Arthur Czyszczon, in his official capacity as Treasure Island City Commissioner v. City of Treasure Island; Lisa-Marie Kennedy, in her official capacity as Treasure Island City Clerk; Richard Matthew; Susan Lovelady; and Julie Marcus, in her official capacity as Supervisor of Elections of Pinellas County
The Second District held that section 100.361 requires strict, not substantial, compliance, and that a recall petition failing to designate a specific person as chair of the recall committee is invalid. It further held the petition failed even a substantial compliance standard, and that the clerk's substitution of an amended petition naming the chair violated the statutory bar on amending a petition after filing. Reversing the denial of a temporary injunction, the court found all four injunction elements satisfied and remanded with directions to enter the injunction.
Key facts
- Arthur Czyszczon was elected to a two-year term on the Treasure Island City Commission in March 2025; in December 2025 a recall petition was initiated against him under section 100.361, Florida Statutes, alleging misfeasance for sending unsolicited non-city text messages from a city-issued cell phone.
- The recall petition circulated in the first round did not designate any specific person as chair of the recall committee, as section 100.361(2)(c) requires; only a cover letter to the city clerk identified Susan Lovelady as chair.
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Holdings
- Section 100.361 demands strict compliance with its mandatory 'shall' provisions; the statute contains no substantial-compliance language and no provision excusing noncompliance for lack of…
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Why it matters
This decision resets the compliance standard for municipal recall petitions across the Second District and aligns it with the Fifth District's Burton v. Oates, while expressly rejecting the substantial-compliance dicta… — full analysis with a trial
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