RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Local governments rarely ever address ongoing litigation, but the city of Riviera Beach held an emergency meeting where a majority directed city-paid lawyers to argue a specific side in a political case.
The city is being sued by Mayor Ronnie Fielder, Councilmember Tradick McCoy and candidate Ferecella Painer, who argue the city wrongly allowed five different candidates to get on the ballot for paying with a debit card rather than a check. If a judge agrees, nobody would run be on the ballot for mayor and Painer would become the only candidate for District 5.
This means potentially Painer would replace Chairperson Douglas Lawson. It would also allow council to appoint a Mayor until a special election. A decision is expected next week after attorneys filed their arguments with the court this week.
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City Attorney Dawn Wynn said the city is remaining neutral in the case, but Councilwoman Shirley Lanier made a motion to have the city argue to put all the candidates on the ballot. Lanier said she wanted to ensure the city fought for the city clerk’s point of view, but she also argued that the city attorney was council’s attorney.
“The problem is this, we are the client, the city council, we decide what position you take,” Councilwoman Lanier said. “You can’t tell me we have the right to do that. We do.”
City Attorney Dawn Wynn said ethically attorneys can’t argue certain matters, especially when the law is clear. She said the councilwoman’s request could result in somebody losing their law license or another disciplinary action while hurting the reputation of the city.
“Attorneys aren’t losing their licenses or getting blemishes for this,” Wynn said. “Sorry, I’m very passionate about my license and my reputation.”
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Regardless of the city attorney’s opinion, Councilmember KaShamba Miller-Anderson and Shirley Lanier passed the edict to city staff in a 2-1 vote with Councilmember Dr. Glen Spiritis against the decision. Councilmember Douglas Lawson abstain from the vote while councilmember Traddick McCoy didn’t show up to the meeting.
McCoy said he believed the meeting was illegal since residents weren’t given enough time to come to the meeting. He said he became aware of the meeting around 8pm less than 24 hours before the meeting would have started.
“The meeting should not be held and is improper in its form and any action taken is not enforceable and will be void for insufficiency of service of the meeting notice and lack of subject matter jurisdiction," he said.
Records show the city didn’t post the meeting in its usual spot online and hosted the meeting at a different building than other city buildings on a Friday night. People, including Councilmember Spiritis expressed similar frustrations. But Wynn said it was reasonable in her legal opinion.
“It almost feels like we’re being punished because we want to be engaged,” said Sandra Stringer, who lives in Riviera Beach.
The city council also voted to host a meeting about the Office of Inspector General’s report the week of Jan. 13, 2025. Originally, the OIG report was mentioned on the meeting agenda, causing many to think council would try to discuss the report at a late meeting with 24-hour notice.
