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Cape Coral council names seven juniors, three seniors and appoints Tom Hayden as youth council adviser
Summary
The Cape Coral City Council appointed seven junior members and three seniors to the Cape Coral Youth Council and approved a two‑year adviser appointment for Tom Hayden after votes and tie‑breaking procedures to balance school representation.
The Cape Coral City Council on May 7 appointed seven juniors and three seniors to the Cape Coral Youth Council and voted to name Tom Hayden as the council’s two‑year youth council adviser.
Council members said they prioritized school representation in the final selections and used the council’s voting order to fill vacancies after interviews with applicants.
Mayor Gunter said one goal of her selections was to “make sure that we had representation from all of our schools.” Council members then cast individual votes, producing a final junior slate that included: Zachary Justin; Bernice Sanchez; Jennifer Turo; Megan Jacks; Emma (Emma Brown/Gemma Lebel variations in transcript) Brown; Ally Busey; and Camilla Vargas. The council recorded 7 ayes and 1 nay on the motion to appoint the seven juniors; the roll call recorded Lehman as the lone “no.”
For the senior vacancies the council voted to appoint Manzo Perez, Saint Germain and Zapato Vasquez to one‑year terms expiring May 1, 2026. That motion passed 8‑0.
Council members described a process of casting votes in a fixed order, reading applicant names aloud and resolving ties by additional roll‑call voting. The council clerk tallied votes and identified ties for the final junior slot; council members then voted between the tied applicants (Landon Jackson and Camilla Vargas) and selected Vargas to fill the seventh junior seat.
The mayor and council also approved a two‑year appointment for Tom Hayden to serve as the youth council adviser; the ordinance text read aloud at the meeting states the adviser “shall serve a term of 2 years beginning on May 1 of the year the adviser was appointed,” with prorated terms if the appointment occurs after May 1.
No formal public or mailed appeals were recorded at the meeting regarding the appointments. Council members repeatedly referenced an edited youth‑council ordinance and representation across Cape Coral schools as the rationale for some choices.
The youth council appointments were made during the council’s regular meeting and were recorded in the official roll call votes.
