Fort Lauderdale commissioner John Herbst resigns. City to hold special election

The City of Fort Lauderdale will hold a special election on Nov. 3 to fill the District 1 seat left vacant by Commissioner John Herbst, who resigned on Friday.

Herbst, known for his fiscally conservative views and no-nonsense approach to city politics, is leaving the dais two years into his four-year term. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission passed a resolution approving the special election at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

In a statement published in the Sun Sentinel, Herbst said his decision to step down was personal, not necessarily political. He wants to spend the next chapter of his life differently, he said.

“The recent passing of my brother forced me to reflect in a way that public life rarely allows — on time, priorities and how I want to spend the years ahead,” Herbst wrote. “It is a reminder that while public service is important, it is not the only thing that is important.”

Since 2022, Herbst’s life in public service has been a whirlwind. He served as the city auditor for 16 years, but that came to a swift end when the commission voted 3-1 to fire him because he opened a secret investigation into the police chief. Herbst quickly began campaigning for office and won in a landslide. He ran for re-election in 2024. (He ended up serving on the commission with the three men who voted to fire him: Mayor Dean Trantalis, Commissioner Ben Sorensen and Commissioner Steven Glassman.)

Herbst was often times the odd man out on the dais. On his first day in office in 2022, the Sun Sentinel reported there was a “new bull in the china shop.” He certainly came in charging; He immediately moved to have three city officials fired.

Born in New York City, Herbst was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps and earned a Bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Baruch College – City University of New York and later an MBA from the University of North Florida, according to the city’s website. He cut his teeth working on Wall Street, experience he recently touted when arguing against the controversial plan to build a $268 million city hall. “This is the worst financial deal I have ever seen in my life!” he said last month.

Herbst was the lone dissenting vote against a proposal to build the project at a December meeting. Just last month, the majority of the commission had a change of heart and pumped the brakes on the plan over financing concerns.

“The Fort Lauderdale City Commission recently made a decision regarding the new City Hall that reflected the kind of fiscal discipline and independent judgment that I’ve tried to bring to this role from the beginning,” Herbst wrote in his open letter. “It was not about winning a single vote. It was about demonstrating that careful scrutiny, a willingness to challenge assumptions, and a focus on long-term consequences can still shape outcomes in a meaningful way.”

In his letter, Herbst said his perspective on remaining in office was also shaped by “moments of real disappointment, when the standards of leadership and judgment I once believed were shared were not always reflected in decisions that in my view placed other considerations ahead of the long-term interests of our city and its children.”

“In some cases, that has meant reducing public recreational space, eliminating playing fields, and limiting access for neighorhood children in favor of private developers, leaving families with less than what was promised and less than what they deserved,” he wrote.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, while residents spoke against a proposed redesign of Fort Lauderdale Beach Park during public comment, one man thanked Herbst for his time in office.

“You will duly be missed in your fiscal common sense, man,” he said. “Which is something that seems to escape us here quite a bit.”