BELLEAIR BEACH -- Dr. Frank Lombardi announced last Thursday that he will be a candidate for mayor in the March 8 election.
Lombardi is an experienced office holder in Belleair Beach. He has served as deputy mayor and also has been an elected City Council member.
Also expected to enter the mayor's race is Lynn Rives, currently the Presiding Officer of the City Council.
No announcement has come yet from the incumbent, Mike Kelly, but he may very well be a candidate. A "picnic" at the city hall December 4 had all the earmarks of a Kelly campaign event.
Qualifying for the election began last Friday. It ends tomorrow (Friday) at noon.
The post of mayor after March's election will be radically different.
The mayor has been the executive authority of the city and has not participated in council deliberations, although at one point, because of his participation Kelly was called by some observers "the eighth member of the council."
In the new set-up the mayor will preside over the City Council and will be just another voting member without any particular powers. The post of deputy mayor (a do-nothing job) has been eliminated.