Sarasota Commissioners Name Arroyo The City’s Next Mayor, Choose Battie As Vice Mayor

SARASOTA, FL — The Sarasota City Commission chose the city’s next mayor and vice mayor at its Friday meeting.

District 3 Commissioner Erik Arroyo was chosen to serve as mayor for the next year, while District 1 Commissioner Kyle Battie was selected to serve as vice mayor.

Both are ceremonial roles, as the city currently operates under a council-manager form of government. The city’s upcoming charter committee could take up a conversation about whether the city should adopt a new form of government, and transition to an elected or “strong” mayor, according to the Observer.

Arroyo was nominated to the position by the outgoing mayor, Hagen Brody, and unanimously approved by the commission. He previously served as vice mayor. Battie was also unanimously appointed to the position of vice mayor.

They’ll each hold the role for one year. Both Arroyo and Battie were elected to the commission last year to a four-year term.

On his Facebook page, Arroyo said being appointed mayor is “truly humbling.”

“Thank you to family, friends, our community and this commission for their unanimous vote of confidence,” he wrote. “Like Isaac Newton wrote to his friend Robert Hooke in 1675: ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’”

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Born in the Dominican Republic and raised by a single mother, Arroyo came to the United States as a teenager and graduated from Riverview High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a law degree from Florida A&M University College of Law. He’s an attorney at the firm of Band, Gates & Dramis, focusing on business, corporate and estate planning, according to the city website.

Battie grew up in District 1, graduating from Sarasota High School. His family has roots in the area, as his mother taught for Sarasota County Schools for 30 years and his father was owner of the Quay downtown and one of the few African American entrepreneurs in the city at the time, according to the city website. Battie hosts the men’s lifestyle show “Fly with Kyle Scott.”