ANNA MARIA – In the city elections that concluded Tuesday, Nov. 5, Anna Maria voters adopted three charter amendments proposed by the Charter Review Commission.
Running with no opposition, incumbent Anna Maria Commissioner Carol Carter and former Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Jonathan Crane won city commission seats. A third commission seat will be filled by commission appointment in January.
Charter amendments
According to the unofficial results posted at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections website, 242 Anna Maria voters (91.32 percent) supported Anna Maria Amendment 1 and 23 voters (8.68 percent) opposed it. Anna Maria Amendment 1 said: “Shall the Anna Maria city charter be amended to provide that any city commission member or the mayor shall forfeit such office if he or she is found by the Florida Commission on Ethics to have violated any portion of the Code of Ethics for public officials and employees found in Chapter 112, Florida Statutes?”
A total of 228 voters (86.36 percent) supported Anna Maria Amendment 2 and 36 voters (13.64 percent) opposed it. Anna Maria Amendment 2 said: “Shall the Anna Maria city charter be amended to provide that the mayor’s appointment of a city treasurer shall be subject to the approval of the city commission?”
A total of 235 voters (89.02 percent) supported Anna Maria Amendment 3 and 29 voters 10.98 percent) opposed it. Anna Maria Amendment 3 said: “Shall the Anna Maria city charter be amended to make technical, corrective and conforming changes to the charter to correct scrivener’s and grammatical errors, conform city investment activity, the enactment of emergency ordinances, and certain referendum requirements to current state law, and add clarifications to make the charter easier to read and understand?”
As of August, the city of Anna Maria had 1,076 registered voters.
Commission seats
Carter will serve a fourth consecutive term and Crane will join a commission that also includes Commissioners Amy Tripp and Mark Short.
City Clerk LeAnne Addy said Carter and Crane will be sworn in at the city commission’s Dec. 5 organizational meeting. At that time, the newly-reconfigured commission will select a chair and a vice-chair. As vice-chair, Carter became the commission chair after Commissioner Brian Seymour resigned in August.
Looking ahead to her next term, Carter said, “I’m honored to serve the residents of Anna Maria for the fourth time. There’s much I want to do to help my neighbors:
- Present sea-level rise town hall meeting with John Englander on Dec 10;
- Continued lobbying for home rule with Florida legislators;
- Complete flash drive video for state legislators to illustrate the progress in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach on how well local home rule is working by inspecting and certifying vacation rentals for the health and safety of both visitors and residents;
- Present Love Anna Maria Island community programs starting with our Thanks-Living community dinner on Nov. 27;
- Continue representing Anna Maria with the Manasota League of Cities;
- and continue to support Mayor Dan Murphy’s efforts to get the new City Pier open and operating,” Carter said.
Crane recently resigned from his position as the Planning and Zoning Board chair in order to transition into his new role as a city commissioner.
“I’m very happy to be able to serve the people of Anna Maria in this new way,” Crane said.
Vacant seat
The soon-to-be-vacated commission seat that was not filled during this election cycle is currently held by multi-term Commissioner Dale Woodland. Woodland will vacate that seat in early December because he failed to qualify for the 2019 city elections.
The Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office disqualified Woodland after the qualifying period close because he paid his qualifying fee with a personal check instead of using a check drawn from a campaign account.
Woodland and Commissioner Doug Copeland will remain on the commission until the organizational meeting takes place on Dec. 5, and they will still participate in the Thursday, Nov. 14 commission meeting as voting members.
Addy said the seat being vacated by Woodland would be filled by commission appointment in early January. Woodland already said he will apply for the seat in hopes of getting appointed to the commission seat he’s been elected to several times in the past.
