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Commission snubs SueLynn

When newly elected Anna Maria Mayor Fran Barford and a new commission gather Thursday night for the traditional swearing-in ceremony and organizational meeting, outgoing Mayor SueLynn plans to be conspicuously absent.

"No commissioner has asked me to attend, although I've heard they want me to be there," SueLynn said.

"I really think the evening should belong to Fran and the new commissioners," she added, noting that city commissioners at their Oct. 26 meeting - the final commission meeting for SueLynn - failed to even mention her nearly five years of service to the city.

The mayor's final commission meeting was to have been Nov. 9 at a workshop session, but at the Oct. 26 meeting, commissioners agreed to move that session's agenda to Nov. 16, just in time for Barford and newly elected commissioners Duke Miller and Jo Ann Mattick to be sworn in and take their seats.

"We were in a rush," said Commission Chairman John Quam of the Oct. 26 snub of SueLynn. "It was just something we didn't think about as we adjourned." He said the commission plans to honor SueLynn after Barford is sworn in as the city's new mayor.

Very nice, observed SueLynn dryly.

"I still haven't been invited by Mr. Quam or any other commissioner. I just think it would have been nice for someone at the Oct. 26 meeting to mention that after four years and nine months, that was the last time I would be meeting with the commission."