Steve Remke chosen to fill seat on city council
City Attorney Ron Mowrey administers the oath of office to Steve Remke to fill a seat on the St. Marks City Commission as City Manager Zoe Mansfield holds a Bible on which Remke’s oath is sworn.
St. Marks City Hall’s small meeting room was filled to standing-room only at an emergency meeting held Thursday, Aug. 18 to appoint someone to fill the seat on the city commission left open by the sudden death of Mayor Don Grimes a week earlier.
Resident Steve Remke was selected by a 3-1 vote of city commissioners. Gail Gilman made a motion for Remke that was seconded by Richard Chichetti.
Ray Stokes indicated he wanted to make a nomination but it was rejected on procedural grounds as there was a pending motion. Gilman, Chichetti and Paul Sheddan voted for Remke; Stokes cast the lone no vote.
Remke was sworn-in by City Attorney Ron Mowrey and took a seat at the dais.
Gilman was then selected to serve as mayor for her remaining three months in office. She is not seeking re-election to the city commission in November.
There was lots of grumbling from citizens at the meeting – several claimed that the city had reached an agreement on what they wanted to do prior to the meeting, suggesting officials had violated the Sunshine/Open Meetings Law by having communication outside of public meetings.
Several St. Marks residents contacted The Sun prior to the meeting, saying they had heard Remke was the choice to replace Grimes.
Remke erved on the St. Marks City Commission seven years ago when he was chosen to fill the remaining term of Allen Hobbs, who resigned. Around the same time, 2016, Remke ran for Wakulla County Property Appraiser but lost to Brad Harvey, who was removed from office a couple of years later by Gov. Ron DeSantis after his arrest for embezzling money from the office. Harvey’s trial is set for October.