Candidate field complete for Venice City Council race as two seats are up for November

Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Updated ·5 min read
Seats 1 and 2 on the Venice City Council are up for election on Nov. 7, 2023. Though the council is technically a nonpartisan body, the election features two Republicans running against two Democrats. At least one campaign attack has been leveled against the Democrats, in the form of a “survey” that asks leading questions and attempts to paint both in a poor light.

Correction: The Central Venice Coalition will hold its 2023 Venice City Council candidate forum 6:30 p.m., Sept. 28 at the Pinebrook South Homeowners Association, 1343 Featherbed Lane, Venice. A previous version of this story gave an incorrect location. That same story should have also said that Venice Thrives is circulating a pledge asking candidates to not accept money from PACs with unidentified donors.

VENICE – Joan Farrell’s decision to run for Seat 1 on the Venice City Council can be linked to two recent grassroots citizens efforts – Venice Unites’ successful push for the council rewrite land development codes adopted in 2022 and residents' opposition to construction of a Publix-anchored shopping center at the intersection of Laurel Road and Jacaranda Boulevard.

Farrell signed the petition circulated by Venice Unites, which changed its name to Venice Thrives, and joined with the North Venice Neighborhood Alliance in picketing City Hall on July 11, when the council held a final public hearing to allow for the Village at Laurel and Jacaranda shopping center.

Joan Farrell, a self-proclaimed environmentalist who became politically active as part of grassroots residents response to the new land development rules approved by the Venice City Council in 2022, is running against incumbent Mitzie Fiedler for Seat 1 on the Venice City Council.
Joan Farrell, a self-proclaimed environmentalist who became politically active as part of grassroots residents response to the new land development rules approved by the Venice City Council in 2022, is running against incumbent Mitzie Fiedler for Seat 1 on the Venice City Council.

About a month later she filed to oppose Seat 1 incumbent Mitzie Fielder, who angered her neighbors in Northeast Venice by voting to approve the shopping center sought by developer Pat Neal, an action Farrell characterized as a "betrayal."

Fiedler was one of five council members who voted to approve the map change that allowed Neal to start building the commercial center on about10 acres that had previously been set as open space.

Venice City Council Member Mitzie Fiedler is seeking her third consecutive term in Seat 1.
Venice City Council Member Mitzie Fiedler is seeking her third consecutive term in Seat 1.

The North Venice Neighborhood Alliance raised money to file a petition in circuit court asking a judge to determine whether the council followed due process, whether essential requirements of the law were followed and whether the findings are supported by enough evidence.

Farrell points to her web site, https://www.joanforvenice.com, as the best place to learn about her.

A resident of Harbor Lights Cooperative, she grew up in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from John Carroll University and an MBA from Xavier University.

Before retirement, she worked on an employment survey for the U.S. Census Bureau and had also worked as a phone company manager and a bank examiner for the U.S. Department of Treasury.

A self-proclaimed environmentalist, Farrell said she wants to promote clean water and fight red tide.

She also said she wants to make sure new developments pay their fair share for growth through impact fees and wants to see the city do more to promote affordable housing.

“The people who are serving us – barbers, restaurant workers, retail, delivery driver, caregivers – to have a vibrant Venice we need to have housing for everybody and I would not be happy in approving grand uses for development that didn’t include all the different price points,” Farrell said.

Political maneuvering

Though the City Council is non-partisan body, both the Republican and Democrat parties have been active in recent years on council elections.

Ron Smith is running for Seat 2 on the Venice City Council.
Ron Smith is running for Seat 2 on the Venice City Council.

Farrell and Seat 2 candidate Ron Smith – who lost a 2022 election bid for Seat 5 – are both Democrats.

Smith’s opponent Dusty Feller and Fiedler are Republicans, though Fiedler only recently registered and had been registered as an independent on her two previous campaigns.

Last year, Smith was the object of an attack campaign funded by Republican political committees.

Those same committees also sent positive mailers about Republican candidates.

Venice Thrives – many of whose members worked with Smith on the successful bid to change the land development regulations and is linked to Farrell’s entry into city politics – asked all candidates run a clean campaign and not accept money from PACs with unidentified donors.

Dusty Feller filed to run for Seat 2 on the Venice City Council.
Dusty Feller filed to run for Seat 2 on the Venice City Council.

Feller and Fielder – who cannot control party spending – did not sign. Both Farrell and Smith did.

Recently, many Venice voters received an email survey sent by IH Strategies LLC that framed questions about both Farrell and Smith that painted them in a poor light, as well as questions about Feller and Fielder that cast them in a favorable light.

A former Venice elected official responded by posting disparaging comments about Feller in a Facebook group – comments that were subsequently taken down because they violated the non-political nature of that page.

Meanwhile, in the Venetian Golf & River Club, the property owner’s association – which counts among its directors members of the North Venice Neighborhood Alliance – is contemplating setting up its own candidate forum, because the Venetian Golf & River Club Community Association forum, moderated by Roger Effron, does not include questions critical of candidates.

Forums available

So far, at least four candidate forums have been scheduled: 6:30 p.m., Sept. 28, hosted by the Central Venice Coalition at the the Pinebrook South Homeowners Association 1343 Featherbed Lane; 11:30 a.m., Sept. 29 by South County Tiger Bay at Hotel Venezia, 425 U.S. 41 Bypass N.; 5:30 p.m., Oct. 3 at the Venetian Golf & River Club, 502 Veneto Boulevard, Venice; and 7 p.m., Oct. 18 hosted by the Venice Aviation Society at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 790 S. Tamiami Trail.

The Tiger Bay forum is at its regular luncheon meeting, so there is a charge for lunch and only Tiger Bay members may ask questions.

The VGRC forum is only open to residents but it will be posted on YouTube.

Both Sawgrass and Waterford have hosted candidate forums in previous years. Confirmed dates for those are not yet available.

Voting deadlines

The deadline to register for the Nov. 2023 election is Tuesday, Oct. 10. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 28.

Early voting will be available Oct. 30 through Nov. 4 at the Venice elections office at the Robert  L. Anderson Administration Center, 4000 S. Tamiami Trail, Room 114.

Election day is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Nov. 7. Completed vote-by-mail ballots must be received in the Venice elections office by 7 p.m.

For additional information concerning elections, including a precinct finder, polling locations, ballots, election offices or how to register, visit the Sarasota Supervisor of Elections website.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Two seats on the Venice City Council are up for grabs in November