- June 9, 2026
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To have a shot at advancing from the Sarasota City Commission at-large primary to the November General Election, candidates must first run the gauntlet of the Coalition of City Neighborhoods Association forum.
Held June 6, at the recently renovated Bayfront Community Center, five candidates for the two at-large seats at the dais — Flo Entler, John Harshman, Rob Rominiecki, Jaime Loomis and incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch — faced more than 100 CCNA members. In a two-hour panel-style discussion, they addressed matters such as affordable housing, development approval processes, funded park districts, vacation rentals, a new performing arts center and the prime issue of the day — potential property tax reduction — all in an attempt to distinguish themselves from one another.
The candidates had two minutes to answer each question and two more minutes each to make their final pitch at the end of the forum.
As it turned out, they are in general agreement about most key policy issues. They also found nothing to debate as each had access to one rebuttal, none of them deployed.
Absent such differentiation, some of the candidates can rely in part on name recognition as the Aug. 18 primary draws near. Incumbent Ahearn-Koch has nearly a quarter-century of community involvement and elected office exposure as she runs for her third four-year term in one of two citywide-elected seats. She is joined by Entler, a long-time Arlington Park neighborhood advocate and leader, and Harshman, a commercial real estate firm owner of more than four decades.
Rominiecki has a familiar last name and deep connections as husband of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens President Jennifer Rominiecki. He was also a security and safety consultant and former director of security at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Meanwhile, newcomer Jaime Loomis, a doctor of physical therapy and clinic owner and certified professional trainer, moved to Sarasota in 2022.
The commission will have at least one new member this fall as one-term commissioner and current mayor Debbie Trice, as facilitator and CCNA President Kelly Brown said at the onset, “as of right this minute, is not re-running. So these wonderful people right here have decided that they'd like to be a city commissioner, and we're going to talk with them today.”
City voters will cast ballots for two of the five candidates in the primary. The three top vote recipients will advance to the general election on Nov. 3, when voters may again select from two of the three finalists.
Ahearn-Koch is a two-term incumbent and former Planning Board member whose parents moved to Sarasota in 1970 where she attended high school before earning degrees at American University in Paris, France and Columbia University in New York City. She returned to Sarasota in 1996 as art director of Asolo Repertory Theatre before starting her own company, JNK Consultants, and entered neighborhood advocacy realm in 2001 in opposition to a development. She was re-elected to her second City Commission term in 2022.
A Long Island, New York native and resident of Sarasota for 37 years, Entler is a long-time advocate and current president of the Arlington Park Neighborhood Association and served as second vice president of the CCNA before resigning to run for office. A frequent public speaker at City Commission meetings, she is a neighborhood activist whose professional experience includes bookkeeping, law office administration, advertising sales and human resources. She owns and operates a small business as a fitness instructor, coach and personal trainer.
Owner of Harshman & Company, a commercial real estate firm, the University of South Florida graduate and Dayton, Ohio native has lived in Sarasota for 42 years. He says he hitchhiked to Sarasota with $20 in his pocket and put himself through college. He has served on a number of not-for-profit boards, including the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, Association of Downtown Commercial Property Owners, Downtown Sarasota Alliance, Sarasota Community Redevelopment Advisory Board, Sarasota County Environmental Lands Oversight Committee, Sarasota Ballet and more. In his spare time, he said he has taught taekwondo for 25 years to hundreds of Sarasota students and adults, and won a national championship in sparring.
A doctor of physical therapy and certified professional trainer, Loomis is the lead clinician of Tideline Sports Performance and owner of physical therapy clinic TheraTrain. Moving to Sarasota in 2022, she has worked and lived in multiple locations across the country from Vero Beach to Waikiki and has been a physical therapist for 14 years. She says the qualities she will bring from her profession to the City Commission include listening with intent, thinking critically under pressure and devising practical solutions to problems.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Rominiecki spent 15 years at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan where he served as director of security in charge of protection and preservation of the $8 billion art collection and safety training of more than 500 employees. He moved to Sarasota in 2015 with his wife, Jennifer, when she was named president and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. He is self-employed as a consultant for security, safety and museum operations, which enabled him to become a stay-at-home father to their two sons.
