ORANGE PARK – The town council finally agreed to select Virginia Hall to fill its vacant Seat 4.

Former council member Connie Thomas held Seat 4 before stepping down to pursue other political aspirations last May. The council remained in a deadlock for more than six months between two candidates: Daniel Cabreiro and Hall. Cabreiro told the council during a special meeting on Dec. 16 he was removing himself from the running.

“It is no secret that I have been vocal in public comments...regarding major issues in Orange Park ([ike] property development in town, budget spending, a lack of public input and participation, and the very extended vacancy of council Seat 4,” Cabreiro said. “These and many other issues continue to weigh heavily on my mind and in my heart as I continue to plan for my family’s future here in the Town of Orange Park.

“It brings me some hope though that in the past year there has been an upsurge in involvement by the public and increase in residents willing to participate and serve. These changes by the public and other individuals stepping up gives me enough comfort where I don’t feel the overwhelming urgency that I need to run for public office at this time, specifically for council Seat 4.”

Cabreiro then withdrew from consideration, leaving Hall as the only candidate. Council member Roland Mastandrea made a motion to nominate Hall to the position, and council member Eddie Henley seconded the motion. The council approved Hall’s nomination with a 4-0 vote, but not before some expressed their disappointment with how everything went.

“You know, this seat’s been empty for six months...and almost every council meeting, I have tried to bring this council together to vote,” council member Randy Anderson said. “For six months, it’s not a big deal. Now we want to put someone in this chair when we know people have filed to run for this chair, and now we want to fill it. To me, I don’t agree with that because it wasn’t important for the last six months and now it’s important.

“It’s been empty for six months and it needs to continue to stay empty. We need to let the residents of the town select who goes to that chair.”

The residents of Orange Park will still be able to vote who takes the seat 4 on May. Hall will on the council until then, although she can run for the seat.

In other business, the council approved a reimbursement of $1,539,719 from CARES Act funding.

“This is reimbursement for all the overtime and extra money our public service staff had to spend for the COVID-19 thing so we’re getting paid back for money we’ve already expended so this is very good for the town.”