Sarasota gets a new mayor

By Andrew Warfield
| 5:00 a.m. November 16, 2023

Liz Alpert speaks after being awarded the key to the city by now-former mayor Kyle Battie just before she was named mayor for 2023-24.

Sarasota
News

As his one-year term as mayor of Sarasota expired on Monday, Kyle Battie handed the gavel to Liz Alpert, who will occupy the center chair of the City Commission Chamber dais for a second time.

During a statutory meeting on Monday, commissioners unanimously selected Alpert, who served as vice mayor over the past year, to be mayor and Jen Ahearn-Koch to be vice mayor for the coming year. Alpert was previously mayor in 2018-19. Ahearn-Koch held the gavel in 2019-20.

In Sarasota, the mayor is not an elected position; the mayor serves a one-year term and is selected by the City Commission.

The mayoral selection followed Alpert being awarded a key to the city by Battie, who cited her support and guidance during his year as mayor.

author

Andrew Warfield

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.