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Residents sue St. Pete Beach after appointments made to fill city commissioner vacancies

"We as citizens, as residents know that we have to stand up and insist that the city follows its own rules," BJ Lawson, who lives in St. Pete Beach, said.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla — In a case involving a resident advocacy group and the city of St. Pete Beach, the group is suing the city after four of five city commissioners resigned in December.

Appointments were made to fill the seats, but an advocacy group called Protect St. Pete Beach said there should have been an election.

After a more than three-hour meeting, Judge Michael Andrews asked attorneys to submit a proposal order to help him decide if the appointments violate the city of St. Pete's charter.

St. Pete beach neighbors filled into Judge Andrews' courtroom as attorneys from both sides explained their interpretation of how the city should fill vacancies.

“It plainly provides that these are extraordinary vacancies under extraordinary circumstances and the result of that is that the public gets the right to choose who their elected officials are under the plain language under the charter itself,” Leonard Collins, the neighbors’ group attorney said.

In December, four commissioners resigned over a new state law requiring public officials to file a financial disclosure form if they were in office by Dec. 31.

“It was an incredibly awkward time for the commissioners to choose to resign just because we had so many big decisions confronting our small city,” BJ Lawson, who lives in St. Pete Beach, said.

Appointments were made shortly afterward. Soon after, expansion projects at the Tradewinds Island Resort and the Sirata Resort were approved. 

Two of the appointed commissioners ran unopposed in the March election and won. There's a special election on Aug. 20 for the District 2 and 4 commissioner seats. 

“The idea that we had these weighted decisions that will irreparably change the face of St. Pete going forward for generations being made by people who were appointed and not elected and not therefore accounted by the citizens, well that's just a horrible idea,” Lawson said.

The neighbors' attorney argued a special session should've been called within 15 days of two or more vacancies occurring simultaneously. One of the attorneys representing the city said resignations were announced and filled several days apart, adding that the supervisor of elections said the earliest time available for a special session would be August.

An attorney for the Sirata Resort also told the judge there is no standing to void its expansion approval.

“These vacancies, regardless of how you define the word 'resignation,' didn't happen simultaneously because the commissioners both announced their resignations and left office on different days,” Samuel Salario said.

Attorneys will have until May 30 to submit their proposal order so the judge can rule in this case.

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