Foster resigns from Palm Bay City Council for health reasons, creating second vacancy

Randy Foster resigned Friday from the Palm Bay City Council for health reasons, leaving a second vacancy on the five-member council.

In his letter of resignation, Foster wrote: "It is with heavy heart that I am leaving my position on City Council. I understand that my term is set to expire in November, but due to very challenging health issues, I feel it is time for me to step down."

Foster has experienced strokes and was hospitalized last year with a diabetic coma.

Foster wrote that it has been "an honor and a great privilege to serve the residents and city staff of Palm Bay over the past four years, and I am so grateful for the support I have received over the years. I wish only the best for Palm Bay."

Foster is retired from the U.S. Marshals Service, and has more than 25 years of federal and local law enforcement experience. He was elected to the Palm Bay City Council Seat 3 position for a four-year term in 2020.

With Foster's resignation, City Clerk Terese Jones is preparing a resolution that will officially declare Foster's Seat 3 position on the council vacant. That resolution will be presented at the July 11 City Council meeting. Under city rules for filling council vacancies, Jones said the vacancy then will be announced at two subsequent City Council meetings, on July 18 and Aug. 1. Then, the City Council could vote as early as its Aug. 15 meeting to fill the vacancy, using a ranking process for the applicants interested in the position.

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Jones said filling the vacancy will not affect the planned election this year for Foster's Seat 3. Foster initially was planning to run for reelection to the position for a second four-year term, but pulled out for health reasons.

There are six candidates running for Foster's seat in an Aug. 20 nonpartisan primary ― Alfy Ramsay Agarie, Michael Bruyette, Peter Filiberto, David Anthony Kearns, Chandler Austin Langevin and Eileen Mary Sepp. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters would face one another in a Nov. 5 runoff election.

The other City Council vacancy was created when Filiberto resigned from his Seat 5 position in February 2023 after he was arrested during a motorcycle traffic stop in the Palm Bay Colony neighborhood. He has since been sentenced to two years of supervised probation after pleading no contest to possession of cocaine and DUI.

The City Council was unable to fill Filiberto's vacancy in the allotted time under City Charter rules. That's because there was no quorum of three council members at those meetings.

An election to fill Filiberto's former seat will occur on Nov. 5, with six candidates running — Jimmy Backus, Paul Galbreath II, Brian Higgins, Mike Spencer Jaffe, Eduardo Macaya and David Rodriguez.

The seats are not geographically based. So even though Filiberto previously represented Seat 5, he can run for the Seat 3 position this year.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at [email protected], on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Foster resignation creates second vacancy on Palm Bay City Council