By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Bronson Mayor Robert Partin kept his job Monday as the town’s top official when there weren’t enough votes to choose anyone else, but some council members and many in the audience were bitter about a ruling by the town attorney that led to Partin retaining the position.

            The town’s laws as they exist now give council members the job of voting among themselves to choose the mayor and vice mayor after newly elected members are sworn into office, but one of the new council members sworn in is the father of a Councilwoman on the board.

            Judicial Assistant Mandy Waters, who worked for County Judge James. T. Browning until he retired for health reasons this week, swore in Franklin Schuler, father of councilwoman Sherrie Schuler, and Virginia Phillips, a newcomer to city government.

Waters continues to administratively run the county judge’s office in Browning’s absence. Interim judges are being assigned to handle Levy County Court judicial proceedings until the governor names a replacement for Browning.

            After the swearing-in ceremony, the council was set to vote on the nomination of Franklin Schuler for mayor when Town Attorney Steven Warm turned to Councilwoman Sherrie Schuler seated next to him, and told her she should abstain from voting for her father as mayor. Warm said the position of mayor pays more than rank-and-file council members earn and she could be violating the state’s nepotism law if she voted to give her father the higher-paying job on the council. Violating the law is a misdemeanor criminal offense.

            “This may be a problem with all due respect. You are voting for him in a decision on value,” Warm said. “I want you to know it’s not just my opinion. You need to abstain.”

            Councilwoman Sherrie Schuler followed the advice of Warm and abstained from voting for her father. The end result was the council deadlocked 2-2 when it voted for Schuler as mayor. The council was also deadlocked 2-2 when it voted for Partin as mayor in a separate motion.

            Warm further explained the law on nepotism.

            ‘You can’t vote to give an advantage to someone who is a direct relative of yours. It’s very clearly ensconced (settled) in the statute,” Warm said.

            In the absence of a majority vote to approve a mayor for the coming year, Warm said Partin would continue as the mayor. He said that’s the way the law works.

            “He serves until his successor is qualified and seated. There is no successor that was able to be qualified, so he continues to serve. That’s the rule so you don’t have these gaping vacancies and municipal business can continue,” Warm said.

            Many in the audience were visibly angered by Warm’s legal ruling. The crowd argued with Warm about the issue. Multiple votes of the council turned out the same – deadlocked.

            Public Works Director Curtis Stacey said it was pointless to continue voting when the result was always the same.

            “Right now, we keep going in circles and what’s going to happen is you’re going to create a lot of animosity right here in this room and it’s going to bleed into the community,” Stacey said.

            Stacey suggested the council continue with its scheduled business and assign Warm to research the issue and try to find a solution. He said the council shouldn’t meet again until Warm has a response.

            Warm agreed that the council should assign him to research the situation.

            “The best way to do it is to proceed with the meeting tonight and let me see over the next couple of weeks. This is an unusual situation. If I can come up with something that will satisfy everybody – some solution..” he said.

            One vote by the council was successful. Councilwoman Virginia Phillips was approved as vice mayor.

            Much of the resentment in the crowd and among some council members stemmed from the history of the council when Partin was mayor and his nephew Jason Hunt was vice mayor.

            Franklin Schuler and Phillips were livid because the nepotism issue had never been raised in previous years when they said Councilman Jason Hunt nominated his Uncle Robert Partin for the job of mayor.

            In his final year on the council, Partin was mayor and Hunt was vice mayor. Hunt had been nominated by Councilman Tyler Voorhees as vice mayor and approved by a unanimous vote of the council. But Franklin Schuler said the previous year, in 2021, Hunt had nominated his uncle for mayor and his uncle had made Hunt the vice mayor.

            “Where the nepotism came in…he nominated Robert and Robert turned around and made Jason the vice mayor – that was definitely nepotism,” Schuler said.

            Warm, who was the town attorney at the time, said he knew nothing about Partin and Hunt being related to one another. He said the issue of Hunt and Partin being relatives had nothing to do with the current situation. He said the only facts that mattered in the council meeting were that Schuler and his daughter are close relatives and she can’t vote to give him the higher-paying job of mayor.

             “I didn’t even trust myself on this. I talked to the Commission on Ethics and talked to their attorneys about the situation, anticipating this would come up and they told me it would be a violation,” Warm said. “Maybe they’re wrong, maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.”

            Partin said he was told in advance by someone who was present at the council meeting about the potential issues related to choosing a mayor. He said the person who advised him of the situation wasn’t on the council. He said he forwarded the information to Warm as he is required by law to do and the attorney addressed it.

            Resident Mark Pementel said the community should circulate a petition calling for a special election to change the city’s charter to elect the mayor. He said a town advisory committee had recommended making the mayor an elected position that would be chosen by the voters. He said the council decided not to implement the committee’s recommendation. He suggested residents take matters into their own hands and do what was necessary to arrange for a referendum election to make the mayor’s position elected rather than appointed.

            If there were such a referendum election, and the mayor’s position became elective rather than appointed, any member of the council wishing to run for the office would have to resign to run, according to City Clerk Wendy Maragh. She said it could cause problems for the council and that’s why the council chose not to act on the recommendation. She said if Franklin Schuler and Robert Partin resigned to run for mayor, as an example, the loser would be off the council and someone would have to be appointed to take their place.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting May 1, 2023; Posted May 3, 2023