WELCOME BACK: Hellos and goodbyes

HELLOS
Higher taxes
Longboaters got a tax hike for the 2015 fiscal year. Property values rose 5.4% Keywide, but the higher tax rate was also the result of a 2.1763 millage rate that was 0.10003 mills higher than the prior rate to pay for pension costs and to increase the town’s operating fund to 90 days’ expenses.

Jack Daly
The Club Longboat resident and Planning and Zoning Board vice chairman announced he will seek the District 4 seat of the Longboat Key Town Commission that Mayor Jim Brown will term-limit out of in 2015. At press time, Daly was the only new candidate to qualify to run in the town’s March 10, 2015 general municipal election. Al Hixon and Gene Jaleski have picked up candidate paperwork but have not yet qualified to run.

Hazmat suits, respirators
The town has purchased 40 hazmat suits at a cost of $30 each and four respirators that hook into air masks at $900 apiece to use if firefighter/paramedics believe a patient may have the Ebola virus.

GOODBYES
Bicycle thefts
Bicycle thefts dropped over the summer following the arrest of Daniel Lee Upton, of Bradenton, who police say confessed to stealing bicycles throughout Longboat Key and Holmes Beach. Police used the license-plate recognition camera system installed more a year ago to make the arrest.

Upton remains in custody in the Manatee County Jail on charges of grand theft and obtaining money from a pawn broker by fraud.

Longboat Key Police Detective Capt. Kristina Roberts
Roberts celebrated her retirement July 7, after 31 years with the police department, including 12 years as an administrative captain and detective. Roberts built a reputation for her keen investigative skills and ability to build complex fraud cases, according to colleagues.

Managing Editor Kurt Schultheis
Former Longboat Observer Managing Editor Kurt Schultheis took on a new role this summer as managing editor of the East County Observer. Former Longboat Observer News Editor Robin Hartill is the new managing editor.

Dr. Pamela Letts
Letts retired May 5 and closed her Centre Shops Family Practice and Urgent Care. Letts’ 35-year career in medicine included six-and-a-half years at the former Bay Isles Medical Group before she opened her Centre Shops practice in 2003. Letts averaged 1,700 patients annually and estimates she treated at least 10,000 patients on the Key.

HELLOS AND GOODBYES
Vice Mayor Jack Duncan
Duncan, who holds the District 2 seat on the Longboat Key Town Commission, announced he would not seek a third and final term in July. Duncan reversed his decision and qualified in October to run after speaking with multiple individuals who urged him to seek another term.

Town Attorney Maggie Moonie-Portale
The town attorney announced her resignation in May, then agreed to stay after commissioners voted 5-2 on a show of support.

Let’s get digital
As we move toward 2015, the Observer newspapers continue to evolve to fit our readers’ preferences in content and technology.

Last season, the Observer revamped its video team and put a greater emphasis on putting more content on YourObserver.com faster.

As we welcome snowbirds back to the region, we hope our returning readers notice the strides we’ve made in the digital realm.

Top web articles
+ Homeowner shoots and kills intruder
Sarasota resident Christopher Bane heard a crash, and, shortly after, exchanged gunfire with an intruder, killing the man. Bane, a convicted felon, wasn’t permitted to have the weapon, and was promptly arrested.

+ Great white shark heads toward Sarasota
Mote scientists tagged a 2,300-pound great white shark named Katharine in August, near Cape Cod, Mass. She swam into the Gulf of Mexico this summer, but kept her distance from swimmers.

+ Work starts on downtown Sarasota Taco Bus
Sarasota entrepreneur Jesse Biter continues to transform the face of downtown with the iconic Tampa Mexican restaurant.

+ Donor sues the Ringling Museum
A priceless art collection. A $10 million exhibit. A lawsuit. Sarasota resident Helga Wall-Apelt’s fight to reclaim her philanthropic gifts from John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art put the organization in a rare — and bizarre — negative light this year.

+ Vagrant arrested for assaulting storeowner
As temperatures rose, so did tensions over a growing homeless population in downtown Sarasota. The conflict boiled over when Robert Robinson, a 53-year-old homeless man, threw Vom Fass owner Robert Kay through his storefront window during a scuffle.