VERO BEACH – Mayor Kevin Sawnick has the larger, roomier Mayor’s office after Vice Mayor Sabe Abell moved out, though exactly when is difficult to determine.
Sawnick said he thought it was two weeks ago, city officials said it was last week, but other eyewitnesses said as late as this past Monday the Vice Mayor was still using what were his old quarters when he was Mayor. There had been reports that Abell had refused to move out of his office after 28-year-old Sawnick was voted in as the youngest Mayor ever in Vero Beach on Nov. 5. With the city facing much weightier issues such as raising electric rates and the fate of newly elected Councilman Charlie Wilson, Sawnick wanted to put the room swap rumors to rest.
“If I had a table, I’d be fine,” Sawnick said. The mayor also made it clear that as far as he was concerned, Abell never refused to move out of the office.
Abell has since taken a smaller office behind the main clerk’s station. Abell said he told City Clerk Tammy Vock that he would move to his current office in order to save the city money.
“I insisted,” Abell said of the move.
Vock said it would have cost the city to reconfigure the space otherwise.
Sawnick said he is settling into his new role as mayor and that it isn’t much different from being a regular council member.
“More phone calls, I’ve noticed,” he said of the difference.
What do you think? Was this much ado about nothing or should Mr. Sawnick have made sure he worked out of the Mayor’s office? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
