Cape mayor apologizes for outburst at meeting

CAPE CORAL, Fla. Mayor Marni Sawicki apologized to City Council members Monday in their first meeting since her outburst last week.

“I do apologize for my, I think, what happened for that meeting. I let the negativity get in, and I’m human,” Sawicki said. “So, I just want to let you all know that.”

Sawicki drew heat for her pointed and at times profane comments a week ago during a discussion about former charter schools superintendent Nelson Stephenson at a Committee of the Whole meeting. She called City Council member Richard Leon a “dumbass” and referred to council member Rana Erbrick by another epithet.

A handful of protesters showed up outside city hall for Monday’s meeting calling for Sawicki, who said in March she won’t seek re-election in November, to resign immediately.

“I think the mayor stepped over the line with her behavior last week,” Fiduccia said. “And I don’t think she should be running this city when she can’t even control herself and uses foul language in a public forum. It’s ridiculous.”

Protestor Mary Othodoxou called Sawicki’s actions disrespectful.

“She has to go,” Othodoxou said. “It’s time. She’s proven she’s just too immature, and she cannot take the heat of being in this position.”

A petition on change.org asks Gov. Rick Scott to remove Sawicki from her post. More than 200 people had signed it as of Monday night.

 

The governor has the power to remove mayors, but only in cases of “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, habitual drunkenness, incompetence, or permanent inability to perform official duties,” according to state law.

“Governor Scott expects all elected officials to be held to the highest ethical standards,” Scott’s press secretary Lauren Schenone said in response to a request for comment on the petition.