While the race for mayor in Clearwater may have attracted the most attention during the March 19 municipal elections, there were plenty of other races that will affect the futures of cities and towns around Pinellas County.
Around the Gulf beaches, there are some new faces in leadership roles and some familiar faces with new roles.
The town of Indian Shores has a new mayor after Diantha Schear defeated Michael Petruccelli in a race between two longtime council members.
Schear was able to garner 57.45% of the votes (266) to Petruccelli’s 42.55% (197).
Schear has been a council member for nine years, with five of those as vice mayor. Petruccelli has been a council member for 10 years.
In addition to her experience as vice mayor, Schear has been an active member of the Indian Shores Library and the Indian Shores Women’s Club with a stint as president for four years. Schear retired from her position as an electronic commerce project manager at Lockheed Martin after 24 years with the company, including 10 years assigned to Lockheed Space at the Kennedy Space Center. Schear and her husband retired to Indian Shores in 2007.
She will be taking over for longtime mayor and council member Patrick Soranno, who cited health reasons in not seeking reelection when his term ends this month.
Indian Rocks Beach voters chose Janet Wilson and Jude Bond for seats on the City Commission.
Indian Rocks Beach
There have been a dizzying amount of changes on the Indian Rocks Beach City Commission in recent months. Following the resignation of commissioners Joe McCall and Lan Vaughan, there was a series of interim appointments and role changes, including a new mayor.
Denise Houseberg was automatically appointed to serve as mayor when no one qualified to run against her. She will replace departing Mayor Cookie Kennedy, who stepped down to run for County Commission.
But March 19 may have brought some stability after voters chose interim commissioner Janet Wilson and Vice Mayor Jude Bond to fill two seats on the board.
Wilson, a former Ohio schoolteacher and principal, captured 43.72% of the votes (592). Coming in second was Bond with 33% (447 votes).
Suzanne Gibson rounded out the pack with 23.26%.
Treasure Island
Two City Commission candidates squared off vying to represent District 4, an area encompassing Sunset Beach and Gulf Boulevard northward to 112th Avenue, in the city’s March 19 municipal election.
Arden D. Dickey ended up with the edge, capturing 65.32% of the vote (290).
According to his LinkedIn Page, Dickey has 45 years of experience in the newspaper industry, working in a variety of executive circulation positions, and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from the University of Miami.
Dickey was able to beat Harris, a criminal defense attorney, civil engineer and previous commission candidate, who garnered 154 votes, or roughly 34%.
Oldsmar
Oldsmar has been home to several heated election cycles in recent years, and this year was no different, as two newcomers — Valerie Tatarzewski and Vincent Albanese — challenged two incumbents — Andrew Knapp and Steve Graber, respectively.
As the typical campaign cycle rhetoric escalated on social media leading up to Election Day, after the votes were tallied Knapp had defeated Tatarzewski by more than 360 votes, 1,334 to 965, while Graber outpaced Albanese in a tighter race, 1,242-1,047, according to the unofficial results.
“Tonight, this really shows it wasn’t about an issue or anything specific. It was about picking people who are the right people to make important decisions for our city,” Knapp said in his victory speech alongside Graber at their watch party headquarters, Whiskey Wings on Tampa Road.
“We’re the right leaders to make good decisions for our city on behalf of all of you.”
Graber added, “Tonight, there was confidence that we were going to win … and three more years starts next week!”
Safety Harbor
In neighboring Safety Harbor, incumbent Commissioner Nancy Besore again defeated former commissioner Scott Long, capturing nearly 52% of the Seat 1 votes (2,007-1,862), while newcomer Jacob Burnett handily defeated fellow political newcomer Hayley Ann Rae, 2,150-1,682, in the race for Seat 2.
Long, who lost a commission race to Besore in 2018 and was defeated by Commissioner Andy Steingold in 2021, kept his traditionally positive outlook following his latest Election Day loss.
“I will keep doing what I’ve always done,” he wrote on his Facebook page after the polls closed at 7 p.m. “Look for a way to put a smile on as many faces as possible.”
Other areas
Despite the mass defections of local lawmakers due to stricter financial reporting requirements required by the state as of Jan. 1, some area communities didn’t need to hold an election as officials were able to fill the vacant seats.
In Belleair, two new commissioners — Patricia Burress and Tom Kelly — were sworn in in late December, replacing former Deputy Mayor Tom Kurey and Commissioner Thomas Nessler. Both resigned in November citing Form 6 — the new required disclosure — as the reason, while one other candidate qualified to replace former Commissioner Coleen Chaney, who chose not to run for reelection but still filled out the rest of her term.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” Chaney said in her last commission meeting March 12. “It has been challenging, it’s been rewarding, and it’s been very, very educational.”
Next door in Belleair Bluffs, the commission will interview applicants March 25 to fill the seat of longtime Commissioner Taylour Shimkus, who resigned during the final meeting of 2023 due to the Form 6 requirement.
According to City Attorney Tom Trask, whose firm works with more than a dozen Pinellas municipalities, the city’s charter allows for the vacant seat to be filled by commission appointment and not an election.
“At the January meeting you established the application process would open on Feb. 26 and close at 4 p.m. today, and you’d go through the interview process on March 25, 2024,” Trask told the board March 11. “However, that does not mean that you can’t have a special election.”
While officials reported only one of the three applications received by the end of the deadline included a Form 6, a fact that could lead to no one being chosen by a majority vote, Mayor Chris Arbutine said, “I plan on voting, for sure, for those who took the time to get out there and qualify.”
