Anna Maria Mayor Mark Short weighed in with The Islander earlier in the week ending Nov. 9, stating, “The post office trailer is gone. It was demolished and hauled away.”
The trailer was moved in the nick of time, because on Veterans Day, the city planned to hold a gathering at City Pier Park, where the post office had put up its temporary office after hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.
Short said the city had its final parade preparations in motion and he expected “it to be a very nice event, including representation from all three island cities.”
Short said the weather might be a “bit cool and windy,” but “I hope that doesn’t keep people from attending” the event, which was to be held after The Islander’s press time this week.
Short also noted that Tampa Bay Marine was at the Anna Maria City Pier with a barge as of Nov. 6. The contractor was placing turbidity barriers in the water that day.
Also, the first round of pilings was on the TBM barge and the company planned to start piling placement soon.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth wrote to The Islander Nov. 6, saying she was waiting to hear from Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique, R-District 3, about a question The Islander posed earlier in the week.
The Islander noted equipment staging at the Kingfish Boat Ramp and that a cluster of Australian pine trees, including one holding what might be an active osprey nest, was circled with caution tape. Titsworth said she asked Siddique to intervene and halt any potential tree removal.
The mayor also rescinded an employment offer made for the city engineer position previously held by Sage Kamiya, who took a job in Sarasota. Meanwhile, Chad Minor, development director, is serving in the position “while we go back out in the search.”
Finally, Titsworth said city field, the dog parks and the ballpark — all to the north of city hall — were getting improvements and the city was completing a new pickleball court in the same area.