Editorial: Naples Election

What started as a ho-hum campaign ended that way in Naples on Tuesday — except for the three winners of City Council seats. They won big.

Incumbents Gary Price and Penny Taylor, and Bill Willkomm, handily outdistanced the three other candidates to capture four-year seats.

Mayor Bill Barnett was a winner as well. Though his name was not on the ballot, his popularity as an affable, approachable icon of the city surely helped pass a charter amendment allowing mayors to succeed themselves — should future voters concur — rather than be limited to one full term at a time.

Tuesday's voter turnout, for a community with a reputation for being informed, involved and politically active, was even less than ho-hum. Some 28 percent of the voters turned out. That is barely half the turnout of 2004.

Now the city's attention turns to the work ahead. Cleaning up Naples Bay, a marquee platform plank two years ago, remains as important as ever. Price, Taylor and Willkomm can join the mayor and three holdovers on storm-proofing power lines — still fresh in our minds from Hurricane Wilma — and matters as ultra-local as sidewalks.

An improved working relationship with Collier County belongs at the top of the list too.

The victors' work is not climaxed by Tuesday's outcome. The victors' work has just begun. We trust they will pursue it with more gusto than displayed by voters.