Marco Island City Council still can’t agree on who will be their seventh councilor and spent nearly three hours last week haggling over the process, how to vote — even whether to flip a coin.

It’s a disagreement that began shortly after the Nov. 5 election, when they couldn’t elect a chair or vice chair due to repeated ties, and then tried unsuccessfully over two meetings to choose a seventh councilor.

Council’s Jan. 21 special meeting, held solely to select a councilor hours before their regular meeting, again ended with repeated ties and bickering, despite Assistant City Attorney David Gabriel advising them that Florida statutes allow them to flip a coin to break a tie.

“This is not a football game and I’m just uneasy with flipping a coin as a solution to a problem that we should be solving,” said Acting Chair Erik Brechnitz, prompting others to say they’d be embarrassed to toss a coin.

Repeated votes ended in repeated stalemates, with two clear factions: Brechnitz, Tamara Goehler and Steven Gray versus councilors Darrin Palumbo, Bonita Schwan and Deb Henry.

The seat was vacated mid-term by Councilor Greg Folley, who was required to resign Nov. 5 after a bid for the State House District 81 seat, which he lost in the August primary. The elections resulted in four new councilors, including two who ousted incumbents. The newcomers joined Brechnitz, who was elected in 2018, and Palumbo, who has served since 2022.

Brechnitz began the meeting by asking Council to consider others beyond the 26 candidates they’d narrowed to four in December before failing to reach a consensus Jan. 6. “It’s not too late to sign up,” he urged the audience.

Schwan asked the assistant city attorney to reiterate what the city charter says about holding a special election. Gabriel urged them to follow the charter and to select a councilor themselves, adding, “If you choose to go a different direction, then you run the risk of potential questioning and potential litigation.”

Schwan urged them to follow the charter, but Brechnitz pointed out they’d failed within the 60 days prescribed by the charter, so why not hold a special election? Gabriel again urged them not to, adding, “Does that mean you just disregard the rest of the charter because you didn’t accomplish what you needed to do?”

The list of four candidates grew to eight and they stood before Council, providing brief descriptions of their backgrounds and why they should be chosen.

Brechnitz then asked councilors to fill out a ballot and nominate their top seven, noting that should show an “overlap,” the top four. But Palumbo wanted an open vote and suggested some councilors may have been speaking with each other or passing notes. He offered to break a tie, asking anyone on the dais to choose one candidate with prior experience on a city advisory board, and he’d break the tie. “Let’s show compromise,” Palumbo added.

Gray wanted to follow the process, but Palumbo balked at “blind-ballot voting,” which the public couldn’t see. In the end, Brechnitz’s system showed one candidate, Tom Fontana, received five votes, while another, Dennis Bartolucci, received four. Neither had served on a city advisory board. Six others received three votes.

Henry demanded to see the ballots, so they were placed on an overhead projector for the public to view. Still, they refused to accept the top candidate and wanted to vote on each. They tied on all and continued haggling. They took a break and then asked the candidates questions about island issues, including water quality, beaches and waterways, but again reached stalemates.

One candidate said he wouldn’t serve, but wanted them to select one of the four finalists from Jan. 6, David Leaser. Brechnitz again suggested a special election and Gray shared a white paper he’d written, saying it was “misguided” to think they couldn’t hold one, prompting Palumbo to say he’d be embarrassed to go against the attorney and he refused. The assistant city attorney told them a special election would take months.

Palumbo said he’d only vote on a candidate well-versed in water-quality issues and urged the new councilors not to “betray” residents and to stick to their campaign promises about improving water quality.

Residents began walking out and Fontana withdrew his name from consideration and recommended Bartolucci, saying, “This is crazy” before shaking Bartolucci’s hand and leaving.

“This is crazy,” a resident shouted from the audience, while another blurted out, “This is embarrassing,” and another branded it “horrible.”

Palumbo told Brechnitz he’d support him as chair if he’d vote for Leaser, who had city advisory board experience. Schwan suggested the two senior councilors, Brechnitz and Palumbo, each choose a candidate and Council would flip a coin to select one. Henry agreed to a coin toss only for the top two vote-getters.

City Manager Michael McNees, who earlier in the meeting told them they were making progress, reminded them that philosopher Voltaire said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good,” and noted they all had a perfect candidate that checks all the boxes.

“You have at least a handful of candidates here that would be in the very top tier of the quality of candidate that you want for an office like this,” McNees said. “… What we’re facing is a lot more of this quixotic search for the perfect candidate who doesn’t probably even exist, and if they did, they’re getting farther and farther and farther and farther by the minute, away from wanting this job — as you just saw.”

“I would encourage you to look at these two or three folks who are floating around in front of you right now and see if there isn’t one of those impressive enough, close enough to perfect, to bring the skills to the table to get you there,” he added.

However, there was no compromise and they ended the meeting, agreeing they’d have to hold another special meeting.

At the regular meeting a half-hour later, they again tried to elect a chair and vice chair. Gray nominated Brechnitz, while Schwan nominated Palumbo. But the vote for Brechnitz was tied and Palumbo voted against himself as chair and that motion failed, 2-4.

Two public speakers expressed embarrassment over the earlier meeting.

Restaurateur Joe Oliverio told them he believes they all have the city’s best interests at heart but suggested they wait about 60 days and get to know each other. “In order to work together, maybe you need a little bit of time, some familiarity,” Oliverio added.

Former councilor Rich Blonna, who lost the November election, was less polite.

“I was totally embarrassed this afternoon watching this meeting, watching the six of you act like a bunch of high-school students,” Blonna said, questioning why not even one could compromise, causing them to spend hours interviewing candidates again and failing to pick one of the top two. “You have the nerve not to vote for either one of them. How dare you do that? How insulting. … You act like a bunch of 13-year-olds. I am so glad I didn’t get elected because I wouldn’t want to serve with you.”