Outgoing commissioner refused to complete ballot to fill port's Group 2 seat
Despite verbal instructions before voting began and detailed directions on the ballot on how to vote, outgoing Port of Palm Beach Commissioner Joseph Anderson refused to follow the guidelines to fill an empty seat on the commission, which delayed declaring a winner.
Instead, he selected only one candidate instead of three, thus scuttling the board's vote to select a replacement for the Group 2 seat vacated by Katherine Waldron, who was elected to the Florida House in November.
Under the rules for completing ballots, each commissioner was supposed to select three candidates who would be assigned scores of one, two and three. The top-ranked candidate would receive a score of three; second-ranked, two; and third-ranked, one.
Anderson did not immediately respond to requests for comments about his action.
More: Botched ballot delays announcement of who will fill port commission seat
The botched ballot process has prompted the board to call an emergency meeting for Thursday. A special meeting had been scheduled for Dec. 28, but port spokesperson Yaremi Farinas told the Daily News Tuesday that it had been cancelled and that Port Commission Chairman Blair Ciklin had instead scheduled the emergency meeting to discuss the selection process.
The meeting will be held at Maritime Office Complex Boardroom at 1 E. 11th Street Suite 600, Riviera Beach and is open to the public.
An examination of the ballots cast by the remaining four members showed Anderson selected only Varisa Dass and gave her the maximum three points. Dass, an attorney, was defeated during the August Democratic primary in her bid for the Group 5 seat on the panel.
Anderson's failure to fill out the ballot as required resulted in the commission delaying an official announcement of the winner though Dass was declared the winner after all the ballots were counted. Of the 10 candidates, the top three vote-getters were Dass, eight; Peyton McArthur, six; and former Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio, four.
McArthur is a former port commissioner who failed in his primary bid to unseat Katherine Waldron from Group 2 in 2020.
Coniglio served 10 years as mayor before stepping down in April 2021, and now chairs the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission.
Anderson, who joined the board in January 2019, did not seek re-election for his Group 5 seat, which was won by Deandre Pool in the November elections.
His refusal to complete the ballot came despite being told that his action could result in a challenge to the outcome, Farinas, the port's public information officer and communications specialist, said.
In a statement Saturday, she said, "At the meeting while the commissioners were voting on the item, port counsel was made aware that one commissioner refused to fill in three names once the ballot process had begun.
"Port counsel spoke with the commissioner and told the commissioner not filling in three names could result in a challenge to the process."
More: Former Palm Beach Mayor Coniglio vying for vacant Port of Palm Beach Commission seat
The other commissioners voted as follows:
Wayne Richards - Coniglio, 3; Dass, 2; and McArthur, 1;
Jean Enright - McArthur, 3; Taniel Koushakjian, 2; and Coniglio, 1;
Blair Ciklin - Dass, 3; McArthur, 2; and James Bronstien, 1.
Koushakjian is the senior vice president at Potomac International Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and international business consulting firm; and Bronstien is the owner of Marine Business Advisors/US Marina Group, according to their applications.
Word of problems with the ballot came Friday morning. In a statement to the Daily News, Farinas said after the discrepancy was discovered, the board originally decided to hold the Dec. 28 meeting, "to ensure an open, fair, and transparent process" and complete the process to fill the vacant seat.
The successful Group 2 candidate will be sworn in and take office Jan. 5.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Outgoing commissioner refused to complete ballot to fill port panel seat
