Hold your breath, here comes another fiasco by the Royal Palm Beach mayor and council, but let me set the scene here for you to decipher the appointment process for yourself:
“Vice Mayor Valuntas made a motion to approve staff recommendation for the process [of appointing a council member to fill the vacant seat of Councilman Fred Pinto] along with the addition of an option for the applicants to attach a résumé to the application, and the time period of March 11 for advertising and March 25 as the deadline. If council does not come to a decision to appoint, then each council member shall rank the top two with two points awarded for first place, one point awarded for second place, and the person with the most points becomes the appointee. However, if someone doesn’t vote, their votes are not counted; if someone only votes for one position, their vote is not counted, and if someone places the same name twice, their vote is not counted; and if that doesn’t work, it will go to the top three with the same process; seconded by Councilman Pinto. Hearing no further discussion, Mayor Mattioli put the motion to a vote, and it passed unanimously.”
Help me understand this please, bearing in mind that there are only four seats currently on the council and the probability of disaster is quite evident:
• Does “2” mean that the applicant has outstanding public service or professional expertise or superb education?
• Does “1” mean you don’t like the applicant as much as “2?”
• Is the applicant who does not have a majority on the first vote eliminated?
• How do the points determine the top 2 candidates, if you can’t find 1 top candidate?
• If one candidate or two candidates cannot be determined by points, how do you arrive at 3 top candidates?
• And if the village ordinance says that the seat may be filled by appointment or the next general election, isn’t the next general election Nov. 8?
Well now that we all clearly understand how this is going to go, I will be taking popcorn to this show. How about you?
Martha Webster, Royal Palm Beach
Preposterous process! How does this get a qualified leader for the most important position in the Village? Valuntas makes the process, Valuntas looses, Valuntas is appointed back by all his good ole boy friends using his scheme. Do you think that the residents are that stupid? Let the voters decide at the next election.