Coral Springs to let voters decide on mayor in March

An interim mayor will not be chosen in Coral Springs after all.

The Coral Springs City Commission decided late Wednesday it would wait for the March 12 election to let voters pick the replacement for Mayor Skip Campbell, who died in October.

“Let the voters decide who they want to be their mayor,” said Commissioner Larry Vignola, who said he didn’t want anyone chosen by the commission using it as an advantage in an election.

The commission initially considered picking a mayor during a November meeting. Several politicians had publicly said they want to be mayor, or had lobbied commissioners for the job, including three former mayors, and Peter Weinstein, a retiring judge and former state senator.

Two commissioners advocated for Weinstein to be chosen, but the commission instead agreed to open up the field and have a public interview process.

Nine people applied by last week’s deadline. Within days, Weinstein withdrew his name.

The mayor’s race is likely to stand alone on the city’s March 12 ballot.

The city set an 11 a.m. Thursday deadline to give notice to the Supervisor of Elections Office which seats would be on the ballot.

Likely not to be on the ballot: the seat held by Commissioner Dan Daley.

Daley publicly has said he plans to run for a state House seat that would open up when Rep. Jared Moskowitz resigns to become head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Daley told the South Florida Sun Sentinel last week he wanted to pair the two city races to save taxpayers money on an election. But Moskowitz has not resigned.