Lynn Hurtak (L) shakes hands with Meredith A. Freeman after city council’s 4-2 vote to appoint Hurtak to the council, on April 5, 2022. Credit: Photo by Justin Garcia

This morning, Tampa City Council voted 4-2 to place Lynn Hurtak in the vacant District 3 council seat, made absent after the resignation of John Dingfelder.

It came down to Hurtak and Meredith A. Freeman, a construction attorney who several sources said was mayor Castor’s favorite for the council seat.

Hurtak is a technical editor and consultant who has served in various capacities of City of Tampa government and neighborhood associations.

“What separated me is that council knows me,” Hurtak said after the vote. “I come in front of them to speak. I’ve sat with them on other boards and commissions, that the council thought highly enough of me to recommend me for the variance review board.”

With this nomination, Hurtak will take her seat at a council that previously comprised of only males.

Hurtak served on that variance board, as well as the Tampa Charter Review Commission. She’s a member of the ACLU and is the current vice president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association. In her application, the born-and-bred Tampeño told council that “service on City Council is the logical next step to continue my efforts toward making our city the thriving and inclusive community I believe it can be.”

Each candidate was given two minutes to speak their piece during the meeting; topics of discussion included the housing crisis, transportation issues in Tampa, and the lack of diversity on council, among other issues.

The council position was made vacant after former councilman Dingfelder was forced to resign as part of a public records lawsuit by a local developer. Several people who spoke at council, including some candidates decried the focus on his emails and his removal from the seat.

Hurtak said that she thinks that council members should be represented when facing lawsuits.

“I don’t think any any person who’s elected or appointed to public office should have to use their own money if they did something in their seat, to have to represent themselves or pay for their own representation,” Hurtak said.