Bill Barnett

Council Member Bill Barnett served on City Council from 1984 to 1992 and then as Mayor from 1996 to 2000, and 2004 to 2012. He has been a resident of Naples since 1973, and was the Toyota-BMW dealer until 1983. Mr. Barnett’s extensive civic involvement has in particular included helping the Guardian Ad Litem program start in Collier County, he was the Naples Daily News Citizen of The Year in 1992, and he was chosen as one of the Men and Women of the Year by Gulfshore Life Magazine in 2005. He is currently chairman of the Holocaust Museum of Southwest Florida’s Advisory Board and continues to be active in many other organizations. He has raised millions of dollars for local charities as a celebrity auctioneer. On March 4, 2012, he became the recipient of the annual Community Leadership Award from Beth Tikvah Synagogue. Mr. Barnett and his wife Chris have five children and eight grandchildren.

He started his career as an automobile sales person in 1963 with Ford, and moved to Chevrolet in 1967 and became part of management. He moved to Naples Florida in 1973 and bought the Toyota Dealership in 1975, and acquired BMW in 1978. I sold the dealership in 1983, and entered local politics by being elected to a seat on the Naples City Council in 1984. He served eight years on Council and termed out in 1992. He then ran for and was elected Mayor in 1996 and served until 2000 and was termed out. He then ran for Mayor again in 2004 and was elected and I served until 2012 and was termed out. He is currently a City Council member and my term will be up in 2016.