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Leader will not run for re-election

Safety Harbor Vice Mayor Keith Zayac says it is time to focus on his family and business after serving seven years on the commission.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published January 10, 2006

SAFETY HARBOR - While much of the world was reveling, New Year's Eve found Keith Zayac wrestling - with his future.

The question had weighed on his mind since Thanksgiving: Should he run or shouldn't he?

His children, Ariana, 14, a competitive tennis player, and Logan, 11, were getting older and needed his attention.

And his civil engineering, landscape architecture and planning business is flourishing.

Something had to give.

So the incumbent decided not to seek re-election to the City Commission.

"It was probably the best time in my life, a wonderful experience," said Zayac, the city's vice mayor, who has served in Seat 2 on the commission for seven years. "But at this point, I need to focus on my company and my family."

As Zayac dropped out, one new candidate has qualified to possibly replace him.

Longtime Safety Harbor resident Kathleen Earle, 41, a Democrat, planned to run for Zayac's seat.

"People kept asking me when I was going to run," she said.

Earle is on hiatus from her job as a women's studies and political theory instructor at the University of South Florida.

She earned dual bachelor of arts degrees in English and women's studies in 1998 and a master of arts from the University of South Florida in 2001.

She taught at USF and the University of Maryland for eight years and left USF in December to spend more time with her mother, who is ill. Earle is also a former assistant editor of a philosophy journal and a co-editor of two books that will be released by publisher Rowman and Littlefield.

Earle, who has lived in Safety Harbor since she was 5, is no stranger to City Hall. She helped lead the opposition to increasing density in the Lisa's Court and Abrahamson Triangle area. She also helped start a petition for height limitations in the city.

"I believe in honesty and transparency in government," she said. "The Safety Harbor City Commission is in need of independent thinkers who are willing to take and maintain a stand, as well as elected officials who will actively solicit the opinions and advice of Safety Harbor residents and business owners in order to bring new, viable ideas and energy to enhance our community."

Running against incumbent Nadine Nickeson for Seat 3 is relative newcomer James McCormick Jr., 30, a financial adviser for Morgan Stanley.

A Republican, he moved to the city four years ago.

He and his wife, Nicole, 27, have one child, Arabella, 2, and are expecting a second child March 10, only four days before the election March 14.

Born in Fayetteville, N.C., McCormick attended Wake Forest University and graduated from Webber International University in Babson Park with an associate's degree in finance and a bachelor of science degree in accounting in 1998.

He is a trustee of the Safety Harbor firefighters pension plan and a member of the Pinellas Education Foundation's Doorways committee.

He is also a member of the Rotary International Scholars Seminar Committee, southeast zone, and a member of the Rotary Club of Clearwater. He served on its board of directors from 2003 to 2005 and is chairman of the club's international education committee and the district's ambassadorial scholar selection committee.

He has coached youth soccer and was a member of the American Red Cross, Tampa Bay chapter, from 2001 to 2003.

"I adore the city of Safety Harbor," McCormick said. "I want to make sure we preserve those traditional things that are good in this city. You drive down Main Street, and you're taken back to a different time."

He thinks any proposed redevelopment of the city "should be given careful consideration."

"We need to maintain that piece of Americana," McCormick said. "I don't think we want 20-story buildings downtown."

One of his main goals is to maintain an open government.

"It should never be a struggle to get information about where the city is spending money and how that money is being spent," McCormick said.

The qualifying period for Safety Harbor's election ends at noon Jan. 20. In addition to Zayac's and Nickeson's seats, Seat 1, which is held by Andy Steingold, will also be up for grabs. No one has yet qualified to run against Steingold.

--Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 10, 2006, 01:52:17]