SEMINOLE — Mayor Leslie Waters won reelection Nov. 4, defeating challenger Marcus Barber with 56.5% of the vote.
Waters received 1,825 votes to Barber’s 1,400, or 43%. Turnout was 24.3% with 3,232 of the city’s 13,298 registered voters casting ballots in Pinellas County’s only municipal election.
Waters thanked supporters and said her motivation as mayor is to “keep Seminole … Seminole.”
“I was very pleased with the results and appreciative of many friends who walked door to door, canvasing neighborhoods, helping to assemble yard signs and sign waving at major intersections throughout the city,” she said.
Waters said that under her leadership, Seminole has remained debt-free and has not raised its millage rate for 19 consecutive years.
“We are a family-friendly city,” she said. “We are a fiscally conservative city, mindful of our citizens pockets.”
Waters said her government experience resonated most with voters.
“Citizens are aware of my involvement in the community, and my international training assignments,” she said. “Citizens appreciate honesty, straightforwardness and open communication. I’m always available to speak with the citizens of Seminole.”
Waters joined the Seminole City Council in 2009 and served as council member, vice mayor and interim mayor before being elected mayor in 2013.
She served in the Florida House Legislature of Representatives from 1998 to 2006. She served as speaker pro tempore from 2006 to 2008.
Waters has been involved in numerous community organizations, including Interfaith Food Pantry, United Way, March of Dimes, Seminole Friends of the Library, Seminole Chamber of Commerce, and Seminole Historical Museum.
She also has participated in the Suncoast and Florida leagues of cities, Pinellas County Mayors Council, Florida League of Mayors, Seminole Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and has attended fire operations training, and the Pinellas County Sheriff Citizen Academy.
Waters holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and was an adjunct political science professor at the University of South Florida and Eckerd College.
She is the author of “Good Morning Mayor, What’s Up?,” which relates how local governments operate and can be used as a resource for students, civic leaders and elected officials.
Waters said her priorities for the next term include keeping taxes low, maintaining safe neighborhoods and business districts, and strengthening storm preparedness.
Her goals include ongoing projects to build a new fire station near the Bay Pines area and construct a recreation complex. The city has hired an architectural firm and begun the planning phase.
She also said her goal is retaining city designations as a Purple Heart city and a Tree City USA.
She cited the establishment of the storm water utility as a major accomplishment.
Other goals include maintaining the road paving plan, focusing on Seminole neighborhoods, continue to ensure building codes and regulations are met for the safety of homes and businesses and partnering with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office for safety and security for neighborhoods and business districts to keep the city debt free.
“If a loan is in order, that fifth fire station to be built, a big project like that, will definitely plan to pay it off in a timely manner,” she said. “We don’t like to carry debt. Debt draws interest; you’d have to pay even more.”
Waters offered advice for young leaders who are interested in public service.
“Any interested party should be familiar with the organizational structure of the city and council, city issues, the budget process, millage rate and certainly attending council business meetings,” she said. “To see their local government in action, attending the annual Seminole Citizens Academy, volunteering on a city committee or board, and joining a local civic club would be of great value to being an effective counselor elected official.”