VERO BEACH – Forget packing up their paperwork and heading out of the city offices, the three incumbents in a 7-person race Vero Beach City Council retained the seats Tuesday evening.
The race was expected to be a solid vote behind candidates keen on selling the Vero Beach municipal electric system, voters instead brought back two in favor of the sale, Pilar Turner and Craig Fletcher and one candidate, Jay Kramer, who favors not only a partial sale to get the county out from under the city’s system, but favors bring the decision to voters.
“It is a privilege and an honor once again to serve the people of our city,” said Turner while in a midst of celebrating with fellow Republican Women at Grand Harbor’s St. Andrews Island.
By a mere 38 votes, Fletcher bested Mayor Turner as the No. 1 vote-getter even though he raised less than half of what she did when he pulled with his $4,060 in campaign contributions.
In the race, Fletcher grabbed 3,450 votes, and Kramer grabbed 3,318 votes. In this race the top three vote-getters won the election.
“It feels good. I really feel happy. We are really blessed,” said Fletcher.
Fletcher said he was always confident but never 100 percent sure he’d pull through.
“We are really, really blessed. And now we can get on with the business of the city,” Fletcher said.
Having Turner and Fletcher retain their seats is pretty much a sure bet the $179 million sale of the utility will go through.
Though many political watchers weren’t about to take a chance that table wouldn’t be turned in favor of those luke warm or even flat out opposed to the sale.
“I cannot understand it,” said Mark Mucher who spent Tuesday standing along roads holding up signs with the names of the most loyal candidate backing of selling the electrical utility, Turner, Fletcher and Dan Stump, a political newcomer and island attorney who had the past president of the Indian River County Taxpayers Association.
Stump came in fifth place with 11 percent of the votes cast.
“If (city voters) know anything about the slate why they would vote for Pilar and not for … (Stump) because they are like minded,” said Mucher, a member of the Indian River County Taxpayer’s Association.
The taxpayer association selected Stump to lead the group’s main cause of the day, sell the electric system to Florida Power & Light, from the dais, when they backed him and urged him to run as a candidate in a race.
Throughout the day, Mucher traded off between two signs that essentially had the same message, sell the utility and back the threesome of Fletcher, Turner and Stump. But it wasn’t until he held a Romney/Ryan presidential sign along with a single pro-sale sign that motorists really got engaged when they started tooting their horns, giving a thumbs up or fists in the air.
“I imagine that means the presidential race is more important to them then the sale,” Mucher said.
Perhaps outside of little Vero but for a job that pays a mere $10,800 a year, the sale of the electrical utility was certainly a big campaign item as well as a dominant question at the various political forums amongst the seven city council candidates.
Still Mucher and company, namely Charlie Wilson, did their best to get the word out that the sale of the electrical utility was most important cause. Their groups raised $1,345 to get the message — as to who was in favor of the sale and who was not – out.
The newly formed political action groups, Citizens for a Brighter Future and Citizen’s for Truth outraised three of the seven candidates including one candidate – Brian Heady — by 100 percent.
Heady who has made more than a dozen runs for office refused to accept campaign contributions.
That didn’t mean there were not any signs doting yards and intersections with his name blazing across them.
He used old signs.
Heady, who favors the sale of the electrical plant but wants to allow the residents of the city to decide on the matter with a referendum, was spared from having his name on a sign that suggested those wishing to kill the sale of the electric utility should vote for Nick Thomas and Kramer. Heady came in fourth place with 15.13 percent of the vote.
This was Thomas second run for a local office this year.
He lost in a three-way race for County Commissioner Bob Solari’s seat in August.
He was one of the last to throw his name into the field of candidates this year saying that if he thought there was a chance that his winning could scuttle the expected sale of the city’s electric utility, he would run for city council. In the city council race, he grabbed 1,676 votes.
Thomas, and islander, an attorney and the the 1980 senior class president of Vero Beach High School failed to attract well-heeled donors, or even many donors at all.
All told, Thomas collected $330, a mere 20th of what Kramer collected.
Kramer’s war chest of $6,211.38 was slightly more than Stump’s $6,160. Turner collected the most with $10,035 in campaign contributions.
Fletcher, Turner and Kramer will be re-sworn in Friday morning and rejoin councilwoman Tracy Carroll and councilman Dick Winger when they select a mayor and vice mayor. The next city council meeting is Tuesday Nov. 13 when Winger said he ask that his fellow city council members vote on whether to bring the sale of the electrical utility to the voters in a form of a referendum. Considering the makeup of the council has not changed, it is not likely that the referendum will pass next Tuesday.
Fletcher said the time is not right to talk about a referendum.
“This vote was a referendum,” Fletcher said. “I think it is a moot point.”
Fletcher said he’s not totally against a referendum, but one cannot be held until voters can be told exactly what is at stake.
“The next thing to come out of the gate is a contract,” Fletcher said. “I am not going to vote on a referendum until we have a contract in front of me and know the terms, that is not very businesslike. It is like buying insurance and saying, ‘OK give it to me I’ll read it later.’ Hello?”
Along with seeing the sale through, Turner said she is looking forward to securing the future of the city.
Kramer did not return phone calls to Vero Beach 32963.
