FULL STORY: Brown gets second term

Times may be a changing on Longboat Key, but not when it comes to the seating order for the Town Commission.

Mayor Jim Brown and Vice Mayor David Brenner retained their positions after commissioners voted unanimously to keep them in place at the Monday, March 26 statutory meeting. The meeting came six days after Brenner kept his District 3 seat by a margin of just 90 votes in a race against challenger Ray Rajewski. The rest of the commission remained unchanged as well, with commissioners Lynn Larson, Hal Lenobel and Pat Zunz running unopposed. Brown and commissioners Jack Duncan and Phill Younger have another year left in their terms.

At Monday’s meeting, Brenner made a motion to nominate Brown for another year in the mayor’s chair, which Duncan seconded. Duncan praised Brown for his leadership over the past 12 months.

“I feel very confident that you’ll lead us through some very interesting issues in the next year,” he said.

With no other nominations on the floor, the commission voted 7-0 to give Brown another year as mayor. Then, when it was time to choose the vice mayor, Zunz nominated Brenner, a motion that Larson seconded. The vote was also unanimous.

Brown and Brenner have led the commission through a multitude of changes in the past year, including the resignations of former Town Manager Bruce St. Denis and Planning, Zoning & Building Director Monica Simpson and the approval of a new Publix. The changing pace could gain momentum over the next year as the commission works toward addressing the town’s pension funds, beach-management plans, zoning code, Comprehensive Plan and wireless communications, to name a few issues, while also awaiting the outcome of legal battles over the Longboat Key Club and Resort’s $400 million Islandside redevelopment plan and the future of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort.

Brown expressed gratitude for the opportunity for a second term, thanking fellow commissioners, along with Town Attorney David Persson.

“This year, I’ve received a lot of nice words from people saying that I had handled the situation well,” he said. “All I can say is, I didn’t do it alone. I’ve had some great guidance from some great leadership.”

He also thanked Rajewski for running in the election, while also saying that he, himself, had never had to run against someone.

“We need more people to run for office to make the system work,” Brown said.

Brenner thanked his supporters for his second term but also had a message for those who didn’t vote for him.

“I want to reassure those who voted against me that I represent them as well,” he said.

The vice mayor expressed delight with the momentum created by plans for a new Publix, along with Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort’s soon-to-be-announced plans. But he urged less divisiveness, saying that there is too much “us” and too few “we” along with an underlying feeling “that the north and south ends are on separate planets.”

“There’s nothing that says we can’t have a level of civility in our discourse without it being personal,” he said.

The commission broke a five-year tradition last year when it voted 5-2 to select Brown, who was vice mayor at the time, as mayor over Commissioner Robert Siekmann. Siekmann was in his third and final term as a commissioner, while Brown was then beginning his second term as a commissioner. Siekmann resigned less than a week later, and the commission appointed Zunz to his District 5 seat.