Daly, Younger win commission seats

Jack Daly has a new title: Longboat Key District 4 commissioner.

And Phill Younger kept the title he has had for nearly five years: Longboat Key at-large commissioner.

Daly and Younger easily won seats on the Longboat Key Town Commission in the March 10 general municipal election.

Daly became the new face of the commission with 1,295 votes, or 71.95% of ballots cast, compared to challenger Larry Grossman’s 505 votes, or 28.05%.

Younger, meanwhile, held onto his seat with 1,379 votes, or 76.22% of the total, compared to the 430 votes, or 23.77% his challenger, Gene Jaleski, received.

Neither Grossman nor Jaleski had actively fundraised during the election.

Daly and Younger gathered with their supporters at the clubhouse of Club Longboat, where Daly has lived for 20 years.

Last year’s election, which featured two commission races and a referendum question about Sarasota County school funding, drew 36.29% of voters.

Daly, a retired engineering planner, attorney and former president and CEO of International U.S. Association of Pipelines, previously served as president of his condominium association for approximately 10 years and is currently vice chairman of the town’s Planning and Zoning Board. He was the only candidate who was a newcomer to running for the commission. In 2013, Grossman ran against Mayor Jim Brown, who has reached the term limit for the District 4 seat.

Younger, a Bayou resident, is an engineer and attorney who retired after 32 years with Delta Airlines. He ran for the commission unsuccessfully in March 2010 against incumbent Hal Lenobel but was then appointed to the commission two months later after Jaleski resigned from the seat just more than a year into his term.

Daly, Younger and Vice Mayor Jack Duncan, who did not have a challenger, will be sworn into their terms at the commission’s statutory meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].