Jane MusgraveA split Riviera Beach City Council voted 3-2 to select Douglas Lawson after a snafu knocked all the candidates off the March ballot.
When Douglas Lawson took the podium on Monday to make his pitch about why he should be appointed mayor of Riviera Beach, he held up a glossy bound booklet to illustrate his commitment.
“I brought an action plan,” the two-term City Council member told his former colleagues. “I’m going to have clear direction, clear guidance … because I’m one of the only ones that has the plan ready to move forward.”
And, according to some who watched the unprecedented selection process play out, Lawson also likely knew that he was the only one of the 11 applicants, down from an initial 12, who had the three votes needed to sew up the nomination.
“Clearly the deal was made before we walked into the room,” said Council Member Glen Spiritis, who was on the losing end of the 3-2 vote.
Council Chairperson Shirley Lanier, who joined colleagues Bruce Guyton and KaShamba Miller-Anderson in supporting Lawson, either bowed to pressure from Lawson supporters or rewarded Lawson for supporting her in the recent election, Spiritis said.
“My guess is they sat down over the weekend and got Shirley to go along with it,” Spiritis said. “They did something that changed her mind.”
Lanier said nothing could be further from the truth.
“We have more than $1 billion in projects on the table,” she said, ticking off the city’s plans to replace city hall, police and fire stations and its water treatment plant. “I hate to use the term hitting the ground running, but we need someone who understands and can articulate the issues.”
Having spent six years on the council, Lawson is uniquely qualified to do that, she said.
“To bring someone on who is not intricately knowledgeable, who doesn’t fully understand what the city is facing … it will be difficult for them to articulate what they don’t know,” she said. “He’s the only one who can articulate the details and showcase all the good things the city is doing.”
While former Mayor Ronnie Felder is also intimately familiar with the city’s needs, Lanier said there was no way she could support the two-term mayor’s quest for a third term.
Not only did he once falsely declare that the city’s water was unsafe to drink, she said, but he was among those who filed the lawsuit that forced the council — instead of voters — to pick a mayor.
While the city’s mayor casts no vote on council decisions, the mayor can launch investigations. Felder oversaw an investigation into employee morale last year and suspended City Manager Jonathan Evans for two weeks in September before the council let Evans return to work.
Lawson for years presided over City Council meetings, a job now held by Lanier.
Two other mayoral candidates and three council candidates, including Lawson, were thrown off the March ballot when a judge ruled they violated state law by paying their filing fees with campaign debit cards.
Felder suffered the same fate when he tried to correct his initial debit card payment by paying his fee with a check from a closed campaign account.
Women ‘lead with our heart’
More than 150 people, some wearing T-shirts supporting their favored candidate, crowded into the council meeting at the Riviera Beach Marina, to watch what some called an undemocratic process unfold. The 11 candidates were given five minutes to make their case. More than a dozen residents spoke, too.
Lanier said she too felt the approach to be undemocratic and she pushed for a special election. But, City Attorney Dawn Wynn said the City Charter didn’t allow it.
Lanier said she also agreed with residents who urged the council to appoint what would be just the second woman in the city’s history to serve as mayor.
Roughly a dozen people wore T-shirts supporting business consultant Shandra Stringer, who was nominated by Council Member Fercella Davis Panier, but lost to Lawson. No other candidates were nominated.
Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene, the first Black woman to represent the county in the Florida House, urged the council to appoint longtime city spokesperson Rose Anne Brown. Mami Kisner, wife of the pastor of the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, also supported Brown.
Marvelous Washington, a former council candidate, said the city’s first and only female mayor, Clara King Williams, served six terms and was beloved. She died in 2000, a year after she left office.
“Research has shown that when you have a woman in leadership, communities thrive,” Washington said. “We lead with our heart. We lead with purpose. We lead with people in mind. We serve our families and friends. That’s why we should be in leadership, and that’s why it’s time that we put a female leader in that seat.”
The women candidates, who also included former Council Member Billie Brooks and educator Kendra Spence Wester, were impressive, Lanier said.
Unfortunately, she said, they offered nothing in their applications about the city’s projects or how they would address its hefty financial needs. Neither did most of the men.
“I just think if the voters had an opportunity (to vote) then we would see who they wanted,” she said of the push for a female mayor.
Some of Lawson’s supporters also wore T-shirts supporting his selection.
The 44-year-old who owns a tax business was lauded by his pastor, former Mayor Thomas Masters, and Dale Holness, a former Broward County mayor who in 2022 lost a congressional bid to represent a sprawling two-county district that includes Riviera Beach.
Holness paid $10,000 to a company headed by Lawson to serve as a “political consultant,” campaign finance records show. Holness also figured prominently in an ethics complaint filed against Lawson by a former council member.
In 2023, former Council Member Julie Botel claimed officials at Safe Harbor Rybovich told her that Lawson pledged to support their rezoning request to rebuild the waterfront boatyard if the multimillion-dollar company would hire Holness.
The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed the complaint because Botel could not provide proof of her allegations. Lawson, who voted with Safe Harbor, vehemently denied them.
Spiritis called Holness’ presence at the meeting “very troubling.”
In 2021, Lawson was charged with domestic violence in connection with a dispute with his then-girlfriend that was captured on videotape. Police Chief Nathan Osgood ordered that Lawson be “unarrested.”
The chief resigned a year later after an investigation found his action violated procedure because he wasn’t present at the incident and didn’t have enough information to overrule the arresting officer.
‘Who’s to say it won’t happen again?’
Lawson’s girlfriend, now wife, stood beside him on Monday when Masters, after changing into purple vestments and a purple hat, administered the oath of office.
Forcing the council to pick a mayor was unsettling. Lanier said. She said she plans to seek an amendment to the City Charter so the council never again has to pick the mayor.
“While everyone said this is an unusual situation, who’s to say it won’t happen again?” she asked.
Like Lawson and other applicants pointed out, Lanier said it’s important for public officials to face the rigors of campaigning. It gives hopefuls the chance to hear what voters want, Lawson said during his comments.
With the appointment of Lawson, the only two members on the council who have faced election contests are Guyton and Lanier.
Spiritis was automatically elected in 2024 when Botel was disqualified for paying her filing fee with a cashier’s check that wasn’t from her campaign account. Panier was automatically elected in March when Lawson and another contender were disqualified.
“That gives me heartburn,” said Lanier, who has faced several bruising campaigns.
Still, she said, the new mayor will serve only two years. Then, in March 2027, an election will be held for a one-year term. In March 2028, regular three-year mayoral terms will resume.
That means Lawson, whom she often disagreed with, will have to keep voters in mind if he wants to keep the appointed position.
“If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, then the voters can decide,” she said.
Despite his misgivings about Lawson, Spiritis said he hopes for the best.
“I’m hoping Doug will do a good job and do things the right way,” Spiritis said. “If he does, I’ll support him.”
