Holmes Beach has a new advisory board ready to improve and protect one of Anna Maria Island’s most valuable resources: its waters.
The city’s long-awaited Clean Water Ad Hoc Committee met for the first time Dec. 15 to introduce members, name officers and discuss a meeting schedule.
City commissioners first considered the committee in November 2020 at the suggestion of Commissioner Terry Schaefer and began accepting applications in February.
Now, over a year after the committee’s conception, the group has seven members, including:
- Anna Maria resident, businessman and Mote Marine Laboratory board member Robert Carter;
- Holmes Beach resident and retired naval officer Jeffrey Drinkard;
- Holmes Beach resident and foodservice administrator Nancy Flynn;
- Holmes Beach resident and National Marine Manufacturers Association board member Ron Huibers;
- Anna Maria resident John Kolojeski, the former deputy general counsel and chief of litigation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticides, Toxic Substances and Solid Waste Management;
- Palmetto resident and Center of Anna Maria Island director of development Jim McDaniel;
- Holmes Beach resident, former West Manatee Fire Rescue Commissioner and retired entrepreneur Scott Ricci.
Before the meeting, Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth thanked committee members for joining the board and stressed its importance.
“This is near and dear to my heart. I grew up playing in that bay every single day when I was a girl,” Titsworth said. “I’m still living on the same bay but it has changed tremendously.”
She said much of the marine life she experienced growing up on the island had vanished in recent years due to increasing water quality issues.
“It’s tragic what has happened to our waters,” she added.
After calling the meeting to order and introducing themselves, committee members named officers for their first year.
Kolojeski nominated Huibers to serve as chair and, without a competing nomination, Huibers was awarded the position without a vote.
Flynn nominated Carter to serve as vice chair. The motion also was approved without a vote due to a lack of other nominations.
Lastly, Carter nominated Flynn to serve as the committee’s secretary. Flynn accepted the nomination and won the position without contest.
Schaefer attended the meeting as the commission’s liaison. He thanked committee members for stepping up to protect the island’s waters and expressed hope that the group would inspire other local municipalities to do the same.
“It takes special people like you to step up and say, ‘I’m willing to spend and invest my time into finding answers,’” Schaefer said.
Committee members agreed to meet on the second Wednesday of every month at 10 a.m.
The committee will explore goals and objectives at its next meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive. The meeting is open to the public, with masks recommended.
