Haynie-less Boca council mulls action

Some residents press for way city can oust mayor, ensure she can’t return.

BOCA RATON — Dozens packed a Boca Raton auditorium Monday evening, intently listening to the many ways Mayor Susan Haynie’s criminal charges and abrupt suspension may affect the city’s political landscape for years.

Haynie’s suspension from office leaves four city council members, who take conflicting positions on key growth issues, tasked with filling a vacant seat — if they can agree on an appointee.

The new appointee would serve only until a special election in late August to elect someone to serve the remainder of Haynie’s term, which expires in March 2020. And because interim Mayor Scott Singer has announced his intention to run for mayor, a second seat may fall open on the same August ballot.

The details will be worked out in the next few weeks. But clouding all of those choices is the possibil-

ity that Haynie can return to office if Gov. Rick Scott lifts her suspension, levied Friday, three days after the State Attorney’s Office charged her with seven counts of public corruption.

Haynie could clear her name, take back her seat and force a newly elected mayor out of office.

For that reason, some council members and resi- dents repeated their call for Haynie’s resignation at the meeting held to allay public concerns about Haynie’s absence.

“I think for the betterment of our community, to make this a clean-cut, easier, lessmessy process, I think that she should resign,” Councilwoman Monica Mayotte said.

Offered the chance to ask questions and comment on Haynie’s ouster, some resi- dents pressed city officials for any recourse they have to remove her and ensure she cannot return. That power belongs to the governor, not the council. Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke suggested a cum- bersome process. Residents can petition to recall Haynie from office on the grounds of “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, perma- nent inability to perform offi- cial duties or conviction of a felony involving moral turpi- tude,” according to state law.

It takes two petitions, one of which must have signa- tures from 15 percent of Boca

Raton voters — more than the percentage of registered voters who voted in the last municipal election.

“It would be your initia- tive to try to take it to that degree,” O’Rourke told the crowd.

Absent public action, the four council members will be responsible for appointing a fifth member and mak- ing city decisions, leaving the potential for deadlocked votes, particularly on the thorny questions of growth and development.

During an annual goal-set- ting meeting before the pub- lic discussion, some residents posed Haynie’s ouster as a potential opportunity to revoke development-friendly decisions. Builders helped craft the rules that have guided development, resident Robert DuKate said. “They’re not being written for the benefit of the residents,” he said. Resident Kelly Lyon met with roaring applause when she declared: “Let’s take this lesson and learn from it. Boca belongs to all of us, not just the developers.” O’Rourke, a Haynie critic, voiced her plan at the goal-setting meeting to eliminate Boca’s “Interim Design Guidelines,” crafted to encourage distinctive development downtown. The guidelines allow downtown high-rises of up to 160 feet. O’Rourke and Mayotte ran on similar platforms a year apart, both vowing to only grow Boca Raton “responsibly” with visions that clashed with Haynie’s vision. They need only to sway a third member. “The pen- dulum is swinging back to the center,” O’Rourke said.