Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon will face a recall vote May 19.
The Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office confirmed April 8 that it received 121 valid petition signatures from the Committee to Recall William Shearon. That’s six more than the number needed to trigger the recall election.
Under state law, Shearon then had five days to resign from office and avoid the recall election. But he declined resigning.
“It’s up to the voters,” Shearon said April 7. “I’m perfectly happy with what decision they make.”
That prompted the chief judge of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court to schedule the recall election.
On the same ballot that asks whether Shearon should be recalled, Bradenton Beach voters will have an opportunity to choose from a list of candidates seeking to fill the remainder of his term, if the recall vote goes against the mayor.
Qualifying for the mayor’s race began April 14 and the clerk’s office was tasked by the mayor to rush the required advertising for the election.
Shearon said he is prepared to qualify for the ballot. A former city commissioner, he was elected to his first mayoral term in November 2013.
On April 13, Vice Mayor Jack Clarke resigned from office effective with the May 19 recall vote. Clarke said April 10 he planned to be a candidate in for the mayor’s seat.
Clarke initiated forfeiture of office proceedings against Shearon last year based on his claim that the mayor mismanaged his office.
Clarke, who ran unopposed for his first term as commissioner in November 2013, on various occasions said he was not interested in being mayor.
“What I actually said was, when I took this job, being mayor was the furthest thing from my mind,” Clarke said April 7. “I now believe that the best way to bring Bradenton Beach back on track is to replace the mayor and I am the person to do it.”
Shearon said he believes running for mayor has been Clarke’s agenda all along.
“He’s made it clear in a number of public meetings that he doesn’t want to be mayor,” Shearon said. “Now, all of the sudden, he wants to be. That’s fine. The more, the merrier.”
The recall effort is being spearheaded by former Commissioner Pete Barreda. It is based on two alleged instances in which Barreda claims Shearon violated Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Laws. Shearon denied the allegations, stating he has never faced any charges for violating the Sunshine Law.
However, it’s possible that Clarke must abide the state statute, “Resign to Run,” enacted in 2007. An elected official must resign from his/her current elected office to run for another office.
Shearon, on the other hand, is running for the same office and is not required to resign.
But Manatee County officials were unsure April 10 if the rules for officials apply to recall elections. As of press time for The Islander, Scott Farrington of the supervisor of elections office had no answers.
Clarke’s resignation will result in a vacancy on the commission. According to the Bradenton Beach city charter, when there is a commission vacancy, the commission nominates “willing and qualified” successors and votes among the nominees to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. All nominees must be from the ward from which the vacancy occurred.
Clarke is elected from Ward 1, which covers the area from Gulf to bay and 28th to 23rd streets north. Commissioners Jan Vosburgh, Ed Straight and Janie Robertson said they would not be interested in running for mayor on the recall ballot.
The candidate qualifying period ends at noon Friday, April 17. To qualify, candidates must file paperwork, submit 10 petition signatures, open a bank account, designate a treasurer and pay the supervisor of elections a filing fee of $48.
Read more, including the city attorney’s brief to the court, setting the election.
Qualifying cut short?
Bradenton Beach city officials and the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office have been trying to get a ruling from the Florida Division of Elections as to how and when Vice Mayor Jack Clarke must resign from office to run against Mayor Bill Shearon in the election to fill the remainder of Shearon’s term in office, if Shearon is recalled.
Anyone who qualifies, including Shearon, is allowed to run for the mayor’s seat but the state requires elected officials — not including the incumbent — to first resign.
The statute gives options for the resignation, but it appears it is not possible to remain in office given the qualifying date — April 14 — set April 10 by Chief Judge Andrew D. Owens Jr. of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court.
State law requires the elected official’s written resignation be submitted at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying.
Clarke would have had to resign April 4 or earlier to retain his office until the May 19 election, leaving immediate resignation as his only option.
If so, the remaining three commissioners and the mayor would select a vice mayor and appoint a replacement for Clarke.
They have two meetings to accept nominees for the commission seat and make an appointment, or it falls to a drawing from the qualified nominees.
According to state statute 99.012:
No person may qualify as a candidate for more than one public office if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other.
No officer may qualify as a candidate for another municipal public office if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other without resigning from the office he or she presently holds.
The resignation is irrevocable. The written resignation must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.
The resignation must be effective no later than the earlier of the following dates: The date the officer would take office, if elected; or the date the officer’s successor is required to take office.
An elected municipal officer must submit his or her resignation to the original qualifying officer with a copy to the governor and the Department of State.
According to Bradenton Beach City Charter, Article II, Section 7, filling of vacancies:
Whenever there is a vacancy, the commission nominates one or more willing and qualified successors. The commission then votes to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term. If commissioners are unable to fill the vacancy after two meetings, the successor is chosen by lot from the nominees by the city clerk. All nominees shall be from the ward from which the vacancy occurred.
(2) No person may qualify as a candidate for more than one public office, whether federal, state, district, county, or municipal, if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other.
(3)(a) No officer may qualify as a candidate for another state, district, county, or municipal public office if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other without resigning from the office he or she presently holds.
(b) The resignation is irrevocable.
(c) The written resignation must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the first day of qualifying for the office he or she intends to seek.
(d) The resignation must be effective no later than the earlier of the following dates:
1. The date the officer would take office, if elected; or
2. The date the officer’s successor is required to take office.
(f)1. With regard to an elective office, the resignation creates a vacancy in office to be filled by election. Persons may qualify as candidates for nomination and election as if the public officer’s term were otherwise scheduled to expire.
2. With regard to an elective charter county office or elective municipal office, the vacancy created by the officer’s resignation may be filled for that portion of the officer’s unexpired term in a manner provided by the respective charter. The office is deemed vacant upon the effective date of the resignation submitted by the official in his or her letter of resignation.
(g) Any officer who submits his or her resignation, effective immediately or effective on a date prior to the date of his or her qualifying for office, may then qualify for office as a nonofficeholder, and the provisions of this subsection do not apply.