VERO BEACH — Five city council applicants will compete for votes Thursday afternoon — three votes to be exact.
Vero Beach residents Ken Daige, Al Benkert, Tracy Carroll, Richard Kennedy and Bill Mills submitted resumes in response to the city’s call for people who wanted to fill the council seat vacated by Charlie Wilson on Dec. 7. The applicants will be interviewed by Mayor Kevin Sawnick, Vice Mayor Sabin Abell and council members Tom White and Brian Heady. After one round of individual questions and a roundtable discussion, City Clerk Tammy Vock said the four seated council members will rank the hopefuls and she will compile the rankings and report back to the council where everyone stands.
Then, any member can make a motion to vote for a winner.
It may take more than one vote to choose a clear winner. Should no one person be able to garner three votes in his or her favor, the council may adjourn for the evening without a full complement of members on the dais.
Interviews were scheduled to be conducted in private on Tuesday, but last week the council decided — urged by Mayor Kevin Sawnick and Councilman Brian Heady — to open up the process to the public and the television audience.
The agenda lists no public comment section so, unless one or more of the council members pushes for citizens to be able to speak, they will not have a voice in the process of choosing Wilson’s successor.
Despite the lack of a public comment section of the meeting, Wilson said he will attend the meeting to remind the council members that “this is not their seat to give away” and that they have a responsibility not just to vote for the person they think will do the best job, but also to represent the wishes of the voters who sent him to office.
A vocal critic of the city’s utility operations, Wilson pushed the city to engage Florida Power and Light about selling the electric utility.
Wilson was the top vote getter in the Nov. 3 election with nearly 1,100 votes. He was then ousted from office by an order of Judge Paul Kanarek, who determined Wilson was not qualified to hold office based on the wording and legislative intent of a residency requirement ordinance in the city charter.
Daige was the next top vote-getter and could have been appointed to the seat, but that option was not entertained by the council. Daige is the only remnant from the 2009 campaign who applied for the open seat.
The public meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall in council chambers and will be televised live on Channel 13.
Read a brief description of each of the five city council hopefuls
