Photo: CBS 12
The City of Riviera Beach has about three months to figure out how to have voters select a new mayor and city council members.
A judge has just disqualified several candidates who were running for mayor and council seats.
Attorney Dedrick Straughn filed a lawsuit, claiming that the candidates used debit cards to pay their filing fees and that is against the law.
Palm Beach County Judge Reid Scott ruled that those fees must be paid by check from the proper campaign accounts.
“Judge Scott essentially said the controlling statute was 99061. He had to read the plain meaning of the law and it was clear and unambiguous that that was the statute that he had to go by.”
Straughn filed suit on behalf of current Councilmember Tradrick McCoy and Mayor Ronnie Felder.
But the lawyer tells CBS 12 News that the judge also disqualified Felder because while he wrote a check for the filing fee, it wasn't from his re-election campaign account.
The municipal election in Riviera Beach is being held on March 11th.