The city election “reset”

File photo: Ocala City Councilmember Jay Musleh listens during an Ocala City Council meeting at Ocala City Hall in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2022.

After the city announced that no candidates had qualified for the offices of mayor and city council districts 1, 3 and 5, the City Council scheduled a special election during its regularly scheduled meeting on July 15 in an attempt to stay on track with the original election timeline.

The new qualifying period runs from 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 16, to noon Friday, July 18.

Although City Clerk Angel Jacobs is the qualifying agent for all city candidates under the city charter, the city contracts with Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox to manage the actual election.

To keep the special election aligned with the previous election timeline, Wilcox told the city that all candidates must finish qualifying by the end of business on July 18. This would allow enough time for ballot creation, proofing, printing and compliance with statutory mailing requirements.

“I’d need to mail the ballots to registered voters in the military by Aug. 1,” explained Wilcox, who said the short turnaround would make it a very busy time at his office. “But we’ll get it done,” he said confidently.

The special election 

As of 4 p.m., at the start of the City Council meeting, all three mayoral candidates had refiled their intent: Benjamin Marciano, Neil J. Gillespie and Zackary Feliciano.

Incumbents Barry M. Mansfield and James P. Hilty also filed again for second terms in districts 1 and 5, respectively. Previously, neither had a challenger.

Mark W. Clark and TamBoura Jenkins refiled for City Council District 3, and now face incumbent Jay A. Musleh, who reversed his earlier decision not to run and said he would seek another term.

Musleh has served on the City Council since 2012. When asked about his change of heart, he said he took it as “a sign” after City Attorney William Sexton called him Friday night with the news that there was a problem.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me to reconsider my decision not to run again, and then when I realized I had another opportunity, I took it as a sign.”

Musleh, who retired nine months ago from a long career in banking, said he still wants to “serve a purpose.”

Clark has expressed frustration.

“It was a wild and disappointing weekend to all after the city, who’s job is to assist candidates to qualify, instead disqualified all candidates. Friday, July 11th, after the qualifying period closed, I received a call from the city attorney at 6:37 p.m. to state all candidates are not qualified.

Then, on Monday July 14th at 5:25 p.m., I received a call from the city attorney stating that I could file a new campaign at the city clerk’s office at 8:00 a.m. today. I arrived exactly at 8:00 a.m. and discovered that three council members and the mayor had filed their paperwork on Monday afternoon. Was this action done before the vote to close the current campaign and open a new one? Clearly the decision to file a new campaign was made by council members before the city attorney notified me after the clerk’s office closed,” Clark said.

Clark also raised questions about the strength of the quorum that voted on the new election cycle, since it would affect Hilty, Mansfield and Mayor Marciano—especially Musleh, who had not filed to run in the original campaign. “Of all the candidates, he [Musleh] would be the one to benefit the most since he doesn’t have to close a previous campaign and to redistribute funds,” Clark continued.

“For this reason, in my opinion, Mr. Musleh should also remove himself. That results in a break of quorum and a valid vote cannot then occur. Several questions arise. Can candidates file before the previous campaign was closed, and a new campaign decided upon? Normally, wouldn’t standard practice be that ‘If a board member is also a candidate for the same position, they would disclose their candidacy and recuse themselves from the decision process’? In my opinion, it would seem that Mr. Musleh would have a ‘personal interest in the outcome’ of this vote. Can he be objective or impartial in this vote,” he said.

According to Clark, the situation is an embarrassment that may put the city at risk of losing public trust. “Maybe this is a time for a change,” he said.

Why didn’t the prior candidates qualify?

The previous qualifying period ran from noon July 7 to noon July 11, but all of the candidates’ filing fees contained technical deficiencies. According to the Florida Candidate Campaign Handbook, when issuing checks from the campaign account, the campaign treasurer or deputy treasurer is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the check and for ensuring the expenditure is authorized.

Campaign checks must contain the following information:

• The name of the campaign account of the candidate
• Account number and name of bank
• The exact amount of the expenditure
• The signature of the campaign treasurer or deputy treasurer
• The exact purpose of the expenditure
• The name of the payee

This information may be typed or handwritten on starter checks provided by the bank until printed checks arrive.

Typically, the qualifying period allows enough time for qualifying agents to help candidates correct errors. However, as previously reported, the city said it did not identify the deficiencies until after the qualifying period had ended.

In the case of Neil J. Gillespie and Zackary Feliciano, they delivered cashier’s checks instead of checks drawn on campaign accounts just minutes before the July 11 deadline, leaving little or no time to fix the error.

TamBoura Jenkins’ cashier’s check, however, was received on July 9 at 11:30 a.m., and he may have had time to provide a replacement had he been notified of the issue. Calls to Jenkins were not returned before publication.

Clark, Marciano and Mansfield each signed their own checks instead of having them signed by the campaign treasurer—and had not designated themselves as deputy treasurers.

Hilty had named himself as a deputy treasurer and was permitted to sign a campaign check, but failed to include “filing fees” in the memo line.

Clark, Marciano and Hilty submitted their fees on the first day of the qualifying period, and Mansfield on July 9. However, the city says it did not discover the issues until after the qualifying period ended.