BOCC Appoints Two New Members to County Planning Commission

BRADENTON — Richard Bedford and Lorraine Prosser were selected to fill two seats on the Manatee County Planning Commission. The individuals were appointed after receiving unanimous support from commissioners during Tuesday's meeting.

Commissioner Ray Turner nominated Bedford to fill his former seat on the planning commission. The vacancy was created when Turner was appointed by the governor as the county’s new District 5 commissioner following the resignation of Vanessa Baugh from that seat.

Bedford is an architect and real estate/land use consultant who has previously served on the City of Bradenton’s Planning Commission.

Commissioner James Satcher nominated Prosser, a resident of his District 1, for a planning commission seat that will become available in a couple of months. The seat is currently filled by Planning Commissioner William Conerly, whose term expires in October. Conerly has declined to seek renewal of his appointment.

Prosser is a certified building contractor and serves on several Parrish community boards, including as the Vice President of the Parrish Historical Society, the Vice President of the Parrish Rural Development Committee, and, as a Parrish Civic Association board member, served as liaison to the county for the design of the Parrish Community Park. She also serves as chair of the Beautification Committee, where she is liaison to the BOCC.

Although both nominations were supported unanimously by commissioners, one commissioner expressed his displeasure with how the application process for the available seats was undertaken and how quickly the board’s chair moved to close nominations during Tuesday’s meeting.

Commissioner George Kruse told commissioners he intended to nominate local affordable housing and tiny home advocate Glen Gibellina, but was unable to make the nomination due to the quick closure of nominations.

While Kruse said he did not anticipate a nomination of Gibellina would garner enough support to receive the appointment, he expressed a belief that the diversity of perspective and input that Gibellina might bring to the planning commission made him worth consideration.

Continuing his comments, Kruse added that he felt the process of collecting and reviewing applications for the available planning commission seats was “kind of ridiculous.”

Running through the timeline of events for the application submission deadline, Kruse detailed how the seat currently held by Conerly was advertised with a submission deadline of August 25. However, when Turner’s former seat on the planning commission became vacant about a week later, said Kruse, both seats were then advertised with an application closing date just a week following—moving the deadline up by three weeks, to Aug 4.

Kruse added that he did not recall receiving any emails or notices from the county announcing the opening for the second seat, or the change to the application deadline.

“I searched the county’s Twitter, our Instagram, our Facebook, there was not one mention by this government that a second seat was becoming available, or the deadline being changed,” Kruse said, adding that the only place he was able to locate the information was on the county’s webpage designated to advisory committees.

“I think we’ve done a disservice if we want to treat this board with the importance that it is for the sake of having a voice to relay and make recommendations,” he said.

Kruse illustrated his position on the process by reminding commissioners about previous openings on other advisory boards, including the Sarasota/Manatee MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization). In that instance, Kruse said, one of his colleagues requested tabling that appointment due to the position having only been open and advertised for a month.

He added that another of his colleagues felt unprepared to make the vote for appointment to MPO because commissioners had only received the applications just a week before the scheduled decision.

“The planning commission openings were only open for a week,” said Kruse, “and we only just received the applications yesterday.”

“I think this was done poorly,” Kruse concluded, while stressing he was pleased with the appointments but disappointed with the process.

None of the commissioners responded to Kruse’s remarks.

To replay Kruse’s comments about the planning commission appointment process in full, click the video below.