High Springs Commissioner Tapanes Resigns, Cites New State Disclosure Law as Overreaching

HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The City of High Springs is down one member of the City Commission as Commissioner Steve Tapanes resigned less than two months into his term. Elected on Nov 7, 2023, Tapanes cited a new law passed by the Florida Legislature in 2023 requiring elected officials to file what is known as Form 6–a financial disclosure document–by Dec. 31, 2023.

Prior to the new law, mayors and elected city or town council members were required to file Form 1. However, Form 6 requires a more in-depth report of the filer's finances, including disclosure of net worth, information not required by Form 1. Form 6 filers must also disclose assets over $1,000, while the Form 1 threshold is over $10,000. Form 6 also requires filers to disclose clients that make up more than 10 percent of the filer's income. Completed filings constitute public documents and are available online at https://disclosure.floridaethics.gov/PublicSearch/Filings.

Tapanes tendered his resignation as of Dec. 30, but he is not the only elected official in Alachua County to do so.

The Town of LaCrosse received two commissioner resignations for Seats 2 and 4, which were held by Sheila Dubberly and Barbara Thomas, respectively.

In the City of Waldo, “Commissioner Rick Pisano (Seat 4) resigned due to Form 6,” said City Manager Kim Worley.

Tapanes said he was unaware of Form 6 until about two weeks prior to the deadline. “I own my own business, Triple C Glass in High Springs. I have contracts with contractors that prohibit me from putting information out that is open to the public. I had some concern about honoring my commitments to those agreements,” said Tapanes. “In addition, I own properties in common with my wife. I didn’t want to put her information out there to the public either. Open disclosure doesn’t work with my situation,” he said.

“This would work better if the information was submitted to the Ethics Commission and kept private unless there is an ethics complaint. At that time the information could be useful, but just putting it out to the public seems like overreaching,” said Tapanes.

In an effort to handle these untimely resignations, municipalities have been left scrambling to fill the vacated positions.

On Thursday, Jan. 4, the High Springs City Commission will hold a Special Commission Meeting to address the issue of Tapanes’ resignation. At the 6:30 p.m. meeting commissioners can choose to “either appoint someone to fill the position temporarily or choose to leave the seat vacant until an election can be conducted,” said High Springs City Clerk Angela Stone.

If the High Springs City Commission chooses to appoint a temporary commissioner, the only qualifiers would be the same as those if they were running for the seat. They would need to reside in the city limits and be a registered voter.

With more than six months remaining before the next annual High Springs election, the City is required to have a mandatory special election to fill the remainder of the term of the vacant Commission seat. The High Springs Charter dictates that the election will be held “not sooner than sixty (60) days, nor more than ninety (90) days following the occurrence of the vacancy,” which would be between Feb. 28 – March 29, 2024.

In LaCrosse, “the upcoming election this March is for Seats 1, 2 and Mayor,” said Town Clerk Crystal Phillips. As Seat 2 is now open, that election will fill the empty seat and leave the town with only one missing council member. LaCrosse will hold another election for Seats 3, 4, and 5 in 2025.

Waldo’s elections are held in December each year. “As it is more than six months before our next election,” said City Manager Worley, “we will be required to hold a special election to fill the seat.” Worley has contacted their city attorney to discuss the matter more fully.

Although no commissioners resigned from the City of Newberry, the issue of Form 6 will be addressed at Newberry’s Regular City Commission meeting on Jan. 8. The Commission on Ethics has advised the Newberry City Clerk’s office and they are working with their city attorney to formulate a presentation which will include information provided by the Ethics Commission on this issue.

The cities of Alachua and Archer report they had no resignations due to Form 6. Attempts to reach the City of Hawthorne were unsuccessful.

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