5 Anna Maria candidates prepare for Tuesday election with 3 seats at stake

ANNA MARIA -- Five candidates are vying for three seats on the Anna Maria City Commission during the Tuesday election.

Incumbent Anna Maria commissioners Doug Copeland, Carol Carter and Dale Woodland are in the race with artist/writer Penelope Naylor and real estate agent John Damato.

The top three vote getters will take office.

All three incumbents say they'd like to continue working on the city vacation rental ordinance, which passed in the spring but has been challenged.

Carter, 68, said she'd like to get the ordinance "firmly in place."

"I want to continue to preserve some green spaces as much as possible in the city of Anna Maria," she said. "I want to continue to work on the Home Sweet Home initiative."

Home Sweet Home is a new Anna Maria Island grassroots organization Carter created with Bradenton Beach Commissioner Janie Robertson and Holmes Beach Vice Chairwoman Jean Peelen to attract and keep residents.

HSH held an islandwide meeting Oct. 21 in Holmes Beach where officials and residents discussed challenges in attracting more residents to the 7-mile barrier island.

"It's very important for us to continue to draw full-time residents to the island and into the city if we're going to remain a real community, and not just a place for people to come and visit for a week or so," Carter said.

According to Woodland, the city of Anna Maria's greatest challenge is the vacation rental issue.

"We're always going to have issues -- there's always going to be pressures on this city because it's such a special place," the 67-year-old said. "One of the reasons I'm running is I not only love Anna Maria, but Anna Maria is still worth fighting for."

If re-elected, Woodland said he would focus on ways to better protect the city's residential character and the quality of life for residents.

Copeland, 69, said he's running for re-election because he's been effective.

"There's still some work that I would like to do," he said. "I was instrumental in getting the work started in Gulf Front Park. ... removing the exotics. I'd like to see that through. I think during the next two years we'll probably be facing having to do some repair/restoration with the pier. I would like to see that done."

Copeland said it is important to work on resurfacing city streets. He said he'd like to pursue grants to have professionals design a safer Pine Avenue, which he described as a traffic bottleneck.

"I tend to have a logical, rational mind," Copeland said when asked about his strengths. "I try to weigh what's best for the city and make decisions based on that."

Damato, who served as a Manatee County Sheriff's Office deputy in Anna Maria for six years before retiring and changing his career path, said he wants to serve the people of Anna Maria.

"I want to bring balance back to the commission. I want the city to have a strong stance on code violators because they need it," the 62-year-old said. "The city needs to maintain control so people do what's expected of them, so a builder will do what a builder's supposed to do. ... so people who permit projects for the city should do exactly what's on the project, nothing more."

Damato said his job as deputy was to keep Anna Maria safe and he would work to do the same as city commissioner.

"I humbly ask people to vote for me," Damato said. "I think I'll do a great job."

Naylor said the reason she's running for city commissioner is because she wanted to express her ideas.

"People are talking about themselves and their qualifications, but I didn't hear anybody give ideas," she said.

In Naylor's campaign letter, she said it's "up to the city to continue to define its future and protect its vision."

That's what she'll work for, Naylor wrote.

Naylor said she strongly supports the city's right to protect its zoning, limit building size and occupancy. In her campaign letter, Naylor also suggests the new vacation rental ordinance needs review "when the time is right."

"My greatest strength is that I'm a good problem solver," Naylor said. "It seems to me that everyone in Anna Maria has a mutual interest and that interest is to preserve this wonderful town the way we know it. We can direct that change."

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter@AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "5 Anna Maria candidates prepare for Tuesday election with 3 seats at stake ."