Council Seat Saga Continues

Marco Island City Council decided in their meeting Monday to attempt a “united we stand, divided we fall,” approach to selecting the seventh member to fill a Council seat that’s been vacant since the November elections. 

A special meeting is to be scheduled at 1:00 PM March 17 to discuss the matter again, said acting-Chairman Erik Brechnitz. 

Five new applicants are in the running since Council decided in February to reopen the application period for several days. That leaves 28 total people eligible for the seat, reported City Clerk Joan Taylor. 

Council members lauded the qualities of the new applicants. 

“They’re some of the best citizens Marco Island has ever seen,” said Councilman Darrin Palumbo of the new candidates. 

They include recognized humanitarian Allyson Richards, founder of Our Daily Bread food pantry of Marco; former City Councilwoman Becky Irwin, who has been lauded as the next highest vote-getter in the November 2024 election; Melissa Tschida, whose family owns and operates Paradise Coast Restoration company; Randy Harris of the Marco Island Yacht Club and Rene Champagne, a veteran and Marco Island Academy board member who has donated more than $1.5 million to MIA. Richards was awarded by the City earlier in the meeting for her service on the Parks and Recreation Committee. Each applicant has several other qualifying characteristics.

“If we can’t come to an agreement, why don’t we all resign on the spot,” said Palumbo. 

Councilwoman Bonita Schwan asked for Council to commit to come together on the matter in the next meeting. 

“If someone gets four votes, I’ll ask for a renomination to get a 6-0 vote,” Brechnitz said. 

“But, we have to get to four votes before we can get to six,” he said.

Continual 3-3 votes have occurred over the past four months with numerous meetings to select a member. The same three Council members, Palumbo, Schwan, and Deb Henry vote one way, and Brechnitz, Tamara Goehler and Stephen Gray vote another way on the matter of filling the seat left vacant by former Councilman Greg Folley, who left midterm. 

“I worry that we’re going to be in the same situation,” said Brechnitz of the ongoing stalemate. 

According to the City Charter, Council is to fill seats left vacant if there are fewer than two years left to the term, Palumbo said. If it’s more than two years left on that term, then it goes to the voters of Marco Island in a referendum, he added. Palumbo said he prefers to follow the Charter parameters. 

Gray has long suggested the decision of the seventh council member should be left to the voters - a stance agreed upon by Goehler and Brechnitz but not supported by the City Charter and City Attorney Alan Garbiel’s legal advice. 

Council discussed the possibility of changing the Charter in the future but didn’t come to a consensus on the idea. 

Schwan attempted during the Monday, March 3 meeting, to get Council to agree in advance on details of the process for the next meeting so that the seat could finally be filled before the meeting adjourned, she said.

Brechnitz has preferred a scoring method that generates either the newest council member or at least several finalists for discussions. Palumbo and Schwan have preferred open nominations with a second and a roll call.

Schwan asked for a commitment from Council that they would not adjourn until the seventh member was selected.

A consensus on a detailed process wasn’t reached on Monday nor a commitment to decide before adjourning. The non-agenda topic was brought up by Schwan during Council Communications. 

“I won’t pre-commit because life changes,” said Gray.

Perhaps if the seventh member isn’t selected during that meeting, then the Council will reconvene after their 5:30 PM meeting scheduled that same evening, said Brechnitz.

One applicant, Thomas Fontana, a finalist or semifinalist at the time, dropped out of the running when Council continued to bicker over the process and person to fill the seat during the January 21 meeting. 

The full list of current applicants, which has included several differing finalists and semifinalists in the past several months, includes Richards, Anthony Costantino, Irwin, Bryan Johnson, Chris Ricci, Dr. Chrissann Ruehle, Daniel Bryant, David Crain, David Leaser, Dennis Bartolucci, Edwin Johnson. John Aquis, Joseph Carosia, Kristy Strickland, Mario Curiale, Martin Winter, Tschida, Michael Dowell, Nanette Rivera, Peter Bartlome, Ralph Rohena, Randy Harris, Champagne, Reza Mahdavi, Richard Schulte, Ryan Sullivan, Sheela Yawitz and Teri Sommerfeld.