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Put away your dictionary.

Defining the word absent, in regards to Naples’ mayor, will not be on the November ballot.

Naples City Council on Monday decided not to put a charter amendment regarding the definition of an absent mayor on the ballot. Council instead came to a 6-1 consensus to create a policy that would determine when the vice mayor takes over for the mayor in his, or her, absence.

Councilman Bill Willkomm was the lone councilman in favor of putting the issue on the ballot. Willkomm, who raised the issue of changing the charter last month, had hoped to define absent as outside of Collier County.

“I don’t think there’s any difference in being in Tampa, Tallahassee or Timbuktu,” Willkomm said. “If you’re not here, then you shouldn’t have that authority when we have a vice mayor willing and able to take over those duties.”

The authority Willkomm referred to is the one given to the mayor in the city charter. According to the charter, the mayor has the authority to give the city manager directives when council isn’t convened. It also outlines if the mayor is absent or incapacitated, that power falls on the city’s vice mayor.

Willkomm’s request to look at the charter came last month after four council members wrote to Naples City Manager Bill Moss to ask him to stop work on an $8.6 million parking garage because two Cooper’s hawks were found nesting on the site. Moss opted to move forward with construction, saying it would not be intrusive and would not force the hawks to abandon the nest.

Naples Mayor Bill Barnett, who was out of town at the time, would have had the authority to order Moss to stop the construction or call an emergency meeting if he felt the need.

Under Willkomm’s proposal, Councilwoman Penny Taylor, who serves as the city’s vice mayor, would have been able to ask Moss to stop construction if she felt the need.

“I think we need to define absent,” she said. “We either need to take it out, or define it (because) it’s ambiguous.”

Council, however, decided they should be the ones to define absent, rather than the residents.

Rather than spending upwards of $10,000 to educate residents about a proposed charter amendment, council will interpret the charter how best they see fit.

This won’t be the first time the city clarifies its own charter, said City Attorney Bob Pritt. The city has done it at least once before, clarifying what types of development fit into the 42-foot height limit.