Holmes Beach Commissioner Marvin Grossman goofed up and missed the deadline to run for another term in office.
Grossman, who earlier announced he would seek a third two-year term, didn’t complete the steps to qualify as a candidate for commissioner.
But he isn’t ready to give up his seat on the dais.
“I hope they’ll let me stay on,” Grossman said June 28.
Without a qualified candidate for the Nov. 8 ballot, it will be up to the remaining commissioners to fill Grossman’s vacancy for a one-year term after the election.
According to city clerk Stacey Johnston, Grossman arrived at city hall shortly before the noon deadline June 24 with his candidate paperwork, but was disqualified for paying the filing fee with a personal check rather than from a campaign account.
Johnston said there was no time remaining for Grossman to remedy the situation. According to Florida statutes, campaign expenses, including filing fees, must be made from a designated campaign bank account. Cash and personal checks are not allowed.
The seat will be up for grabs in the 2017 election for a one-year term and again in the 2018 election to put it back in its place in the election cycle.
Grossman hopes his fellow commissioners will appoint him in November.
“I don’t mind running two years in a row,” Grossman said of the 2017 and 2018 elections. “It was my mistake.”
Grossman said personal issues caused him to wait until the last minute to submit his qualification papers.
“I hope I’ll be given a chance to fix my mistake,” he said. — Kristin Swain