Palm Bay City Council to draft letter to Governor DeSantis asking for Filiberto's removal
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Palm Bay's City Council convened Thursday for the first time since the arrest of one of its members.
Embattled council member Peter Filiberto was conspicuously absent from the dais after the 34-year-old official’s arrest on DUI and felony cocaine possession charges this past week, events that prompted the council to unanimously support his removal.
As Palm Bay in recent years has tried to clean up its image in the wake of a high-profile corruption scandal, the City Council was left with few options for unilaterally removing their elected colleague and saving themselves further embarrassment. Members of the the City Council expressed their disappointment that Filiberto had not voluntarily resigned already, putting them in an awkward position. Under state law, City Councils are not able to remove one of their own, a power reserved only for the governor. “The governor and the governor alone has that discretion,” Patricia Smith, city attorney, said Thursday. So far, there has been silence from Governor Ron DeSantis.
Questions raised:Council Member Filiberto's cocaine-DUI arrest raises questions for fellow Palm Bay council members
Mayor weighs in:Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina encourages Council member Filiberto to resign after felony drug arrest
Original story:Palm Bay councilman charged with DUI, cocaine possession
City Council ultimately opted to draft a formal request to DeSantis to remove Filiberto from office. Earlier this week, Mayor Rob Medina had called on Filiberto to resign, which went unheeded.
Once removed, the City Council will have the task of appointing a replacement until a special election can be held.
Although the allegations against Filiberto were serious, some in the crowded chambers for Thursday night's meeting questioned the approach of calling on the governor to remove him. One commenter said there should be a presumption of innocence until Filberto is proven guilty, an assertion that drew murmurs of support from the crowd. But others called for Filiberto's immediate removal to loud applause.
"I am saddened that we are so quick to judge. I'm wondering... if we need a way of being restored, being mentored, being counseled so we can be brought back to where we're supposed to be?" asked Pat Dalpra, a Palm Bay resident. "Can we do this in a way that gets Pete to turn around?"Filiberto was arrested this past Saturday night and charged with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, after Palm Bay police pulled him over on his motorcycle and arrested him during a traffic stop. At the police department's booking center, police found 10.6 grams of cocaine packed away in his shoe and sock, according to an arrest affidavit.
He also faces charges of reckless driving, DUI, no motorcycle endorsement on driver’s license, refusal to submit breath test, and driving with a suspended license. The events of Filiberto's arrest drew questions and pressure on the City Council to take action while also raising other concerns from Palm Bay's elected leaders.
Rep. Randy Fine, endorsement of Filiberto comes up
Another elected official at times became a flashpoint at Thursday’s meeting when several commenters and Council member Kenny Johnson used the opportunity to decry Florida Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) who had endorsed and supported Filiberto, a fellow Republican.
Johnson and Fine over the past two years have repeatedly clashed over issues both personal and political. The day before Filiberto’s arrest, Fine repeatedly turned his social media fire on Johnson over an altercation that reportedly happened outside Johnson’s house Friday night. Palm Bay Police have said Johnson was not home at the time.
At one point during Thursday's meeting, Johnson had city staff call up a photo of Filiberto and Fine together to show the links between the two, calling Fine an interloper in city politics and saying his attacks have been racially motivated.
Fine, who did not attend the meeting, said he spoke with Filiberto over the phone this past Sunday and advised him to resign. "Within an hour of him calling me, I called him back and said, 'Dude, you should resign.' "
"Thugs like Kenny Johnson always pull out nonsense like that. You can put a bowtie on a thug but he's still a thug," Fine said when reached by phone Friday morning, saying that he saw no reason to call out Filiberto on social media because the council member's arrest was widely covered by the media.
What can Palm Bay council do about Peter Filiberto?
Most of Thursday's meeting focused on the need to take action on Filiberto.
“When you’re a public official, you’re held to the highest standard of morals,” Council member Randy Foster said, making a distinction between the legal system's innocent until proven guilty standard and public officeholders. That higher standard is an important part of what gives elected officials and others in positions of leadership their much-needed credibility, he said. In Council chambers, the standards for behavior and comportment are different than those for an average citizen, Foster added. “What is the price that the city of Palm Bay has to pay for his mistakes? I was in Washington D.C. and I promoted this city for grants. I look like an idiot now,” Foster said.
“There is shade cast upon us,” Mayor Medina said. “It was my hope that our fellow team member would have resigned by this day.”Medina and the others called for Filberto to get help and expressed sympathy for his situation and for his family, but said they were not open to allowing him to remain on the council. The call to draft a letter to the governor passed unanimously.
Medina then segued to talking about passing a resolution calling for voluntary drug tests for City Council members, prompting discussions about medical privacy. "Let's show the people that this council is different from the past. I'll be the first one to go down and get a drug test," he said.
Although Medina was emphatic about his desire for drug testing among City Council members, the policy proposal could not gain traction among the other members and failed after a 2-2 vote. Medina said he will look into taking voluntary drug tests and adding the results to his public file with the city. Medina and Johnson voted in favor of the drug testing while council members Donny Felix and Randy Foster voted against it.
"My concern with this is what are we going to do, write another letter to the governor?" Kenny Johnson said of his concerns about the proposal, despite supporting it. "I understand the intent of it, but the fact is there's no recourse to following up on it."
"To me it puts us in a position to be the laughing stock of not just Palm Bay but the whole country," Council member Donny Felix said. "We can't be known for this."
For now, Filiberto's future in Brevard County government remains uncertain without his resignation. Filiberto works as a federal contractor with the Department of Veteran Affairs and also serves on the Brevard County Planning and Zoning Board/Local Planning Agency.
Brevard County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Zonka has put an item on the Feb. 21 commission agenda to remove Filiberto from the board. He had been one of Zonka's nominees, and his current term began on Jan. 1, 2022.
In 2019, Palm Bay's former deputy city manager Dave Isnardi was among those arrested in connection with a corruption scandal that had rocked Palm Bay. He later pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of criminal conspiracy (extortion).
Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County and North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-917-7491 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay City Council asks DeSantis to oust member arrested for DUI
