Competition over three Holmes Beach city commission seats may be stiff this November.
Three incumbents — Commission Chair Carol Soustek, Vice Chair Terry Schaefer and Commissioner Pat Morton — told The Islander the week of July 24 that they will run for reelection in the general election.
The window for qualifying in the election will open at noon Monday, Aug. 28, and close at noon Friday, Sept. 1.
To qualify for a commission seat, candidates must submit paperwork and fees to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office, 600 301 Blvd. W., Bradenton, including:
- A candidate oath;
- A statement of candidacy;
- Financial disclosure forms;
- A qualifying fee or certification of petition signatures equal to 1% of the voters in the municipality’s last election.
Candidates must have resided in the city for at least two years before they can qualify to run for office.
Nobody had filed candidacy forms with the elections office as of July 29, according to its website, votemanatee.com.
Nevertheless, the incumbents sound motivated to retain their seats.
Soustek told The Islander July 28 that Manatee County’s treatment of the city over its park-by-permit system made her decision to run for reelection “easy.”
“Their attacks are based on some of the decisions our commission made,” she said. “I’m not going to walk away from that. … We made our decisions based on facts, not stupidity, so I want to defend that.”
Soustek was appointed to the commission in 2014 to complete the unexpired term of David Zaccagnino, then reelected to her first full two-year term in 2015.
She has been reelected every two years since and, if she wins reelection in November, she’ll serve a fifth full term.
Schaefer was elected to the commission in November 2019 and was reelected in 2021.
He wrote in a July 27 email to The Islander that he plans to run for a third term on the board.
Morton told The Islander July 26 that he would run for reelection and wanted to “keep up the progress we’re making.”
Morton was first elected to the commission in 2003 and served 17 years before losing his seat in the 2020 election. He was elected to the board again in 2021 and could secure his 21st year as commissioner if this year’s reelection bid succeeds.
“I haven’t gotten enough punishment yet,” he jokingly said.
City commissioners currently receive $7,950 annual salaries but their pay will rise to $8,080 due to $130 annual salary increases based on cost-of-living adjustments and adopted in 2019.
If other candidates qualify to run, the city’s voters will decide the victors Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The deadline to register to vote in this year’s election is Tuesday, Oct. 10, and voters can request vote-by-mail ballots until 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26.
HB also seeks candidates for charter review board
Three Holmes Beach commission seats aren’t the only positions up for grabs.
This year, the city is seeking candidates for a five-member Holmes Beach Charter Review board.
The city charter is akin to a constitution and establishes the structure, functions and procedures of municipal government.
Every five years, a board is elected to review the document and implement potential changes. The last charter review board was formed in 2018.
If the board adopts a proposed charter amendment by a super-majority vote, it will be presented to the city commission for submission to the voters in the next general election.
Charter review members are not paid and the board will dissolve once the review is completed.