Your Government
How Manatee County governs itself
Manatee County is a charter government. A seven-member Board of County Commissioners sets policy and the budget, and appoints a County Administrator to run day-to-day operations. Five independently elected constitutional officers round out county government.
How the county is organized
Board of County Commissioners
Seven commissioners — five elected from single-member districts and two elected county-wide — set policy, pass ordinances and adopt the annual budget in public, open meetings.
County Administrator
Appointed by the Board, the County Administrator carries out the Board's direction, manages departments and prepares the county's operating and capital budgets.
Constitutional Officers
Five separately elected officers — the Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, Supervisor of Elections and Sheriff — serve residents independently of the Board.
Board of County Commissioners
Illustrative placeholdersThe commissioners below are illustrative placeholders showing how the live site would present the Board. They are not real officials.
District 1
Commissioner A. Rivera
Vice Chair
District 2
Commissioner J. Okafor
Commissioner
District 3
Commissioner M. Delgado
Commissioner
District 4
Commissioner S. Whitfield
Chair
District 5
Commissioner P. Nguyen
Commissioner
At-Large 6
Commissioner R. Brooks
Commissioner
At-Large 7
Commissioner L. Castellano
Commissioner
Meetings & public comment
Board meetings are open to the public and, on the live site, streamed and archived with searchable agendas. Residents can view the calendar, read agendas and sign up to speak.
- Regular Board meetings
- Illustrative — twice monthly, mornings
- Land-use & zoning hearings
- Illustrative — as scheduled
- Budget work sessions
- Illustrative — summer
Meeting dates and times shown on the live site would sync from the official county calendar.
Open & transparent
Under Florida's Sunshine Law, county business is public. Residents can request records, review the budget and follow every dollar and decision.
About Manatee County
Coast, farm, and community since 1855
Manatee County was established in 1855 on the banks of the Manatee River, where it meets the Gulf of Mexico about 45 miles south of Tampa. Bradenton, the county seat, still centers county life on that same riverfront today.
The county stretches roughly 785 square miles — from the white sand and clear water of Anna Maria Island, across fast-growing suburban communities, to the farmland that makes Manatee the number-one tomato-producing county in Florida.
Home to more than 400,000 residents and growing, Manatee County government exists to keep all of that working together: clean water, safe roads, ready beaches, responsive permitting, and a coast protected for the generations still to come.
Do it online, anytime
Your county is open 24/7 — right here
Pay a bill, pull a permit, reserve a shelter or report a problem without a trip downtown. Manatee County services, wherever you are, on whatever device you've got.