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Safety Harbor leader stuns commission

The vice mayor'splans to resign may put all but one commission seat on the Jan. 29 ballot.

By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 7, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Safety Harbor Vice Mayor Kathleen Earle says her family comes first.

SAFETY HARBOR - It was 1 a.m. Tuesday, more than six hours into Monday night's City Commission meeting.

Sitting in their green leather chairs, Safety Harbor commissioners looked exhausted.

They had gotten a lot done: They approved buying a 25-passenger bus for the recreation department, okayed the controversial expansion of the Cypress Meadows Community Church and gave a thumbs-up to a townhouse project on Main Street.

But just before they finished, Vice Mayor Kathleen Earle made a surprise announcement.

"Situations in my life have changed to the point that, due to family obligations, I will need to resign my position on the commission," she said. "I will do that as late as possible, but that needs to happen."

Commissioners appeared stunned.

They were confused about what to do next. Earle said she wanted to leave by Jan. 21.

Qualifying for the Jan. 29 city election had started just 13 hours earlier. The whole election process had already started.

City Attorney Alan Zimmet decided the best course of action would be to hold an emergency meeting to adopt a resolution that would add Earle's seat, Seat 2, to the upcoming election.

So commissioners are scheduled to meet at 7:30 a.m. today to consider that resolution. If it doesn't pass, the city will be forced to hold a special election at another time.

But if it does pass, four of five commission seats will be up for grabs.

In addition to Earle's seat, those now held by Mayor Andy Steingold, interim Commissioner Keith Zayac and Commissioner Nadine Nickeson also would be up for election.

"I haven't seen that in my 10 years on the commission," said Nickeson who is running again, this time for Seat 3.

Elected in March 2006, Earle "was an independent voice on the commission and a good steward for the citizens of Safety Harbor," said Steingold.

"I certainly hope that we are able to find someone of her equal," he said.

Her seat is up in 2009, so there will be one year left on the term.

She is the fourth commissioner to leave the job in the last two years. During that time, two city managers departed as well.

Earle, 43, was hired as a language arts teacher at Dunedin Highland Middle School in August, and often mentioned her hectic schedule, which may be a clue to her departure.

She said she had been sick in recent weeks and appeared tired. She had remarked to her fellow members that she had to be up and heading to school four hours and 15 minutes after the commission meeting ended.

As she prepared to go home, she declined to discuss with a St. Petersburg Times reporter exactly why she was leaving, saying only "family comes first and I need to be there at this time."

Still, said City Commissioner Joseph Ayoub on Tuesday, "it's a lot of resignations, a lot of turnover. I really haven't digested it. At some point, you need some kind of consistency."

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

[Last modified November 6, 2007, 20:33:43]