Tuesday’s election shook things up at City Hall.
Sarasota’s five-member City Commission will have two new members, with challengers Liz Alpert and Shelli Freeland Eddie defeating incumbents in Tuesday’s city election.
The City Commission will now be stacked with five registered Democrats – four women and one man. It will also include two black commissioners in Mayor Willie Shaw and the new city commissioner, Eddie.
Alpert won in the city’s western District 2, with 53 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Eileen Normile with just under 47 percent, according to unofficial results from the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office.
In the city’s eastern District 3, Shelli Freeland Eddie defeated incumbent Stan Zimmerman by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent. Two charter amendments dealing with technical issues passed by a wide margin.
The election represented a fast reversal of a majority formed on the board nearly six months ago, when Zimmerman and Normile were appointed. They contributed to a solid majority that supporters expected to be tough on developers and more friendly toward homeowners.
The addition of Alpert and Eddie, both Sarasota attorneys, will likely shake up a board on which Vice Mayor Susan Chapman and the city’s neighborhood associations had gained influence in recent months.
“I think it’s going to definitely change the direction of the city,” Alpert said.
Alpert and Eddie were backed by an unlikely constellation of political allies, including Republicans and Democrats, police union officials and civil liberties activists, and business people.
Both Democratic and GOP organizations got involved in the race, though by statute, the races were nonpartisan. Alpert and Eddie are Democrats; the incumbents were Republicans.
The City Commission appears poised to move on several issues, including building fees, traffic and on ongoing feud with Sarasota County officials.
Also ahead will be the recently approved homelessness plan, which imagines a host of new housing efforts but seems to lack funding. A bayfront development effort has gathered some momentum but has not yet been fleshed out with details.
City commissioners serve four-year terms with a salary of about $26,000 per year.
Alpert, 66, is a Sarasota attorney who three years ago challenged state Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, for the House District 72. Alpert lost running as a Democrat.
Eddie, 41, will be the youngest of the commissioners. A former assistant state attorney in Sarasota County, she operates a private law practice and has served on the city’s Human Relations and Newtown Community Redevelopment Agency boards.
The toppled incumbents, Normile and Zimmerman, had been appointed to the City Commission last year to fill vacant seats.
Of 33,780 registered voters in the city, 6,313 cast ballots in the election, amounting to an 18 percent turnout.