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Three for three means no March contest in Belleair Shore
By DAVE SHELTON
Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007 |
BELLEAIR SHORE – Once again March will pass without an election in Pinellas County’s smallest community.
As the deadline passed Dec. 18, only three people had filed for the three seats whose current occupants terms will expire in March. Filing were incumbents Robert E. Schmidt Jr. and Ray Piscitelli.
The third candidate is a newcomer to elected office, Richard Jordan. Mayor John A. Robertson said Jordan will resign his position on the town’s zoning board of adjustment before being sworn-in to the Town Commission in March.
Robertson said Jordan is a retired banker who has been active in town affairs but has not previously sought elected office.
By state law, since there are no contests for the three available seats and no town referendums, there will be no election in March. The three men will be sworn-in to the 2-year, unpaid terms.
Incumbent Commissioner Carl W. Hilton is not seeking re-election, as he plans to move into a new home in Clearwater Beach during 2008. He has owned the Clearwater home for two years but still lives in his Belleair Shore home awaiting its sale.
Also pending is the anticipated resignation from the commission by John E. Hayes Jr. who announced last month that he plans to move out of Florida in the coming months. He said he expected his local house to be sold this month.
Robertson said Hayes would continue to serve on the commission until he moves out of town.
Hayes, a former CEO at Southwestern Bell and Westar Energy was first elected to office in 2001. He and his wife moved to Belleair Shore in 1998.
Schmidt was first elected, without opposition in 2000 and has won re-election three times. A native of Wisconsin, Schmidt owns a development company that is currently planning to rebuild the former Crossroads Mall in Largo into a mixed-use retail, residential complex called Largo Towne Center.
Piscitelli was first appointed to the commission in September 2005 when he took the seat vacated by Mary Grizzard. He was unopposed when he filed for election to the seat several months later. He moved to Belleair Shore in 1998 after retiring from his school supplies manufacturing company in New York.
Also, during its Dec. 19 meeting, the commission voted to remove its $327,000 from the State Investment Fund and find a safer investment of its reserves. The state fund, which invests reserves from local governments, has been under watch for having invested heavily in high-risk loans including the crumbling “sub-prime” mortgage market.
When larger municipalities such as St. Petersburg began withdrawing millions of dollars from the state fund, it was frozen to prevent a bank run. Robertson said he believed towns with less than $1 million in the fund could still withdraw their money.
“The sub-prime market just keeps getting worse,” said Schmidt, who recommended the withdrawal.
The mayor announced that, unless something pressing arises, he will call no commission meeting in January.
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Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007
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