Folley Elected as Chairman of City Council

For a total of three years of his four years on council, Erik Brechnitz has guided his fellow councilors as Chair of that seven-person deliberative body which sets policy for the City of Marco Island. On December 5th he handed that responsibility over to Greg Folley, whom he has served with over the last two and a half years. Council members vote to choose a Chairman and Vice Chair each year and this year Folley would receive the majority vote from his fellow councilors, while Councilor Grifoni would receive the Vice Chair position.

Folley first began service on the Marco City Council as an interim councilor. He was chosen by the six sitting councilors to fill the empty seat vacated by Councilor Sam Young. He served for five months until the scheduled election in November of 2020. In that November election Folley would choose to run for the remaining two years of that vacated seat and was elected when he ran unopposed, joining with three other new councilors: Becky Irwin, Rich Blonna and Joe Rola.

In 2022 Folley chose to run for a full four-year term, and in November of this year would be the top vote getter of the five candidates running. During the almost two and a half years on council he has served as Vice Chairman under Council Chairman Brechnitz for one year and been assigned a number of complicated issues which allowed him to leverage his considerable experience in previous corporate and legal responsibilities.

Folley brought with him a long list of accomplishments in his background from an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He would only attend the Academy from 1977 to 1979 when he received an honorable medical discharge due to an injury. Folley would then go on to receive his BS Degree from Notre Dame in 1981 and his law degree in 1984. Folley would go on to concentrate in the fields of Labor and Employment Relations.

Folley had a 22-year career within Caterpillar, Inc., rising through their ranks to the position of President of one of their divisions before retiring.

Folley retired from Caterpillar in 2017 when he and his wife Margo moved fulltime to Marco Island. “My wife and I just love it here and we just want to be a contributor to this wonderful place we call home. I’ve enjoyed my time on council as we work through the challenges being faced by any young community. Concentrating on finding solutions to difficult issues is where we should spend our time and when we do that everyone benefits,” said Folley in an interview.

One of those issues that lie before council will be the implementation of the newly adopted Short Term Rental Registration Ordinance. Both Folley and Brechnitz, when running during the last election, chose to respect the wishes of the citizens when they voted overwhelmingly to approve that referendum issue. Councilors Blonna and Rola would join with them, while Councilors Grifoni, Irwin and newly elected Councilor Darrin Palombo would oppose.

The first meeting in January will be on January 9th and it will begin at 5:30 PM in Council Chambers at 51 Bald Eagle Drive.