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Gunter appointed Cape Coral mayor

By CHUCK BALLARO - | Jan 21, 2021

Late mayor Joe Coviello was still represented on the dais at Wednesday’s Cape Coral City Council meeting.

His nameplate was there, with a black ribbon in remembrance.

But city business will have to go on without him, no matter how much he is missed.

On Wednesday, at the first regular meeting for the Cape Coral City Council since Coviello’s Jan. 13 death, the elected board wasted little time in deciding to fill the position from within the city council, appointing Mayor Pro-Tem John Gunter as the city’s 16th mayor.

Gunter will fill the remaining 20 months of Coviello’s term. His District 1 council seat will now have to be filled and Council determined that it, too, likely will be filled via appointment rather than a special election. Applications from residents within the district will be accepted until Feb. 6. The city has 30 days to fill now the position or have the seat filled by special election.

A special election was one of three options the city had to fill the mayoral vacancy. Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle explained that the process could cost as much as $500,000, if the process were to require a primary (if there were more than two candidates) and general election, a process that could run into late May.

Council immediately shot down that idea as too costly and time consuming. There was greater debate about whether to accept applications from the outside to or simply appoint a sitting council member to the mayor’s seat.

“We have the talent base from within to appoint someone,” Councilmember Jennifer Nelson said. “An election would cost too much and we have people who could step into the role and provide continuity.”

Council members Tom Hayden, Jessica Cosden and Robert Welsh said they should consider looking outside for a potential mayor and cast dissenting votes in a 4-3 decision to appoint from within without opening the post to others.

Both appointment methods have been used. The city sought applications from outside in 1980 and appointed Planning & Zoning chairman Bernie Langguth to replace Lyman Moore, who died while serving as mayor.

In 2008, when mayor Eric Feichthaler resigned to run for county commissioner, it appointed Jim Burch from city council to serve the remainder of Feichthaler’s term.

In a rare change of protocol, at the invitation of council, citizens provided input, with all of those speaking in agreement with the council decision to eschew an election and to make the decision now.

They even had a candidate in mind.

Gunter was praised for his attention to detail and seeking more information than just what was provided by city staff. He said he was interested in the position, as did Councilmember Rick Williams. Gunter won out and was approved formally by a 6-1 vote, with Williams dissenting.

Gunter was sworn in moments later, with Nelson agreeing to become mayor pro-tem, also by a 6-1 vote.

Gunter said that a new mayor isn’t going to change much, that the job will still be to serve the city’s residents.

“I know that Mayor Coviello had a lot of great ideas. I know this council has worked well together, and I want to make sure we continue,” Gunter said. “The new city manager wants to talk about strategic planning, so there are things we need to talk about in the short term and everything we do is what’s best for the community.”