A Delray Beach City Commission seat remains empty after commissioners failed to agree on someone to fill the spot.
Commission Seat 2 had been occupied by Rob Long, who resigned from his post when he decided to run for the Florida House District 90 representative seat.
The House seat opened after state Rep. Joe Casello’s death in July. A special election followed on Dec. 9, which Long won.
Long’s victory left his Delray Beach commission seat empty and the remaining commissioners to decide who should fill the spot until the March 10 general election.
Three candidates are running for the Seat 2 spot for the three-year term: Andrea Keiser, Judy Mollica and Delores Rangel.
According to the city’s charter, the commissioners had two opportunities to vote on an interim Seat 2 candidate.
People interested in filling the position had submitted applications by Nov. 7 to be considered, and the commission had decided they would not choose someone who was running for office.
At each vote, the commissioners’ vote was split, leaving the position empty for now.
The first vote was taken on Dec. 8 during a public city meeting. Mayor Tom Carney nominated Yvonne Odom, a longtime Delray Beach resident and former teacher who, in 1961, was the first Black student to attend Seacrest High School, now Atlantic Community High School.
At the same meeting, Commissioner Tom Markert nominated Price Patton, a former newspaper editor and self-described historic preservationist who served on the city’s Historic Preservation Board and Site Plan Review Advisory Board.
Neither Odom nor Patton drew enough votes, with commissioners voting 2-2 for each.
A second chance came during the Jan. 20 city meeting, during which some residents came forward to speak in support of Odom.
Chuck Ridley, the co-chair of the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition, said the commission should “not even have a discussion,” and that choosing Odom is a “no-brainer.”
“Of course, the democratic process needs to take place. But given (Ms. Odom’s) portfolio, and the respect and honor due, suggests that we pay that homage,” Ridley said at the Jan. 20 meeting. “Are there other qualified candidates? Yes. Are there other candidates that have given to this city what Ms. Odom has given to the city? I doubt it.”
Carney again nominated Odom for the position, and no other candidate was nominated at the meeting. The commissioners voted 2-2 with Carney and Vice Mayor Angela Burns voting for Odom while Commissioner Juli Casale and Commissioner Tom Markert voting against her.
“Ms. Odom, I really do appreciate you,” Casale said. “I think the best thing to do is nothing at this point because an unelected person will essentially be the determining vote on all things going forward for approximately two months, and that concerns me.”
Commissioner Markert initially tried to abstain from voting, but that wasn’t an option. He said he doesn’t like the idea of appointing someone who he believes should be elected instead.
“This is the danger in politics when you take a handful of people up here and we start doing things that you all should be voting on, not the four of us,” he said.
After a second vote failed to appoint Odom, one resident shouted at the commissioners: “Shame on y’all.”
In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Carney called the saga “an ugly, unnecessary rebuke to one of Delray’s most respected citizens.”
And with the commission operating only with four people for the next several weeks, decisions may be less likely to move forward: “I don’t think it’s fair to the citizenry to not have a full complement up there,” he said.
