City Council Shuffles Seats as Vacancy Remains

As Marco Island City Council seeks to go to bat to preserve a softball field on the island, the six-member Council remains incapable of filling its seventh seat vacancy as of its meeting on Monday, February 3.  

The stalemate has become so burdensome that Council decided to rearrange seats at the end of the meeting in an attempt to mix up the divided 3-3 Council.  

A couple of the items that were on the agenda Monday did not move forward. 

However, all Council members did agree on the move that Councilman Stephen Gray and Councilwoman Deb Henry would swap seats.  

“See, we aren’t so divided,” said City Councilman Erik Brechnitz, who has been serving as the chairman in the absence of Council’s ability to agree on a new one since the November 2024 election.  

Dozens of children, many dressed in their Little League uniforms, packed City Hall with coaches and parents to plead for Council to find a way to keep a ball field located near Tommie Barfield Elementary from being turned into a green space by the Collier County Public School Board. The item not on the City Council agenda garnered the most attention, and Council agreed to seek all options to save the field.  

Meanwhile, a couple of items of business on the agenda didn’t garner enough Council support to move forward, including an ordinance to prohibit swale parking in Olde Marco and a $75,000 contract with Kimley Horn for grant writing services related to water quality and land conservation. Longtime Marco Island resident Melissa Phillips, founder and CEO of Impact Philanthropy, vied for the contract and appealed to Council for reconsideration. Council failed to award the contract to Kimely Horn in a 3-3 vote on the matter Monday.  

Though at the January meeting prior, Brechnitz had agreed to continue holding special meetings ahead of the regular meetings until the seventh member and a chair were selected, he chose not to hold such a meeting on Monday and did not put the issue on the regular agenda either.  

Councilwoman Bonita Schwan addressed the matter toward the end of the meeting during the segment of Council communications.  

“You said you’d continue to call forward special meetings and you did not,” Schwan said to Brechnitz.  

Brechnitz responded. 

“We were at a hard impasse and I thought a couple weeks of deep breaths and being away from the subject for a little bit might help us come to a better conclusion,” he replied. 

“I thought a little pause for the cause would be helpful,” said Brechnitz.  

He added that he’d schedule a special meeting ahead of the next regular councilmeeting, which is currently slated for 5:30 PMon Tuesday, February 18. Due to President’s Day, the meeting is moved from Monday to Tuesday.  

Schwan continued to advocate for consideration of Nanette Rivera of the Planning Board, who she has suggested at previous meetings to fill the vacancy. She may be considered again at the next special meeting, yet to be announced, but likely 2:00 PM February 18, according to Council’s previous scheduling patterns.  

Council chose not to pass the ordinance to ban parking in swales in Olde Marco, deciding not to vote on the matter so that it could be brought forward again if necessary. 

Gray asked City Attorney Alan Gabriel several questions regarding what Council could or could not do to attempt to move beyond the impasse.  

“Some of these questions are better suited one one-on-one,” advised Gabriel. 

If Council members are not doing their job, they haven’t performed appropriately and could be removed from office according to the City Charter, Gabriel said. 

Already, the Council has not, by majority vote, selected someone to fill the seventh seat, which was left vacant when former Councilman Greg Folley resigned midterm, despite numerous attempts to do so. 

By City Charter, this was supposed to be done within 60 days of the November election, Gabriel has advised. The next election is in about two years, and a special election for voters to decide instead of Council is not an option, according to the Charter, he’s said.