Less than a month after the Sebastian City Council voted to replace its mayor with another council member, the city’s Charter Review Committee is reassessing potential changes that could prevent such an ouster from happening again.
“It was an embarrassment to the citizens of Sebastian to say the least,” committee member Bob Zomok said during last week’s Charter Review meeting.
Others on the committee agreed, calling the ouster a “personality battle” and raising concern that the consensus among the Council members to remove Richard Gillmor from the mayor’s seat “gave the appearance of impropriety.”
During the removal of Gillmor as mayor in February, City Council members pointed to the Charter’s silence on how long a mayor’s term is to be. Special Magistrate Kelley Armitage, who is filling in for City Attorney Bob Ginsburg, advised the Council that they had the ability to remove Gillmor if they so chose because the Charter gave them the power to choose their leader.
“I think we have a little discrepancy,” Charter Review committee member Bruce Hoffman said of the rules surrounding the mayor’s post. He noted that the Charter specifically says the vice mayor is to serve a 1-year term, but , does not state the term length of mayor.
The committee in February, before the removal of Gillmor as mayor, voted in favor of setting a 1-year term for the position – in keeping with the vice mayor.
At last week’s meeting, following the contentious City Council meeting, the committee debated but ultimately let stand its recommendation to set a term for mayor.
“We give them latitude,” committee member Louise Kautenburg said, referring to the Charter’s powers and directives regarding the City Council. “And they need some latitude.”
The current Charter addresses what happens when a mayor opts to leave the post on his or her own volition. It does not speak to what happens if the Council removes the mayor.
Committee member Beth Mitchell, who is also the president of the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce, said that she believes it’s very important to have a cohesive Council that agrees to disagree – allowing the Council to change its mind regarding who should lead it would be appropriate.
While the committee appeared split on the matter, no one made a motion to rescind the original recommendation for a 1-year mayoral term.
The committee is also considering extending the term length for all Council members – from the current two-year terms to a proposed four-year term.
“It gets visited every time we meet,” Kautenburg said. The Charter committee convenes at five-year intervals.
The purpose of four-year terms would be to have Council elections coincide with County elections and piggyback on the County ballot, which would save the City money.