Riviera Beach council reorganizes leadership, elects Bruce Guyton chair

The Riviera Beach City Council reorganized its leadership at its May 6 meeting, moving nominations to the start of the agenda and electing Councilperson Bruce Guyton as council chair.

After brief procedural debate about whether the annual reorganization should be a discussion or an action item, Councilmember Glenn Spiritus moved to place nominations at the beginning of the meeting. The motion passed with Chairperson Shirley Lanier and Chair pro tem Miller Anderson dissenting. In subsequent roll-call votes Bruce Guyton won the chairperson position; some votes for CRA leadership and chair pro tem also produced split results.

Council procedures required nominations and roll-call votes. The council first considered Commissioner Kishamba Miller Anderson for chair; that nomination failed. Councilperson Guyton then received a majority of votes and assumed the gavel. The record shows several dissenting votes on related CRA leadership selections, with Lanier and Miller Anderson voting against several appointments.

The reorganization followed an exchange among council members and clarifying comments from City Clerk Deborah Hall and City Attorney Don Nguyen about how the city charter governs reorganization when there is no election year. City staff and council members said the change was procedural and meant to ensure nominations occur in a single, public session.

Council members did not take final action to change committee assignments at this meeting beyond the immediate chair and CRA leadership votes. The council moved from reorganization directly into regular agenda business after concluding the nominations and roll calls.