After four years serving as your faithful Town Councilmember, Mary Jane Benedetto vacated her seat on the Town Council on November 6, 2024. The Town Council marked this event by presenting her with a proclamation describing the great work she had done during her tenure.
She in turn expressed how she had enjoyed the experience of being a local elected official, remarking how special it had been to earn the votes of her fellow Orchid residents to win her seat in the election of 2020. She noted that the start of her time as Councilmember occurred amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and that a tremendous number of subjects had been tackled by the Town Council since then. She stated that she expected to miss sitting alongside the Town Council in the future, because she had found the meetings over the years very interesting. She emphasized how she'd enjoyed the process of successfully building a consensus from five different points of view at the dais. She also commented on her work with the Indian River County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which added to her knowledge of transportation and road infrastructure in the area. Finally, she thanked the Town Staff for their support, promising not to be a stranger at the Town Hall she had helped design and decorate.
The proclamation read as follows:
Whereas, on August 21, 2020, Orchid resident Mary Jane Benedetto qualified as a candidate for a seat on the Town Council, thereby adding her name to the ballot for the November 3rd election that year, in which local voters of Orchid elected her to the office of Councilmember for a four-year term; and
Whereas, Councilmember Benedetto, ever prepared and enthusiastic to be involved, hit the ground running from the moment she was sworn in on November 19, 2020, and hasn’t slowed down since; and
Whereas, she has stood out on the dais, not just for her impeccable sense of style, but particularly for her keen advocacy in favor of issues important to her on behalf of the community, including the safeguarding of the Town’s protective dune system; and
Whereas, her positive attitude, shrewd perception, and proactive mindset saw her appointed to a wide variety of responsibilities in which she worked closely with the Town Manager, including to hire a Town Clerk, design the new Town Hall, and finalize the sale of the former Town Hall, all while making herself available for routine staff needs.
Now therefore, the Town Council wishes to express its sincere gratitude for the manner in which she performed her duties over four years as Councilmember for the Town of Orchid; thus
Be it resolved, that the Town Council of the Town of Orchid, in a public meeting this 6th day of November in the year 2024, does hereby confer its very highest commendation upon:
Mary Jane Benedetto
