PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The city of Port Richey announced a special meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. to take up business originally expected to be discussed at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled city council meeting. 

Among the items on the original agenda: discussing the governor’s suspension of Acting Mayor Terrence Rowe and appointing an interim member to fill Rowe’s council seat.

RELATED STORIES

Tuesday's meeting ended shortly after it began due to the absence of Councilman Richard Bloom, which left the council without a quorum.

“The best thing that could be accomplished right now is putting somebody in that seat that has some representative feel for the city,” said Bill Colombo.

Colombo has had a firsthand view of past vacancies at city hall. He served as a council member for seven years, six of those as vice mayor.

During that time, he stepped in as acting mayor twice – once in 2012, following the resignation of Richard Rober, who was under investigation by the IRS, and again in 2015, following the death of Eloise Taylor.

“There’s obviously similarities, and there is, you know, a big distinction,” Colombo said. “The particular methodology for the mayor’s seat becoming open this time is pretty unique, in any sense of the word.”

Former mayor Dale Massad resigned in February after allegedly shooting at Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies who were helping FDLE serve a warrant at his home. Rowe was arrested earlier this month for allegedly trying to interfere with the investigation into Massad.

While Rowe’s name has been removed from a list of elected officials posted outside city hall, City Manager Vince Lupo said as of Tuesday night, he had not resigned and was still considered a council member. Colombo posted an open letter to Rowe on Facebook last week encouraging him to step down.

“It’s not an admission of guilt. It’s just a realization that you have been suspended from the office, you cannot serve, and you’re just kind of holding everything up,” Colombo said.

Like a number of people disappointed by Tuesday’s postponed meeting, Colombo said he’s ready to see the city move forward.

“The main thing is going to be stability of the city. There’s a lot of things we need to accomplish. We have a lot of projects in the works, and we’ve got to keep those projects going, and we need to kind of stay forward looking and focused to accomplish that,” Colombo said.