Former member fills vacant seat as Bradenton City Council renews charter change push
A former councilwoman is getting a second chance at serving Ward 2 after the Bradenton City Council voted to fill the vacancy left when Councilman Gene Brown resigned to run for mayor.
Council members said Marianne Barnebey is the candidate with the best experience to hit the ground running. Barnebey will be sworn in Friday morning in the council chambers and will serve for the two years remaining in Brown’s term.
“I’m prepared to have Marianne Barnebey take the seat,” said Councilman Harold Byrd, Jr., who put the topic of Wednesday’s agenda. “I’ve worked with her in the past and I’m prepared to do that today.”
Brown, who announced a bid for mayor earlier this month, was forced to resign from his seat representing Ward 2 on City Council. Florida’s resign-to-run law requires elected officials to resign from their seats if they choose to run for a different position.
Byrd also is running for mayor, but he did not have to resign since he had announced his bid earlier. Also running for mayor is Dimitrie Denis.
Three other candidates also came before the council, asking to be appointed to the Ward 2 position. While the other candidates were qualified to serve, council members said Barnebey stood out at the strongest candidate.
“Thank you very much. I’m very honored and I will do my best,” Barnebey told City Council.
Proposed charter change could get second life
Mayor Wayne Poston and Councilman Gene Gallo took issue with Wednesday’s vote. They argued that City Council shouldn’t have rushed into filling the seat. Instead, both said they would have preferred a more transparent process that advertised the vacancy and welcomed applicants.
“I think it’s important that the people of the community should vet every one of us,” Gallo said. “For us to rush into this is wrong. Just absolutely wrong.”
“We don’t have to advertise it for 6 months, but doing so might find us someone new,” Poston suggested.
But other council members preferred moving forward with a motion to appoint Barnebey immediately. Supporters of the vote cited the “unusual” process that left them with just four members on the City Council.
“I believe there is a need for urgency. There’s no specifics on whether we move slowly or quickly. The charter is flawed, so it’s our decision” said Councilman Patrick Roff.
“That being said, we’re moving forward. I don’t remember any time when we had a position vacate like this. It’s very unusual,” he added.
Councilman Bill Sanders said Brown and Poston forced the council’s hand, describing the series of events that led to the city council’s need to fill the seat.
On June 10, Brown voted against the council’s attempt to override Poston’s veto of a proposed charter amendment that would remove certain powers from the office of the mayor, such as police oversight.
“It would be a significant change to the power structure,” City Attorney Scott Rudacille said of the proposed charter changes.
Later that day, Poston dropped out of the mayor’s race. A few hours after that, Brown filed to run for the mayor’s seat in November.
“To do this in the last minute right after a veto was self-serving,” Sanders said, referring to Brown’s resignation. “You want to be mayor more than you want to represent the people.”
In an interview with the Bradenton Herald shortly after her appointment by the council, Barnebey said serving citizens has always been her top priority.
“I worked very hard for 14 years, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work on improvements and continuing to encourage our citizens to understand that they do make a difference,” she said. “They need to interact with us. They need to come to meetings. It’s very important to me.”
Barnebey previously represented Ward 2 on Bradenton City Council from 1998 to 2012, when she lost a mayor’s election race against Poston.
Council members voted 3-1 to appoint Barnebey. They also voted 3-1 to approve the first reading of another attempt to put the charter amendment question that would remove the mayor’s powers on the ballot in November.
Gallo cast the dissenting vote both times. He clarified that he was confident in Barnebey’s ability to do the job but disapproved of the council’s approach.
“Let’s face it. The only urgency we have is that you’re afraid there may be a veto again,” said Gallo. “The four of us can run the city and make the decisions that need to be made.”
Poston also reiterated that the proposed charter amendment, “isn’t in the best interest of the city.”
“I went down and dropped out of my campaign because I didn’t want anyone to think I (vetoed) that in my interest. I did that for the city of Bradenton, which I have served honorably for 21 years,” Poston said.
But council members will now consider a nearly identical ordinance with Barnebey sitting in on the next meeting.
“I’ve been watching the meetings, but I want to go back and research how we got to this point, and I’ll be very interested in hearing what the citizens have to say about this,” Barnebey said when asked about her position on the charter amendment.
Barnebey’s support of the charter amendment would be the final push needed to override Poston’s veto with a 4-vote super-majority. Roff, Sanders and Byrd already support the measure.
City Council is set to vote on the charter amendment at a July 8 meeting.
