Walker sent an email to City Attorney Palmer Davis asking that his name be removed from the list of candidates under consideration to be appointed interim commissioner to the Northwest District seat. Walker’s last day in office will be Nov 6.
Davis said he has since discovered a second legal issue. Davis wrote a lengthy email to Walker on Wednesday afternoon stating he “arguably,” is not qualified to be reappointed due to term limits.
Originally, the city’s charter read that no member of the City Commission could serve more than three complete terms, or 12 consecutive years, whichever is greater, in a singular position of mayor or commission. There was one exception, that elected officials could serve four terms, or 16 consecutive years, whichever was greater in a combination of positions between mayor and commissioner.
Davis wrote at that time Walker clearly qualified as a candidate. He was first elected to office in November 2009 in a special election and served two years before being elected in 2011 and 2015 to two, four-year terms.
The 2019 referendum approved by voters amended the city’s term limits. Newly elected officials would be restricted to serving no more than three complete terms or 12 consecutive years in the singular position of mayor or commissioner, or more than four complete terms or 16 years in a combination of mayor and commissioner. It also added officials who serve a partial term, two years or more, count as a full term.
Davis’ email highlights an important difference
“This amendment eliminated the qualifying language “the greater of” from the Charter,” he wrote.
Walker was originally grandfathered in, which would have allowed him to serve out the remainder of his third term through January 2024. But it appears Walker can no longer enjoy this exception.
“Unfortunately, upon your resignation to run for the Florida House of Representatives, the grandfathered status of your service on the City Commission arguably ended,” Davis wrote.
In November 2021, voters approved a referendum on the city charter that allowed the commission to appoint individuals to a vacant seat rather than host a special election. The provisions are that the appointee must meet eligibility requirements of living in the district for more than a year, being a registered voter, and not being a convicted felon.
There’s one other important provision. Palmer quotes,
““[N]o individual otherwise precluded by length of previous service from holding the office of city commissioner…may be appointed by the city commission to fill a vacancy in such office,” Davis quotes the city charter.
As of his Nov. 7 resignation, Walker will have served 12 years and 10 months on the city commission, in excess of the term limit of “12 consecutive years.” Davis concludes that Walker would be ineligible to be appointed to his own vacant seat.
The city attorney said there is an argument that can be made that the new city charter language should not apply to Walker because he was grandfathered and, if he had not resigned to run for Florida House, would have still been allowed until January 2024.
The City Commissioners will decide on the newly appointed commissioner next Monday 19th.
Pleased to read that the ‘right thing’ has prevailed.