Election slates are shaping up in 3 east Pasco municipalities

Of four cities, only Saint Leo will not need an election. Elsewhere, the close of qualifying begins the campaign season.

By CHASE SQUIRES and CARY DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2000

As the books closed on qualifying for east Pasco municipal elections Tuesday, three of the region's four cities could expect contested races.

Only Saint Leo will not need to hold an election. Three candidates signed up for the three available seats, guaranteeing each a place on the commission.

Non-partisan elections are set for April 11 in Dade City, San Antonio and Zephyrhills.

Residents in each municipality have until March 13 to register to vote in the elections.

Dade City

In Dade City, two of the three seats to be open on the City Commission were vacated by longtime incumbents, and both seats are contested.

After the election, commissioners will choose a mayor from among their ranks.

Commissioners are paid $100 per month, and the mayor is paid $150 monthly.

Newcomers P. Hutchison "Hutch" Brock and Steve Van Gorden are vying for the seat vacated by Commissioner Gregg Lynch.

Brock, 34, is a Dade City native and a lawyer. He was president of Downtown Dade City Main Street last year and has been active in the effort to establish downtown development guidelines.

Van Gorden is a 24-year-old middle school geography teacher and is co-founder of the Pasco County Young Democrats. He said he is concerned about the lack of recreational programs for young people.

Another seat is being vacated by Mayor Charles McIntosh, who is retiring to spend more time with his ailing wife.

Schoolteacher Joe Gude, 30, a lifelong east Pasco resident, is running for the seat on a platform of careful growth and preservation of the area's small-town charm.

Former Commissioner Lowell Harris, a 65-year-old semiretired pharmacist, is also in the running for McIntosh's seat. Harris, who moved to Dade City in 1960 and became a member of the commission in 1969 for one term, said he supports recreational programs and wants to expand the city's boundaries and lure new business.

Longtime Dade City resident Kathy Lambert, 49, is also making a bid for the office, her second since an unsuccessful run in 1987. Lambert, a singer in the St. Rita Catholic Church choir and a former teacher, wants the city to focus on neglected projects, such as road paving and development of neglected neighborhoods. She said she also wants the police department to focus on hiring more black officers.

Commissioner Eunice Penix, 59, was the sole qualifier for her seat and automatically retains her position.

San Antonio

In contrast to last year's election, when only one candidate signed up for one vacant seat, this year four candidates are vying for three available seats. Commissioners are unpaid.

In San Antonio's form of government, the top three vote-getters will take the offices.

Mayor Roy Pierce, 50, is a private investigator who said he is running to continue his efforts to handle the area's rapid growth and protect the quality of life in town.

Pierce, a regular critic of big government, said he wants to keep the property tax rate as low as possible.

Also in the running is incumbent Heiskell Christmas, 37, who was appointed last month to fill the remaining months in the term of Commissioner Olaf Jonasson, who moved to South Carolina.

Christmas advocates slowing down the growth regulation process and proceeding carefully as developers look to build in the city.

Two newcomers are also in the running.

Wendi Edwards, a schoolteacher who turns 32 on Thursday, said she, too, is concerned about growth and how it will affect residents of town where she has lived for the past five years.

"It's coming," she said. "Wesley Chapel is now considered north Tampa."

Edwards, a former Pasco County sheriff's deputy, is also concerned about law enforcement issues.

The other newcomer is Mark Pearson, 36, who qualified minutes before the noon deadline. Pearson, an audiovisual director at Tampa's Wyndham Westshore Hotel, is a longtime Dade City resident who moved to San Antonio two weeks ago. He said he had not formed a platform as of Tuesday but was eager to get involved in the community and take part in the decisionmaking process.

Zephyrhills

Voters in Zephyrhills will have choices in all three positions up for grabs this year. A total of eight candidates qualified to run for the positions, which pay $3,600 annually.

In the battle for Seat 2 on the City Council, incumbent Elizabeth Geiger faces two challengers. Geiger, 56, a retired teacher, has served on the council since 1992 and is the president of the five-member board.

Also running for Seat 2 are Michael A. Bussell and Lois Ann Hubbard. Neither has sought public office before.

Bussell, 58, is a disabled veteran and the former owner of a shipping company. He moved to Zephyrhills in 1986 after retiring from the Army.

Hubbard, 62, is a bookkeeper at a visual arts promotion firm in Dade City. She moved to Zephyrhills from Richmond, Ind., in 1995.

Two candidates are running for Seat 4 on the council. The incumbent, Alan Brenia, announced last month that he is moving outside the city limits and wouldn't run for re-election.

Mayor Jim Bailey qualified last week to run for Seat 4. Bailey, 67, a former district manager for Florida Power, held the seat for 18 years before stepping down in 1992 to run for mayor.

Challenging Bailey is Tony Goodwin, 34. Goodwin, who qualified Tuesday, is an athletic facilities foreman for the city of Temple Terrace. He moved to Zephyrhills from Tampa five years ago.

Three candidates are vying to replace Bailey as the city's mayor.

Mel Barrows, 64, retired in 1991 from his job as pastor of Church of the Nazarene in Zephyrhills. He has lived in Zephyrhills since 1983.

Roy Burnside, 75, worked in the city's Building Department for 10 years before retiring in 1996. He moved to Zephyrhills from Wesley Chapel in 1983 after a long career in sales and management with Borden's Dairy.

The third mayoral candidate is August M. "Mickey" McPhee, 62, a former Publix store manager who moved to Zephyrhills from St. Petersburg in 1975. He managed the Zephyrhills Publix store until 1985.

Saint Leo

Saint Leo will not have an election this year. Three candidates qualified for the three available seats. Commissioners are not paid.

Brother Gabriel Estes announced Monday he will not run for re-election to the seat he has held since he was appointed in 1997. He said the time was right to pass the torch to someone else and he supports Brother James Hallett, another member of the Saint Leo Abbey in the Order of Saint Benedict.

Hallett, 55, said he is committed to staying at the abbey and in Saint Leo. He is the abbey's business manager, and Estes said he is versed in many of the complex financial issues the town grapples with.

Incumbents Richard Christmas, 36, and Sister Donna DeWitt, 56, both retained their seats automatically when no one filed to run against them.

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