At a time when Vero Beach is engaged in multiple major projects proponents say will shape the future of our growing community, you might’ve expected a two-seat City Council race to attract more than the minimum number of candidates required to hold a contested election.
You’d have been wrong.
The only candidates to file the paperwork required to run in November’s city election were Mayor John Cotugno, Councilman Taylor Dingle and perennial also-ran Brian Heady, who didn’t jump in until less than 24 hours before the noon Aug. 15 deadline.
Already, though, Heady is being asked to drop out of the race and save the city the $32,000 it will cost to conduct an election.
Last weekend, in fact, Heady provided Vero Beach 32963 with a cellphone screenshot of an email that contained an online petition demanding that the one-time council member withdraw his candidacy.
The screenshot, which included a photograph of Heady addressing the council during public-comment time at a January 2016 meeting, claimed the petition had already received 3,574 “verified signatures.”
As for the email: It was sent by someone named “Jody,” who wrote that – after reading a news report about Heady’s candidacy in last week’s 32963 – she found his decision to run “deeply troubling,” citing an election that she believes is unnecessary and will be a waste of city tax dollars.
“Is this really the direction you wish to take?” she wrote. “What, exactly, are you hoping to gain from this three months of fleeting recognition? A handful of votes? The cost to our community is simply unjustifiable.”
The email’s author then informed Heady, 77, she was circulating the petition to her “extensive network, the (city) council, and the governor’s office,” adding, “This situation will not go unnoticed.”
In a text-message exchange with this newspaper Saturday, Heady said he didn’t know the identity of the email’s author, but, based on its contents, he presumed that the person supports the two incumbents.
He said the email warned that complaints were going to be filed with state authorities, primarily because he said last week he wouldn’t seek campaign contributions – and he didn’t pay the filing fee.
The inference was obvious: The email’s author was questioning the legitimacy of Heady’s campaign.
She’s not alone.
Heady’s most recent campaigns have produced dismal results. He received only 11 percent of the vote in 2024. He finished last among seven candidates in 2021, when he was named on only 252 of the 5,246 ballots cast.
And city records show he did sign an “Affidavit of Financial Hardship” to avoid paying the filing fee this year.
But Heady, who said the only way we’ll see his name on political signs around town is if someone else puts them up, defended his refusal to seek contributions to fund his latest run.
“I don’t accept donations to my campaign,” Heady proclaimed, “because that’s the root cause of the corruption.”
Realistically, though, he can’t be considered anything more than a longshot, especially running against two seemingly popular incumbents. But whoever “Jody” is – “Clearly, she doesn’t like me,” Heady said – she’d be foolish to think he’s going to back out.
That’s not going to happen.
Asked if he’s staying in the race, Heady replied, “Of course,” later adding, “They can file all the complaints they want.”
Therefore, unless any of the threatened complaints get traction in Tallahassee, we will have a contested city election on Nov. 4, although less than half of Vero Beach’s 10,400 registered voters are likely to participate.
The past three off-year city elections produced only 4,400 votes in 2019, 5,246 in 2021, and 3,708 in 2023 – and, with no referendums on the ballot and little drama expected, this year’s turnout could be even smaller.
Is that why more challengers didn’t enter the race, despite the city moving forward with plans to develop the Three Corners site, relocate its wastewater-treatment plant and expand the municipal marina?
Certainly, there are big decisions to be made regarding those projects, as well as with the reconstruction of the storm-damaged Humiston Beach boardwalk, arrival of JetBlue at the city’s soon-to-be-busier airport, and enhancement of the downtown area.
There’s also the possibility the next council will need to contend with the repercussions of the Florida Legislature’s growing interest in reducing or eliminating the property taxes that largely fund municipal and county budgets.
And, of course, there’s the increasing pressure placed on the city’s infrastructure and services by a constantly growing county population.
Given what’s ahead, there must be other civic-minded city residents who want to make sure Vero Beach is adequately equipped with the brainpower, character and leadership needed to remain a special community.
Where are they?
“Everybody is going to run next year, when there could be three open seats,” Vice Mayor Linda Moore said. “This year, you’re fighting a losing battle against two strong incumbents. That probably won’t be the case next year.”
Moore has been telling people she’s not planning to run again. John Carroll hasn’t committed to seeking a third term. And Aaron Vos, a council newcomer last year, said it’s too soon for him to even consider a re-election bid.
So that’s it? That’s the reason? Nobody wanted to run against Cotugno and Dingle, even at such an exciting and pivotal time in the city’s history?
“A lot of people must be pretty pleased with how things are going – maybe not on every issue, but overall,” said state Rep. Robbie Brackett, a former Vero Beach mayor.
“There are also people who believe the middle of a big project isn’t the time to change leadership, unless you really have to,” he added. “Right now, it appears, there’s no compelling reason to change.”
Another former mayor, meanwhile, pointed to the council’s two-year terms, saying they deter potential candidates because, for some, the work required to run a successful campaign isn’t proportional to the ability to accomplish goals.
“It’s very difficult to get things done in two years,” Harry Howle said, recalling his two terms on the council. “You can’t generate momentum, especially in one term. The first year, you’re learning the ropes. Then you do the job for six months before you’re getting ready to run again.”
City voters, however, have rejected proposals to lengthen council terms to three or four years in referendums in 1987, 2003 and 2017.
“I think we’d see more interest if we added another year,” Howle said.
Carroll, however, said he had been talking to two people who were planning to run, but they changed their minds last spring. He said he believes they might follow through next year.
“For a while, I thought we’d have four, but I can’t say I’m surprised we have three,” Carroll said.
“I knew John and Taylor would run again, and I was pretty sure Brian was going to get in.”
Cotugno believes at least some city residents who might otherwise be interested in serving on the council are unable or unwilling to invest the time needed to meet the demands of the office.
“This is no longer a part-time job you can squeeze into your schedule,” the mayor said. “To do the job you were elected to do – and do it right – it takes a sizable commitment.
“First, you have to campaign,” he added. “Then, if you’re able to get elected, you need to learn how the council functions, understand how the city works, build a rapport with citizens, talk to people who have questions and concerns
“A lot of this job is building the relationships necessary to get things done, and that takes time.”
Many younger adults, particularly those in their 30s and 40s, are too busy pursuing career advancement and raising children to carve out the time necessary to serve on the council.
Give Dingle, 29, credit for making the sacrifice while working on the golf staff at John’s Island and along with his wife, raising their first child who was born last November.
He’s not doing it for the money: The annual pay for council members is $14,400, with the mayor getting $15,600.
“It’s a full-time job with part-time pay,” said Vos, who has embraced his council duties with vigor and remains so invested he regularly puts in overtime – without compensation, of course.
He might be the hardest-working council member in the city’s history.
For example: When asked why there was so little interest in running for the two council seats on the ballot in November, Vos responded with an email that provided the equivalent of a detailed power-point presentation.
He listed 11 reasons – including time commitment, satisfaction with the status quo, low pay, timing, lack of awareness or experience, public scrutiny, political polarization and lack of recruitment – with each of them supported by specific explanations.
Vos said he was particularly concerned about the increasing hostility in our national politics discouraging people from seeking local office. “It’s no longer just promoting your agenda; you have to brutally attack your political opponents,” he added.
We’ve seen such a deterioration of political discourse among School Board members. To this point, it hasn’t noticeably infected City Hall.
That could happen, though, if ideologues – instead of forward-thinking problem solvers who put the city’s best interests above political alliance – get elected to the council in the coming years.
It has happened before, and it could happen again.
But not in November.
Even with Heady on the ballot.
