Decision on land sale key to mayoral bid

Beverley Billiris will run for Tarpon Springs mayor in 2004 if she can resign her City Commission spot. That comes down to a vote tonight.

By KELLEY BENHAM
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 5, 2002

TARPON SPRINGS -- Commissioner Beverley Billiris wants to resign her seat and run for mayor, but her decision ultimately hinges on tonight's City Commission vote on an unrelated land deal.

Because of the city's term limits, Billiris can't run for mayor in 2004 without giving up her seat and sitting out a year. That would force city officials to schedule a special election to replace her, costing taxpayers about $15,000.

But if commissioners vote tonight to sell or lease land the city owns near Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, the city would have to hold a special election anyway. That could give voters a chance to choose a replacement for Billiris at the same time, at no extra cost.

If the commission approves the land deal, Billiris will hand in a letter of resignation Wednesday morning, she said. Her last day in office would be Dec. 5, and the referendum would take place in early February, she said.

"Yes, I want an opportunity to run as mayor," she said Monday, "and I'm willing to risk a year in office to do it."

But no referendum will mean no resignation.

"I'm not going to cost the residents $15,000 so that I can run for mayor," she said.

Billiris wants to continue the work of the commission she serves on with Mayor Frank DiDonato, she said. Billiris and DiDonato face the end of their second and final terms in March 2004.

Billiris said she wants to keep the open mayor's seat out of the hands of former Mayor Anita Protos or members of her political generation -- a group who presided over an era in Tarpon Springs politics that Billiris does not want to see the city revisit.

"Nothing got done, everything was at a standstill," Billiris said. "There was constant bickering, meetings went late into the night. There was a lack of professionalism that was recognized throughout the county.

"This is the new guard."

That new guard has worked to bring civility to the dais, she said. Under the current administration, the city has made its hiring process more competitive, forged ties with other governments and worked to expand and improve a long-neglected sewer system, she said. Billiris lobbied for federal money the past two years and serves on a committee that oversees redevelopment in the Union Academy neighborhood.

Protos disputes Billiris' characterization of her administration, which ended in 1998. Meetings ran late because citizens had more of a voice then, she said. Debate is good for government, and there was no excessive bickering, she said.

"There was nothing wrong with the old way," she said. "It was a door-open, people-oriented commission. I think that's what we're missing right now."

Protos said citizens are unhappy with the current commission, but she is not ready to enter the race.

However, if Billiris is already preparing for that possibility, Protos said, "I must bother her, then."

If she resigns, Billiris will send a letter of explanation to every household in the city at her own expense, she said.

Billiris will miss Tuesday's commission meeting and the vote on the land deal because she has a previously scheduled business meeting in Tampa.

The commission will consider two proposals to develop a 19-acre piece of land east of Alt. U.S. 19 behind the hospital. A Boston-based apartment developer, the Gatehouse Group, has offered the city $1.35-million to buy the land or about $4-million over 50 years to lease it. The developer offered to pay for holding a referendum on its bid.

A Pennsylvania osteopathic college is also expected to make an offer on the land before the meeting.

Billiris' intentions have no bearing on the vote on the land deal, DiDonato said.

"It's a totally separate issue," he said. He would not blame Billiris for leaving in the middle of a term, he said, because the city charter and election rules prevent her from seeking the mayor's office any other way.

He hopes whoever replaces him will continue in the same mold as the current administration, he said.

"We used to be in turmoil," he said. "I don't ever want to see that again in this town, and I'll do whatever I can to prevent it."

Billiris, 54, was first elected to the commission in 1988. A former elementary school teacher, she and her husband, George, own Sponge Merchant International. She was elected mayor pro tempore in 2001.

She decided to run for mayor only when the land deal provided the opportunity, she said. She considered a County Commission seat, but would prefer to serve the city if given the chance.

"I have a strong commitment to where we've been for five years and where we're going to go," she said.

-- Kelley Benham can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or benham@sptimes.com.

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