Eligible residents of District 4 can fill out a four-page application by May 23 to be considered for the interim position.
One thing became clear as Palm Coast City Council members discussed the process they’ll use to fill departing Councilman Steve Nobile’s District 4 seat: They're in an "unusual position."
Nobile announced last month that he will step down May 16 due to family medical issues that are forcing him and his wife to move to the Tampa area, and the city’s charter requires the council to appoint a replacement by majority vote within 30 days.
That means Palm Coast’s remaining council members will have until June 15 to swear in an interim council member, even though voters could pick Nobile's long-term successor fewer than three months later.
“I feel it puts us in a very unusual position,” Mayor Milissa Holland said during Tuesday's council workshop.
Nobile’s four-year term ends in November. Eligible residents who live in District 4 at least 45 weeks out of the year can fill out a four-page application by May 23 to be considered for the interim position. Council members will then come up with a short list of applicants by May 29 and interview finalists June 4 through 8. A special meeting June 12 will decide who will serve out the last five months of Nobile’s term.
They also decided Tuesday they won’t appoint anybody who files to run for the District 4 seat. Primaries, for districts in which there are more than two qualifying candidates, are scheduled for Aug. 28. if one candidate garners more than 50 percent of the vote. The general elections are Nov. 6.
City leaders faced a similar situation when former council member Bill McGuire resigned in August 2016, less than two months before his term expired. Councilman Robert Cuff won about 53 percent of the votes in a three-candidate primary and the City Council appointed him to assume McGuire's seat on Sept. 16.
“To me, as a candidate, that was an incredibly awkward position to be in,” Cuff said Tuesday. “And frankly, I was happy with the city’s decision not to appoint any of the candidates (in the election). I think that’s really how we should do it now.”
May 21 is the deadline for candidates to qualify for the city’s election by getting signatures from 1 percent of the electorate in their district, or they can pay a $960 qualifying fee by June 22.
As of Tuesday, Palm Coast businessman John Tipton IV and Jose “Eddie” Branquinho, a board member with the Portuguese American Cultural Center, have filed paperwork to run for the District 4 seat.
Palm Coast City Clerk Virginia Smith said the city is accepting applications for the interim council member on its website, and there are plans to notify former council members, committee members and graduates of the city’s Citizens Academy who live in District 4.
Holland stressed that the interviews with finalists should be open to the public.
“I’m not a big fan of closing off interviews to a public appointment,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. So my only suggestion is, during this process, that we keep it open and transparent to those applicants.”