A committee that advises the Cape Coral City Council on the budget was returned to its full complement of seven members Monday, after its existence was threatened last month when the chairman of the committee resigned.
Lyndia Bradley, a retired accountant, and Virginia Gladick, who has previously helped prepare city budgets, were appointed to the financial advisory committee by council members ahead of one of the toughest budget cycles in memory.
Bradley, a four-year member of the budget review committee — a precursor to the financial advisory committee — told the council that she recognizes the difference between accounting for a business and for a city and has experience with both.
Gladick did not attend the city council meeting Monday but was interviewed for the position last week by council members.
Mayor Jim Burch said he is pleased the financial advisory committee is restored to its full body of seven members.
“It’s also important for those two (Bradley and Gladick) to start getting the budget information together and catch up to where the FAC is right now,” Burch said, adding that he is confident they will be able to do so.
Former financial advisory committee chairman Michael Foye resigned his post last month in frustration over city spending and what he called the city’s “fiscal irresponsibility.”
His resignation came on the heels of former committee member Gloria Baron’s move to the East Coast of Florida, leaving two seats on the committee vacant.
Financial advisory committee member Cheryl Peppers then called for the dissolution of the committee in a memo to council members, alleging that cost-cutting measures deemed viable by the committee are given scant review by the council.
But council members recoiled at the proposition ahead of a budget year in which the city is trying to cut at least $10 million to meet an estimated 35 percent drop in property values.
Bradley’s term as a financial advisory committee member is set to expire in September, while Gladick’s term will last until September 2010.