A trio of petition initiatives have wound their way to the ballot in Bradenton Beach.
Bradenton Beach commissioners voted 5-0 April 18 to direct city attorney Ricinda Perry to submit three initiatives petitioned by the Keep Our Residential Neighborhoods political action committee to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office for placement on the next municipal ballot.
The KORN-sponsored initiatives are delayed charter amendment questions sought for the 2018 city ballot, including:
• Prohibit construction of a multilevel parking garage in the city;
• Require city commission vacancies be filled by election;
• Prevent construction within setbacks.
A fourth question, to establish a full-time city manager lacked the required number of verified signatures, according to the SOE.
KORN gathered 76 petition signatures for the initiative last summer, but 13 signatures were invalid, leaving the petition with 63 verified signatures — 10 less than the 73 required to place it on a ballot based on voter turnout during the prior election in 2017.
Signatures are determined invalid if they lack a date, address, birthdate or identification number; the signee is an ineligible voter or registered in a different district; or if the signatures are illegible.
The verification process involves matching the signature and residence information to the voter registration.
The signatures of former Bradenton Beach resident Reed Mapes, who serves as KORN chairman, as well as the signature of his wife Mary, were rejected on all four petitions because they no longer live in the city.
The proposed amendment prohibiting the construction of a multilevel parking garage received 88 signatures — 75 verified and 13 rejected signatures.
The proposed amendment requiring city commission vacancies be filled by election received 88 signatures, of which 76 were verified.
Eighty-four signatures, 10 of which were rejected, were collected for the third proposed amendment, which would prevent construction other than fences, driveways and storm drains in setbacks.
Bradenton Beach resident John Metz, who serves as KORN treasurer, emailed Mayor John Chappie April 10 seeking a meeting to discuss the SOE’s verification results, which were released April 4.
Chappie wrote in an email to Metz that because litigation was pending, it could not be discussed.
The three initiatives that passed SOE verification will be placed on the city ballot in November.
“We were happy (the initiatives passed), but there were a number of difficulties because the city unlawfully stopped these from being on the 2018 ballot, which resulted in some signatures getting rejected due to changes over time,” Metz said in an April 19 interview.
Metz said KORN would try to collect more signatures and correct the rejected signatures on the fourth initiative before the November election. He added there was a “good chance” KORN would petition for additional initiatives.