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It's Mayor Maloof
By KATHY SAUNDERS TREASURE ISLAND -- Mary Maloof, a mild-mannered veteran of local politics, was elected mayor Tuesday. Maloof, 64, will be asked to heal the wounds left by a year of civic turmoil over new land use regulations. Her three-year term also will encompass one of the biggest construction projects in Florida -- the $60-million replacement of the Causeway Bridge. Maloof and her husband, Eddie, live on Paradise Island along the causeway. Maloof, who lost two previous bids for mayor, received better than 59 percent of the vote, easily beating former Commissioner George Makrauer. A swing band kept the tempo upbeat at Maloof's victory party at the former Fisher's variety store, and the new mayor wore a gold crown and danced. "In my opinion, it's not important who won the election," Maloof said Tuesday night at her campaign headquarters across from the clock tower downtown. "The important thing to me is Treasure Island -- that we get all this stuff behind us and that we get it together." She will be joined on the City Commission by Phil Collins, 54, a real estate investor and member of the Planning and Zoning Board, who narrowly beat Scott Barone; and Richard Kraus, 58, a 29-year resident of Paradise Island who beat retired Army Col. Larry Hoffman. Collins will represent Isle of Capri, replacing Stephanie Lavino, who did not run again because of illness. "I feel elated. I feel happy," Collins said while promising to get to work immediately on rescinding the land development regulations that fractured the city. Kraus replaces Maloof as Paradise Island's commissioner. "I'm ecstatic. I guess the campaign went the right way," Kraus said. "We tried to stick with the issues." The mayor serves a three-year term and earns an annual salary of $7,800. City commissioners are paid $5,400 annually and serve two-year terms. Maloof and the new commissioners will be sworn in at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 120 108th Ave. The municipal elections attracted 11 candidates this year, with Makrauer collecting almost $20,000 to mount his challenge. A year ago, city planners recommended new development rules that would allow beachfront buildings up to 10 stories tall. Neighbors were outraged and collected well over a thousand names to hold a referendum that ostensibly would give voters the say-so on development. Before the Nov. 5 election, however, commissioners rushed into law a new set of rules, usurping the voters' will. Lawsuits followed and a Circuit Court judge has since stopped the city from enforcing the new laws until the case is resolved. All the winning candidates have vowed to rescind the rules. Makrauer said he hadn't planned on running for office again -- he was a commissioner from 1997-99 -- but with the debate over taller buildings on the beachfront, "with the Sunshine Law violations, the litigation and the ethics complaints, this one had it all. "I had two objectives in this campaign," Makrauer said. "One was to become mayor and the other was to see that the current mayor (Leon Atkinson) wasn't staying in office. I hit .500 on that one." At Tuesday's commission meeting, Atkinson's last as mayor, he said he'll be selling his house and moving to Citrus County. UNOFFICIAL RESULTS Treasure Island Mayor/Votes/% Mary Maloof/1,318/59.4 George A. Makrauer/899/40.6 Commission District 1/Votes/% Phil Collins/354/50.8 Scott P. Barone/343/49.2 Commission District 3/Votes/% Richard Kraus/347/55.5 Larry A. Hoffman/278/44.5
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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