The Fort Walton Beach City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday where one item on the agenda was the selection of a new council-member to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Larry Patrick.
- The city charter states that in the event of a vacancy, the open seat should be filled by a majority vote of the remaining council members. Prior to any appointment, nominations must be accepted over the course of at least two general meetings.
The nominees to fill the vacancy included:
- Brandon Bishop
- Ryan Hartman
- Jason Harwell
- John Mead
- Jeff Pendleton
- Debra Riley
- Sharon Trenary
Back in August, the council unanimously approved the process of selection by way of a scoring system. Last night, each council-member ranked their top three candidates via ballot using 1 for the top ranked candidate and 3 for the third ranked candidate.
- The ballots were tallied, and the top three candidates were identified: John Mead (17 points), Debra Riley (6 points) and Ryan Hartman (6 points).
The Council then scored a second ballot by selecting their preferred candidate only. Mead collected 5 votes and Riley collected one.
After hearing from the public, Councilman Travis Smith made motion to appoint Mead as the new city council-member with a second by Councilman David Schmidt. The council unanimously approved the appointment.
The council then had the option to immediately have Mead sworn in or wait until later in the meeting. Some members of the public voiced their belief that since the council still had to have their final budget and millage hearing that the swearing-in should happen after.
- However, Council-member Gloria DeBerry made to a motion to immediately have Mead sworn in and take his seat at the dais. The vote was 5-1 with Council-member Nic Allegretto being the lone no.
Councilman John Mead will now serve roughly 18-months on the council.
