TARPON SPRINGS — City Commissioner Mike Eisner was next in line for this year’s appointment of vice mayor by his commission colleagues.

But the opportunity slipped by Tuesday night after an unusual public airing of Eisner’s behavior during his first year in office. The incidents, going back months and documented in complaints to City Hall, include Eisner’s interactions with downtown business owners and text messages that some said they found inappropriate.

Eisner has confronted citizens at their businesses after they had pushed back on his comments at meetings. He sent so many unwanted texts to a former mayor that Police Chief Jeff Young asked Eisner to stop.

Without naming Eisner, Mayor Costa Vatikiotis on Tuesday alluded to the acrimony and at least one lawsuit he is expecting will be filed against the city or commissioners for defamation. The commission voted 4-1 to have Commissioner Craig Lunt remain vice mayor for a second year, with Commissioner Panagiotis Koulias voting no after nominating himself.

Koulias went further and called for Eisner to resign, reading a 15-minute statement that detailed a litany of recent incidents and stated Eisner “doesn’t have the temperament or professional ability” to serve.

“This is not the behavior of an elected official, but rather the behavior of a self-fulfilling henchman or, even worse, a Russian Bolshevik Communist,” Koulias said. “This man cannot continue to show up at people’s front doors or confront them in a harassing manner just because they don’t agree with him.”

Eisner called Koulias’ comments “outright lies.” He said his visits to business owners to clarify his position on city issues have been misconstrued and that his demeanor is simply a reflection of him being “from New York.”

“There’s been lots of different lies that have been out there to try to ugly the water for me,” Eisner said. “And what I do is I just let it roll off and let it just happen. I can’t stop that.... I didn’t ask anyone to kiss my ring or any of the other comments that have been made.”

The recent issues surrounding City Hall have gotten so serious that Vatikiotis said the commission will have a workshop in early May to discuss ethics, the state’s open government law, public records and the roles of elected officials.

After St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral suggested it may break a parking lot lease with the city, church member Anna Billiris confirmed Eisner told her “maybe the city will sue” while talking as friends. Billiris said she did not take it as a threat, but word of the incident made its way to City Hall as another incident in a pattern of Eisner approaching people on his own without authority of the commission.

City Attorney Regina Kardash on Wednesday confirmed she has already counseled Eisner on two recent issues. One included a text message Eisner sent last month to Commissioner John Koulianos, who was sworn into office on Tuesday following an uncontested race to fill the seat of term-limited Commissioner Jacob Karr.

The text arrived around 1 a.m. on March 29, shortly after a meeting ended where Koulianos made his last comments as a private citizen. Koulianos spoke in support of a proposal to display an antique Chevrolet jitney downtown. He said the commission had mulled the project for too long, and without naming him, referred to a poll that Eisner had taken of downtown business owners on the issue.

Eisner defended his poll as a way to gather feedback on whether taxpayers wanted to foot the $100,000 expense.

At 12:57 a.m., Koulianos got a text from Eisner: “I see the tide has turned. Ok.”

Koulianos said he took Eisner’s text as “kind of cryptic.”

In an interview, Eisner said he was not referring to city business but “to our friendship” that he felt had changed.

Kardash, the city attorney, did not comment whether the text was a violation of the Sunshine Law that forbids Florida elected officials from privately discussing business they will be voting on in the future. Although he was not in office at the time, Koulianos was a commissioner-elect after winning the March 14 election unopposed.

During his statement on Tuesday, Koulias also provided commissioners copies of Facebook messages that Eisner’s wife, Linda Eisner, sent him last year. Koulias took it as her acting as “a conduit” for her husband in an effort to fire then-City Attorney Tom Trask.

At a July 26 meeting, Eisner had grilled Trask on his travel time billing. Koulias, who as a citizen before his election in March 2022 criticized Trask, did not back Eisner up at the meeting.

The next day, Linda Eisner messaged Koulias: “There are temporary attorneys ready to take over Day 1, up to speed, until a permanent one can be hired ... when given the chance to act on your own wishes, you didn’t. Why?”

Trask resigned in September over “baseless public attacks” and Kardash and Andrew Salzman served on an interim basis until being appointed in March to divide city attorney duties. Kardash told the Tampa Bay Times “neither myself nor anyone else in my firm solicited clients that were already represented by counsel.” Salzman said he did not have discussions with anyone to be the interim city attorney before Trask resigned.

Eisner said he was not involved in his wife’s messages to Koulias and that she was not a conduit.

When asked in an interview if Eisner spoke with Salzman before Trask resigned in September, Eisner said: “If I did or if I didn’t it’s nobody’s business.”

Kardash said she also recently counseled Eisner on spouses messaging commissioners and explained the importance of avoiding even “a mere appearance of impropriety.”