Seminole Home Inspector

SEMINOLE - A SHORT HISTORY

The City of Seminole was incorporated November, 15, 1970 with Russell Stewart elected the first mayor of Seminole. The is event was commemorated by a plaque located in the Seminole Mall located on 113th street. The form of government in the city is a City Council with a City Manager to manage the affairs of the city. The titles of Mayor and Vice-Mayor are awarded by a vote of the elected City Council. The Mayor has a three-year term and six Councilors are elected in City-wide elections with three-year overlapping terms.

Seminole occupies approximately 5.3 square miles with a 2008 population of 18,862 with 12,939 registered voters. The Greater Seminole area, which is serviced by the Fire Department, Library and Recreation Divisions has a population of about 80,000. The City is located on Florida's West Coast in West Central Pinellas County. Seminole is only 1.5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and is halfway between Clearwater to the north and St. Petersburg to the south.

Seminole is a full service city, including professional administration, finance, library, recreation, community development, fire, public works, sanitation, and recycling services Sewage is treated by Pinellas County through a long-term agreement. Pinellas County provides City water supply. Sanitation and recycling services are contracted through Waste Management, Inc. and the transportation service is contracted with the countywide public transportation system. The Pinellas County Cooperative provides library services. Finally, law enforcement services are provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department.

Seminole demographic studies indicate that the city population has almost doubled from 1999 to the present population of 18,862 estimated in 2008. Personal income average is $44,028 and median age is 44.9 years. the principal employers in  are as follows: Freedom Square, St. Petersburg College, Home Depot, Lake Seminole Square, Publix Super Markets, Target , City of Seminole, Tandem Health Care, Suncoast Chrysler Jeep, U.S. Post Office and Winn-Dixie.

A Look Back

Nov. 15, 1970: City incorporates at a meeting at Seminole Mall by a vote of 823 to 72.

1973: City of Seminole builds first recreation facility: eight horseshoe courts.

1974: City of Seminole buys land at 7464 Ridge Road for $200,000 for city, park, lake and new City Hall.

April 1, 1984: Seminole tops 5,000 residents.

April 1985: Seminole buys 9.6 acres on 113th Street for $520,000. Land later becomes site of post office and city library.

June 1985: City annexes Seminole Gardens apartments, adding 1,000 residents.

Dec. 12, 1989: Seminole attempts to annex 4,000 people. It gets only a fraction of that number. The city does not hold another referendum on annexation until 1999.

Oct. 9, 1991: City of Seminole agrees to buy former church on 113th Street as a future recreational complex. Cost is $1.5 million. City later spends an additional $1 million to increase the size of the property to 15 acres.

Aug. 16, 1992: Seminole opens a $1.5 million library.

Sept. 8, 1994: Seminole voters decide to change from a strong mayor form of government to a city manager form.

May 1995: City of Seminole hires Frank Edmunds of Newmarket, N.H., as its first city manager. He begins work in July.

Oct. 1, 1995: City of Seminole absorbs the independent Seminole Fire Rescue, tripling its budget from about $3.5 million to $11 million and increasing its number of employees from 40 to 140.

January 1996: Seminole hires new fire chief, Vicki L. Murphy, the first female fire chief in Pinellas County and only the seventh woman in the country to be a paid fire chief. She resigns July 1, 2000.

Sept. 14, 1999: Voters approve spending $5.8 million to expand and renovate the recreation center at 9100 113th St. N. It is the largest capital project in the Seminole's history. The project cost later increases to a total of $6.1 million.

June 13, 2000: Voters in three unincorporated neighborhoods overwhelmingly approve joining the City of Seminole, nearly doubling its size and substantially adding to its tax base. Seminole's population jumps from 9,000 to 14,000.

September 2000: City of Seminole enters into an agreement with St. Petersburg Junior College to build a $6.8 million joint use library, scheduled for completion in 2003, on the school's Seminole campus.

November 15, 2000: City of Seminole celebrates its 30th anniversary