Naples City Council announced during a Jan. 11 special meeting it won’t fill the seat vacated by Vice Mayor Mike McCabe, who resigned Dec. 31, and will continue with a six-member board until after the March 19 general election.
At the end of a Dec. 18 meeting, McCabe informed Council of his decision to resign due to the new state-mandated Form 6—Full and Public Disclosure of Financial Interests. The law requires elected officials to list assets greater than $1,000, tax returns and other financial information. Completed forms are searchable on the internet by the general public.
With the city’s general election approaching March 19, Council unanimously agreed not to take the time to conduct interviews for a new member, as there are only four scheduled Council meetings left before the election.
“Given the timeline, by the time we get somebody in here, we would have four meetings maximum with this new person, and we have a lot to do,” council member Beth Petrunoff said. “I think I would prefer not to do this. I think it’s too short of a period of time to add the value.”
Petrunoff made headlines in December when she said she also might resign her seat due to Form 6, but ultimately made the decision to stay on Council.
Council member Ted Blankenship said the learning curve on the subjects that will be discussed in upcoming meetings along with completing the necessary paperwork appointing a new member will take too long. Council member Paul Perry agreed, stating picking a candidate could be unfair to those running in the upcoming election.
“I think it’s obvious that people who would apply would be the candidates that are running now, and for us to be in a position of having to grab one of the candidates, we’re kind of putting our thumb on the scale of the election at that point. I’m not sure that’s fair to the other candidates or ourselves,” Perry said.
Mayor Teresa Heitmann nominated council member Terry Hutchison as vice mayor, with the remainder of Council voting in favor.
In addition to the open seat, both Blankenship’s and Perry’s spots will be up for election. Blankenship is running for mayor and Perry has chosen not to seek reelection. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is March 7, with early voting for the March 19 general election running from March 9-16.
