High Springs City Commission votes to hold special election instead of appointing interim commissioner to fill Tapanes’ seat
BY DAVID LIGHTMAN
HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At a January 4 Special Meeting scheduled in response to the resignation of Commissioner Steve Tapanes on December 30, the High Springs City Commission decided not to appoint an interim Commissioner while awaiting a special election in late February or March to fill his former seat.
Following the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance, the Commission approved the single-item agenda for the meeting: “Discuss, consider, and act on the process moving forward with the current vacant Commission seat.”
Mayor Katherine Weitz explained why Tapanes chose to resign: “Commissioner Tapanes submitted his resignation on the 30th of December, citing Form 6 requirements to be filled out next July. It required him to divulge information about his private business that his some of his clients were not okay with, and he made the very difficult decision to tender his resignation.” Form 6 requires disclosure of any business customers whose sales reflect more than 10% of the overall sales.
Mayor Weitz listed the options available under the City Charter: “When you have a vacancy, we may appoint an interim commissioner, and if the vacancy is more than six months from a regular election, we will have to hold a special election.”
Responding to a question from Weitz, City Clerk Angela Stone said, “I’ve spoken to (Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton) twice this week. We do not have a date (for the special election). She’s still trying to work that out because they’re working on an election themselves.”
Mayor Weitz told the Commissioners, “What we need to discuss amongst the four of us is how we want to move forward from here. We’ve got the option of maintaining a four-member body and leaving it to the people to decide in a special election, or we could appoint or consider appointing an interim.”
City Attorney Scott Walker explained the process for selecting an interim Commissioner, “It’s really up to you. There’s no direction in the Charter as to how you do that, so it’s your preference and how you want to engage in this. In my experience, sometimes there’s motions that are put forward and then you second and you can vote on it. You can have people apply for it and… at the next regularly-scheduled meeting, have a decision based upon those applications. It’s really up to you… You can run with four Commissioners. You can appoint somebody. (The Charter) is permissive, not mandatory, on how you proceed.”
Mayor Weitz asked if the interim Commissioner would be required to complete Form Six, and Walker said they would be. Weitz said, “I think that takes a fair number of people who might have been considering it out of the running.”
Commissioner Andrew Miller commented, “My thoughts are that we just keep the seat vacant since we have to do a special election, since that’s mandatory, we might as well keep the seat vacant and then just let the people vote who they want in that remaining seat.”
Commissioner Tristan Grunder said he didn’t think Miller’s idea was terrible, but he had a concern about possible tie votes in the 60 to 90 days before a special election.
Commissioner Byran Williams said he agreed about the possibility of tie votes and thought it wouldn’t hurt for people who want to be considered for interim Commissioner to submit their names. Walker explained that any 2-2 votes during the selection process would be considered denial (No) votes.
Grunder asked if it could be stipulated that the interim Commissioner must not run for the seat during the election. Walker said it could not be legally enforced, but they could try to select someone who’s not planning to run or interested in running.
City Clerk Stone told Mayor Weitz that the earliest possible date for the election would be February 28. Reflecting on whether they should appoint an interim Commissioner, Weitz said, “To Commissioner Miller’s point, the hang-up for me is not that we’ve got some folks, I’m sure, that are very qualified and would do the best job they possibly could. But it takes that appointment out of the hands of the people, and to me it should be about who the people want up here, you know. And we just had a pretty spirited election. I don’t know.”
Grunder added, “I mean, we do have a room full of citizens right here. We can ask them… what their preference would be. Would you want somebody appointed? Or would you want an election?” Miller pointed out there will definitely be an election, and it’s a question of whether to pick an interim Commissioner or not.
Weitz asked Walker if they could pick someone right away, and he answered, “If you so choose, you could do that.”
Several members of the public spoke, all agreeing with Miller and Weitz that the decision should be left up to an election by the people.
Janet Evans raised questions about the possibility of Tapanes being able to rescind his resignation in the wake of possible legal challenges to Form 6. Walker said that once an interim is appointed or a special election is scheduled, his resignation will become final and irrevocable. Evans added that it takes months for a Commissioner to learn the role.
A woman who did not identify herself said she had spoken with Representative Chuck Clemons, and he told her that Form 6 will not be changed. She asked why no one running for election had been told about the form.
City Manager Ashley Stathatos asked the City Clerk, “Angela, wasn’t that in the packets?” Stone indicated it was on page 20 of the 500-page packets provided to Miller and Tapanes.
The unidentified speaker added, “It just seems like a backwards way to do things… I don’t think someone should take the seat that’s not elected.”
Weitz asked Stone, “Do you get a sense from Kim Barton’s office that you might have those dates (for the special election) before next week’s meeting?”
Stone said she thought she would have the information by then, and she added that the regular election is March 19, which is 10 days before the March 29 deadline to hold the election within 90 days of Tapanes’ resignation, as required by the City Charter.
Speaking as a member of the public, former Mayor Gloria James suggested adding the decision to the March 19 ballot instead of having a special election, as a way to cut costs. City Clerk Stone said Barton had told her that it wasn’t possible to add to that ballot or have a second ballot printed for that day.
Responding to a question from an audience member, Mayor Weitz clarified that High Springs does not have runoff elections; it is a winner-take-all system, and there is no possibility of a runoff.
Commissioner Williams made a motion to keep Tapanes’ seat open and to have a special election. Miller seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
Mayor Weitz addressed the audience: “Thank you to all of you for coming. This means a lot. It’s an important time, and we appreciate your passion and your input so much. I really, really appreciate it.”