No one should have been surprised last month when rookie Vero Beach City Councilman Aaron Vos stood up at a council meeting and fiercely defended the First Amendment rights of Vice Mayor Linda Moore, who had been verbally attacked at the meeting by a local fringe group.
That’s what Marines do.
“Aaron has a deep-seeded conviction as to what’s right and wrong,” Mayor John Cotugno said last week. “He saw something he believed was wrong, and he spoke out.”
But he didn’t act rashly, choosing instead to carefully analyze and assess the controversy over a drag show at the bar Moore owns before providing a thoughtful, well-founded and eloquent response – just as the former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant has done throughout his first eight months as an elected official.
Vos, in fact, has quickly earned a reputation for investing whatever time is necessary to educate himself on city matters and ensure that he’s prepared to address the challenges confronting the council.
It’s the same all-in commitment with which he approached his job managing programs, evaluating budgets and overseeing billion-dollar projects with Raytheon – an aerospace and defense contractor that in 2020 merged with United Technologies to form RTX.
To him, serving on the council is not a part-time job, despite being paid only $1,100 per month to do it.
“This is a full-time job, or at least I’ve made it one,” said Vos, who moved to Vero Beach from California six years ago and lives in Castaway Cove. “I had a steep learning curve coming in, and there was a lot to learn. But you need to know what’s going on in a city if you’re going to be making decisions that affect the people who live there.”
So, regardless of the topic at hand, Vos does his homework and arrives on the dais armed with research, equipped to speak knowledgeably and confidently, and ready to challenge falsehoods.
Moore, in fact, joked that Vos’ exuberant embrace of his council duties has turned the political newcomer’s name into a verb – “You need to Aaron Vos it.”
To be sure, though, Vos began prepping for the job from the moment he decided last year to launch his first campaign for public office, taking crash courses in city government, Vero Beach history and local politics, especially as those subjects pertained to current events.
He introduced himself to voters, engaged with representatives of local civic organizations and met with all five members of the then-seated council.
Not satisfied to simply attend council meetings in the run-up to his Nov. 5 election, he also watched video replays of past sessions, going back as far as 2008.
In addition, he arranged to accompany City Manager Monte Falls to meetings with staff directors and department heads. “Just to see how he runs his shop,” Vos said at the time.
Since winning election – he received 23 percent of the vote to finish second, behind Moore and ahead of John Carroll – Vos has distinguished himself as someone to be take seriously.
“Aaron, with his background, brings a high-level, program-manager’s eye to the council,” Cotugno said. “He probably knows more about the city’s departments than anybody on the council.
“Also, because of all the time and effort he has put in, he has a good feel for what the community wants, what the city needs and what the staff can deliver,” he added. “And you know you can rely on the information he’s providing.”
The mayor paused briefly, then added: “He brought something to the council that was needed.”
As you’d expect, Vos, who turns 64 this month, has become more comfortable on the dais as the months have passed – and he has found his voice.
“For the first month or two, I was a little nervous,” he said. “That first meeting, I was very nervous. But things have fallen into place. I’m very comfortable now, especially when talking about what we’re doing and why, because I have the information and knowledge to talk about them in detail.
“If I don’t know something, I know where to go to find out,” he added. “And I will.”
Coming from the private sector, where decisions can be made quickly and no majority vote or public input is required, Vos sometimes gets frustrated with the pace at which government moves.
The same goes for the limited resources with which the city operates.
As for the most difficult aspect of the job, Vos said it is “making tough and sometimes unpopular decisions” that can take an emotional toll but are in the overall best interests of the city.
Still, he said, he’s “having fun” and enjoys working with the city staff and the other council members, all of whom he believes are devoted to the betterment of the city.
Vos is particularly thrilled by the growing response to the weekly newsletter he emails to city residents. He began with fewer than 20 neighbors, and his list has increased to more than 100 recipients.
His first newsletter was prompted by questions about the city’s failure to meet the filing deadline for a state-mandated financial audit.
“I’d be out walking the dog, and neighbors would stop me and ask about the city’s financials,” Vos said. “In my previous job, I kept a running log on my staff and operations, merely to keep track of things. So I decided to do the same with this newsletter.
“It’s just a way to keep people informed as to what’s going on with the city and some of our projects, but I keep getting requests to be included,” he added. “If someone wants it, I’ll add them to the list.”
And for those wondering, Vos warned: “I’m an independent on the council. I don’t care if you’re a Republican, Democrat, far right, far left or anywhere in between. This newsletter isn’t political. I believe in communicating. That’s how you build trust.”
Vos seems to have already done that – and the reasons go far beyond his newsletter. Certainly, his background has plenty to do with how he has been received in our community.
Vos grew up in the Los Angeles area and, after spending four years in the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of sergeant in only 3 ½ years. He then returned to college and graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in electrical engineering, which led to a 30-year career with Raytheon.
He retired in 2017, but he continued to work for the company, traveling the country as a troubleshooter. It was his Vero Beach neighbors who convinced him to run for a city council seat and, since being elected, he has dedicated all his energies to serving the city.
Vos, who said “it’s too soon” to say whether he’ll seek a second term, acknowledged that the many skills and practices he used during his Raytheon years have helped him in his new job.
But so have the lessons he learned as a Marine.
“Discipline, structure, accountability … all good qualities to have,” he said.
Those attributes make it difficult for Vos to be bullied or even intimidated when confronting challenging issues, such as the city’s audit problems, attacks on Falls, demands for changes to the police department’s call center and calls to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Having done his homework on each of those matters, he didn’t back down.
There was no way, then, he would allow the wrongheaded, desperate-for-attention leader of a local fringe group to suggest Moore be removed from the council because her establishment, the Kilted Mermaid, hosted a Pride-month drag show on June 29.
Vos waited patiently for his opportunity to speak, then rushed to Moore’s defense, citing her constitutional rights and the state-enacted rights of parents who allowed their young three children (including one baby and another child being held in a mother’s arms) to remain on the premises for the PG-rated, daytime version of the show.
“I might find it uncomfortable, and even offensive, but I respect their freedom to decide – because that’s what liberty requires,” Vos said at the council’s July 22 meeting.
He went on to add: “As someone who served in the United States Marine Corps, I didn’t raise my hand and take an oath to protect just those rights for myself. I served to protect the rights of all Americans, whether I agree with them or not.”
Last week, Vos said the feedback he received since he spoke was all positive, with many agreeing with his assessment that Moore’s drag-show critics – the self-righteous leaders of the local Moms for Liberty group – were being selective in their outrage.
“If this group truly cares about protecting children, why not act on other issues?” Vos said. “Are we really protecting children? What’s really behind this?”
No need to do any further research there: We know all about the Moms here.
It was inspiring, though, to see a Marine answer the call of duty.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
