OLDSMAR, Fla. - While the debate about the 2020 presidential election may continue, it’s a new year and there are local elections taking place in the Tampa Bay area in just a couple of months.


What You Need To Know


On Tuesday night, two Oldsmar residents vying for a city council seat engaged in an hour-long forum sponsored by the North Pinellas chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Upper Tampa Chamber of Commerce. The city of approximately 14,000 borders Hillsborough County in north Pinellas County.

Attorney Steve Graber currently serves as the vice-chair of Oldsmar’s Ordinance Review Committee and is a member of the city’s Board of Adjustment. He’s also the only person from Oldsmar serving on the Forward Pinellas Citizens Advisory Committee.

Graber is running against Pamela Settle, a small business owner and the current chair of the Oldsmar Ordinance Review Committee. She’s the owner and founder of Light Shine Media Group, LLC, a magazine publisher.

“Our greatest opportunity is to come and fully develop the land that’s adjacent city hall and to make something tangible out of the downtown development area,” said Settle.

Graber agreed that downtown redevelopment presents a great opportunity. He added that he was also hopeful about the economic boost that the city will receive when reconstruction of the BMX Supercross track is completed. The Oldsmar City Council hired a contractor last week to replace a retaining wall at the track, which has been shuttered since 2019 because of structural problems with its walls.

Both candidates said that they’d like to see an arts center created in North Pinellas.

When asked what they could do about providing more affordable housing for the elderly, Graber said that he would support the city working with Oldsmar Cares, the social service nonprofit organization.

Settle said that affordable housing is a major challenge for everyone in Pinellas County and in the state. She says she’d be open to working with agencies already working on the issue and look to see what similarly sized communities are doing in that field that’s been successful.

Regarding climate change, Graber listed a number of measures that Oldsmar has already done to contend with the issue: How Oldsmar was the first city in Pinellas County to offer single-stream recycling and install electric charging stations. Oldsmar also received a $75,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for Resilient Coastlines last year to educate businesses and residents about risks and adaptation options.

Settle said she fully supports preserving the city’s natural resources and said that when it comes to making those decisions “I would always come at it as being a steward of our planet.”

The election for the Oldsmar City Council District 1 seat takes place on March 9.