Dunedin fills mayor, commission posts

The board named former Dunedin manager Richard Gehring interim mayor. Commissioner John Doglione will fill another vacancy.

By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 18, 2002

DUNEDIN -- At a special meeting Thursday, city commissioners appointed former Dunedin manager and planning consultant Richard Gehring to the job of interim mayor.

Also appointed to vacant spots on the board were Dunedin businessman Joseph "Sonny" Thornton, who owns an insurance and financial planning business downtown, and Commissioner John Doglione.

Doglione was appointed to the vice mayor's position, which will be vacated next month by Commissioner Janet Henderson.

To qualify to run for state legislative seats this fall, Mayor Tom Anderson and Henderson officially resigned their commission jobs in July. Both submitted letters to the city clerk and are expected to step down by Election Day, Nov. 5, leaving their seats open.

Both were expected to run for the state House District 45 seat, but Henderson switched before qualifying began and entered the District 11 Senate race. In August, she dropped out of the race after discovering her new home is a few blocks outside the boundary line for the newly redrawn district.

Remaining commissioners John Doglione, Bob Hackworth and Deborah Kynes chose the replacements for Anderson and Henderson from a list of 14 Dunedin residents who submitted applications.

One applicant, Patricia Wollman, who initially sought an appointment to one of the available commission seats, withdrew her name from consideration.

"I have served in various capacities in the city since 1974, and I love the town and the people in it," said Gehring, president of Prime Interests Inc. in Dunedin. "It's a real community place, led by community-oriented people, and I'm happy for the opportunity."

Gehring added that he has no plans to run for the mayor's office in March.

"Part of my discussion (with commissioners) in this was that they didn't need someone in the seat who has plans to run.

"They needed someone who would serve it as a community responsibility and move on."

Thornton could not be reached for comment.

The city charter calls for a vacancy in the City Commission to be "filled by majority vote of the remaining members of the City Commission, within 60 days of the vacancy and the person so appointed shall serve as Commissioner until the next regular election."

The terms will last until the city election in March.

In other news, commissioners approved an 8 percent increase to the city's water and utility rates for the second time this year.

Originally, city officials proposed a one-time increase of 13 percent in the spring. But they held off to take a closer look at whether the increase was too high.

It wasn't, and city leaders decided 15 percent was necessary and opted to break the increase into two smaller chunks.

The increase is expected to help the city comply with its bond requirements, which require rates to cover water service costs with enough left over to pay for administrative costs.

In the past the city has been taking money from the city's general fund to pay for administrative costs.

To prevent similar, large rate hikes in the future, commissioners plan to approve a 5 percent increase for next year.

Beginning in 2004, utility rates will increase 2.34 percent each year.

-- Leon M. Tucker can be reached at 445-4167 or tucker@sptimes.com .

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