PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — I wanted to know why the City Council is voting on a new police chief’s contract before the current chief, Richard Del Toro, finds out if he has a new job in January.

I spoke with some of the council members who told me the group was originally scheduled to vote on the contract to promote Deputy Chief Leo Niemczyk to chief on Wednesday and then be sworn in.

But Councilman Anthony Bonna said the vote was postponed until Tuesday to give members more time to discuss the contract.

This way, he says, the council can resolve any concerns before swearing in Niemczyk.

I asked Bonna about the optics. Why ratify the contract of Del Toro’s successor before it is known whether he will be elected sheriff?

“I myself would have made the calendar differently. The sheriff isn’t sworn in until January and the election is tomorrow,” Councilman Bonna said. “And so there’s a lot of time to space this out.”

Councilman Bonna says he hopes Niemczyk’s contract is approved and Del Toro wins the sheriff’s race.

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If that happens, Bonna will propose elevating Del Toro’s current title from acting chief to chief, to honor his 26 years of service to the department.

Del Toro was named acting chief instead of chief because he was already a candidate for sheriff when he was promoted.