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Tag: Bradenton Beach election

Bradenton Beach candidates win, running unopposed

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Running unopposed, Mayor John Chappie, Commissioner Jake Spooner and former Commissioner Jan Vosburgh each claimed two-year commission terms in a city that had no city elections this year.

Chappie, Spooner and Vosburgh will be sworn in at Bradenton Beach City Hall on Monday, Nov. 18 at 3:30 p.m.

Bradenton Beach candidates win running unopposed
Jake Spooner will serve a third term as Bradenton Beach commissioner. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Chappie, a former mayor and county commissioner, will be serving his second consecutive current term as mayor after defeating then-Mayor Bill Shearon in 2017.

Bradenton Beach candidates win running unopposed
Former commissioner Jan Vosburgh will return to the commission this month. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Spooner, a local business owner, will be serving his third consecutive term as a commissioner. He has run unopposed in each of his three commission campaigns.

Vosburgh will return to the commission after term-limiting out of office three years ago.

As city commission members, Chappie, Spooner and Vosburgh will also serve on the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) that has several CRA-funded projects in the works and in the planning stages.

Bradenton Beach candidates win running unopposed
John Chappie will serve a second consecutive term as the mayor of Bradenton Beach. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Vosburgh will take over the Ward 3 seat currently held by one-term Commissioner Randy White, who opted not to seek reelection. White works as a commercial airline pilot based out of New York and his wife is a Canadian citizen who lives in Toronto – a city he often spends time in while visiting her.

“I’m looking forward to serving the citizens of Bradenton Beach again, joining Mayor John Chappie and the other commissioners. I was a commissioner for six and a half years, so it shouldn’t take long to catch up,” Vosburgh said.

Chappie will seek a second term as mayor

Chappie will seek a second term as mayor

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Mayor John Chappie will seek reelection in the 2019 city elections.

“I do plan on running for a second term as mayor. I’ll be filling out my initial paperwork this week and my final paperwork during qualifying week in late August,” Chappie told The Sun on Sunday.

“During the last couple years, our community has been faced with difficult challenges that go to the core of good government and our city has risen to the challenges. We have defended people’s constitutional right to an open and transparent government,” Chappie said.

“In the past two years, we’ve corrected financial issues experienced by past administrations and we received the highest positive comments during our most recent financial audit thanks to our great administrative department led by City Clerk Terri Sanclemente.

“In recent years, we have received over $3.5 million from numerous sources other than our property taxes for capital improvement projects such as stormwater, the floating dock, the boat lift we’ll install for our police boat, seagrass mitigation and storm hardening for our city buildings,” Chappie said.

“Our CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) board is moving forward with major projects using incremental tax dollars the county would have kept had we not had a CRA district,” he added.

“Much has been done in the past two years, there’s much to be done and I want to be a part of it. Hopefully, the people of Bradenton Beach will choose me to continue as the mayor of our city,” Chappie said of his desire to serve another two-year term.

Spooner files paperwork

On Thursday, Aug. 8, Vice Mayor and Ward 1 Commissioner Jake Spooner opened his campaign checking account and deposited $5,000 as a loan from himself to his campaign.

Spooner then drove over to the Supervisor of Elections Office in Bradenton and filed the form stating he will serve as his own campaign treasurer. He also filed the statement of candidate form that acknowledges he understands the campaign finance requirements contained in Chapter 106 of Florida Statutes.

Commissioner White

Incumbent Commissioner Randy White has not indicated whether he will seek a second term in office. White has missed several city meetings in recent months. He has also participated in several meetings by phone during the past six months.

White is a commercial airline pilot based out of New York. In 2018, White told The Sun his wife is a Canadian resident who lives in Toronto and occasionally visits Bradenton Beach.

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Bradenton beach swearing in Cole

Cole and Maro sworn in

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – As a result of their successful re-election bids, incumbent City Commissioners Ralph Cole and Marilyn Maro were sworn into their new two-year commissioner terms on Monday, Nov. 19.

Bradenton Beach swearing in Maro
City Commissioner Marilyn Maro recites the oath of office to City Clerk Terri Sanclemente. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Cole and Maro were the top two vote-getters in the recent at-large city election that also included candidates Tjet Martin and John Metz.

For the next year at least, Cole and Maro will serve with Mayor John Chappie and commissioners Jake Spooner and Randy White, whose current terms expire in November 2019.

Led by City Clerk Terri Sanclemente, the swearing-in ceremonies took place at 1 p.m. at city hall.

Cole and Maro were both asked to take the oath of office that said, “I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida; that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State and the Charter of the city of Bradenton Beach; and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of the position which I am about to enter.”

Cole and Maro also took the recipient of public funds oath that said, “I, Ralph Cole/Marilyn Maro, a citizen of the state of Florida and of the United States of America, and being employed as an officer of the city of Bradenton Beach, Florida, and a recipient of public funds as such employee or officer, do hereby solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Florida.”

Because of the mandatory statewide election recount process that concluded in Manatee County late Friday afternoon, Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett and the election canvassing board could not certify the county election results until Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning, City Clerk Terri Sanclemente received via email from the elections office the certificate of county canvassing notice. Sunday’s certification allowed Monday’s swearing-in ceremony to proceed as scheduled.

When contacted Friday evening, Bennett said the only change in the voting results were two additional votes cast in favor of U.S. Senate candidate Bill Nelson. Bennett said the county recount produced no changes to the outcomes of any of the races or ballot initiatives Manatee County voters voted on.

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