Anna Maria Island’s lone race in the November election will be based in Holmes Beach, where four people qualified to run for three commission seats by the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office’s Aug. 29 deadline.
The field includes incumbents Steven Oelfke, Terry Schaefer and Carol Soustek and political newcomer Jessica Patel.
The incumbents were the only candidates with the SEO for much of the qualifying window that ran Aug. 25-29 and then Patel submitted qualifying forms Aug. 28 and Aug. 29.
Patel has been a Holmes Beach resident for five years and is a vice president for the nonprofit Anna Maria Elementary Parent Teacher Organization.
Now that she has thrown her hat in the ring, voters will have four candidates to choose from for three seats, each for a two-year term.
Oelfke was on the city’s planning commission from December 2022 until he was appointed to the city commission in February to serve the remainder of Pat Morton’s term.
Morton moved to live near family in West Virginia.
If he wins his seat back in the Nov. 4 election, he will serve his first full two-year term on the board.
Schaefer was elected to the board in 2019 and was reelected in 2021 and 2023. If reelected, he will serve his fourth full term on the commission.
Soustek is the longest-tenured member of the city commission. She was originally appointed to the board in November 2014 and was reelected every other year to two-year terms 2015-2023.
If she wins reelection, she will serve a sixth full term on the dais.
Holmes Beach city commissioners are paid a $8,210 annual salary, but that figure increases yearly based on cost-of-living adjustments. Next year, that salary will increase to $8,340.04.
This year’s election will be 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The deadline to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 6.
Vote-by-mail ballots must be requested by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23.