Town to host meet and greet with board applicants

Longboat Key has three open positions for boards and committees that have attracted nine applicants.

By S.T. Cardinal
| 5:00 a.m. March 23, 2026

The Longboat Key Planning and Zoning Board at a November meeting. Nick Gladding, third from the right, is stepping down as he prepares to take his oath of office for Town Commission on March 23.

Longboat Key
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Right after the Town Commission of Longboat Key is reshaped, a meet and greet will be held with applicants interested in filling seats on various boards and committees and the new Commission.

A statutory meeting where new and returning commissioners take their oath of office and a new mayor and vice mayor will be chosen by the commission is set for 11 a.m., March 23, at Town Hall.

The meet and greet is scheduled after that at 1 p.m. Town Clerk Trish Shinkle said applicants will speak with the commission individually and that the meeting is open to the public.

There are nine applicants and three vacancies. Planning and Zoning Board has one vacancy, Consolidated Retirement System Board of Trustees has one vacancy and Sarasota/Manatee Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee has one vacancy.

Nick Gladding, who will take his oath of office to be the newest Town Commissioner at 11 a.m., March 23, will step down from his position on the Planning and Zoning Board. Kevin Giordano, Michael Lesberg, Mark Marcantano, Doreen Mitchell and Carolyn Pitt have applied to fill Gladding’s seat. The Planning and Zoning Board often serves as a stepping stone to the Town Commission, and outgoing mayor Ken Schneier said he envisions that tradition continuing.

With Eddie Abrams resigning from his position on the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Citizen Advisory Committee, two applicants have signaled their interest to fill that seat: Ronald Ginsberg and Marcantano.

The Consolidated Retirement System Board of Trustees is looking to fill the vacant seat left following Frank Cona’s resignation. Two have applied to fill the position: Norman Frost and Mancantano. The board was formed in 2014 and the nine-member board consists of one elected police officer representative, one elected firefighter representative, one elected general employee representative, five Town Commission appointed residents, and one Town Manager designee.

After speaking with all interested applicants, Town Commission will vote on who will fill the positions at its next regular meeting 10 a.m. April 6.

author

S.T. Cardinal

S.T. "Tommy" Cardinal is the Longboat Key news reporter. The Sarasota native earned a degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a minor in environmental studies. In Central Florida, Cardinal worked for a monthly newspaper covering downtown Orlando and College Park. He then worked for a weekly newspaper in coastal South Carolina where he earned South Carolina Press Association awards for his local government news coverage and photography.