City Council and Elections — Fellsmere, Florida

As of October 12, 2026, the Fellsmere City Council has five members: Mayor Jessica Salgado, Vice Mayor Fernando Herrera, Mayor Pro Tem Inocensia Hernandez, and Council Members Ben Baker and Shayla Macias.

The roster and titles come from the City of Fellsmere City Council page, which also gives one office number for the council, (772) 646-6301, and a fax line of (772) 571-8615. Council office hours are by appointment only, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, and the city website gives its address as 22 S. Orange Street in Fellsmere.

Three of the current seats were filled at the November 5, 2024 general election, when the Fellsmere race asked voters to pick three council members from five candidates. The state election night archive for Indian River County records 329 votes for Shayla Macias, 280 for Fernando Herrera and 222 for Jessica Salgado, out of 1,223 votes cast in the City of Fellsmere race, reported from a single Fellsmere precinct.

The mayor, vice mayor and mayor pro tem are titles held by sitting council members in Fellsmere rather than separately elected offices on the 2024 or 2026 ballots, which list only council member seats. The titles shown here are the ones the city published on October 12, 2026, and they can change after the November 2026 vote.

Fellsmere uses a Manager-Council form of government, adopted through a 2005 charter amendment, with the City Council setting policy and an appointed City Manager running daily operations from the city offices on Orange Street.

The City of Fellsmere Administration page names Armando Martinez as City Manager, reachable at 772-646-6303. The manager is the chief administrative official of the city and reports directly to the City Council. The manager is responsible for the day to day operations of Fellsmere and for all city personnel except the charter positions of City Clerk and City Attorney.

Budget work also runs through the manager in Fellsmere. The Administration page says the City Manager drafts and implements the annual budget, fosters and promotes economic development, gives the council professional advice on policy, and acts as the Executive Director of the Fellsmere Community Redevelopment Agency.

The City Clerk is the other office the council deals with every meeting. The City Clerk page lists Maria Suarez-Sanchez, CMC, as City Clerk and custodian of public records. The clerk reports directly to the City Council, attends its meetings or sends a designee, keeps the minutes, and authenticates and holds the Fellsmere Charter, ordinances and resolutions. The clerk also acts as Secretary to the Fellsmere Community Redevelopment Agency.

State spending reports show what the council and manager offices cost Fellsmere. In the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) expenditure workbook for the City of Fellsmere, the legislative account covers council costs and the executive account covers the manager's office.

The FY2024 figures are legislative spending of $111,308 and executive spending of $218,857, against a 2024 municipal population for Fellsmere of 4,990 in the same EDR sheet. The FY2021 figures are $95,470 legislative and $186,019 executive. The full Fellsmere budget and millage picture sits on the city budget page rather than here.

Fellsmere City Council meetings are listed on the city calendar at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, with workshops scheduled separately, such as the Comprehensive Plan Review Workshop at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, 2026.

On October 12, 2026 the City Council page listed a City Council Meeting on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 7 p.m. and the Comprehensive Plan Review Workshop that follows on October 21. For November the two city pages disagree: the council page lists a City Council Meeting on Thursday, November 19, 2026, while the City Clerk calendar lists one on Thursday, November 5, 2026, both at 7 p.m. The City Clerk calendar on the City of Fellsmere website is the place to confirm the November date before attending.

The City Clerk's Office in Fellsmere gives notice of all City Council and board meetings to council members, boards and the public as required by law, and keeps minutes of the proceedings. That duty tracks Florida Statutes 286.011, which declares meetings of public boards open to the public at all times, requires reasonable notice of all such meetings, and says minutes shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection.

Agendas and minutes for Fellsmere council meetings are published through the City Clerk section of the city website, which links an Agendas and Minutes page, a Boards and Committees page and a monthly calendar alongside the clerk's own contact details at 22 S. Orange Street.

The City of Fellsmere holds a general election on November 3, 2026 for three City Council seats, with candidates who qualified at the City Clerk's Office on Orange Street between July 30 and August 14, 2026.

The City Clerk administers elections for Fellsmere. The clerk's Election Information page says the qualifying period began on Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 8:00 am and ended on Friday, August 14, 2026 at 12 noon, with the City Clerk as qualifying officer and the qualifying location at the City Clerk's Office, 22 S. Orange Street, Fellsmere, FL 32948.

Four candidates qualified for the three Fellsmere seats. In the order the city lists them, with their qualifying dates, they are Fernando Herrera (August 4, 2026), Javi Murillo (August 12, 2026), Shayla Macias (August 12, 2026) and Jose M. Zamarripa (August 13, 2026). The 2024 Fellsmere race used the same format, asking voters to vote for 3 council members.

State law sets the default rules for Fellsmere's vote. Under Florida Statutes 100.3605, the Florida Election Code, chapters 97 to 106, governs a municipality's election in the absence of an applicable special act, charter or ordinance provision. The same statute lets the governing body of a municipality change the dates for qualifying and for the election of its members by ordinance. The Fellsmere Election Information page posts the City of Fellsmere Candidate Handbook 2026 and links the Florida Candidate and Treasurer Handbook and a Political Sign Permit page.

The Fellsmere council roster and titles on this page are due for a refresh after the November 3, 2026 vote, using the City of Fellsmere council page and the Supervisor of Elections results.

Fellsmere voters register, request mail ballots and find their polling place through the Indian River County Supervisor of Elections, while the City of Fellsmere offices on Orange Street and the Marian Fell Library are listed as places to pick up a registration application.

The City of Fellsmere Election Information page sends questions about voter registration, precincts, polling places and early voting to Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan at 772-226-4700. The Supervisor's list of voter registration agencies includes the City of Fellsmere at 22 S. Orange Street, (772) 646-6301, and the Marian Fell Library at 63 N. Cypress Street, (772) 783-6950. The Supervisor asks that completed applications be hand delivered or mailed to its Vero Beach office at 4375 43rd Avenue.

No early voting site for the 2026 general election is inside Fellsmere. The Supervisor's Upcoming Elections page lists early voting from October 19 to 31 at Sebastian City Hall (1225 Main Street), the Supervisor of Elections office, the Main Library Vero Beach and the Intergenerational Recreation Center in Vero Beach. On Election Day, November 3, polls are open 7:00 am to 7:00 pm and Fellsmere voters must vote at their assigned polling location.

Mail voting in Fellsmere carries a renewal step. The city's Election Information page notes that all mail ballot requests expired on December 31, 2024 and that voters wishing to vote by mail in the 2025 elections had to make a new request through VoteIndianRiver.gov or by calling 772-226-4700. Countywide registration rules, polling places and mail ballot detail are on the Indian River County Supervisor of Elections page.

Fellsmere council records, including minutes, ordinances and resolutions, are requested from the City Clerk, custodian of public records, by email at cityclerk@cityoffellsmere.org or by phone at 772-646-6301.

The City Clerk page gives the clerk's office hours as 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday or by appointment, closed daily for lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm, with a fax line of (772) 571-8615. The office is at 22 S. Orange Street in Fellsmere, the same address the city uses for candidate qualifying and the council office.

Because the Fellsmere clerk authenticates and keeps the Charter and every ordinance and resolution, requests for the text of those Fellsmere documents go to the same office. The City Clerk section links the city codes, bid and contract documents, special event permit applications and the Christmas in Fellsmere event page, all within the same Fellsmere City Clerk section.

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Fellsmere website.