Taking a trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida? You can find everything from horseback rides to airplane rides right on the sides of the road. Soon, that might change.
Longboat Key Town Manager Tom Harmer and Mayor Ken Schneier earned recognition Thursday morning for advocating on behalf of the town during the Florida legislative session.
Harmer and Schneier each received the Florida League of Cities Home Rule Hero Award during Thursday’s ManaSota League of Cities meeting inside the chambers of Longboat Key’s Town Hall.
“I think it’s a team effort,” Harmer said. “The whole legislative session is so active with bills being proposed, being amended, moving forward, not moving forward, and so it takes a lot of eyes and ears on it.”
Harmer received his award in person. Schneier was out of town.
Wade Vose, representing the city of Anna Maria, attends a March 1 meeting via Zoom, addressing the issue of a charter county government. Islander Photo: Amy V.T. Moriarty
Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse March 3 stood down his fact-finding mission to implement a county charter government.
The move came two days after Kruse attended a meeting hosted by the city of Anna Maria with a city attorney, Wade Vose, via Zoom, who detailed the ramifications for the city of a charter county government.
A charter county is a county with a unique set of laws that forms the legal basis of its government. Resembling state or federal constitutions, charters and amendments must be approved by 50%-plus one of county voters. According to Kruse, 80% of counties in the state are charter county governments.