Vice mayor Troy McDonald was appointed unanimously Friday morning as the new mayor of Stuart.
Former Mayor Tom Campenni resigned Tuesday just days after an employee complained he might be breaking age discrimination laws.
This is the second time this year the city has had to reappoint its mayor.
Commissioner Eula Clarke resigned in February following "pig comments" she made about an officer. This week Commissioner Tom Campenni resigned after a city employee claimed Campenni told him, he would support a younger guy with fresh ideas for the city manager position.
"I do feel embarrassed and it's painful," incoming mayor McDonald said.
Friday commissioners voted to spend up to $12,000 on an external investigation to see whether Campenni committed acts in the past similar to those he's accused of.
"We take the spending of taxpayer dollars very seriously, but we owe it to our employees, we owe it our citizens," McDonald said.
Even though a human resources investigation found Campenni didn't intend to discriminate, commissioners also approved HR's recommendation to remove him from the city manager selection process. A split vote did prevent them however, from removing Campenni from the various boards he serves on.
Some felt this move would be excessive. "We all can make mistakes, and I think we should pay for those mistakes, but I'm not sure we should pay permanently for those mistakes," a resident said.
Commissioner Clarke also asked to be reappointed to boards she was removed from, a measure two commissioner did not support, citing fairness. Mayor McDonald was in support of transitioning her back on to some of her previously held board positions.
Also at Friday's meeting, the board appointed Kelli Glass-Leighton as the city's new vice mayor and adopted a code of ethics, which the mayor says should help guide this commission and future ones.
Campenni was absent from Friday's meeting.
Troy McDonald appointed unanimously as Stuart's new Mayor #BreakingNews@WPTV@FOX29WFLXpic.twitter.com/RFu2vimpHp
— Andrew Ruiz (@AndrewRuizWPTV) May 26, 2017
