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Emily Lee elected mayor, Gary Ashcraft chosen vice mayor in 4–1 commission votes
Summary
At its Jan. 8 meeting, the City Commission of the City of Eustis elected Commissioner Emily Lee as mayor and Commissioner Gary Ashcraft as vice mayor; both elections were decided by 4–1 roll-call votes.
Emily Lee was elected mayor and Gary Ashcraft was chosen vice mayor by the City Commission of the City of Eustis during a reorganizational meeting on Jan. 8, 2026.
The city clerk opened nominations for mayor and the commission nominated Willie Hawkins and Emily Lee. After a roll-call vote conducted in alphabetical order, Lee received four affirmative votes and one negative vote and was declared mayor. The commission then opened nominations for vice mayor. After roll-call voting, Gary Ashcraft received four affirmative votes and one negative vote and was declared vice mayor.
The clerk explained the procedure before nominations: council members were to nominate without a second and then a roll-call vote would be held in alphabetical order until a nominee received at least three positive votes. The commission executed that process during the meeting.
Mayor-elect Lee thanked colleagues after the vote and said she intended to lead as “a servant leader” and called for commissioners to work together going forward. No formal policy changes were enacted as part of the leadership votes.
Next steps: the newly constituted commission will resume regular business under Mayor Lee’s chairmanship at the next scheduled meeting.
