MANATEE -- Mayoral candidate Bob Johnson took the lead late Tuesday in the Holmes Beach mayoral race, with 1,132 votes, or 58.2 percent of the ballots, over David Zaccagnino, who had 753 votes, or 38.7 percent, according to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections website.
In the city commission race, Judy Holmes Titsworth took the lead with 1,206 votes, or 31 percent, to Marvin Grossman's 1,036, or 26.63 percent. The top two vote-getters win seats on the commission.
Andy Sheridan came in third, with 810 votes, or 20.82 percent, with some vote-by-mail ballots still to be counted, the elections website said.
All 18 proposed charter amendments, which included those that officially added the city's 36-feet building height limitations and added dwelling-unit density restrictions to the city charter, passed with large margins.
"I spent a lot of time listening to the citizens of the island," said Johnson after his win. "And my plan for the future is to be their mayor, and to basically hold as a primary standard for the decisions we make, whether what we decide is oriented to preserving or changing the character of our island, the primary standard is to preserve."
Zaccagnino said he was looking forward to a little more leisure time.
"I'm just happy to have served Holmes Beach, and love Holmes Beach, and wish the best for Holmes Beach," he said. "Now, I will go make more money, and go fishing more now."
City commission winner Titsworth said: "We've got a new mayor. I think we are on the right track to everybody working together and making Holmes Beach once again a really good place to live."
Titsworth said she was also "very happy" the 18 amendments to the charter passed so overwhelmingly.
"They did a lot of work in going through our charter and a lot of them are changes to statutes, a few affected such things as height restriction and density," she said. "Everything else is pretty much cleaning up our charter. I'm really pleased all of it passed."
Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7031. Follow her on Twitter@sarawrites.
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