Town of Dundee votes to keep municipal elections in April, denying 18-month term extension

Election date to remain the same after failed vote

The town of Dundee's municipal elections will stay in April next year. The town commission voted Tuesday to keep it where it is after members of the community raised concerns moving it would also extend terms of council members by 18 months. Carla Bayron reports.

DUNDEE, Fla - The town of Dundee's municipal elections will remain in April of next year, rather than being moved to November 2027.

The town commission voted to keep the elections in April after community members raised concerns that moving them would also extend the terms of current council members by 18 months.

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What we know:

During the commission meeting on Tuesday, Dundee town commissioners passed a motion, 4-1, to withdraw the ordinance. The majority of people who attended the public comment session were not in support of the ordinance.

"Do this in the next cycle. Don't do it right now, and don't extend your own terms. It strikes me as just too self-serving," a resident said.

Joe Garrison, a local businessman and Republican running for mayor, sent a letter to the commission on Friday from his attorney, threatening to sue if the ordinance, which he called unconstitutional, passed.

READ: Polk County voters to decide on school tax referendum next year

"There's no secret that our town attorney, Seth Claytor — I'll make the motion he be fired on day one if I get elected mayor of Dundee, so that's politically motivated," said Garrison. "I think the town attorney misled this commission."

The other side:

Commissioner Annette Wilson was the lone dissenter who stated that she believes Garrison is the one who is behind the political motivation. 

"We don't need anything in the town of Dundee being done through political motivation, and from where I'm sitting up here on the dais, that's what I see. So my vote tonight is no," she said.

What they're saying:

Town officials maintain that their tenure did not factor into the decision to draft the ordinance and that they were simply following direction from the Polk County Supervisor of Elections, who has asked cities within Polk County to move the elections to November to save money and increase voter turnout.