South Pinellas Election Results

From South Pasadena to Madeira Beach, Here’s Who Won

By Cathy Salustri

Across South Pinellas, voters had elections in almost every city in The Gabber’s coverage area. Here’s how the vote went in each of those local elections.

South Pasadena

Vice-Mayor Tom Reid held onto his seat on the South Pasadena City Commission, and Gail Neidinger won the seat vacated by Bonnie Quick. South Pasadena started the 2023 election season with seven candidates for two seats on the city commission, but by election day, the candidates had winnowed down to five: Michael James Burgmaier, Marj Lorand, Gail M. Neidinger, Felix Day Pretsch, and Tom Reid. Incumbent Bonnie Quick, whose name appeared on the ballot, withdrew from the race, and any votes cast for her did not get counted.

The two candidates with the most votes will serve on the South Pasadena City Commission. Each commissioner oversees a different department in the city.

South Pasadena has one voting precinct – 214. Here’s how the voters cast their votes.

• Tom Reid: 645 (32.41%)

• Gail M. Neidinger: 637 (32.01%)

• Marj Lorand: 394 (19.8%)

• Michael James Burgmaier: 182 (9.15%)

• Felix Day Pretsch: 132 (6.63%)

St. Pete Beach

St. Pete Beach will have a new mayor at its next meeting. Challenger Adrian Petrila took home 343 more votes than Johnson. Voters cast 1,880 votes for Petrila (55.02%) and 1,537 for Johnson (44.98%). With 3,417 votes cast by St. Pete Beach voters, that’s nearly a 10% lead for the challenger.

In St. Pete Beach’s District Two election, Mark Grill had no opposition and will thus serve as that dis- trict’s commissioner. District Four also had only one candidate, Chris Marone, who will serve his district. Melinda Pletcher did not qualify to run for re-election.

During the race, Petrila, new to elected life with his swearing-in later this month, alleged to The Gabber that the larger hotels on St. Pete Beach had received special treatment from the commission.

Voters from across the city elect the mayor.

Madeira Beach

In Madeira Beach, voters not only chose a mayor, but voted on two charter amendments.

Jim Rostek defeated Doug Andrews by a scant 40 votes, with 518 votes (52.01%) to Andrews’ 478 (47.99%). The race had grown somewhat unfriendly, with Rostek filing complaints with the Florida Attorney General and the Florida Ethics Commission. Rostek complaints centered around what he said was an improperly released video. He filed the complaints against both the city manager and Andrews.

Andrews, who chose to leave his District Three seat to run for mayor, will step down from his commission seat. Eddie McGeehan will step into that role; he ran unopposed. Anne-Marie Brooks also ran unopposed and will represent District 4.

Madeira Beach residents voted on two charter amendments.

Voters overwhelmingly passed Amendment One, which changes the city charter to require anyone who wants to serve as mayor or a commissioner “be an elector and resident” of the city for at least one year before they qualify to run for office. Of 976 voters, 812 (83.2%) voted yes and 164 (16.8%) voted no.

Charter Amendment Two didn’t fare as well. It would have amended the city charter so that the commission could hire a contractor or third-party firm to serves as the city’s finance director and treasurer. Of 964 votes cast, 537 (55.71%) voted no and 427 (44.29%) voted yes.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island election results are in, and incumbent Deb Toth held onto her District One seat. Toth won with 65.02% (368 votes) of the vote; her challenger, Ashley Wagner, received 34.98% of the vote (198 votes)

While voters elect the mayor at large, only District One voters may vote for the District One representative.

Toth received the Sierra Club’s endorsement.

Voters citywide voted down two amendments to the Treasure Island charter. Amendment One would have allowed the city to pass a resolution rather than an ordinance to borrow money, while Amendment Two would change the City’s accounting process, “to delete restric- tions on borrowing by the City while retaining those restrictions required by the Florida Constitution.”

964 voters (60.51%) cast their votes against Amendment One, while 629 (39,49%) voted yes. The votes broke almost the same way for Amendment Two, with 912 (57.58%) voting against and 672 (42.42%) voting yes.