Latest news with #BayCountySupervisorofElections
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Results are in: Panama City, Lynn Haven voters decide runoff races for city commissions
PANAMA CITY ― Two close-fought races were decided Tuesday in runoff elections stemming from the 2025 municipal elections in Bay County. According to unofficial results listed on the Bay County Supervisor of Elections website, Robbie Hughes beat Daniel Schultz for Ward 1 on the Panama City commission, and Judy Tinder beat Jeff Snyder for Seat 4 in Lynn Haven. Both races went down to the wire. Hughes had 849 votes, or about 51%, to Schultz's 810 votes, or almost 49%. Tinder secured 1,155 votes, or about 51%, while Snyder took 1,088 votes, or about 49%. The races required runoffs after no candidate won at least 50% plus one of the votes in the 2025 municipal election in Bay County on April 22. The Supervisor of Elections' website says 3,906 Bay County residents cast ballots in the runoff elections. This was made up of 2,570 Republicans, 865 Democrats, 405 voters not affiliated with either party and 67 voters categorized as "other." Of those voters, 1,891 voted early, 1,192 voted on runoff election day and 823 voted by mail. One provisional ballot also was cast. There were two local voting sites for the 2025 runoff elections: Panama City City Hall at 501 Harrison Ave. and the Lynn Haven Senior Center at 905 Pennsylvania Ave. On election day, 788 people voted at Panama City City Hall, and 1,104 people voted at the Lynn Haven Senior Center. Panama City's election day ballots were split between 517 Republicans, 162 Democrats, 93 voters not affiliated with either party and 16 voters categorized as "other." Lynn Haven's election day ballots were split between 824 Republicans, 170 Democrats, 93 voters note affiliated with either party and 17 voters categorized as "other." Original results: Who won? Which races are headed to runoffs? Municipal election results in Bay County Of those who voted early, 1,341 were Republicans, 332 were Democrats, 185 were not affiliated with either party and 33 were categorized as "other." Of those who voted by mail, 413 were Republicans, 296 were Democrats, 102 were not affiliated with either party and 12 were categorized as "other." For more information on the elections, visit This article originally appeared on The News Herald: See who won runoff runoff elections in Panama City and Lynn Haven
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bay County Republicans host Panama City municipal debates. Here's a look at the candidates
PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Republican Party held a debate on March 3 where locals running for municipal elections gave their two cents on the area's issues. One candidate, Daniel Schultz, was left out of the debate as he isn't a registered Republican voter. The News Herald previously wrote about his platform. The election is on Municipal Super Tuesday, April 22, 2025. The deadline for registering to vote is March 24. Early voting starts on April 14 and ends April 18. Readers can see the Bay County Supervisor of Elections website for more details. The mayor's seat is up for grabs in Panama City, as are the commissioner positions for Wards 1 and 4. Here's a look at what the candidates said during the debates: Rohan is currently the mayor of Panama City and is running for reelection. He is a retired surgeon who assisted in creating health centers. Rohan said he believes there's a "deep state" of "old timers" pulling the strings in city government, and he thinks he can clear up the perceived corruption if he has another term. He expressed discontent with many of the commission's votes, which have left him as the lone opposition. Rohan believes the budget is in bad shape and the city commission has been a bad steward of public funds. He brought up the Martin Theatre renovation on multiple occasions and how he thinks those funds would have been better spent on the marina, which he thinks could generate revenue for the city. "My relationship with (my) colleagues is nonexistent. These folks don't like me. They vote against me every chance they get. I'd be happy to put the olive branch out there and talk to them, but just go through the record," said Rohan. "I have absolutely no relationship with them and I don't expect to have a relationship. I brought two more candidates to the forum; they're here tonight." He went on to say that if Ed Young and Demetrius Rease (his endorsed candidates) are elected, then he will have a majority on the commission and could more easily achieve his goals. Rohan is very worried about the budget and thinks the city needs to be more practical about spending. He also critiqued the city's struggle with water services and said the problem will get worse if not addressed differently. When asked about the city's infrastructure problems, he brought up Half Cent Surtax funds that were used on a downtown streetscaping project. He thinks those funds would have been better used elsewhere. He also partially blamed 60 years of "Democrat mayors" who he thinks didn't address infrastructure when needed. Allan Branch co-owns History Class Brewing Co. and operates other downtown venues. He comes from a family historically known for operating a handful of local businesses. Outside of his work downtown, he builds software companies. Branch is running against Rohan to be Panama City's next mayor. He mentioned wanting to lower taxes while bolstering the city's communication capabilities. Branch expressed the difficulty of navigating City Hall from his experience opening businesses, and wants to simplify the process of navigating city functions. He reiterated the need for transparency multiple times, saying he wants to present the city's budget in a way any resident can understand. "You can't lead through shame and try to find a boogeyman; that's not how leadership works," said Branch. "Vibrant towns don't happen by accident. Businesses don't stay in business for 75 years by accident. It comes from good leadership." When asked what needs to change inside City Hall, he said he foresees many small changes that he thinks could improve processes. He floated having feedback forms linked in city email signature lines, key performance indicators for the planning department, and said he wants customer support in the city to be built off of empathy. "Weak leadership says things like 'power' and 'authority.' That's actually not how you lead. You lead through warmth and competency," said Branch. "When you're saying things like 'control' and 'power,' that's not someone you want to work with, that's not somebody you want to be led by. That's some of the problems we're having currently." Branch doesn't perceive his businesses downtown as causing a conflict of interest. Additionally, he wants to benchmark Panama City's spending off of other cities, saying it can reveal where they're spending too much or too little. He thinks he could address the needs of the city's water infrastructure by setting money aside ahead of time, with the expectation that something will go wrong eventually. Branch thinks they should have already been saving money to replace water meters. Additionally, he expressed discontent with the management of the marina, which he would like to do differently. Furthermore, he said the city should communicate achievements of its partners at the state level, such as the revolving fund which helps pay for road and water projects in Panama City. Hughes is running for the Ward 1 commission seat. He's a lifelong Panama City resident with a career in real estate who also has sat on the planning board and code enforcement board. He thinks the biggest challenge facing his ward is the marina, and thinks investments in infrastructure will help improve quality of life. Hughes said there's a balance between property rights and the government's ability to make changes. He thinks that residents will come together and make a final call on changes to neighborhoods. He thinks that the city has adequate sources of revenue and it can do better with the funds it already has. Hughes wants to look at ways to be more efficient and do more with less. He is a proponent of grants and thinks it could improve the revenue situation. He also floated the idea of a public-private partnership to build parking garages that could create more capacity in high-demand areas. Young is an Air Force veteran and also has served in law enforcement. He is running for the Ward 1 seat. He expressed concerns about poverty and unemployment in the city. He compared the city to a family that has to make financial decisions on a limited budget and has to tell their kids they sometimes can't have things. Young doesn't think spending on downtown will have as much of a return on investment as spreading the funds out across the city. He also expressed discontent at the Martin Theatre revitalization, implying the money would have been better spent on the marina. He disapproves of the Beach Drive multi-use path project and thinks it would be damaging to the waterfront. Young voiced strong opposition to grants, saying the money comes out of tax dollars one way or another. He then targeted the pay of the city manager and his assistants, going on to say some positions in the city may be unnecessary. Rease hails from Atlanta and moved to Panama City in 2023. He's running for the Ward 4 commission seat. He says the city needs to stop wasteful spending and agreed with Rohan that the acquisition of the property on Chestnut Avenue was a bad decision. Rease also noted that he wants more transparency and community engagement in city decisions. He added that he wants more opportunities for youth that will keep emerging young professionals in the area. He agrees with Young on disapproval of the Beach Drive multi-use path project and thinks the funds would be better spent elsewhere. He pointed to Atlanta's Beltline as a similar project that led to unintended consequences, primarily gentrification. Rease believes the city's finances are in dire straits. He suggested cutting spending to refill the general fund balance. Street currently represents Ward 4 on the Panama City City Commission. He says he has cut taxes five times and remained focused on infrastructure. He's concerned about failing infrastructure and says the city has many projects ahead it still must complete. Street said he's focused on results and wants to solve residents' issues. Street said every decision that's made is done with neighborhood input. He says they've had residents involved in nearly every zoning issue and pointed to his track record listening to them. On the Beach Drive multi-use path, he says it will be up to Panama City residents at the end of the day. Street says the they've done a forensic audit, he's asked for line item expense reports, and thinks he's done good work saving money in the budget. He believes the city's recurring costs should be top of mind, not one-time expenses when it comes to fiscal responsibility. "On the reserve balance, that is highway robbery for us to have 30% when our citizens don't have a savings account," said Street. "What are we doing when we're not deploying tax dollars into fixing the problems we have as a city?" Additionally he thinks grants should be leveraged to pay for some projects. "Yes, we need reserves, but we don't need to make them at the expense of taxpayers or your family," said Street. All the candidates believe parking garages would be necessary to resolve city parking woes, with some saying the city likely can't afford them just yet. The candidates were concerned about the budget to varying degrees, and generally pointed to reducing spending as opposed to raising revenues. Communication and transparency were reiterated as important issues by multiple candidates on several occasions. Most candidates also brought up infrastructure issues with roads, sewers and water all needing to be addressed. They all prayed before the start of the debates, and at the end of the day it will be up to the citizens of Panama City to decide who will represent them at City Hall. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Debate held with elections approaching. Here are your candidates
