Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Scott Singer sworn in as new mayor of Boca
Scott Singer was sworn in as Boca Raton’s new mayor on Monday, more than a week after former Mayor Susan Haynie was suspended.
Singer, 41, the former deputy mayor, will serve as mayor until a special election is held for the mayor’s position and his vacant council seat on Aug. 28, the same day as Palm Beach County’s primary election.
As deputy mayor, he automatically became mayor under the city’s charter after Gov. Rick Scott’s April 27 suspension.
The oath he took as mayor was given by City Clerk Susan Saxton and took less than a minute. His wife, Bella Singer, was in the audience.
Singer then took his seat on the dais and resumed a meeting.
Haynie was suspended from her official duties after she was arrested and charged with four felonies and three misdemeanors.
She faces three counts of official misconduct, and single counts of perjury in an official proceeding, misuse of public office, corrupt misuse of public office and failure to disclose a voting conflict.
Before Haynie’s arrest, Singer was among four candidates who qualified to run for what would have been Haynie’s unexpired term as mayor through March 2020. Haynie was running as candidate for county commission, which required her to step down as mayor. She has withdrawn her run for county commission.
On Friday, Andy Thomson, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2017, became the first candidate to file for Singer’s vacant seat.
That open seat will be appointed before the special election is held in August. Thomson is a lawyer who remained active in city affairs after his defeat and is vice chairman of the city’s new education task force.