HOLMES BEACH – Rainy weather and a hole in the Anna Maria Island Bridge couldn’t stop the four city commission candidates from coming out to The Sun’s candidate forum or the public from coming to hear their answers to questions.
More than 40 people gathered at Holmes Beach City Hall on Aug. 28 to hear what candidates Dan Diggins, Steve Oelfke, Bill Romberger and Carol Whitmore had to say. Candidates answered questions from the community ranging from what they think about the city’s budget and millage rate to consolidation, parking garages and Manatee County tourist tax funding.
All four of the candidates agreed that the results of the Aug. 20 primary election changed the dynamic of the city’s relationship with county and state elected officials.
Both Oelfke and Whitmore said that a strength they bring to the table is being able to foster good relationships among people at all levels. Romberger said he feels the best thing to do is “to stand strong and foster some kind of mutual respect.”
Incumbent Commissioner Dan Diggins said he felt that a lot of the issues between the city and the county had to do with a single commissioner who lost in the primary race, which he said should help the relationship. One thing Diggins thinks would help remedy some of the relationship issues would be for some of the tourist development tax funds, also known as bed tax funds, to come back to the Anna Maria Island communities. City officials have long said that Holmes Beach is one of the largest contributors to the tax funds but sees the least amount in return. Whitmore noted that according to state law, the tax funds can only be used to fund something concerning tourism, such as improvements or advertising directly related to tourism.
Another thing they all agreed on is that none of them are in favor of a proposed parking garage at the county-owned Manatee Beach or the consolidation of the three Island cities. While Romberger said he’d be willing to look at consolidation of services if it would be beneficial to residents in all three cities, Diggins questioned at what cost consolidation of services would come to taxpayers. He also questioned whether the three Island mayors would be willing to give up any of their city’s services in order to consolidate services. He suggested having interlocal agreements for shared equipment or services. Oelfke said he agreed with Diggins that some items could be shared and that he would be open to looking outside the box to find different solutions to save taxpayers money.
Concerns among residents about stormwater were also addressed by the commission candidates.
Romberger said he sees the city trying to help with stormwater accumulation and flooding, but there’s only so much that can be done. Whitmore agreed that she would be in favor of raising elevation when building new homes or building higher sea wall caps to try and help keep water from flooding residences and businesses. Diggins said that he also believes in climate change but thinks a lot of the flooding on the Island is caused by too much impervious surface and the Island being very close to sea level. The combination of heavy rains and high tides causes a difficult problem to battle for the city and its residents. Oelfke said he’s very encouraged hearing the work that the city is doing to fix ailing infrastructure, but he said that rain on an ordinary day should never cause houses to flood. That is, he said, a priority issue to be addressed by city leaders, to make sure that the storm drains are working properly.
Visit The Sun’s Facebook page to watch the forum in its entirety.
