Updated By Frank Maradiaga
Voters in Bay Harbor Islands decided to keep the current council intact.
In a three man race for two seats, Vice-Mayor Jordan W. Leonard was reelected to a four year term, and Councilman Joshua Fuller was allowed to finish off a two-year term left open by the resignation of a
former councilman.
The two top candidates received nearly the exact amount of votes, with Leonard receiving 411, and Fuller 404. Paul Ruthfield came in third with 223. Each vote was an important factor in this election as the candidate who received the most won the full four year term, and the second most won the two year term.
According to the Miami Herald, both Leonard and Fuller were campaigning together.
That practice has become common in Bay Harbor Islands where multiple open seats go to those who muster up the most support.
In 2012 Francisco J. Temprano and Solange Rousselot campaigned together for two open seats left vacant by retiring council members.
Both Temprano and Rousselot beat their only other challenger, David L. Friedeberg, by gathering a nearly identical amount of votes.
The two-year term up for grabs in this election cycle belonged to Temprano, who recently moved out of town.
This victory secures Leonard’s second full term. He was originally appointed to the dais after the sudden death of a council member. In 2010 he was elected to his first term after a bruising election cycle against a candidate who had hired the consulting services of the so-called “Prince of Darkness,” Randall Hilliard.
Fuller is an attorney who was active with town matters before being appointed to fill in for Temprano. He has worked with the Charter Committee, as well as offering the town council his services pro bono. In one instance he offered to negotiate a contract with a vendor who was pedaling a money borrowing service for town employees. The crux of matter centered around the town’s implied liability in the wording of the agreement.
Of the town’s 3,001 registered voters, only about 21% turned out to cast 628 ballots.
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