evening. During the eighty-two-minute conversation, former City Manager Paul Dyal had three attorneys going to bat for him: ‘just forget about it’ was their battle cry. Finally, four Councilmembers bucked up against the attorneys and Mr. Dyal: there would be ‘no forgetting about it.
Background
Paul Dyal served as Lake City’s City Manager starting in late 2021. Despite rude behavior and refusals to undergo background checks or adhere to ethics codes, the City Council appointed him permanently in January 2023 with a $150,000 salary. He signed an employment agreement, which included a separation agreement, with details left blank. Read together with his employment agreement, the severance payment of 16 weeks of pay was not intended to take effect as a result of a voluntary resignation.
Mr. Dyal had previously interviewed for a job in Ketchikan, Alaska, claiming he never intended to stay in Lake City long-term.
In September 2023, after nine months as LC City Manager, Mr. Dyal secretly applied for and accepted a Public Works Director position in Homer, Alaska, days before resigning from Lake City. He signed an employment offer, accepted a $9,000 bonus, and agreed to a background check he had refused in Lake City.
His tenure in Alaska was brief; reports indicate he arrived in Homer in January 2024 but "bailed" after only two days, citing a medical condition. The Homer City Manager was subsequently fired, though it is unclear if this was related to the Dyal hiring debacle.
Monday Night-Council Meets: Paul Dyal Severance Issue
City Attorney Clay Martin presents his case for
walking away from the Dyal Fiasco.
City Attorney Clay Martin gave a rundown of the Dyal Severance issue without going into the deep and controversial Dyal background. Mr. Martin, in a ‘news-flash’, explained that the City had hired Guy Norris to represent the City, explaining what Mr. Norris did.
City Attorney Martin did not reveal that Mr. Norris was hired by City Manager Don Rosenthal in October 2025, a fact that was never revealed to the public, despite requests for updates regarding the Dyal severance issue from City resident Ben Lofstrom. Additionally, neither Mayor Walker nor any other Councilmember updated the public about the Norris hiring.
“Mr. Norris examined all of the documents,
the history of the matter, from the time that
Mr. Dyal was retained and contracted with the
city to be a city manager, all the way through
the generation of the Cavendish reports. And I
will let him more specifically summarize his
findings and his recommendations, but generally
speaking, the analysis he did as a litigation
analysis was a very different analysis from the
Cavendish report.”
See:
Lake City Wrong Again: Severance Payout to
Ex-City Manager Paul Dyal NG - City Overlooked
Legal Requirements: Who Pays?
Mr. Martin continued, “… based on that analysis, the general recommendation that Mr. Norris has, that I have, the City Manager has, the three of us jointly, is that the City Council, if there is an opportunity to settle this claim prior to proceeding into court, that the City Council do that.”
Councilwoman Chevella Young (later in the meeting) asked, “How much have we paid Mr. Norris?”
Mr. Martin answered about $3,800 [actual amount – $3,380] plus an invoice for the last 30 days.
The Norris analysis is in Mr. Norris’ head.
Your reporter made a public record request for Mr. Norris’ analysis. According to the City Attorney and Mr. Norris, there is no analysis. It is in Mr. Norris’s head.
Joel Foreman, Columbia County’s County Attorney, and Paul Dyal’s personal attorney was the only attorney who wrote anything down.
Mr. Foreman told the Council, “Mr. Dyal is not even watching this meeting tonight because he's concerned about hard feelings. He doesn't want to harbor them anymore. I don't think anyone with the city wants to harbor them anymore. Mistakes were made. Lessons have been learned. Things have changed. Mr. Dyal is happy to sign a mutual general release that will put this matter to bed for everyone, once and for all.”
Joel Foreman
Mr. Foreman argued that in 2023 (September), there were three signatures on the separation agreement attached to Mr. Dyal’s contract. However, the only signature that counted was that of the Mayor, Stephen Witt, who announced at a Council meeting that he didn’t read it. Mr. Foreman pointed out that Mayor Witt was a licensed attorney. Mr. Foreman failed to mention the Separation Agreement was never approved by the Council, nor was Mayor Witt authorized to execute the contract without the Council’s approval.
Mr. Foreman told the Council, “A jury would have to believe that Mr. Dyal, at the time he signed it in October of 2023, was somehow more at fault in making a mistake, or at fault at all in making a mistake by signing that settlement agreement.”
Mr. Foreman pushed on for a settlement and a release for his client: “I would ask you to keep in mind there is no universe where Paul Dyal sues the City of Lake City… So, to pursue this matter further, as Mr. Martin indicated when he was talking to you guys, you're going to have to authorize the expenditure of additional funds to pursue this… I think the outcome of that litigation is likely to result in Mr. Dyal not owing any money. So, with that in mind, I would ask you to consider the offer that’s being made. Let's all sign a mutual general lease. Let's go our separate ways. Let's put this ugly chapter behind us.”
Attorney Guy Norris, Special City Council:
Without a written analysis, he set the evening’s
talking record
Guy Norris, LC special counsel makes his case
for the City and walking away from the Dyal
Fiasco.
Mr. Norris began by thanking the Council "for the opportunity to represent the Council," although the Council seemed to have had nothing to do with his hiring.
"I really don’t have anything… I’ve rendered my thoughts."
Mr. Norris explained, “I really don't have anything. I've met with four of the five of you. Mr. Jernigan did not meet with me, so I've rendered my thoughts concerning the matter with four of the five members of the Council.”
Mr. Norris could have met with the Councilmembers at a public workshop in the sunshine and saved City taxpayers thousands. Instead, he chose to play post office.
The Norris theme, again and again, was, "The City would be asking the trier of fact to save it from itself. No litigation gives guaranteed results,” and he advised settlement due to litigation risk.
He told the Council, “If you litigate this matter… You have to evaluate what’s in the best interest of the City. The other side will argue you’re asking a jury to save you from yourselves.”
“Off the Cuff”: the City and Norris MO
Mr. Norris’s last presentation remark, “…again, I think you are going to put a trier of fact into the - into the position of saying, ‘This is our contract. We don't like it now. We would like you to save us from our contract.’ I'll be happy to entertain any questions you have.”
Mr. Norris’ legal bills seem to be approaching $7,500.
Councilman Jernigan had a question, “Can you repeat what you just said, the last sentence? Can you repeat that just one more time, please?”
Mr. Norris said, “Well, I didn't read it. It was off the cuff.” Mr. Norris then went on for another almost four minutes talking about the contract, and his analysis of the events surrounding it, none of which he personally attended.
Mr. Norris relied on information provided exclusively by City Attorney Clay Martin, whose firm (Folds & Walker) during the Dyal debacle was partnered with then City Attorney Todd Kennon of RKK, who resigned because of the Dyal debacle.
Regarding the signatures on the Separation Agreement, Mr. Norris, as did Mr. Foreman, failed to mention that the only signature on the Separation Agreement that mattered was that of Mayor Witt, who said he didn’t read it, which is moot because the City Council never approved the completed separation agreement. The Separation Agreement can’t be read out of the context of the Dyal contract. The newly installed Chief of Finance, Angie Taylor Moore, who just received a big raise from Mr. Dyal, kept Mr. Dyal on the City payroll after his resignation and wrote checks to Mr. Dyal based on the unapproved Separation Agreement.
Mr. Norris's primary warning, repeated over and over, was that a lawsuit would be seen as the City asking a jury "to save the City from itself." Because the City Council approved the employment contract and its officials signed the flawed separation agreement, he argued that a jury would have difficulty placing the blame solely on Mr. Dyal. The chances of a successful outcome for the City were low, and the legal costs would be significant regardless.
After Mr. Norris’s four-minute explanation, Councilman Jernigan commented, “I get confused sometimes when you attorneys go through all these long spiels.”
Council Deliberation: Anger – Frustration – Reality
The council members expressed significant frustration and anger over the situation, but were sharply divided on the path forward.
Councilman James Carter was noot happy.
Councilman James Carter
“All I can really say is my assessment... is that I don't think we could make a decision here today that doesn't disappoint the taxpayers."
“I don't want to gamble with another 50-60-$70,000 of taxpayer money to pursue getting a judgment to get money that we may never get, probably will never get… I think this is rotten. It stinks, but I think that the government made this pickle, and we're stuck with it.”
Councilwoman Chevella Young ponders the Dyal
Fiasco.
Councilwoman Chevella Young
"And I like the words; we're asking them to save us from ourselves. And that was my look on it before, and it's the same now. It's not a good look."
"It's a hard pill to swallow, but we have to swallow this, and we have to move on, but move on with sound judgment. We've learned a lesson from this."
Councilwoman Tammy Harris wanted to make Mr.
Dyal pay more.
Councilwoman Tammy Harris
"I was furious when I found out the details of what was going on. I don't like to play with my money, and I certainly don't want to try to play with nobody else’s money."
"It just seemed like we're in between a rock and a hard place trying to clean up somebody else's mess... I'm just at a loss of words right now. This is just ridiculous."
Councilman Rick Jernigan wanted to go after
attorney Todd Kennon and Mayor Witt.
Councilman Ricky Jernigan
“But so, we're asking you what we're asking you, to save the city from itself, from the mistakes that we made. That's basically what you're saying."
“Miss Young and I, we didn't even know it [Separation Agreement] was executed. I don't think you guys understand that. When I say we, that's what I mean by that. They did this behind the scenes... That's why I say the attorney and the mayor at the time, those are the people that did this to us… Those are the people we need to go after.”
Mayor Noah Walker was worried about setting a
precedent.
Mayor Noah Walker
"I do think that we have to set a precedent that we're not... just a smooth road to run over and claim a check from the city of Lake City."
The Offer to Mr. Dyal: $5,000 gets him off the hook
After public comment and extensive debate, Councilman James Carter made a motion to offer a final settlement to Ex City Manager Dyal.
Mr. Dyal would pay the City $5,000, and both parties would sign mutual general releases, ending all potential claims.
Mr. Dyal was given a 48-hour deadline to accept the offer.
If the offer is refused, the motion authorizes the City to move forward with litigation.
The last words before the vote were from Councilwoman Harris.
“If he gives us $5,000, he ought to be skipping to the bank to write that check.”
The motion passed 4-1, with Councilman Jernigan opposed.
