It was a quick swearing in ceremony Wednesday at City Hall as Bill Willkomm, the sole new City Council member, took the oath of office with incumbents Penny Taylor and Gary Price — creating a council that isn’t expected to waiver on recent controversial issues such as Pelican Bay.

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse

Naples Daily News

Re-elected city council member Gary Price, with son Garrett, 10, and wife, Kim, is congratulated after being sworn into office by Collier Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie Wednesday afternoon in City Hall. Also sworn in were council members Penny Taylor, far left, shaking hands with Bill Willkomm.

Collier County Circuit Court Judge Lauren Brodie recited the oath, as the three repeated it. They stood with Willkomm’s wife, Mary, and his sons, Conrad and Kevin, and Price’s wife, Kim, and one of his children, 10-year-old Garrett. As they repeated the oath, Garrett’s young voice could be heard above the others, “I solemnly swear to support, protect and defend the constitution and government ...”

“Shhhhh,” his mother warned.

Moments later, Willkomm had joined the council, taking the seat vacated by Vice Mayor Tamela Wiseman, who is moving to Sarasota permanently to be closer to her husband, John’s, construction business dealings.

Willkomm was pleased to get the voting result he wanted.

“When I entered this campaign, I did not run against Penny and Gary,” he said. “I ran for Tamela’s open seat.”

About 50 people packed council chambers, many of them city workers and department heads. Civil attorney Michael Volpe, the fourth-vote getter, and real estate attorney Pamela Stewart, who came in fifth, also attended and congratulated the winners. Taylor’s foster sons, Jorge, 17, and Chris, 9, sat in the audience because rules involving foster children bar them from being photographed in public.

Mayor Bill Barnett thanked Volpe, Stewart as well as Jenah Victor, who did not attend the ceremony, and urged them to run again, calling it rewarding.

“Bill Willkomm is a classic example of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,’¤” he said of Willkomm’s 21-vote loss two years ago to Councilman Bill MacIlvaine.

The council members will serve a four-year term at an annual salary of $16,500. Councilmen Johnny Nocera, MacIlvaine and John Sorey, whose terms are up in 2008, along with Barnett, sat on the dais. Based on campaign promises, Nocera said they don’t expect the new council will result in any changes in votes on past controversial issues and after the ceremony Barnett went further.

“Pelican Bay is a dead issue,” he said. “If they came into the city, there’s no way that any of us, even staff, would be able to give the people of the city the level of services they’re accustomed to.”

The swearing-in is only a formality because state law requires a full tally of votes, including the 38 provisional ballots that have not yet been officially counted — even though they won’t affect results. If all signatures are verified by today, results will be official. However, if even one provisional ballot is questionable, votes will not be verified until the City of Naples Canvassing Board meets at 5:05 p.m. Friday.

Provisional ballots are given to voters without a photo ID or proof of signature. County elections workers on Wednesday began comparing addresses and signatures with precinct registers.

Tuesday’s turnout hit an historic low, with only 4,579 voters, or 28.11, casting ballots — despite voter rolls swelling from 14,057 to 16,292 — in part due to the annexation of Moorings Park Retirement Resort.

City and county workers blamed the lack of a mayoral race and no controversial issues to draw voters. In 2004, when Barnett ran for mayor, 7,694 voters, or 54.6 percent, cast ballots, and in 2002, some 6,918 voters, or 48 percent, turned out for council races and to vote on the protection of wetlands.

In 2000, 56.3 percent voted for Naples’ Mayor Bonnie MacKenzie, now deceased. Tuesday’s elections left Taylor as the sole woman on the dais.

Results show Price earned 3,801 votes, or 29.4 percent, followed by Taylor at 3,310, 25.6 percent, and Willkomm received 2,989, 23.13 percent. The race wasn’t as close as the one two years ago, with this year’s fourth highest vote-getter, Volpe, a civil attorney and former County Commissioner, garnering 1,012 votes, or 7.83 percent.

Stewart, a real estate attorney, landed 986 votes and Jenah Victor, director of RJVI, a marketing and distribution business, earned 823. Volpe and Victor plan to run again, while Stewart isn’t certain yet.

Taylor’s foster son, Chris, called his mother’s win a great 9th birthday present. “It’s wonderful because she wanted to win,” he said as he ate cake during a celebration afterward. “She needs to be on City Council.”

At a morning session of City Council, Barnett presented Taylor and Price with clocks, and joked that he’d always promised Wiseman he’d give her a Rolex watch for her nine years of work for the city — six on City Council and three with Code Enforcement. He handed her an ornate box marked Patek-Phillipe, a watch that usually retails for $8,000 to $40,000. Wiseman’s eyes widened, distrustful because she knew the city’s ethics policy forbade pricey gifts.

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse

Naples Daily News

Newly-elected city council member Bill Willkomm receives a hug after being sworn into office by Collier Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie Wednesday afternoon in City Hall, flanked by his wife, Mary, and son, Kevin. Also sworn in were council members Penny Taylor, far left, and Gary Price, third from right, with wife, Kim, and son Garrett, 10.

“Is something going to spring out at me?” she asked as everyone laughed.

“Absolutely not,” Barnett said.

She opened it and looked surprised. Inside was a diamond encrusted watch with a suede band.

Barnett explained the box was donated by Yamron Jewelers. “The watch came from (the costume jewelry store) The Best of Everything. It was $10.40,” he said.

Barnett praised Wiseman for being a wife, mother of two and businesswoman, while juggling work on City Council. He then proclaimed Feb. 8 Tamela Wiseman Day.

Very sick with a cold and her voice shaking with emotion, Wiseman, real estate attorney, thanked Barnett and everyone who helped her, including her husband, children, and best friend, Sue, “who helped hold down the fort and helped make everything possible.”

Afterward, Taylor and Wiseman — who began as antagonists and later grew to respect each other’s differing opinions — hugged. Wiseman said she was leaving with mixed emotions. “I put my heart and soul into it for nine years,” she said as Barnett’s administrator, Michael Moose, gave her the name plates that sat on the dais and in her City Hall office.

He explained: “You need something to remember us by.”

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