The four remaining members of the Westlake City Council will be voting at a Tuesday, Feb. 25 special meeting on a replacement for Seat 2 Councilman Julian Martinez, who resigned earlier this month.
Martinez, who could not be reached for comment, joined the council in 2022 without opposition after Frank Costoya Jr. initially filed to run but later withdrew from the race.
Westlake residents who wished to apply to fill the remainder of Martinez’s four-year term had until Thursday, Feb. 20 to submit the paperwork and a résumé to the city clerk.
A list of applicants was not available at press time but a source in the administration said they include a firefighter and an attorney, among others. The only known applicant is Ted Sarandis, who moved to the Cresswind neighborhood in November 2023. He ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for a seat on the Port of Palm Beach Commission.
The special meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Lodge at Westlake Adventure Park (5490 Kingfisher Blvd.).
Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor called the resignation “unexpected” but said that did not diminish the good work Martinez did while on the council.
“I appreciate his years of service and all he did for the city,” O’Connor added.
“I’m sorry to see him go,” Councilman Gary Werner added.
The council has only 30 days from the date of the Feb. 1 resignation to fill the seat. Otherwise, a special election will have to be held.
“I’m going to try to sit down with all of the applicants and see what their vision is for the city,” O’Connor said. “I do have certain qualifications, ideas and ideals in mind that will go into my decision-making process… [but] I want the process to be as organic as possible.”
Councilwoman Charlotte Leonard said she would like to see a woman with business acumen join the council to “balance it out.”
Leonard is the only female and only African American member of the council.
“I’d like to see a female who can bring other experiences and business expertise to the council,” she said.
Vice Mayor Greg Langowski said he also leans toward appointing another woman because they bring a different perspective to many issues.
However, he said, most important, “I’m looking for someone who wants to get involved, not just show up at the council meetings every month.”
Langowski said he’d like to see each applicant get three to five minutes to speak to the council at the Feb. 25 special meeting. But before that, he hopes to meet one-on-one with as many applicants as possible. “Looking at a résumé, a piece of paper, is one thing,” he said, “but I’m a big people person. I want to see how they carry themselves… [and] hear about their vision for the future of the city.”
Langowski said that whoever is appointed will have a unique opportunity to carve out a role for themselves. “This role is whatever you want to make of it,” he said.
Martinez, 36, is a driver-operator for Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue’s Special Operations Battalion. He was one of the early residents of Westlake after development began, applying for his home on the first day houses were put on the market in 2017.
“Westlake caught my attention by being an all-new city. The potential it had really drew me to it,” Martinez said in a recent interview.
“Having seen the city grow from day one of sales, I have experienced the tremendous growth here and wanted to be involved” in the local government, he added.
Martinez, whose hobby is participating in triathlons, can often be seen running or biking through the community or swimming laps at the Westlake Adventure Park.
He made health and fitness a focus of his time on the council and was instrumental in creating the Westlake 5K Run/Walk. The event was held for the second time on Jan. 25. The first event in 2024 raised $2,014 that was donated to Golden Grove Elementary School.
