Holly D. Smith, president of the Horizon Foundation and a Sanibel City Councilwoman, was awarded the E. Harris Drew Municipal Official Lifetime Achievement Award at the Florida League of Cities’ annual conference on Aug. 10.

With the receipt of the E. Harris Drew Municipal Official Lifetime Achievement Award, Councilwoman Smith was elected as the Second Vice President for the Florida League of Cities Board. Her term as Second Vice President will last one year and she will serve as an officer with the Florida League of Cities alongside President Greg Ross, Mayor of Cooper City, as well as First Vice President Michael Blake, Mayor of Cocoa.

The prestigious award is named in honor of E. Harris Drew, the former First Vice President of the Florida League of Cities. It was established in 1978 and recognizes an outstanding municipal official each year for their lasting contributions to Floridians at the local level.

“I am incredibly grateful to be a recipient of this prestigious award,” said Councilwoman Holly Smith, president of the Horizon Foundation. “I am proud and honored to work with the Sanibel community, and I look forward to continuing to give back to the island as well as serving the greater Lee County business community through the Horizon Foundation.”

Councilwoman Smith is the former Mayor of Sanibel, elected in 2021, and her second consecutive term coincided with Hurricane Ian’s landfall in 2022. In the aftermath of the storm, Councilwoman Smith led the city through devastation and collaborated with Governer Ron DeSantis to inform him of the damage sustained to the Sanibel Causeway and to develop a plan to repair it.

The councilwoman is a liaison to the Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. Smith is the former vice mayor and vice chairwoman of the Sanibel Planning Commission, where she served for two years, and was a member of the Sanibel Planning Commission for nearly a decade. In addition to her local public service, Smith is an experienced restaurant owner and the owner of two hotel properties. She has been the principal owner of Gumbo Limbo Management and Development, LLC for over twenty years.

For nearly 35 years, Smith has been an active community and business member of Lee County, spanning across regional, state and federal levels.