Despite her disagreement with Florida’s new financial disclosure forms, Beth Petrunoff decided to not resign her seat on Naples City Council after all.
“After meeting with several experts in the field, I believe that I have found a way to stay on Council and maintain a semblance of privacy in my home life,” Petrunoff explained in an email she sent Friday afternoon to Mayor Teresa Heitmann, City Manager Jay Boodheshwar and City Clerk Patricia Rambosk. “It would have been so much easier to bow out because of the newly imposed disclosure requirements but, as in all decisions, there is another side to this decision.”
Beth Petrunoff
The other side of the decision that weighed heavier was Petrunoff’s unwillingness to give up a chance to make the city better by working with residents and city staff to help them solve problems and improve the city.
“I learn something from them every day. I have seen firsthand both as a fellow resident and as a council member the dedication these professionals have to our city and its residents ” she wrote. “The ‘cherry on top’ is our city manager. The combination of all of these elements makes Naples one of the best run and best cities in the USA and I feel lucky to even be a minuscule part of this.”
Petrunoff, who is in the middle of a four-year term that expires in early 2026, also said she enjoys working with the community in unique ways through committees and seats on the Collier County Tourist Development Council, the Naples Players, the Miracle Mile team and a liaison between City Council and the Naples Airport Authority. She also said she wants to continue working to protect the city’s property values and quality of life because she believes the city’s unique charming character is worth fighting for.
“This irresistible and challenging role is simply too intriguing to pass up,” she wrote. “I therefore plan to continue serving on Council for the remainder of my term.”
Although Petrunoff did not resign as she earlier had indicated she was considering, a couple of local elected officials and some other officeholders around the state did resign at the end of 2023 because of the more detailed financial disclosure requirements that took effect Jan. 1. Naples Vice Mayor Mike McCabe and Fort Myers Beach town Councilman Bill Veach both resigned because of the new Form 6 requirement. The terms of both men were up in 2024.
At the Dec. 18 Council meeting, McCabe tendered his resignation effective Dec. 31 and said he was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. “I will not accept this government intrusion,” he said.
Florida’s new Form 6—Full and Public Disclosure of Financial Interests—is required to be electronically filed annually with the Florida Commission on Ethics by all elected officials in the state. Information filed will be available to the public and searchable online.
Public officeholders have had to disclose private financial information before but Form 6, now required by the Florida Legislature, provides a more comprehensive look at officials’ finances and is cited by many as being too intrusive. Before Jan. 1, mayors and elected city or town council members had to file Form 1, which required the disclosure of assets more than $10,000; Form 6 requires filers to disclose their net worth and any assets more than $1,000.
