Sanibel City Council members will elect the next mayor and vice mayor in its Tuesday, March 16 meeting. The recent Santiva Chronicle poll shows 43 percent of the nearly 200 voters chose Holly Smith as mayor and 34 percent for Richard Johnson as vice mayor. Both are current council members. Smith was first appointed to council as an interim member in December 2017 before being elected in March 2018 for a partial term. She was then reelected in March 2019 and has been serving as vice mayor since December 2020. Johnson was elected to council in March 2019.
Holly Smith
Vice Mayor Richard Johnson. SC file photo
Next Sanibel Mayor
| Holly Smith | 43% |
|---|---|
| Richard Johnson | 28% |
| Mike Miller | 16% |
| John Henshaw | 9% |
| Scott Crater | 4% |
Next Sanibel Vice Mayor
| Richard Johnson | 34% |
|---|---|
| Holly Smith | 22% |
| Mike Miller | 20% |
| John Henshaw | 16% |
| Scott Crater | 8% |
Very interesting poll and I think the first ever that the voters have weighed in on who would be appointed as Mayor. Please be accurate about elected versus appointed. I don’t believe that Holly or Richard were actually “elected” to their seats by voters. When they did qualify to run they were required by petition to gather around 40 signatures from actual voters. Their elections were not contested. They were either appointed by the council or ran for office unopposed. Most voters in Sanibel do not realize this. It was truly exciting that we had a contested race for three seats! Voters need to understand that we will now likely have an appointed Mayor who has not earned even one vote at the polls in an election.
For the record, I can’t think of two individuals that have committed more of their time and effort and expertise on behalf of the citizens of Sanibel than Holly Smith and Richard Johnson. True Sanibellians.
Their actions on behalf of our island speak louder than words.
I’m hoping that vote goes 5-0 for Smith and Johnson.