Cape Coral City Council appoints seven to Charter Review Commission; names King, Moore alternates

At a special meeting April 9, 2020, the Cape Coral City Council appointed seven residents to the city’s Charter Review Commission and named Liza King and Duane Moore as the two alternates after a roll-call vote and a runoff to resolve a tie.

The council approved the slate by voice and roll-call votes after city clerk tabulation showed six candidates with clear majorities and three candidates tied for the final seat. Edwin (Ed) Estes, Donald Apking, Vincent Cattero, Andrew Sun, Rendolyn Amacher, Richard Leon and Kevin McGrail were selected as the seven commissioners; Liza King and Duane Moore were appointed as alternates. The council recorded an 8-0 vote on the final appointment motion. The clerk reported Estes received eight votes; Apking and Cattero each received seven; Sun received seven; Amacher received six; Leon received five; King, McGrail and Moore each received four in the first tally, and McGrail won the runoff for the seventh seat.

The charter review appointments followed a publicized application and candidate appearance process. The council agreed at the meeting to permit two minutes of speaking time for each applicant. Several applicants used their two-minute allotments to summarize relevant experience; applicant Rendolyn Amacher said, “I am a 35 year retired educator,” and described a background in school leadership. Other applicants described municipal, planning and legal experience and urged a focus on structuring the charter to reflect current governance needs.

Council members discussed procedural points before voting. The city attorney advised the council that a previously noted potential conflict involving Councilmember Lastra had been resolved because the person named in a family member slot did not make the final candidate cut; the attorney told the council there was no voting conflict. The city attorney also reminded appointees of the Sunshine Law obligations that apply to citizen board members once appointed.

Councilmembers and applicants identified several issues they expect the Charter Review Commission to address, including pay structure for elected officials, residency requirements, the mayor pro tem role and potential changes to the form or authorities in the charter. Richard Leon listed those specific topics as items the commission could examine. Councilmembers said they will schedule a committee-of-the-whole meeting within two weeks to provide the commission with council priorities, set start and end dates for the commission’s work, and direct staff to survey members’ availability for meeting times.

Procedural details from the meeting record: the clerk reported 12 applicants originally; 10 were present to speak and two (Liza King and Duane Moore) were listed as unable to attend but received votes. The council used the standard process of each member submitting their top seven choices; the clerk tallied votes and the top vote-getters were seated. The council then held a separate vote to select two alternates. The motion to appoint the seven commissioners and the motion to name King and Moore as alternates each passed by recorded vote (8 ayes, 0 nays).

Next steps: the council directed staff to place a committee-of-the-whole item within two weeks to outline the commission’s scope, meeting frequency and timeline and to survey newly appointed members about scheduling. The commission was reminded of legal limits on “ex parte” communication and of Sunshine Law requirements for public discussion of matters before the commission.