In a city with more than 400 miles of canals, Caloosahatchee river front and access to the Gulf of Mexico, it did seem a little strange for it to not have some kind of committee to discuss water issues.

The Cape Coral City Council on Wednesday changed that by creating the first-ever Waterway Advisory Board, which will discuss the issues surrounding the city’s water and make recommendations to the council.

Though the council would have preferred to have one board member for each district, it settled on who they thought we simply the best for the job. There were no applicants in District 7 and only one in District 5. Nearly half of the 27 applicants came from District 2.

Council heard from nearly 20 candidates, who took a couple minutes each discussing their qualifications.

Councilmember Rick Williams had an issue with the process, saying they should continue the appointments for another day.

“The issues are going to be very technical and many of them may not understand the full details,” Williams said as he motioned for a continuance that did not get a second.

Councilmember Jennifer Nelson said she wanted to well-rounded board, including experts, water enthusiasts, boat captains and average residents.

After a lengthy interview period and just as lengthy election process, the four permanent members appointed to the WAB for two-year terms were Jason Pim, James Collier, Jason McBride and Joseph Cruz.

The three elected for one-year terms were Randall Jones, Wayne Hecht, and Bryan DeLaHunt. The two alternates are Ronald Austin and Paula Martinez.

The permanent positions were approved 6-1, with Williams dissenting. The alternates were approved 6-0, with Williams not present for the vote.

Before the vote, City Manager Rob Hernandez wanted to discuss late entry applications for council boards and the habit of council members to accept applications even though they miss the deadline, as well as allowing city employees to serve on boards.

It was decided that all late applications for the WAB and for the Community Redevelopment Agency would not be accepted, as well as for any other openings in the future, which would need to be submitted by the deadline at the end of the business day.

As for city employees, that would be handled on a case-by-case basis to make sure there was no conflict of interest. They would also inform applicants if any financial disclosure is needed.

The city council then voted to approve James Brantley for the CRA board in a unanimous vote.

In other business, the city council had to restack things following the death of mayor Joe Coviello, which resulted in the two-day council retreat scheduled for last Thursday and Friday being postponed.

Instead, the city council will hold a Committee of the Whole, or workshop, meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 4:30 p.m. and on March 31. The “shade” or closed meetings planned for the retreat were moved to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, before the workshop.