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Stories this week on Anna Maria Island: Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Robert “Bob” Boyd and John “Capt. Red Beard” Swager, both longtime members of the Anna Maria Island Privateers at the ship, Skullywag. Islander Photo: Lisa Neff
Anna Maria Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus submitted qualifying papers earlier today to run for the remainder of his term in the event he is recalled from office on the same ballot.
The other candidate in the Sept. 7 special election is architect and longtime resident Gene Aubry.
To say the Holmes Beach police chief is miffed, would be an understatement, in the wake of the theft of the Holmes Beach skate park sign.
The sign depicts a portrait of former HBPD officer Pete Lannon, and honored his service to the city as its community officer and liaison to the Anna Maria Elementary School, prior to his death in 2007.
Yo, ho, ho, it’s the pirate’s life for Robert “Bob” Boyd.
Yo, ho, ho, it’s the pirate’s life for John “Capt. Red Beard” Swager.
Yo, ho, ho, it’s the pirate’s life for 56 other members of the Anna Maria Island Privateers, the merry and rowdy crew that plunders festivals and markets to bring home riches for Island youth and community.
In the coming year, the organization will mark its 40th anniversary.
With the recall election for Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus set for Sept. 7, the Anna Maria City Commission unanimously approved a resolution setting the qualifying dates for candidates seeking to run for the remainder of Stoltzfus’ term.
Qualifying began at 9 a.m. July 21 and concludes at noon July 30.
Anna Maria architect and 24-year Island resident Gene Aubry plans to qualify as a city commission candidate on the Sept. 7 ballot for the recall election of Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus.
Under Florida law, any candidate seeking to fill the remaining term of a recalled commissioner runs for the office on the same ballot as the recall vote. If the recall effort is defeated, Stoltzfus retains his seat, regardless of the number of votes any candidate receives.
Darrin Wash of Wash Family Construction is offering a reward for information regarding the theft of three signs he said were taken July 16 in Holmes Beach.
Golf-cart drivers near East Bay Drive might see some relief from a prohibition against golf carts on major streets in Holmes Beach.
A proposed golf-cart crossing would involve installing a path/boardwalk that would begin at the northernmost end of Avenue C behind Mike Norman Realty at the entrance to Grassy Point Preserve and go westbound on preserve land to the intersection of Gulf and East Bay drives.
Mark Enoch of United Park Services noticed a couple groups of people in the Manatee Public Beach parking lot July 21 snapping pictures of the concession building.
Curious, Enoch asked them why they were taking pictures of the building.
“We want to take pictures before the building is demolished,” Enoch said he was told.
Score a victory for the city of Anna Maria and city attorney Jim Dye.
The Florida Department of Community Affairs issued a ruling July 20 that determined Anna Maria’s method of computing density “is consistent with its comprehensive plan.”
City residents Robert and Nicky Hunt, through attorney Jeremy Anderson of Lobeck and Hanson PA of Sarasota, filed a complaint to the DCA Feb. 11, alleging that the city’s application of gross-density in the retail-office-residential district conflicted with the comprehensive plan policy adopted in 2007.
Property owners in the West Manatee Fire Rescue district can expect to see an increase in fees for service on their tax bills this year. For the 11th consecutive year since the WMFR was formed in 2000, the annual assessment for fire services is going up.
WMFR Chief Andy Price told district commissioners at their recent meeting that the minimum annual assessment for fire services is increasing by about 4 percent in the 2010-11 budget. The raise will bring in an additional $251,000 in revenue, he said.
Faced with a $747,000 decline in revenues for the 2010-11 fiscal year, Anna Maria city commissioners established a tentative millage for the coming budget year at 1.8665, a rate that is actually a 4.4 percent increase from the current 1.7882 millage rate.
The 1.8665 rollback rate allows the city to meet the same budget as last year.
Bradenton Beach Mayor Bob Bartelt wants a streamlined process for updating the city’s land-development code that makes the most of digital technologies and the required hearings.
City commissioners agree with the mayor’s plan, which involves city staff, the planning and zoning commission and ZNS Engineering, a consulting firm hired to help with the updating the land-development code. The LDC is a single document containing a variety of land-use regulations.
Historically, Floridians have placed great significance on their right to access the records and meetings of government. The state’s first public records law was codified in 1909, and the Sunshine Law, which requires that government meetings be open and noticed to the public, was passed in 1967, one of the first such laws in the nation.
Carolyne Norwood of Anna Maria wins the fifth week of The Islander’s Top Notch photo contest with this stop-action image of sandpipers on the march. She wins an Islander T-shirt, which can be picked up at the newspaper office, 5404 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach. And she is a nominee for the Top Notch grand prize. For more information about the contest, go to www.islander.org.
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