LAKE PARK —
Amid a polarized city council and in the aftermath of a brief scuffle with the city’s Mayor Pro-tem, city officials report that Lake Park Mayor Ben Futch submitted a letter of resignation before an unusual session of city council Tuesday night.
Witnesses said two of the city’s clerks also submitted their resignations inside the council chamber. Futch, the city’s attorney and two members of council were absent from the meeting.
The Times could not readily obtain a copy of Futch’s resignation late Tuesday evening,witnesses said the outgoing mayor cited “political forces that were pressuring him” and stated that “he no longer wanted to be a divisive element in the community.”
With the city’s mayoral job vacated, mayor pro-tem Sandy Sherrill will be acting mayor of the city. Tension between Sherrill and Futch escalated into a physical altercation on June 8. Though the incident was brief and no charges were filed, it has done nothing to assuage tensions that some say started when Futch took office.
“I think we need to do a forensic search on their computers before anyone takes over,” said former Police Chief Bert Rutland who was fired along with the city clerk and fire chief in January immediately following Futch's swearing-in ceremony.
“When [Futch] took over, he did (a search on) everyone. He ran forensic searches on our computers to find evidence of wrong doing, but didn’t find anything.”
Rutland said that the deep political rift has begun to separate Lake Park’s citizens and it was apparent at Tuesday’s brief council session.
“There were words exchanged between Futch-supporters and those who don’t support him,” said Rutland. “[Futch supporters] tried to blame divisiveness in the city on Sherrill.”
The Times contacted councilwoman Shauneen Moss, who was present during Tuesday night’s meeting, but she declined to comment on Futch’s resignation. Sherrill is reportedly out of town for the holiday and Futchwould not return phone calls Tuesday evening.
The very public tension between the city’s leadership has been cause for concern for some citizens of Lake Park. Several citizens called in to the Times to express their frustration with the whole situation concerning Lake Park’s leadership.
“The city’s leadership is a mess — everyone is resigning and our mayor pro-tem is in Florida at the moment,” said a concerned citizen.
“Futch didn’t have fireworks planned for this year,” said a concerned citizen. “This will be the first year that I can remember where Lake Park had no fireworks for the Fourth of July.”
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