At large Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore received more than twice the votes as her opponent Sundae Knight in the Nov. 2 election.

“I’m shocked at the results, but thank goodness it’s over,” Whitmore said. “I ran a clean campaign, and I’m happy. I’ll keep up the hard work.”

Whitmore’s tally was 70,025 to Knight’s 31,656. She will be serving her second four-year term.

rowing facility at Lakewood Ranch that will be used by teams from all over the world, and Rex Jensen of Lakewood Ranch is building 20 soccer fields. These will attract visitors and promote business.”

Whitmore said she also is working with Blake Medical Center to establish a Level II trauma center and with Manatee Hospital to establish a residency program for LECOM students.

Holmes Beach

In Holmes Beach, incumbents Sandy Haas-Martens and John Monetti were the high vote getters.

“I thank everyone for supporting me, and I’ll continue to work hard for the citizens and the city,” Haas-Martens said. “I plan to keep our services for our citizens without raising taxes,”

“I find myself with relief, yet with a renewed sense of responsibility, upon having been re-elected to a third term,” Monetti said. “I must thank my wife, without whose continued support I could never find the necessary time to balance my commitments to my family, my community and my work.

“Of course, my greatest thanks goes to the citizens of Holmes Beach, who so strongly recognized my past efforts on their behalf by allowing me to continue to serve them and provide that common sense approach toward the position.”

Haas-Martens received 1,200 votes, Monett received 1,123 votes and challenger Jean Peelen received 626 votes. Haas-Martens, who retired in 1995 as a bank vice president and branch manager, has been a city commissioner since 1998, and Monetti, who is general manager of the Columbia restaurant on St. Armands Circle, was elected to the commission in 2006.

“I anticipate that the greatest challenge facing the commission over the next term will be budgetary challenges based on current economic conditions,” Monetti continued. “I must stress, though, that we are fortunate in Holmes Beach to be on very solid ground, and I have utmost confidence in our abilities to continue to provide exceptional service to our citizens.”

Haas-Martens, Monetti and Mayor Rich Bohnenberger, who had no opposition, will be sworn in at 8 a.m. on Nov. 15.

Political newcomer Mike Selby is now the mayor of Anna Maria.

“I’m humbled that people trust me enough and have faith in me enough to vote for me,” Selby said Tuesday night, in the middle of celebrating his victory with friends and supporters. “I’ll work hard to try to bring the city back together.”

Selby took 54.43 percent of the vote with a total of 509 to his opponent Sandy Mattick’s 45.56 or 426 votes.

Both Mattick and Selby worked hard to run clean, positive races and both reined in some of their more ardent supporters who might have crossed a line or two.

Mattick said she would work with Selby in any way he asked. She plans to continue to serve on the city’s planning and zoning board.

“I hope we can heal in this community now,” Mattick said. “And if Mike does what he said he’d do, we’ll be fine.”

As for Selby, he said he knows he’s got some big shoes to fill as he steps into outgoing Mayor Fran Barford’s place.

“But with the staff here, I feel I can make a difference. Now the hard work begins.”

The West Manatee Fire Commission will have one new face on the dais at its next meeting.

Challenger Scott Ricci, of Holmes Beach, won with 6,017 votes to incumbent Mike Mulyck’s 4,146 votes.

“I’m quite surprised,” Ricci said after the results were posted. “I thought I might have a chance, but nothing like this. I would like to thank all the folks who voted for me, and I’ll serve the position well.

“I’m the new kid on the block, and it will be a learning experience. I’ll be looking for ways to save taxpayers money, and I’ll encourage the commission to investigate the idea of consolidation.”

Ricci served as a volunteer firefighter for 10 years and as chairman of the fire commission in New Hampshire before he and his wife, Anne, moved to Holmes Beach in 1994.

Incumbents John Rigney and Larry Tyler both retained their seats. Rigney was the highest vote getter with 7,213 over Michael Carleton, and Tyler received 5,689 votes over Mondher Kobrosly’s 4,350.

“I’m happy that we ran a clean campaign and didn’t bash anyone who ran against us,” Rigney said. “I’m glad I can serve the firefighters and support them.

“We’ll continue to look at the budget and stay within our means. If anything can be cut we will do it, but not so it reduces the service we provide.”

“I hope we can get ourselves back to a normal course of business,” Tyler added. “And I would hope that the mud slinging by a certain individual and the rhetoric of false complaints and misinformation will cease and that integrity will continue to serve as one of the guiding principals of the district.”

“I welcome Scott as a newcomer, and with his background, he can be very influential with his input in running the district. I would hope that, as I said previously, all this misinformation can be set aside and we can continue to serve as one in the decision-making process for the betterment of the district.”

Tyler has been on the board since 1988 and Rigney has been on the board since 2002.

Fire Chief Andy Price pointed out, “People have to realize that fire commissioners have a job to do. Those who have been in office understand that job, and the new commissioner will learn what it takes to be a fire commissioner.

“You don’t realize the complexity of the issues and the requirements put on the fire district by state and federal mandates until you are able to be on the inside. People don’t see what we deal with on a daily basis. They think we sit around waiting for a call.”

BRADENTON BEACH – Jan Vosburgh scored a convincing win in her first election after serving several months as a city commissioner replacing Bob Bartelt on the commission when Bartelt took over as mayor earlier this year.

Vosburgh had 60 percent of the tally with 273 votes to Michael Harrington’s 182, or 40 percent of the vote. Vosburgh served on two charter review committees before being selected to serve out the rest of Bob Bartelt’s Ward 4 commission term when he took over as mayor. Harrington served on the city’s mooring field committee.

“I want to thank everyone who helped and supported me through this,” Vosburgh said after the election.

Bradenton Beach voters also approved eight amendments to the city charter. The amendments, and the vote totals were:

1. Requiring the mayor to make an annual state of the city report, 396-73;

2. Requiring an elected official to forfeit office before a legal proceeding against him or her is completed, 281-161;

3. Requiring candidates for a vacant office to live in the ward in which the vacancy occurred, 370-101;

4 Allowing elected officials to serve up to three full terms in addition to a partial one if the official is appointed to fill a vacancy, 361-117;

5 Requiring the city to adopt an ordinance to lease, acquire, dispose of or change the use of any city property, 341-115;

6 Eliminating the requirement that the city hold a special election within 120 days to consider an elector initiative or referendum and allow it to be placed on the next general or special election ballot, 271-170;

7. Establishing the maximum building height of 29 feet above the surface of the first habitable floor for commercial as well as residential structures, 314-147;

8. Making changes in spelling, capitalization and grammar in the charter as long as it does not effect the substantial content of the charter, 363-92.

Vosburgh and Ed Straight, the lone candidate for the Ward 2 seat held by Bob Connors, who decided not to run for another term, will be sworn in on Monday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m.

Island voters turned out in greater numbers than Manatee County voters taken as a whole.

In the county, with 202,713 registered voters, the turnout was 53.46 percent on Nov. 2.

On the Island, the turnout wasgreater, as 73.33 percent of the 1,331 voters cast their ballots in Precinct 91 at Roser Church.

In Holmes Beach north, with 1,611 voters registered, 62.5 percent of the voters in Precinct 92 voted at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, and in Precinct 93, of the 1,707 registered voters, 58.6 percent cast their ballots.

Bradenton Beach, Precinct 94 which votes at Tingley Library saw a 110.51 percent turnout of their 923 registered voters.

That percentage is official, but in truth, you have to divide the total 1020 votes cast by 2 since there were two ballots, according to the Supervisor of Elections office. That means that ther was actually a 55.25 percent turnout.

U.S. Senate

In the U.S. Senate race, taking a look at just Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate, Kendrick Meek, the Democratic canditate and Charlie Crist, running as NPA (no party affiliation,) the Island again was slightly different than the county as a whole.

Winner Rubio drew 49.47 percent to Meek’s 13.37 percent and Crist’s 36 percent.

In the Island precincts, the results in Precinct 91 were 49.74 percent for Rubio, 12.18 percent for Meek and 37.46 percent for Crist.

Precinct 92 broke down to 53.69 percent for Rubio, 10.8 percent for Meek and 35.23 percent for Crist.

Precinct 93 voted 48.88 percent of their ballots for Rubio, 11.79 percent for Meek and 37.80 percent for Crist.

In Bradenton Beach’s Precinct 94, Rubio drew 46.74 percent to Meek’s 12.82 percent and Crist’s 38.46 percent.

Island political pundits couldn’t help pointing out that either Meek or Crist alone might have won.

Governor

In the race for governor, the Island was not too far off from the percentages of the county as a whole where winner Rick Scott took 54.06 percent to Alex Sink’s 41.66 percent.

Island voters in Precinct 91 voted 52.3 percent for Scott versus 44.30 percent for Sink. In Precinct 92, it was 54.24 percent for Scott and 41.41 percent for Sink. Precinct 93 results were 54.12 percent for Scott and 41.65 percent for Sink. Precinct 94 was 50.89 percent Scott and 44.36 percent for Sink.

Amendment 4

Amendment 4, the so-called Hometown Democracy amendment, which if passed would have put every comprehensive plan amendment to voters for approval, went down in defeat in the county and around the state.

Manatee County voters nixed the amendment by a margin of 73.01 percent to 26.98 percent.