MANATEE COUNTY — At the start of the new year, a new chairman will lead Manatee County Commission meetings. During a regular meeting on Tuesday, Commissioners elected 2024 commission officer appointments for the county commission, the Tourist and Development Council, and the county’s Port Authority.
The vote to appoint Manatee County’s District 4 Commissioner Mike Rahn as the board’s new chairman passed unanimously. The board’s current chairman, Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge, has served two consecutive years in the role and started the nomination process by telling his colleagues he was ready to pass the gavel to someone else.
“It has been an honor and privilege and I think that it's time for someone else to have an opportunity,” Van Ostenbridge said. “I’m leaving with this board and the county in a better place than when I inherited it. I think we have reached a point of calm water.”
Van Ostenbridge’s back-to-back terms as the board’s chairman have not been without its ups and downs. After his election in 2020, Van Ostenbridge led the charge to oust the county’s former administrator, Cheri Coryea, and then later led the charge on her replacement, Scott Hopes.
Hopes is currently facing the potential of multiple criminal charges after the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office made a recommendation to the state attorney’s office following a nearly nine-month investigation into the former county official.
During his two terms as chair, Van Ostenbridge has faced more than one allegation of inappropriate behavior. In June of 2022, a citizen alleged to have overheard Van Ostenbridge talking about county business with a fellow commissioner in a local diner in violation of the state’s Government in the Sunshine Law. In January of this year, Van Ostenbridge entered into a pretrial intervention program to avoid a charge of petty theft over accusations he had stolen a constituent’s large potted bougainvillea.
Most recently, TBT confirmed that Van Ostenbridge is the subject of an ethics investigation due to an alleged inappropriate use of county funds for personal gain or politics. This ethics investigation is ongoing.
Van Ostenbridge has also been known to use his position to wage war on those he feels have politically slighted him, including the City of Holmes Beach and its mayor, Judy Titsworth, and Manatee Clerk and Comptroller Angel Colonesso. Colonesso appeared to have found herself on Van Ostenbridge’s “bad side” after she attempted to warn commissioners of concerning actions she said her office had uncovered of former administrator Hopes, whom Van Ostenbridge had long championed.
Rahn, who is set to begin in the role of chairman on January 1, was elected to his commission seat in 2022. Despite only being halfway into his term, he is facing his own allegations of wrongdoing.
After one of the county’s former acting administrators alleged in a drafted whistleblower complaint that Rahn and former commissioner Vanessa Baugh had committed Sunshine violations, a criminal investigation was opened by the MCSO into the matter. Upon completing its investigation, the MCSO said that it found “probable cause” that Florida’s meeting law was violated by the commissioners and referred the case to the state attorney’s office. The state attorney’s investigation remains ongoing.
Rahn was the only nomination made for the role of commission chairman. Commissioner Amanda Ballard was the lone nominee for the board’s first vice chairman, with Commissioner Ray Turner being appointed as second-vice, and Commissioner James Satcher appointed as third-vice chair.
After Rahn nominated him for the role, Van Ostenbridge will serve as the new chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority in 2024. Van Ostenbridge was appointed unanimously after no other nominations for the position were made.
Notably, Commissioner George Kruse—who has found himself on a near political island on the board—was not nominated for any role or position during the appointment process on Tuesday. In September, Bearden made a motion to remove Kruse as the Port Authority Chairman which was supported by Van Ostenbridge. The two claimed the action was due to Kruse's poorly handled communication with the commission over a reported oil spill at the port.
Later in the same meeting, Van Ostenbridge also stripped Kruse of an appointment to the MPO, calling Kruse an “agitator” and accusing him of regularly “breaking decorum” during BOCC meetings.
The board of county commissioners annually elects its Chair, First Vice-Chair, Second Vice-Chair, and Third Vice-Chair. The Board also appointed one of its members to sit on the Tourist Development Council (TDC) as well as the officers of the Port Authority. The new officers' terms shall begin at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2024.
The elected appointments are as follows:
Board of County Commissioners
Chairman- Commissioner Mike Rahn (District 4)
First Vice-Chairman- Commissioner Amanda Ballard (District 2)
Second Vice-Chairman- Commissioner Ray Turner (District 5)
Third Vice-Chairman- Commissioner James Satcher (District 1)
Port Authority
Chairman- Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge (District 3)
First Vice-Chairman- Commissioner Jason Bearden (At-Large)
Second Vice-Chairman- Commissioner Ray Turner (District 5)
Third Vice-Chairman- Commissioner Amanda Ballard (District 2)
Tourist Development Council (TDC)
Chairman- Commissioner Ray Turner (District 5)
Alternate Chair- Amanda Ballard (District 2)
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Charlene
Great, someone who most likely violated Sunshine laws is going to be the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners, and the most obvious BIA stooge. Well, doesn't that warm the cockles of the heart? It's a little on the nose, Manatee County.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Report this
Charlene
As for the isolation of George Kruse... well, we're practicing high school politics so the juvenile tactic of pushing Kruse off the other boards is not surprising. And I note that the replacement hasn't updated us about the oil spill either, and the replacement's replacement will probably not do any better, either.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Report this
Debann
So one jerk steps down to get another jerk who's as bad as the first jerk..Rahn is RUDE, CONDESCENDING, COCKY AND ARROGANT...AND has possible sunshine violations...WAY TO GO MANATEE COUNTY..YOU ROCK....NOT..MAKES ME NOW WANTING TO VOTE FOR KRUSE...WORST BOCC EVER IN HISTORY OF MANATEE COUNTY...
Tuesday, December 12, 2023 Report this
Cat L
Gotcha. They traded out one toxic politician for another toxic politician. Same people, same game, and they're still running the table.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 Report this
andreart
Mike will do a better job than KVO. He is professional and will handle the meeting professionally. Don't let anyone get you in another trap, like Baugh did. You know the law and it appears there was a slip up but you need to change the way the meetings are fun. Don't let KVO tell you what to do.
Many may not like what I am saying but Mike is the new Chair so lets hope he listens to the public and opens up call in comments. There is a mute button under his desk and can get them under control if comments are obscene.
Amanda or George would have been fine for Chair.
Carol Whitmore
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 Report this
jimandlope
One can only feel sorry for the Manatee County Port Authority now that VanOstenbridge is the chair . But as luck would have it he no longer chairs the County! Jim Tierney
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 Report this
Dianna
The corrupt leading the corrupt. Rahn interacts with the public by attacking them just like KVO- if you don’t think so then you have never written him an e-mail, watched a meeting, or spoke in front of the board. He is also corrupt, a sunshine law violator, and one of three commissioners who did not return from lunch to vote on the veterans project.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 Report this
Mtmartin
We'll see how he handles things but most likely he will eventually stoop to shenanigans of the the low intelligence KVO because he is being told what to do. I feel sorry for the folks that will have to deal with KVO, they will find out quickly he is a dangerous imbecile.
Thursday, December 14, 2023 Report this
Removetheplantburglar
ATTENTION MANATEE COUNTY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES!
DON’T LET THESE CROOKS TAKE AWAY YOUR YEARLY RAISES!
IT ONLY TAKES MORE THAN 50% TO FORM A UNION!
TIME TO STAND UP AND FORM A UNION BY EXPRESSING YOUR INTEREST AND COPY/PASTE THE LINK BELOW:
https://www.afscme.org/join/form-union
Sunday, December 17, 2023 Report this