The city of Anna Maria is preparing for battle in Tallahassee.
The Anna Maria City Commission unanimously approved Jan. 26 an agreement to hire lobbyist Chip Case with Jefferson Monroe Consulting LLC of Tallahassee to fight a Senate bill that likely would undo the city’s vacation rental ordinance.
The agreement with Case runs five months, includes a $5,000 monthly retainer and provides reimbursement for travel and lodging expenses.
Case will campaign for opposition in the Legislature to the bill filed in December 2016 by state Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota.
Per the agreement, the commission also will be able to direct Case to lobby under the retainer on other legislation, including a House bill submitted by Rep. David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, that would allow unfettered regulation of vacation rentals by municipalities and county governments.
The lobbying agreement also allows either party to end the contract with 30 days’ notice.
Anna Maria has been embroiled in debate about vacation rentals for more than two years. At stake is an ordinance limiting short-term vacation rentals to an eight-person occupancy, among other stipulations, that went into effect April 1, 2016, after several months of discussion.
Steube’s bill would prevent municipalities from legislating against rentals and would negate city ordinances targeting vacation rentals adopted after June 1, 2011.
At the Jan. 26 commission meeting, two residents expressed support for the decision to hire a lobbyist and asked what residents can do to challenge SB188.
Ruth Uecker said she emailed Steube Jan. 23, asking him to talk with Anna Maria residents. Uecker said hiring a lobbyist is “certainly the right way to go” and she applauded the commission for taking up the fight.
“I would like to know what we as private citizens … can do to let this gentleman know that we are not going to roll over and let this happen,” Uecker added.
Resident Amy Tripp told commissioners, “Tell us what to do and we’ll be on it.”
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, who was absent from the Jan. 26 meeting, said Jan. 12 that the other two island mayors had turned down his offer to share the cost of the lobbyist.
However, city attorney Becky Vose suggested Jan. 26, with the lobbyist agreement in place, the city might again try to entice Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach to join the lobbying efforts.
Chair Doug Copeland said Anna Maria commissioners should reach out to commissioners in other cities. “It’s not a huge amount of money and if it brings the results we want … it’s a good investment,” Copeland said.
“This is too important. I’m glad we’re taking on different strategies to make our case,” Commissioner Dale Woodland said.
Woodland said he invited Steube to visit the city, but Steube suggested the commission instead visit him at his office.
Behind the lobbyist
Case, owner of the lobbying practice Jefferson Monroe Consulting LLC, has lobbied for the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and Florida Power and Light, among other clients.
He has consulted for the Republican Party of Florida and maintains a political consultancy for Florida legislative races.
As a lobbyist, Case will reach out to committee members set to hear the bill, attend committee and senate meetings, deliver notes and updates on committee meetings and discussions to Anna Maria and encourage senators to vote against the bill.
Citizens also were encouraged by the commission to campaign among their representatives by contacting Steube at 941-342-9162 or emailing him at steube.greg@flsenate.gov. The local Senate District 21, including Anna Maria Island, is represented by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. He can be reached at 941-741-3401 or galvano.bill@flsenate.gov.
Unless you live in a community close to these rentals, you don’t know how terrible it is – built by investors to cram dozens of people into them on a weekly basis.
We have sent out info about stopping it from our community, and have received support from thousands of people who will be voting in the next election to get rid of those who are beholden to the rental industry., and who are ignoring their constituents.
We live in a community that is zoned single-family residential, but we have transient groups of dozens of people parking on empty lots, leaving trash out earlier than the pick-up, having dogs in houses that don’t allow them (according to the rental website), and all kinds of noise, trespassing on private beach walkovers, etc.
The rental lobbyists for investors are powerful, but citizens are outraged that our representatives are ignoring our wishes. Take a look and you’ll see that virtually none of these “hotels” are homesteaded – they are operated purely for profit by big business. None are homesteaded in our community.
I live on the east coast of Florida, but having been keeping up with all the communities suffering from the incursion of short-term rentals in single-family communities.
Most of us, of course, have rented places – but there is a place for them, and they can’t be allowed to stuff 26 people into a home in a community that is comprised of full-time residents in an area zoned single-family.
Please contact your representatives in the Florida House and Senate and let them know you want to keep home rule!
To your comment, AMI resident, I’m not surprised at all there were so many votes for a lobbyist against rentals. Residents are angry about this violation of their community and want their representatives to listen to them, not do the bidding of the rental industry. Google the issue, and you’ll see people complaining about it all over the country! Not a trick at all.
Teresa, I understand your problem, but this is not the situation here on our island. If you take a look on VRBO, there are only 4 houses on the entire island to accommodate 26 people. The majority are 3 or 4 bedroom houses. We live between a 3 and a 6 bedroom rental and the people staying there are just friendly families on vacation. We never experienced any problems. They do not produce more “noise“ than any other average family. The complaints of a small group on the island are highly exaggerated. Also only in high season the rentals are fully occupied. In low season, when the rates are low, we see mostly elderly couples renting even the bigger houses. Some weeks the houses are not occupied at all. Regarding the rental homes on our street, we know all the families who own them. I don’t know what the big investor groups are that you are talking about. Some of the owners want to move here when they are retired, some want to set aside money to help with their child’s college costs. Of course these houses are not homesteaded. And lastly, this island is a vacation destination. We are very fortunate to live in this paradise and we love to share it with visiting families.
When we met with a group of friends for Superbowl we talked about island politics and how we think that it is a waste of taxpayer’s money to hire a lobbyist. Some of us voted then in the Sun Survey and we were surprised to find the numbers in favor for the lobbyist go up nearly every few seconds. For us voting a second time was not possible. We realized some kind of trick must have been used. It dawned on us that this must be the lobbyist’s work. Yesterday late in the evening (10:36 pm) there were 676 votes for the lobbyist and early this morning (6:28 am) they had added up to 744. Usually there are only about 50 to 100 votes in total in these polls. So now we pay 5000 $ a month for someone erasing a different opinion by manipulating the polls in our newspaper.