BELLEAIR BEACH -- As of last week, the Belleair Beach City Council will have two candidates from which to pick the new city manager who will take over after the March election.
Eric Meserve, a candidate who once was the city manager in Indian Rocks Beach, withdrew, citing, according to Belleair Beach officials other opportunities for him that had come up.
The council met Thursday after having to postpone from Monday's scheduled meeting because of a lack of a quorum Monday. Four members managed to show up Thursday, keynoting the lack of emphasis elected officials put on serving in a public office they strive so mightily for.
The absentees were Jeff Coulson, Mary Jo Henderson and Marvin Behm.
Another withdrawal turned up last week as Richard Conrath announced he would not, after all, be a candidate for a council seat. That leaves four people vying for three seats. Among them are Lynn Rives and Stan Sofer, both incumbents, and Mary Schoonmaker, who has been taking videos of the council meetings for months.
Bert Cutler, a present member of the council, Dr. Frank Lombardi, a former deputy mayor and council member, and Rudy Davis are candidates for mayor. The surprise this year is that Mike Kelly is not seeking re-election as mayor. There are varied speculative opinion on why not.
Under the new setup with a city manager, that takes effect after the March election, the mayor will be a member of the council who will preside.
Remaining currently as candidates for city manager are Reid Silverboard and Doug Drymon.
Silverboard is a resident of Treasure Island, where his wife is the city manager. He worked as a manager at Fort Walton Beach up in the Panhandle and also served in Carrollton, Ga.
Drymon is the former manager in Lake Park and Dade City.
As the city moves toward its new form of government, there was a "social" last night (Wednesday) when Belleair Beach residents had a chance to meet the two candidates.
Then the schedule calls for council members to interview the candidates during the day Thursday. A formal public interview by the entire council will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Silverboard will be interviewed first.
Then the schedule calls for council members to interview the candidates during the day Thursday. A formal public interview by the entire council will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Silverboard will be interviewed first.
Then the schedule calls for council members to interview the candidates during the day Thursday. A formal public interview by the entire council will begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Silverboard will be interviewed first.
A final selection is due at the regular council meeting January 17. However, if the council is not satisfied with these two finalists, the selection committee will come up with other candidates.
The chance of going back to square one on the selection process is a possibility but most unlikely.
Presiding Officer Lynn Rives, who headed the selection committee, said that the candidates were not "ranked." He said the committee selected out of a field of applicants what they thought were those most likely to be acceptable to the council based on experience and credentials.