In this Florida town of 1,000, council candidates squabble over who lives within borders
A council member running for reelection in the little town of Medley is demanding that a judge put an end to another candidate’s electoral bid for not abiding by the town’s residency requirements laid out in its charter.
The candidate in question, Medley Police Lt. Arturo Jinete, is the husband of Medley Police Chief Jeanette Said-Jinete, whose $163,811 annual salary — in a town of only 1,000 residents — is set to end in October when her contract is up. And the man who filed the lawsuit, council member and former Vice Mayor Ivan Pacheco, also happens to sit on the five-member council with his wife, Karina Pacheco.
Though Medley’s council members are not permitted to discuss official business with each other outside of public meetings, the town has no rule discouraging husbands and wives — or family members, for that matter — from serving together on the council. In an odd twist, two other Medley council members are father and daughter.
The election for mayor and two of the town’s four other council seats is scheduled for Nov. 5. Since the town of Medley is not divided into voting districts, the top two vote-getters for council win the seats.
Francisco Alvarado first reported Arturo Jinete’s alleged residency issue in the Florida Trident, an online government watchdog site, two weeks ago. At the time, Arturo Jinete was running for mayor. He has since dropped out of that race and is now running for a council seat.
According to the Florida Trident story, Arturo Jinete never lived in the 900-square-foot home that’s been under construction since he bought it for $135,000 in June 2023. The 33-year veteran at Medley Police was able to omit his address from election paperwork because he’s a law enforcement officer.
Reached Wednesday, Arturo Jinete said, “There’s nothing I’m doing that’s wrong.” And, he said, he’s met the residency requirement, because he’s been living at an apartment he owns around the corner from the home under construction. It wasn’t immediately clear how long Arturo Jinete had been living there.
The police officer said he chose to run for a council seat instead of mayor in part because of any conflict it could have created with his wife, the police chief.
“We own two duplexes around the corner. We didn’t want to get rid of the tenants,” he said. “I’ve done my due diligence.”
Pacheco, on Wednesday, referred questions to his attorney, Joshua Truppman, who said the complaint filed this week in court still stands, even with Arturo Jinete now running for a council seat.
“The citizens of the Town of Medley deserve representatives who live in their community and truly understand the issues and opportunities within our borders,” Truppman said in an email. “Our suit aims to vindicate that.”
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "In this Florida town of 1,000, council candidates squabble over who lives within borders."
