Marco Island City Council elections deadline approaches; What to know

Marco Island City Council could look very different come November.

Four of seven seats are up for election and a fifth will open with the imminent resignation of Greg Folley so he can run for state representative.

Chairman Jared Grifoni is ineligible to seek re-election after two consecutive terms in office. Becky Irwin and Joe Rola are in their first terms and can run again but both say they are undecided about whether they will do so. Rich Blonna, who also is completing his first term, has begun collecting signatures and started a reelection campaign website.

The Marco Island City Council election will be heldon Tuesday, Nov, 5, in conjunction with the countywide General Election.

What to know if you want to run

• The deadline to submit signatures and intent to run is June 18 at noon. Completed forms must be in to the Collier County Supervisor of Elections for verification during the qualification period which is from 8 a.m. July 16 to 5 p.m. July 30.

• What are the forms? Appointment of campaign treasurer and designation of campaign depository; candidate oath; Statement of Candidate; and Form 6, which is a financial disclosure that public officials and employees must file with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

• How many signatures? Candidates must submit 143 signatures, which represents 1 percent of the island's 14,275 registered voters. The City Clerk recommends candidates secure an additional 10 percent of signed petitions to accommodate for errors.

• Must be a resident of the city for at least one year prior to qualifying.

• Must be a qualified elector of the city, meaning a registered voter.

• The term of office is four years, and no council member shall serve more than two full consecutive terms.  No council member (or former council member) shall serve more than eight years in office during his/her lifetime.

• Pay: the salary of each council member is $6,000 per year; the salary of the chair is $9,000 per year.

• Where to find more information: Marco Island website.

What council members say

"I love it. I love the job," Blonna said in an interview in March. "I had three meetings this week – I chaired two of them. It’s a lot of work. It’s exciting. It’s a lot of work. But it’s interesting. You meet a lot of people."

Blonna is a retired Professor Emeritus from the Department of Public Health at William Paterson University of New Jersey. He also is an author of college textbooks and self-help books with a focus on "understanding how the mind and body work together to promote health and prevent disease," according to his council web page.

"I really have not decided," Irwin said in an interview, though she did pick up a candidate packet to peruse as she considers whether to run.

"It’s definitely a worthy pursuit, I think," she said. "I think I bring a different perspective" as a woman, as a Realtor and as a long-time community member with soon-to-be four generations living on Marco Island. "So my perspective is a lot broader than the others."

Irwin was elected in 2020.

"It's a very tough decision," said Rola, who also was elected in 2020. "It's a lot of work, if you do it right, if you take it seriously."

Rola, who spent the majority of his 42-year career as a defense contractor working in computer system design and program management, spent five years prior to his election to City Council on the city's planning board.

"I have other things I could do," he said. "I have a boat I could be sailing on."

Rola also said he has had some medical problems. "It may be God decides," he said with a grin.

Folley, who has served as a councilman since 2020, is running as a Republican for State House District 81. He said on May 6 that he will submit his resignation letter to the council this month to go into effect on election day in November. Even if he loses the state election, Folley's resignation will remain in place.

""My seat will not be on the ballot in November. The new council, including the four newly elected members, will select how to fill the vacancy for the balance of my term through 2026," he said in an interview.

He was appointed to the Marco Island City Council on June 1, 2020, and was elected to that position in November of the same year. He was elected again for a full, four-year term in November 2022 and served as chairman for a year starting in December of 2022.

Folley is a former officer at Caterpillar and an attorney admitted to the state bar associations of Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texas, according to his website.

Grifoni was first elected in 2016 and was re-elected in 2020. He will have served his lifetime limit of eight years at the end of 2024. He served three times as chairman and four times as vice-chairman, positions voted on by council members.

Asked what he will do after his term ends, Grifoni said he wants to continue to serve the Marco Island community in some capacity.

"When my time is up on Council, I am going to continue to be active and serve our community in any way I am able," he said in an email, "whether that's in the private sector, as a volunteer, an activist, or an elected official in another office sometime in the future."

Grifoni is a licensed attorney and head of "multiple small businesses based in Marco Island and Collier County," according to his City Council web page.

More: Marco Island residents reject city council pay boost, change to mayor title

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Marco Island City Council elections deadline approaches