A former longtime city auditor in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was controversially fired, won a seat on the city commission and now faces a possible disqualification.

John Herbst's rivals are demanding his disqualification despite winning 40% of the votes as one of the three newly elected commissioners. Warren Sturman's win won't be certified until Friday, while winner Pamela Beasley-Bittman has requested to not be sworn in until the official results are in.

"This puts us in a very unique position where we only have the mayor [Dean Trantalis] and one commissioner [Steve Glassman]," City Manager Greg Chavarria told the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the situation. "One option would allow me to appoint a commissioner to serve at tonight's meeting. We will have a conference meeting at 1:30 p.m. to discuss this in the open."

None of the candidates who ran in the election are being considered by Chavarria to serve as commissioner for the meeting and Fort Lauderdale currently only has two people sitting on the commission. Three commissioners are needed for a quorum in the meeting.

Herbst was considered an underdog against Ken Keechl and Chris Williams. His rivals filed a complaint with City Hall on the grounds that Herbst was ineligible for office because he has not lived in his District 1 apartment in Fort Lauderdale for six months prior to Election Day.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reached out to Herbst for a comment and he replied that he could not provide one as he does not have a copy of the complaint. His attorney, Barbra Stern, said Herbst has fulfilled all the requirements for holding office, including establishing his residency in Fort Lauderdale's District 1 on April 14.

Stern said that Keechl and Williams are trying to go against the people's will as Herbst gained the majority of the votes. The two claim that Herbst did not live in Fort Lauderdale until May 31, long after the last day that Herbst could have established residency in order to be eligible for office.

In order to be eligible for office in the 2022 elections, the last day Herbst could have moved into Fort Lauderdale would have been May 12. Herbst has claimed that he moved into Fort Lauderdale in early April and his rivals are claiming that it was actually May 31.

Although Herbst hasn't held public office before, he previously served Fort Lauderdale as the city auditor for 16 years before he was fired in February.

Three of the commission members had stated that they'd lost confidence in him due to his actions of opening what they called a "secret" investigation into the former police chief and his moonlighting as a college basketball referee.

"I think we're going to work just fine together," Herbst told the Sun Sentinel about working alongside the commission members who previously fired him. "I think we're all professionals and we all want what's best for the city."

Florida