Last Friday, former Palm Bay City Councilman Pete Filiberto officially resigned from his position a week after his arrest for felony drug charges and DUI, amongst other charges. Palm Bay has called for a special meeting this Thursday at 6pm to pass a resolution declaring the position, known as seat 5, vacant.
Also during the meeting will be the ordinance that explains the procedure and process for filling the vacancy.
During last year’s election, the citizens of Palm Bay amended the City Charter to give the City Council the authority to appoint someone to fill a vacancy, instead of filling it by having a special election. Filiberto was initially elected by a special election to fill the vacancy left by former Councilman Jeff Bailey who also resigned. The cost of the Special Election to the city was over $200,000.
According to the Ordinance, a vacancy will be filled by appointment of the majority of the remaining
members within sixty (60) days. If the majority of the remaining members of the City Council fail to fill the vacancy through appointment within the sixty-day period, a special election to fill the vacancy shall be called and held in a manner coordinated by the City Clerk with the Supervisor of Elections and adopted by resolution of the City Council. All vacancy elections will run concurrent with the regularly scheduled city elections. Appointments will be to serve until the next general election cycle. In this case, that would be 2024.
