CONA elects new officers

The Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations convened to elect new officers for the 2015 year.

Lourdes Ramirez, who has been board president since 2011, stepped down to take the role of first vice president. Kafi Benz, a long-time CONA board member, was voted in as president.

“It’s good to have new blood as president,” Ramirez said.

Benz said she has been on CONA’s board since the 1980s, but has never served as an officer.

The other elected officers are as follows: Bill Zoller, second vice president, Gerry Swormstedt, treasurer, and Ann Kaplan, secretary.

CONA invited Nora Patterson, former county commission who was replaced by Alan Maio this year, to speak at the meeting about her time in local government.

Patterson talked about the changes she’d seen in local politics since she got involved 24 years ago, on the city commission. When she was first on the commission, no one had computers or email, and communication between residents and commissioners was different.

“People actually wrote letters to us,” Patterson said. “People are much more hesitant to insult you in a letter!”

Patterson also said that running for office had become a lot more challenging today than in her time—she said one of her campaign budgets for city commission was $20,000, and when she later ran for county, it was around $100,000.

“What makes me sad about politics… it’s more about money than anything,” she said. “When people with lots of LLC’s pick a candidate, that’s really hard to fight.”

Patterson ended by mentioning some of the changes the county has undergone while she was in office, telling CONA “you, the people, created some of those changes…you should be bigger and broader. People are so connected with iPhones and email.”

Ramirez announced that Patterson had agreed to help advise CONA on issues coming before the county.