TARPON SPRINGS \u2014 Three candidates for city commission fielded questions from a packed City Hall auditorium during a League of Women Voters of North Pinellas-sponsored forum.<\/p>\n
Planning and Zoning Board member Lori Weaver, former City Commissioner Craig Lunt and political newcomer VaCelia Koumendouros outlined their visions for the city’s future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lori Weaver<\/p>\n
Weaver, a licensed U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton ship’s captain and retired merchant marine officer, said her experience prepared her for the commission.<\/p>\n
“As an officer in the merchant marine and ship’s captain, I’m used to making difficult decisions under pressure,” she said. “Knowledge and preparedness is key. I’ve known responsibility and I’m ready to rise to that occasion.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Craig Lunt<\/p>\n
Lunt, who works in network and cybersecurity, addressed his 2023 resignation from the commission.<\/p>\n
“I resigned because the newly passed Form 6 filing requirement required me to name my major clients,” he said. “By doing so I would have breached nondisclosure agreements with those clients. Since I could not legally or ethically do that, my only choice was to resign.”<\/p>\n
He noted that a federal judge has since blocked the Form 6 requirement and he no longer works with those clients.<\/p>\n
Lunt said his previous commission experience \u2014 including service on the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council \u2014 gives him institutional knowledge. “I know how the city operates, how the board operates and how things are done,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
VaCelia Koumendouros<\/p>\n
Koumendouros, a mental health specialist, said she’s running because “Tarpon Springs faces real challenges with flooding, growth, infrastructure.”<\/p>\n
“Protecting what makes our city special requires planning, transparency and steady leadership,” she said, adding her psychology background helps her make decisions “based on fact and not emotion.”<\/p>\n
Weaver praised the current commission’s collaborative tone, contrasting it with “two years ago, when the board was rife with contention and mistrust.”<\/p>\n
“We can’t go back to those years,” she said. “This is what compelled me to run in this election.”<\/p>\n
Flooding emerges as top issue<\/p>\n
All three candidates cited flooding \u2014 particularly at the Sponge Docks \u2014 as a critical concern.<\/p>\n
Lunt called it “the most pressing” issue, noting a project to address Sponge Docks flooding has ballooned from about $1 million to $4 million or $5 million.<\/p>\n
“I personally don’t think the design has been well done,” he said. “We need to spend time to take care of this problem.”<\/p>\n
Weaver said the mayor “had the foresight to borrow money to try and correct the infrastructure now; it had been long neglected.”<\/p>\n
Koumendouros noted many residents remain displaced from recent hurricanes. “The Sponge Docks are having a hard time renting their places, because they’re still working on them,” she said. “We cannot have this flooding all the time. These people need help and this is the lifeline of Tarpon.”<\/p>\n
Building community connections<\/p>\n
Weaver said she noticed many Union Academy residents didn’t attend the downtown Longest Table event “and that was disappointing.” She said she’s exploring ways to bring different communities together.<\/p>\n
Koumendouros wants to improve cooperation between the Sponge Docks and Main Street “instead of trying to take tourists away from each other.”<\/p>\n
She also called for improving Pinellas Avenue’s appearance along Alternate U.S. 19. “You can only make a first impression one time, and Tarpon is not making a very good first impression,” she said. “When people pass through, (we want them) to stay.”<\/p>\n
Historic preservation<\/p>\n
All three candidates emphasized protecting the city’s historic character while modernizing infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“Just because we’re old doesn’t mean we have to be shabby,” Lunt said. “Even though we’re trying to move ourselves into the future, don’t destroy our historical past.”<\/p>\n
Weaver’s campaign tagline is “improving our future while respecting our past.” She called for consistency on the Historic Preservation Board.<\/p>\n
Koumendouros said the city’s historic charm “makes us different from other towns in the area” and called for pursuing grants to help property owners maintain historic buildings.<\/p>\n
Lunt also advocated for enhancing parks and recreation, including potentially adding a splash park at Dorsett Park.<\/p>\n
The voter registration deadline for the March 10 municipal election is Feb. 9. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. Early voting is not conducted for municipal elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TARPON SPRINGS \u2014 Three candidates for city commission fielded questions from a packed City Hall auditorium during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[65493,202,204,203,199,201,200,65494],"class_list":["post-133488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-north_county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tarpon_springs_beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}