BELLEAIR BLUFFS - Mayor John Robertson and Commissioner John Hayes will seek re-election in March, both announced at Belleair Shore's monthly commission meeting Octover 18.
An interesting wrinkle in the Town Commission's meeting place has come up and officials will be seeking an answer from the Legislature.
It turns out that under Florida law a municipality cannot officially meet outside its jurisdiction.
Because Belleair Shore has no public buildings the commission meets in this nearby city and has done so for years.
The commission formerly met in the home of the then mayor, but this practice is fraught with all kinds of danger - liability, for one, and another which is that theoretically as a public meeting an enormous amount of people could show up at a home and not be denied entrance.
Robertson said he plans to meet with Dennis Jones, senator from this district, and get the legislative delegation to ask the Legislature to pass an exception to the law for Belleair Shore.
The commission voted into law its Short Term Rentals and Code Enforcement ordinances, both in the works for months.
It was decided to change the procedure of paying for library privileges for town residents. Robertson said that residents who pay for a library card at Largo or Clearwater will be reimbursed by the town.
Commissioners reiterated their stand against the proposed changes to the county charter and have posted signs in the towns advising residents of opposition to the amendments.
Work on the Belleair Causeway and Bridge is once again apparently stalled, with the acceptance of bids postponed.
Going by the original roll-out of plans many years ago the project should have been completed by now. Even the infusion of some $35 million from the federal government through Rep. Bill Young hasn't been able to move the work along.
The police situation is static. Robertson says he thinks the situation in Belleair Beach which provides police services by contract is stabilizing. The current contract runs until February.
One interesting subject that came up at the meeting was the question of a man named Christopher Hollins who does not live in Belleair Shore but owns submerged lands off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico.
He pays taxes to the county on the approximate three-quarters of an acre he owns, but is forbidden by law to build on the property.
His question was whether that constitutes a "taking" and if he should be thereby compensated.
Robertson opined that Belleair Shore had no jurisdiction on the land in question and was not competent to advise Hollins.