Naples election 2024: Kramer, Penniman win council seats, recount required for a third spot

In Naples, city council will soon have fresh faces.

Those faces are still in question, however, with forced recounts from Tuesday's election.

The mayor's race is still too close to call, and so is the race for one of three seats up for grabs on council.

A half a dozen candidates ran for a trio of open council seats. All were newcomers, with the exception of Linda Penniman, who was elected in 2014 and served six years, two of them as vice mayor.

Penniman resigned during her second term, over health concerns for her husband.

Here are the three top-vote getters, as reported by the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office, based on preliminary returns:

• Former high school football coach Bill Kramer, with 4,277 votes, or 20.3% of the total.

• Retiree Linda Penniman, with 4,160 votes, or 19.8% of the total.

• Longtime insurance agent Berne Barton, with 3,677 votes, or 17.5% of the total.

There must be a recount for the third seat, with Tony Perez-Benitoa, a family attorney, coming in so close to Barton, with 3,644 votes, or 17.3% of the total.

State law requires a recount when the difference in the results is 0.5% or less.

Provisional ballots, or ballots where a voter's eligibility is in question, have yet to be counted, so the results aren't official yet.

Half of the candidates vying for council seats were aligned with mayoral candidate Gary Price, running as "Team Naples." They are Kramer, Barton and Perez-Benitoa, two of which are now pitted against one another in a recount.

If the entire team had been elected, they would have controlled four of seven seats, or a majority of council. Some feared if that happened Naples could see uncontrolled growth, with the team strongly supported by the building industry, but the team insisted that would not be the case, and stressed they're all independent thinkers, who expected to disagree at times.

"It was never about voting together," Kramer said. "We don't agree on everything, I can guarantee you that."

Price's fate is still unknown, with a forced recount. The former councilman garnered 38% of the vote, while current Mayor Teresa Heitmann, who is seeking a second term, secured 38.1%, based on the unofficial results posted on the Collier County Supervisor of Election's website not long after polls closed.

The Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office announced Wednesday morning that the county's Canvassing Board would conduct a machine recount Saturday for the mayor and a city council race.

The council candidates who didn't win seats are real estate agent Garey Cooper and consultant Nicholas Del Rosso.

Of the recount, Barton said, "I look forward to making it official and getting this behind us."

He said he never expected his race, or the mayor's race to be so close.

"I'm very honored and humbled with all the support that I had," Barton said.

He added: "This election got very contentious. More so than what we are used to in Naples, for sure. So, we need to try to pump the brakes a little bit, and get a healing process going, no matter who ultimately wins the mayoral race, so we can work together in the best interest of the city."

If the recount goes his way, residents, he said, should rest assured that he will work in their best interest, not try to turn Naples into another Miami, as some of his opponents suggested.

"I was born and raised here," he said. "I embrace the Naples charm. I know what it is and I understand it."

There were no incumbents in the council races for different reasons.

Councilman Paul Perry chose not to run for reelection, with plans to do more traveling with his wife.

Mike McCabe, who up until recently had served as vice mayor, also decided not to run again, and left office early, resigning in December to avoid the state's new financial disclosure rules, which he saw as intrusive and invasive – and another assault on home rule by the state Legislature.

Rather than seeking another term, Ted Blankenship gave up his council seat to run as a more conservative choice for mayor. In the mayor's race, he received 23.9% of the vote, coming in third.

The election results are seen as critical, as city leaders are set to make big decisions over the next few years on everything from the funding for the rebuilding of the Naples Pier and the construction of a new coastal stormwater system to the future development of the Four Corners and the "Miracle Mile," a hard-hit stretch of Gulf Shore Boulevard North that's seeing a renewal in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

This city election was like no other, with more involvement from political action committees, or PACs, some of which spread untruths, and made personal attacks against candidates, spending never-before-seen amounts for their chosen candidates.

Some mayoral and city candidates raised unheard-of amounts of money in their personal campaigns, too, leading to concerns that "special interest" groups were behind them, including developers, hoping to gain favor on council.

Through the last reporting deadline of March 14, Barton had spent nearly $82,000, Kramer more than $70,000, and Perez-Benitoa in excess of $47,000 on their own campaigns, as part of "Team Naples."

Comparatively, Penniman spent nearly $41,000, Cooper more than $14,000, and Del Rosso about $11,000.

In a phone interview after the results, Penniman said she's eager to get back to work on council. If she had to come in second to anybody, she remarked she's glad it was Kramer, a well-respected longtime football coach and community and spiritual leader, even if he was part of "Team Naples.'

"I think this is Naples' voters' way of saying that 'Hey, we are basically rejecting this big money and dirty politics'. That would be my comment," she said.

She added: "I'm in the mix, and that's all that's important."

Her ultimate goal is to serve the residents well, giving them what they need and want, including managed growth.

Kramer ran for council because he saw the need for change, including better treatment of employees, and greater emphasis on health and safety, his top priority.

After winning the most votes, he said it humbled him.

"It's an honor to be trusted enough to be elected to serve. And I'm going to give it my very best," Kramer said.

To improve public safety, he wants to see better pay and benefits for firefighters and police officers.

"Let's stop being competitive and let's start being the standard," he said. "I think we should be the standard in the state, in terms of training, tools and compensation for our first responders."

The new council members will be sworn in at the April 3 council meeting, along with the mayor.

The other councilors Beth Petrunoff, Ray Christman and Terry Hutchison were elected in 2022. At the time, Petrunoff was a political newcomer, while Christman and Hutchison were reelected to second terms.

Serving four-year terms, city councilors and the mayor are limited to two consecutive terms by the city charter. The elections are nonpartisan, and candidates run at-large.

From our archives: Naples City Council election: Beth Petrunoff, Terry Hutchison, Ray Christman win three seats

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Kramer, Penniman win seats on Naples City Council, recount for third one