CLEARWATER, Fla. — A week after Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard suddenly stepped down from his position, city leaders have chosen an interim replacement.

At a Monday afternoon meeting, Brian Aungst Sr. was unanimously voted in as interim mayor.

Aungst served as Clearwater's mayor from 1999-2005. He didn't plan to do so again.

"Absolutely not. No one thought that this was going to happen," he told Spectrum Bay News 9.

"And then it was we don't know if we should do this because my son does a lot of business in front of the city as an attorney. But then the city attorney and he started talking and said, 'This is workable.'"

He said his only agenda “is providing institutional stability for the council, for the staff, and for the citizens of Clearwater."

When it comes to his next 11 months in office, he said he doesn’t have a stance on a $90 million project to build a new City Hall and municipal complex. Hibbard cited that as a reason he quit. 

"As I told some of the council members I met with, I really don't know because I haven't been briefed,” Augnst said.

Hibbard’s move came during a city meeting last Monday after once again disagreeing with fellow board members on how the city’s tax dollars should be spent. The abrupt move shocked both community leaders and city council members.

“I think everyone has the same reaction that we do, which is that no one expected it,” said City Attorney David Margolis. “I had spoken with Mayor Hubbard as recently as Sunday - which was the day before this happened - and there was no indication that he planned on resigning.”

Margolis says Hibbard did not violate any policies during his resignation but it left the city 30 days to make a decision on a replacement.

City council members had a few choices, which include moving a current council member to the mayor’s seat, appointing a resident to fill the spot, or asking people to apply.

“The city does have the option to put out an application process if they so choose and there is some precedent when the city did that several years ago when a different council member resigned,” Margolis said.  “However, time is of the essence because they are supposed to fill this vacancy within 30 days. In addition to that, some council members feel with the mayor’s seat being the issue there’s a high standard or bar for experience.”

Hibbard had just begun his final year of a 4-year term. Whoever is appointed to fill the seat will hold the position until March 2024.

Former Clearwater mayor George Cretekos has been in a similar situation before. When he was serving as mayor, a city council member stepped down and the council had to appoint her replacement.

“I’d like to think that with our city-manager form of government and with the council members that are there that they’re going to move quickly on this because they have 30 days to appoint the mayor,” he said. “If they don’t, we have to go to a special election and that becomes pretty expensive for the city… so I’m confident they will move quickly.”

According to the city charter, the appointee had to be a Clearwater resident and cannot be a former elected official who held a spot on the city council within the last 2 years.

“In my mind, the one thing they have to do is make sure that the person that they appoint to the position is not going to be running for the position in March of next year,” Cretekos said. I don’t think it’s fair to give that person an advantage over other possible candidates.”

Before the vote, some residents suggested that Vice Mayor and councilwoman Kathleen Beckman should be appointed mayor, but council members wanted someone who would not run for the city's top office when the election comes around next year.