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Politics

Dissolution issue colors city's ballot

Port Richey will decide on a mayor, a council member and the right to dissolve the city.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published April 8, 2007

PORT RICHEY - A year ago, three incumbents were ousted in a landmark city election.

Since then, the names and faces have changed, but the issue of dissolution continues to loom in the background.

Tuesday's election has emerged as a two-on-two match on whether or not to dissolve this city of 3,200, a hot-button topic that has divided residents for years.

In addition to choosing a mayor and a City Council member, voters will decide in a nonbinding referendum whether they want to spend $250,000 or more to dissolve the city.

Although council member Phyllis Grae, the lone incumbent in this year's election, changed her vote in February approving the ballot question for the referendum, she says she wants to keep the city. So does mayoral candidate Richard Rober. (Mayor Mark Abbott is not seeking another term.)

On the other side of the issue are Stephen Johnston, also a mayoral candidate, and Mark Hashim, who is seeking his first term on the City Council. They are leading the charge to dissolve the city in an effort to lower taxes.

Both signed a petition supporting residents' right to vote to dissolve the city. Even so, both said that if they are elected and the referendum doesn't pass, they will remain on the City Council and focus their efforts on running the city.

Aside from dissolution, other issues facing the city are the five stalled townhouse projects and a $15-million dredging project that the candidates support but the city has no money to fund.

All four candidates support increasing the city's tax base with the townhouse projects and are in favor of dredging the city's 29 silt-clogged canals.

While previous election seasons brought out a host of mailers and newsletters slamming candidates, this year's mudslinging was minimal.

The candidates participated in one debate, held behind the private gates of Sand Pebble, where Grae lives. Nonresidents were not allowed to attend.

Rober, a member of the city's water and sewer committee and chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee, quietly managed to raise more campaign contributions than the other candidates.

Rober said he will look for ways to cut the city's millage rate of 4.7 mills and push for longer term limits for City Council members, who currently serve two years at a time.

Johnston backed last year's City Council winners - Nancy Britton, Steven O'Neill and Dale Massad - in hopes of creating enough momentum to push the trio to dissolve the city.

But the city remained at a standstill on the issue until a divided council voted late last year to draft wording for the referendum. That prompted Johnston to run for mayor.

Johnston also hopes to restore professionalism to a City Council he says is known for its marathon meetings and lack of cohesion. Johnston said that if elected, he won't take the $4,320 a year mayoral salary.

Hashim, who became a fixture at City Council meetings as election day neared, said he won't take the council pay, either. If elected, Hashim said, he plans to review the city's finances and find ways to save residents money on their tax bill.

Aside from throwing her support behind keeping the city, Grae champions City Manager Jerry Calhoun's work. She's also spearheading a beautification project on the city's U.S. 19 medians.

A few years ago, she criticized of the Police Department's leadership, but has become less vocal on that issue since last year.

Port Richey's races

The mayor and City Council members are elected to two-year terms in a nonpartisan race. Both the mayor and council members are paid $4,320 per year. A swearing-in ceremony for the winners will be at 7:30 p.m. April 16 at City Hall, 6333 Ridge Road.

Mayor

Stephen Johnston,

47, is a Fort Worth, Texas, native. He attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La., where he received his bachelor's degree in 1981. Johnston got his medical degree from Louisiana State University's Medical Center in Shreveport. Johnston has lived in Port Richey for 15 years. He is a New Port Richey radiologist.

Richard Rober, 47, is a Brooklyn, N.Y., native. Rober moved to Florida in 1976 with his family. He has an associate of arts degree from St. Petersburg College. He transferred to the University of South Florida in 1979 to study business administration, but dropped out to help run his father's construction business. Rober has lived in Port Richey for five years. He runs his wife's Port Richey utility company, Gator Water & Wastewater Management Inc.

Phyllis Grae,

72, is a Staten Island, N.Y., native. Grae got her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Arizona in 1955. Grae has lived in Port Richey for 21 years. She runs Greek Unique, a retail store in Tampa.

Mark Hashim,

44, is from Cumberland, Md. Hashim received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania in 1985. He received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1989. He has lived in Port Richey for five years. He is an anesthesiologist who works in Lecanto.

City Council

[Last modified April 8, 2007, 07:33:19]