Two familiar faces have left the Holmes Beach City Commission.
Former Commissioners Jayne Christenson and Kim Rash received plaques from the city Oct. 25 honoring their service during their final city meeting.
Christenson became a resident in 2007 and a member of the city’s planning commission in 2017, during which she served a year as vice chair.
Christenson was elected to a two-year term as commissioner in 2020 and had qualified for reelection this year before announcing her withdrawal from the race in October, saying her decision to withdraw was over a balance between life and work.
“I have a demanding job in the biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing industry and have recently taken on even more people management and multimillion-dollar budget responsibility which requires extensive travel, limiting the time I have to dedicate to the city,” Christenson said.
Christenson said she was proudest of her efforts to reduce wasteful municipal spending and the millage rate, support for a ban on single-use plastics and revisions to strengthen the city’s noise ordinance, as well as opposition to rezoning the former Regions Bank and charging residents for an annual parking permit.
“I was not a ‘rubber stamper’ or a ‘seat warmer’ for the city administration,” Christenson said.
Christenson did not respond to a Nov. 3 email and text message, as well as a Nov. 4 text message, from The Islander.
Rash, the owner of a Kentucky fencing company, became a full-time resident in 2006 and won back-to-back terms on the city commission in 2018 and 2020.
Rash did not seek reelection this year, but indicated at the Oct. 25 meeting that he may run for office again in the future.
“This may be my last commission meeting at this time but there’s always next year to run,” he said. “I’m just taking a break to take care of my wife and some other things.”
Rash wrote in a Nov. 4 text message to The Islander that, over his first four years as a city commissioner, he was proudest of his “‘resident’ platform.”
“As I reached out as I bicycled and rode through the neighborhoods, I always let people know that I valued their input on city issues, and that I was there if they needed me. … I was a voice for the people and a voice of reason,” Rash wrote.
“I tried to make suggestions that would help to build an honest, transparent government and I made decisions that would help to maintain the character of the island,” he added.
Rash also wrote that he was proud of his efforts to help strengthen the city’s noise ordinance, promote improved sidewalks, as well as push for higher quality of work from contractors.
Both commissioners had distractions during their terms, with Christenson questioned over maintaining a home in Bradenton and the use of her residence on the island — shared with her mother — as a registered vacation rental.
Rash faced down a complaint from his neighbor in the duplex where he resides over noise complaints and other grievances, as well as an accusation that he urinated in public at the polling location in 2020.
Christenson and Rash’s seats will be filled by Daniel Diggins and Greg Kerchner. The pair qualified for the ballot and will automatically fill the two vacant seats Nov. 8. They were set to be sworn in alongside Mayor Judy Titsworth — entering her third two-year term — at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
