Facing term limits, Phillip Walker withdraws request to be reappointed to Lakeland commission

LAKELAND — Phillip Walker has withdrawn his request to be reappointed to the city commission.

Walker sent an email to City Attorney Palmer Davis at 3:08 p.m. Wednesday asking that his name be removed from the list of candidates under consideration to be appointed interim commissioner to the Northwest District seat. His last day in office will be Nov 6.

Walker had submitted a letter of resignation to the city in May under Florida's "resign-to-run" law in order to campaign for Florida House District 50. Upon losing the Republican primary to Jennifer Canady, Walker had asked his fellow commissioners to consider reappointing him to serve out the remaining year of his term.

"I want the public to know I didn’t just say I wanted to stay on this commission. At the outset of this campaign race, I knew if I should lose my time would be up," he said. "I received a call asking if I would want to be considered [for reappointment] if the commission would grant that consideration and to let them know. That’s what I did."

Walker sent an email less than 18 minutes before the Aug. 26 filing deadline asking  to be considered a candidate for interim commissioner for the Northwest District seat.

Davis had previously said to The Ledger and the commission that the state's "resign-to-run" statute did not bar Walker from being reappointed to his seat.

The city attorney said he has since discovered a second legal issue. Davis wrote a lengthy email to Walker on Wednesday afternoon stating he "arguably," is not qualified to be reappointed due to term limits.

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"I have reached the conclusion that your reappointment to the Commission would be vulnerable to challenge based upon the term limit provisions unique to the Lakeland City Charter and their application to the filling of vacancies. The issue is complicated," Davis wrote.

In November 2019, the commission — including Walker — placed a referendum before voters that changed the city's charter to further restrict the city's term limits.

Originally, the city's charter read that no member of the City Commission could serve more than three complete terms, or 12 consecutive years, whichever is greater, in a singular position of mayor or commission. There was one exception: an elected officials could serve four terms, or 16 consecutive years, whichever was greater in a combination of positions between mayor and commissioner.

Davis wrote at that time Walker clearly qualified as a candidate. He was first elected to office in November 2009 in a special election and served two years before being elected in 2011 and 2015 to two, four-year terms.

The 2019 referendum approved by voters amended the city's term limits. Newly elected officials would be restricted to serving no more than three complete terms or 12 consecutive years in the singular position of mayor or commissioner, or more than four complete terms or 16 years in a combination of mayor and commissioner. It also added officials who serve a partial term, two years or more, counts as a full term.

Davis' email highlights an important difference

"This amendment eliminated the qualifying language “the greater of” from the Charter," he wrote.

Walker was originally grandfathered in, which would have allowed him to serve out the remainder of his third term through January 2024. But it appears Walker can no longer enjoy this exception.

"Unfortunately, upon your resignation to run for the Florida House of Representatives, the grandfathered status of your service on the City Commission arguably ended," Davis wrote.

In November 2021, voters approved a referendum to the city charter that allowed the commission to appoint individuals to a vacant seat rather than host a special election. The provisions are that the appointee must meet eligibility requirements of living in the district for more than a year, being a registered voter and not being a convicted felon.

There's one other important provision.

"“[N]o individual otherwise precluded by length of previous service from holding the office of city commissioner…may be appointed by the city commission to fill a vacancy in such office," Davis quotes the city charter.

As of his Nov. 7 resignation, Walker will have served 12 years and 10 months on the commission, in excess of the term limit of "12 consecutive years." Davis concludes that Walker would be ineligible to be appointed to his own vacant seat.

The city attorney said there is an argument that can be made that the new city charter language should not apply to Walker because he was grandfathered in and, if he had not resigned to run for Florida House, would have still been allowed until January 2024.

"[I]t is my desire to NOT place the City of Lakeland in any vulnerable situation where a challenge based upon our current Lakeland City Charter becomes questionable," Walker wrote in an email to Davis.

The commissioner said that up until Davis contacted him Wednesday, he was not aware the charter changes could be interpreted in such a way that rendered him term limited. Once he realized that, Walker said his next step was obvious.

"I’m concerned about making sure the spirit of what I call unity is there in the city," he said. "I don’t need disruption. I don’t need disruption in my life, I don’t want it in the life of my residents."

The City Commission will meet 8:30 a.m. Friday at City Hall, 228 S. Massachusetts Ave. for their agenda study. It's anticipated there will discussion about scheduling candidate interviews for interim commission to replace Walker. Mayor Bill Mutz and Walker are not expected to be present.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl. 

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland Commissioner Phillip Walker withdraws request for reappointment