Anna Maria Island’s lone election this November will feature four candidates campaigning for three city commission seats in Holmes Beach.
Who is vying for those seats and why?
Voters will cast ballots Nov. 4 to decide three winners between newcomer Jessica Patel and incumbents Steve Oelfke, Terry Schaefer and Carol Soustek.
The Islander spoke over the week of Oct. 13 with Oelfke, Patel and Schaefer about their campaigns. Soustek did not respond to multiple recent attempts from The Islander to contact her.
Holmes Beach city commissioners are paid an $8,340.04 annual salary.
Polls will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the Island Library, 5701 Marina Drive.
Vote-by-mail ballots must be requested by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, and returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Meet the candidates:
Steve Oelfke
Oelfke
Oelfke grew up in the Maitland/Winter Springs area of Orlando and became a nursing home administrator.
He and his wife moved to Holmes Beach in 2011 and, after about a decade in the city, he got involved in municipal government by joining the city planning commission in December 2022.
He served in that role until he was appointed to the city commission in February. He will serve his first full two-year term on the board if he wins his seat back.
Oelfke told The Islander Oct. 17 that being a city commissioner had proven to be more of a challenge than being a planning commissioner, but he remained enthusiastic about facing that challenge.
He said his campaign motto, “Preserving Paradise,” highlights his approach to what he believes is the city’s biggest challenge: maintaining its quaint character despite ever-increasing tourism and growing vacation rental population.
Moving forward, Oelfke said another focus of his is to improve stormwater infrastructure and reformulate a basis for how the city collects assessment fees.
He said the current basis for such fees — a $2.95 charge for every 100 square feet of property — was unfair to property owners since it does not account for their individual impacts on drainage.
Oelfke said he also wants to increase public engagement in city matters by holding town halls to build a dialogue, as well as potentially moving commission meetings from their current 2 p.m. timeslot so more people can attend.
Jessica Patel
Patel
Patel is a University of Florida graduate who lived on the island in the 2000s, when she worked as a journalist, before moving away with her husband.
They moved back to the area with their two children in August 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patel is now the vice president of the AME Parent Teacher Organization and vice chair of the AME School Advisory Committee.
She told The Islander Oct. 17 that she and other residents did not feel represented in the city’s government, so she decided to throw her hat in the ring for a commission seat.
While Patel has not served in municipal government before, she said she is just as qualified as the other candidates due to her involvement in the city, problem-solving skills and experience in management.
She said she is excited to bring a fresh perspective to the city commission.
Patel echoed Oelfke’s sentiments about improving the city’s relationship with the public but added that she wanted to better the municipality’s relationships with the cities of Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach.
She said much of the talk about potentially consolidating island services has been combative and unproductive, but she’s willing to work and compromise with the other cities to holistically improve the island.
Patel said she also hopes to be more hands-on with addressing issues in the community than other commissioners and criticized the city’s cleanup efforts as slow following hurricanes Helene and Milton last year.
“When I see that there are things that need doing, I’m going to do it,” she said.
Terry Schaefer
Schaefer
Schaefer grew up in St. Louis, where he met his wife. He moved to Holmes Beach in 2006 and became a permanent resident in 2007.
The retired bank executive has always been active in his communities, having served for 16 years as a school board member in Belleville, Illinois, and 12 years as a board member of the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.
Eleven years after moving to the island, Schaefer got involved in local government by joining Holmes Beach’s Form of Government Ad-Hoc Committee.
He was elected to the city commission in 2019 and was reelected in 2021 and 2023. If he is reelected in 2025, he will serve his fourth full term on the commission.
Schaefer told The Islander Oct. 17 that, after six years on the dais, he still enjoys the challenge of serving as a city commissioner and — barring any unforeseen events — plans to continue doing so until he does not.
“I just like to be active and engaged,” he said. “I feel I’ve still got the passion for doing my part to stabilize and help make our city a little better every year.”
Schaefer said his proudest accomplishments after six years as a city commissioner are helping the city prevail in its opposition to Manatee County’s push for a parking garage at Manatee Public Beach and the state’s push to consolidate or dissolve the three island cities.
He said he believes the city’s biggest challenge moving forward is the defense of municipal home rule in the face of the state’s continual efforts to preempt it.
Schaefer, who has twice received the Florida League of Cities’ Home Rule Hero award for his efforts to preserve home rule, said he wants to continue fighting the good fight.
Carol Soustek
Soustek
Soustek is the longest-tenured member of the city commission and is seeking her sixth full term on the dais.
She first came to the island during childhood vacations away from her home in Tampa and moved to Holmes Beach in the 1990s.
After moving to the island, Soustek immediately got involved by joining Save Anna Maria Inc.’s efforts to oppose the construction of a “megabridge” across the Anna Maria Sound.
She also spent more than 30 years as a volunteer for Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch & Shorebird Monitoring.
Soustek became involved in municipal government in the early 2010s, when Mayor Carmel Monti appointed her to the city’s traffic and congestion committee.
By November 2014, she was appointed to the city commission. She was elected to her full first term as commissioner in 2015 and has been reelected every two years since.
As commissioner, Soustek has supported funding for the Center of Anna Maria Island, opposed attempts to build a parking garage at Manatee Public Beach and voted to maintain the city’s 1.99 millage rate for fiscal 2025-26 despite a decrease in assessed property values.
In Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach
In Anna Maria, Commissioners John Lynch, Kathleen Morgan-Johnson and Charlie Salem qualified for reelection without competition, so they will automatically retain their seats when their current terms expire.
Similarly, in Bradenton Beach, Mayor John Chappie, Commissioners Ralph Cole and Debbie Scaccianoce will retain their seats after qualifying for reelection without competition.
Commissioner Jan Vosburgh did not seek reelection and no other candidate qualified. So the commission will make an appointment.