STUART – Most city commissioners have expressed little interest in provisionally appointing a replacement for former Mayor Christopher Collins who resigned April 30 to run for a Martin County Commission seat despite already failing to approve or deny some agenda items due to lacking a fifth member to break tie votes.
On May 11, the Council held a discussion and deliberation scheduled by City Attorney Lee Baggett on both replacing Collins and/or appointing a vice-mayor in the case of an absence by Mayor Sean Reed but made no progress.
Baggett reintroduced the same topic two weeks later.
“In the last meeting, there was a couple of motions to nominate a vice-mayor that never got a second,” he said May 26. “You wanted to bring those back so you could raise the issue again of nominating someone for vice-mayor and then also the empty spot. You’re not required to replace Commissioner Collins due to the number of days left until the next election – it is optional – but you would need to nominate somebody to finish out the remainder of Collins’ term.”
Mayor Reed began with the vice-mayor issue, and Commissioner Eula Clarke was the first to comment, echoing her previous distaste for appointing a temporary vice-mayor prior to the elections.
“I think we can wait until we have full reorganization and have a full Commission in December,” she said. “If we have any emergency, we can all agree to have somebody in charge.”
Commissioner Campbell Rich then described a previous incident to show the need for a temporary vice-mayor, which got a frosty reception by the mayor himself.
“An important part of the role of mayor is ceremonial, and that’s a challenge for our current mayor because he works in his family business and is busy,” he said. “He was unable to attend the event at the White House. During my term as mayor, I really understood that it was valuable to do that.”
Commissioner Rich subsequently made a motion to appoint Commissioner Clarke as provisional vice-mayor but that got lost in the shuffle of the mayor’s hurt feelings.
“Are you making a motion, Commissioner Rich, or are you still telling me how to do my job?” Mayor Reed asked. “You’re letting me know it’s ceremonial and that maybe I didn’t attend an event – I’m not sure where you’re going with it.”
After Commissioner Rich insisted he was only referring to the fact that the mayor worked and had a job that prevented him from attending such functions at times, Mayor Reed dropped the manner.
“I apologize if that’s not what it was,” the latter said. “I do my best to try to attend events when I do have time or if they’re important to me.”
When Rich’s motion died for lack of a second, Commissioner Laura Giobbi chimed in.
“I think that there’s three commissioners that can fill in on the days the mayor is busy at his job,” she said. “I know Eula has filled in on many occasions, [and] I filled in at the dedication of the White House. I think it’s more important to put another member on the dais rather than [appointing] a vice-mayor.”
Mayor Reed then broached the provisional Board appointment.
“Is there any discussion on potentially filling the empty seat we currently have?” he asked.
In response, Baggett described the city charter requirements after Clarke posed a clarification question to him.
“The charter is Section 710 says that you are required to have a special election or appoint someone within 120 days of the vacancy,” he explained. “There were less than 120 days of vacancy from the date that Commissioner Collins resigned until the next election, so you don’t need to do a special election. It would be optional if you wanted to appoint somebody.”
Commissioner Rich inadvertently opened up another can of worms when he mentioned the resident responses to the topic while going door to door as part of his re-election bid. Mayor Reed immediately latched onto that comment and insinuated his colleague had just violated protocol.
“You can state that you’re running for re-election and stuff like that when you’re sitting on the dais?” he asked the city attorney.
“You’re not supposed to be campaigning, but I don’t know that’s what he was doing,” Baggett replied.
Mayor Reed rephrased his concern at least twice before finally dropping the matter after the attorney said the charter regulation simply prohibited campaign materials in the Council Chambers.
“Okay, that’s all I wanted, so thanks Commissioner Rich,” the mayor said.
For her part, Commissioner Giobbi returned to the discussion at hand, frustrated that none of her colleagues had changed their minds about appointing a provisional member since the last meeting.
“Two weeks ago, we could not get a consensus to even look at the one applicant I did bring in,” she said. “There’s obviously no desire here to do this.”
The only public speaker was Frank McChrystal, the chairman of the Stuart Community Redevelopment Board who appeared to be volunteering himself for the position.
“Put me in coach, I’m ready to play,” he said chuckling to his comment that went over like a lead balloon. “If there are no pressing issues in the next month or two, it’s no big deal to go 2-2 on everything and not an issue to get a fifth person up here right now.”
A Hometown News reporter spoke to Commissioner Giobbi on June 4, who was still disappointed by the refusal of her colleagues to consider her applicant, who she now identified as Stuart Local Planning Agency Chairwoman Deana Peterson.
“I picked her because she is a fair person,” she said. “I realized there are two votes on one side of the aisle and two on the other, which means she would vote the issue and not necessarily the party line.”