Brown, Daly win Longboat Key Town Commission seats

Longboat Key voters chose the status quo in Tuesday’s Town Commission election.

Incumbent District 4 Town Commissioner Jack Daly retained his seat on the board after defeating Larry Grossman with 67% of the vote. Former Mayor Jim Brown will return to the dais March 22, after earning 605 more votes than Gene Jaleski and 59% of the vote for an at-large seat.

Jaleski, who served on the Town Commission in 2009 but resigned the following year, sought to replace outgoing Vice Mayor Phill Younger to fight any expansion of tourism uses on the island. Grossman, a retired planner who like Jaleski attends most Town Commission meetings, said he wanted to make sure the election was contested.

“In every committee, appointed position or elected position I have served in, I have been chosen to lead the group,” Brown said in an email to the Longboat Observer. “I believe I can continue to provide a service to the community, relying on the history and knowledge I have gained over the many years I have served.”

Daly said in an email his main  three priorities in his next term are continuing updates to the comprehensive plan, focusing on plans for the development of a cultural center and oversight of undergrounding island utilities.

Around noon on election day, Key voter Walter Hackett, who has lived on the Key since 1999 and served on the Planning and Zoning Board, praised the to-be winners.

“Jim Brown and Jack Daly are both solid, proven individuals,” Hackett said.

Brown is a former commissioner and mayor, and currently chairman of the P&Z Board. Daly has also served on the P&Z Board, as well as local condominium boards.

Jaleski, a former commissioner, ran a campaign in which he was staunch and vocal about limiting property density on the Key, as well as mixed-use redevelopment.

As residents cast their votes at Town Hall on Tuesday, Brown was outside, feeling optimistic about his chances while noting it was too early to make any judgments.

“I feel confident,” Brown said. “If not, I wouldn’t be running.”

Also at Town Hall, Jaleski said it was too early to comment on his own race, but he was happy to project that he believed the Colony referendum would lose by a considerable margin.

Jaleski criticized the current Town Commission, considering members too lax on issues like converting residential units to tourism units and increasing property densities.

Daly ran what was perhaps the most visible campaign in both commission elections this year, posting signs up and down the Key and speaking with voters outside of Town Hall during early voting.

“Be there. Talk to people,” Daly said, between chatting with voters on Tuesday. “You have to do that.”

He mentioned that Grossman had not campaigned similarly.