Tarpon may vote on term limits

The commission is moving toward a referendum in March to eliminate Tarpon Springs' term limits despite an overwhelming defeat a year ago.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 27, 2001

TARPON SPRINGS -- Voters left no doubt last year when asked to overturn term limits for city officials. They voted to keep term limits by more than a 3-1 majority.

Even so, city commissioners plan to ask residents again. Commissioners have given initial approval to putting a repeal of term limits up for a referendum during the March 19 city election. The item still has to go for two more commission votes in January before appearing on the ballot.

"I think it's time to ask the citizens, do they like the way their government is being run?" Commissioner Jim Archer said during a City Commission discussion of the issue last week.

Commissioners previously discussed a narrower change to city term limits. That change would have allowed any city commissioner serving a second term to run for mayor without the current one-year waiting period.

"Other cities designate the mayor's seat as a different seat" from the other commissioners' seats, Commissioner Beverley Billiris said.

One option was for both items -- the limited repeal as well as the wholesale change -- to appear on the ballot. But commissioners decided that would be too confusing for voters.

Former Mayor Anita Protos is one local defender of term limits. She has said during recent meetings that they help ensure that new people are given a chance at public office.

But Mayor Frank DiDonato said Protos herself is an example of why term limits are bad. He pointed out that she served about 15 years as a mayor and commissioner in the 1980s and 1990s, with only a short break when she resigned from the commission to run for mayor.

"I think that it gave Anita a strong sense of the community," DiDonato said.

Commissioners also gave initial approval to five other referendum items:

Requiring a super majority -- a vote of at least 4-1 -- to fire a city manager. Currently, only a 3-2 vote is needed. Commissioner Karen Brayboy voted against putting this item on the March ballot.

Allowing people who are not Tarpon Springs residents but who have strong ties to the community to serve on some city boards. The change would not affect quasijudicial boards and panels that deal with land planning and reviews of the city charter, all of which still would only allow appointments of residents.

Allowing the city to buy a vacant lot at Spring Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for about $5,000. City staffers said if the city purchases it, the property can remain an open space and will not be developed. Staffers said if a house were built on the property, it could cause visibility problems at the high-traffic intersection. The money would come from transportation and parks and recreation impact fees.

Allowing the City Commission, by a vote of at least 4-1, to approve the sale or purchase of property. Currently, such land transactions must go to a referendum.

Allowing the City Commission, by a vote of at least 4-1, to approve leases of more than five years and contracts. Currently, the city charter requires a referendum vote for many such leases and contracts.

-- Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.

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