by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City Council will set the date for a special election to fill the supervisor of elections job within the next two weeks.
City attorneys have proposed a Jan. 25 primary election and, if necessary, a March 8 runoff.
The Council was originally expected to pass legislation setting those dates at Tuesday’s meeting, but opted to send it through one Committee cycle first.
Council member Suzanne Jenkins said several on the Council didn’t even know they would be discussing the special election before arriving at the meeting.
“I just know no one wants to be rushed into anything. We want to be fair,” said Jenkins of the originally proposed Nov. 12 qualifying deadline. “Giving someone a little over a week to make up their mind about running doesn’t seem right.”
That deadline remains uncertain even though Council president Elaine Brown said she would have been fine voting out the legislation at the meeting.
“Mr. Stafford resigned before we left for San Diego (for the Chamber’s Leadership Trip), so we knew we would have to establish some dates right away,” she said. “We’re working from a relatively tight time frame so we have to work fast.”
According to Florida law, a permanent replacement for Stafford has to be in office no later than six months after his resignation. Interim replacement Bill Scheu has said he doesn’t plan to seek the job.
“Knowing that, I believe we’re headed in the right direction,” said Brown. “All parties who are going to be involved in this election will be better off once this is finalized. I’m confident of that.”
Brown said she was equally confident the elections office would be able to properly execute another election following the Nov. 2 election.
“They should have enough time to make it work,” she said.
The rest of the Council agreed, saying they weren’t concerned about any specific dates. They just wanted to be sure candidates resigning from their current offices to run for supervisor couldn’t come back if they lost.
According to State statutes, elected officials seeking to fill another office in the middle of serving in their terms have to resign at least 10 days prior to the start of the qualifying period.
Pat Lockett-Felder, Sharon Copeland, Art Shad and Art Graham wanted to be certain those resignations stuck, even if those candidates don’t actually qualify.
Council member Jerry Holland is the only candidate to publicly announce his intention to run.
“That’s a major concern,” said Copeland. “We can’t have people throwing their names out there and then taking them right back. That’s not the right way to do this. If you resign, it should be final.”
Lockett-Felder agreed.
“This is not a play election,” she said. “If you resign, don’t think you can come back here the next day if you change your mind.”
Steve Rohan, deputy general counsel, said any resignation will be irrevocable.
“That’s not just my legal opinion. That’s the law.” said Rohan. “If you resign. You’re out.”
Council auditor Richard Wallace said the special election will cost taxpayers “a million dollars plus.”
Costs can be attributed to poll worker payroll, ballot printing and advertising.