Although four candidates for Marathon City Council have filed, signaling an interest in a seat on the dais, one has already pulled out. According to a work colleague at Marathon Auto Air, Jeanette Pelletier will withdraw from the race.
That leaves William Kelly III, Eric Myrmel and Daniel Zieg. Zieg leads the fundraising stakes with $3,100 in the bank, according to a report filed with the Supervisor of Elections earlier this month. He loaned himself $500 and collected $250 each from Marathon Mayor Dick Ramsay and his wife, Thea, and $500 from local real estate broker Ginger Henderson, her husband Bruce Schmitt and sister-in-law Didi Schmitt. Other local donors include Jim and Anita Hogue.
Candidate William Kelly has also started fundraising. He has financial support from family members, Ramsay and Greg Coldiron totaling $1,150.
Candidate Eric Myrmel raised $300 from two out-of-town donors in April. Myrmel was the first to file for the race at the beginning of the year.
“This is a wonderful community and I enjoy being a part of it. My interest in running for office started a couple of years ago when I helped other candidates by putting up election signs and collecting signatures,” Myrmel said.
Myrmel said one of his key interests is in protecting Marathon’s waterfront resources.
“We have beautiful waterfronts, great working waterfront and I want to see that continue,” he said.
Of his 12 years in Marathon, eight of them were spent on the hook in Boot Key Harbor; only recently did he move into a house ashore. Consequently, he said, he is sensitive to the needs of boaters as well as the concerns of law enforcement.
Myrmel came to the Keys by way of Virginia where he bought distressed Cici’s pizza franchises from the bank and rehabilitated them for sale.
“I did nine of them, one at a time,” he said.
In Marathon, Myrmel owns Shoreline, a boat and motor repair and sales firm. It buys and sells new and used boats and motors and offers repairs for both. He is raising his 5-year-old granddaughter, Malana.
Mugshot:
Eric Myrmel
