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Tag: Holmes Beach mayoral election

Mayoral candidates outline differing views

Mayoral candidates outline differing views

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – This November will see incumbent Mayor Judy Titsworth facing off with political newcomer Mike Roth to see who voters decide to have represent them for the next two years. Before the ballots went out, both candidates stepped up at The Anna Maria Island Sun’s candidate forum to answer questions from the community.

Questions for the forum ranged from what each candidate thought about a city manager to the Holmes Beach budget, infrastructure and stormwater issues, and what makes them the best person to be the city’s mayor.

On the subject of a city manager, Titsworth said she feels that the Holmes Beach charter is strong with the support of strong department heads and employees. And while she doesn’t think there’s a need for a city manager right now, she said it wouldn’t be up to her to decide if it went to the voters or not. Roth said that he thinks a single manager across the entire Island could be beneficial to unite the cities in a long-term solution to handle some problems, including infrastructure and environmental efforts.

Both candidates agreed that the relationship between the city and Manatee County and Florida state leaders has changed in dynamic after the Aug. 20 primary election. Going forward, Titsworth said she expects the relationship to be much better among elected officials and she wants to work to make those relationships better. Roth said he also would want to work to help improve relationships among elected officials, but he doesn’t think that the results of the primary election halted the efforts of state and county officials to control Anna Maria Island. His concern, he said, is that he’s afraid the Island cities and residents will become complacent and think the threat has passed. While the results of the primary election are viewed by many as a win for Holmes Beach, Roth said he doesn’t think the attention on the city is gone.

On the topic of the budget, Titsworth said she still thinks there’s room to decrease the budget, but she doesn’t want to lower taxes too much and risk not being able to fund necessary infrastructure improvements. Without proper funding, she said infrastructure improvements could fall by the wayside, which could make flooding and other issues worse and negatively affect property values, which would in turn reduce the tax base for the city in the future. Titsworth said she doesn’t think it’s logical to try and save taxpayers a few hundred dollars now at the risk of costing them much more in the future. Costs aren’t going down, she said, but as a city taxpayer herself, she sees that it’s important to keep the budget as low as possible.

Roth said he feels that the city may not be approaching creating the budget in the best way. He said he doesn’t feel that the city is improving infrastructure to the point that residents feel it and he thinks there could be better ways of doing things that may not cost or inconvenience the taxpayers as much. Roth said some easy ways of improving infrastructure, such as more sidewalk improvements, could visibly help improve quality of life for residents.

To hear what each candidate had to say about these and other issues, visit The Sun’s Facebook page to watch the forum video in its entirety.

Titsworth shares re-election hopes, goals

Titsworth shares re-election hopes, goals

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Judy Titsworth has already served three terms as mayor, but she’s not ready to step down yet.

Titsworth is up for re-election on the November ballot and after running unopposed in 2020 and 2022, this year, she’ll face challenger Mike Roth.

“I feel that the community still needs me,” Titsworth said about her reasons for running for re-election. She noted that in her time as mayor, the city has worked to improve its failing infrastructure, reached a healthy reserve amount in case of a natural disaster, and worked to improve water quality with the Islanders 4 Clean Water campaign. One of the thing’s she’s most proud of is the revitalization of City Field with the creation of a larger dog park, installation of a new playground, bocce ball, pickleball and shuffleboard courts and the skatepark.

“That’s proof of what the community can do when it comes together,” she said, indicating the skatepark and accompanying skate bowl were funded by community members.

With good people in office and working behind the scenes at city hall, Titsworth said she feels that the community can continue to take steps forward into a future with a good quality of life for both residents and visitors. She does not, however, support having a community manager.

Titsworth said that a community manager, one city manager serving all three Anna Maria Island cities, would mean that the cities are consolidated, something she strongly opposes unless the voters band together and decide that’s what they want to do. “If the voters want it and are in favor of it, I’ll support it,” she said of consolidation, though Titsworth added that she hopes it never comes to that. If consolidation did happen, she said it would not only put a lot of people out of work, but it could also cost taxpayers more money to implement than it would save, remove current community protections and remove the character of the three Island cities. She fears that hiring a single manager for the Island would either lead to consolidation or be a disaster for employees and property owners.

“That would be extremely messy and everything would run at a snail’s pace,” she said of hiring a community manager for the Island, noting that one person would have to manage time and responsibilities across all three cities working with three different governments. “Nothing would ever get done.”

She did say that she feels there are more ways that the three cities can work together and streamline efforts to the benefit of the community, something she’d like to work on if leaders in Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach are amenable to the discussion.

One of the issues that has plagued the city for the past few years is a strained relationship with Manatee County leaders, a problem that bled over into the city’s relationship with Florida state leaders.

Titsworth said that issues with the county stem back to four years ago when she refused to publicly endorse then-county commission candidate Kevin Van Ostenbridge. Now a county commissioner and also running for re-election, Van Ostenbridge took the dais for the first time by announcing his plans to oppose the city of Holmes Beach on a parking garage at the county-owned Manatee Beach. The issue has since escalated the issue to the state Legislature, which approved a bill allowing county leaders to build a three-story garage at the beach without regard for the city’s approval processes. The relationship between the county and city has continued to deteriorate over the years.

“The only thing that’ll change those relationships is to elect people who care about relationships back in office,” Titsworth said. “Local politics shouldn’t be Republican and Democrat. It should only be about quality of life issues. Once it became where quality of life wasn’t the focus, environment wasn’t the focus and all it was is greed and power, this is why we’re where we are today.”

“As hard as I’ve tried to mend a relationship, they don’t want a relationship with the city of Holmes Beach,” Titsworth said of the Manatee County commission. “It’s like you’re trying to make friends with a wall and there’s no breaking down that wall at this point. It’s up to the voters.”

Another issue facing the city is development, something that she said she doesn’t disapprove of but feels must be controlled to preserve the quality of life for the city’s residents.

“I’m not against development. I’m against out of control development. We’re always going to have change; we’re always going to have to adapt,” she said. “You have to be a good steward to the community you’re building in and that’s where we see that divide. They don’t care anymore. And that’s where I’m going to continue to fight for the citizens. I’m going to continue to fight for quality of life. If accepting money from certain funds means we’re trading off on quality of life, I’m not going to accept that money. We’re doing alright. Our population’s on the rise. People want to live in Holmes Beach. So, we’re making the right decisions.”

The biggest issue facing the city, she said, is water quality. And while she said she’d love to reduce the millage rate, she’s more concerned about funding infrastructure to help preserve properties on the Island for years to come.

Titsworth said she’d love to see everyone in the community step up to do their part to help improve water quality, including reducing impervious surfaces and installing native plants.

Titsworth will be answering questions from the community at The Sun’s Holmes Beach Candidate Forum on Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. at city hall. Submit your questions by Monday, Aug. 26 to news@amisun.com.