Commissioners will meet Dec. 1 to discuss the appointment process and again on Dec. 15 to make the appointment.
“We want to make sure the process is fair,” said City Manager Jason McHugh.
The appointed commissioner will serve until next year, when three commissioners will be up for election.
Wildwood’s city charter requires the vacated seat to be filled by commission appointment until the next scheduled election. The appointment must be made within 30 days of the resignation.
Mayor Ed Wolf said he will miss Harrison-Bivins, who also served as the city’s mayor pro tem.
“She sat there for 25 years, right in that seat,” he said, motioning toward a chair next to his.
A framed photo of Harrison-Bivins was displayed on the table in front of her seat at Monday’s commission meeting.
She was the city’s second-longest-serving commissioner after Wolf, who served for twice as long.
Earlier this year, Harrison-Bivins was recognized by the Florida League of Cities for her years of service.
A lifelong city resident, Harrison-Bivins was a 1973 Wildwood High School graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saint Leo University and a master of divinity degree from Payne Theological Seminary in Ohio.
She routinely delivered the invocation to begin commission meetings.
Until her retirement, she worked 38 years for Duke Energy, Florida Power Corporation and Progress Energy.
She focused on parks and recreation during her early years as a commissioner and during her tenure watched Wildwood’s population grow by 500 percent.