Narrowly elected mayor has her work cut out for her

By Grant Miller….
The dust is still settling from the runoff election and the obvious sign is that the current council and its new mayor lack a mandate. Job one needs to be bringing the community together, not pushing though any political personal agendas.

Palmetto Bay was less than enthusiastic in anointing a successor to first Mayor Eugene Flinn — taking the vote to a runoff and ultimately only 81 votes separated the final two candidates.

This is a huge indicator that the new mayor has her work cut out for her — to attempt to restore the sense of community built by the first village council of Mayor Flinn, Vice Mayor Robinson and council members Feller, Neidhart and Breder.

Winning close is not new for Mayor Stanczyk. She barely made the runoff in her first run for office with the incumbent, John Breder, falling seven votes shy of winning a three-person race outright, without a runoff. Stanczyk ultimately won the very low turnout runoff by a mere 50 votes.

This year’s race was hers to lose. Attempting to ride Mayor Flinn’s coattails, she should have taken a majority in the first round, but did not. Nearly 63 percent of the first round Nov. 2 voters indicated that they wanted someone other than Stanczyk to be mayor.

The race took a much more negative turn in the runoff and even after destroying her opponent’s character, she prevailed by a margin of a mere 81 votes. That means she would have lost this race if only 41 people would have switched their votes.

So what now? There clearly is no mandate, only a divided city. Newly elected Mayor Stanczyk is both a new mayor and lame duck mayor due to term limits. She has four years to accomplish her goals and has an uphill fight to do this with both a divided constituency and a divided council. Her real goal should be not to undo the accomplishments, the legacy, built by the first council.


Connect To Your Customers & Grow Your Business

Click Here

9 COMMENTS

  1. Grant, thanks for the good column. You are wise to try and help people look forward. After all there is no going back.

    But there can be setting the record straight. Those who infer that Peter England is "evil" as in "the lesser of two evils" are completely misinformed.

    I don't live in Palmetto Bay, didn't vote in the election, and don't know anything about the new mayor – other than what I have read or heard.

    But I know Peter and he is a caring individual who puts family and community before himself. It is wholly inaccurate to characterize him as "evil".

  2. Please Grant, keep up the hard work exposing this hypocrite mayor Stanczyk. I don;t like her record. It appears to me that she used village money to place a farmers' market in front of her store. Palmetto Bay drops the market shortly after you starting asking the tough questions. Now there is no farmer market anywhere in Palmetto Bay. It appears that we wont have one if it dosen't benefit specific members of the council. I am thankful that we can still go to Pinecrest for a real farmers' market.

    Stanczyk has no ideas. She only co-sponsored many of ideas of Flinn and Feller. Palmetto Bay briefly held the leadership role in front of Pinecrest and Cutler Bay. Now it appears we will be lucky if she steals ideas from those areas and calls them her own. She is merely power hungry.

    Please Grant, keep this bully under control. Don;t be intimidated by her posting negative comments and accusations online under your stories. That is the same technique she used on her campaign opponents. This city is too good to let drift into mediocrity.

  3. Of course Mayor Stanczyk received a standing ovation at the swearing in. She should have as it was her family and friends that were there. Patrick Fiore also had a standing ovation as well. It was the right thing to do for all the new council members. All the council members have to represent all the residents. We expect thenm to work together.

    I have been less than impressed with Council Member Stanczyk over the 4 years, but I was set to vote for her as the lesser of all the evils running for mayor. That is a shame as this community should have been strong enough to have a strong well-qualified candidate run. None did. I switched my vote away from Stanczyk in the run off based upon her negative campaign. So sad. Let's hope she shows growth in 4 years as mayor that she failed to show in 4 years on the council.

  4. (continued)
    the community was less than enthusiastic in anointing shelley? is that why she received a standing ovation at the swearing in? and yes, your right she won by 81 votes, but those 81 votes in this small community counted so dont discount them for being in her favor. and yes as councilwoman she won by a "mere" 50 votes, so are you saying that those 50 residents who actually got out to vote would have been for important if they were for her opponent? and destroying her opponents character isnt possible if he doesnt have such a thing in the first place and did away with his own reputation by stealing money from those less fortunate. stanczyk did not ride flinns coattails, she built trust from her community on her own which is what won over the people and ultimately the position as mayor. and by the way, this is a community where the people have a choice, so the people should be aware that they can attend the meetings and voice their oppinions.

    go shelley! you have my support 100%!

  5. as a resident of palmetto bay for over 24 years, i give MAYOR Stanczyk my full support. The residents who dont support the new mayor obviously want a mayor who will profit off of the residents and homes in palmetto bay (which would have happened if any of the other candidates would have been elected). I think you should only be allowed to write an article if you have been educated enough on the topic. Mr. Miller have you done your research? Do you know what the Mayor has done for our community prior to being sworn in even as council woman? obviously not. and mr. miller what have you done for our community in order to have the right to bash someone who is here to help our community. i believe our community can only grow the next four years with the help of shelley. I'm sorry if the candidate that you wanted didnt win, that only shows that your purpose is to profit off of the community as well.

  6. The new mayor appears to suffer from a Napoleonic Complex. I think that she is mean. The campaigns were mean as well as complete disasters. I am ashamed at the lack of qualified candidates for mayor and the mudslinging that occurred. It is a shame that Feller and Flinn could not run again. Palmetto Bay lost two strong rational voices that actually started and cared about the city.

    Let's hope the next four years pass quickly and without significant incidents. Palmetto Bay is no longer a city, but a condo board overly stocked with vicious condo commandos.

    Sign me “wake me up when this nightmare is over”

  7. Grant, thank you for standing up for the people who rely on your publications for news of the places where they live. Without your papers, people would not have known the kind of shenanigans Stanczyk and her crew were up to. Really admire that when her crew started tossing your newspapers out, you paid from your pocket to get them to the citizens.

    The mayor's vindictive inclination to use her small town power would be laughable — if it weren't dangerous.

    Can Stanczyk be a good mayor, concerned for all the people who live and work and build their lives in Palmetto Bay? One hopes so. But based on her behavior to date, she has to prove it. A good way to start would be exactly as you suggest, Grant. She needs to recognize the town is divided and that SHE helped to divide it, and try to rise above herself and work for everyone.

    I'm doubtful she will. But I know there's a better chance with you keeping an eye on her. Do not, as some here suggest, stop watching and, when needed, criticizing. That is WHY we have a free press — which I suppose some letter writers would like to see ruled a zoning violation.

  8. I agree with Jackie Barabe. These types of articles are not genuine; they merely attempt to appeal to the lowest denominator. It's time for people to think for themselves and not rely on media opinions that attempt to divide. She won, period, and starts with a clean slate to prove she can lead. This reminds me of two very different college professors. The first started the first day of class by telling students they all have As. The second started by telling students that more than 50% would fail. Guess which one encouraged students to succeed? You remind me of the second. But then it's much easier to be a critic and cynic than to be creative and write a real story (that would take too much effort).

    Mayor Stanczyk, you have my full support!

  9. The more I read your opinions, the more I dislike you! I wasn't that big a fan of Shelly Stanczyk, but as they say, she was the lesser of the evils. She is our new mayor and it would do us all well to give her our support, at least until she until she proves she can't do the job. At this point there is nothing to say that she won't be great as Mayor of Palmetto Bay. Your last article, delivered to our home, assured Shelly Stanczyk our votes (there went 2 of your 41 votes). This article just shows how upset you are that you couldn't control the vote. You are one of those people who love to keep stiring the pot. Keep it up – hopefully you will turn more people off with your jaded opinions.

Comments are closed.