INDIAN SHORES — Vice Mayor Mike Howard will have a hand in shaping the Florida League of Cities’ agenda for the upcoming legislative session after being appointed to the league’s 2026-27 Municipal Operations Committee.
The appointment follows Howard’s completion of the league’s Certificate Program for Elected Municipal Officials, which earned him a Gold Certificate of Excellence for 2025-26. Mayor Diantha Schear recognized the achievement at the Town Council’s Sept. 9 meeting.
The voluntary program is designed to help elected municipal officials learn about and contribute to issues facing Florida communities. As part of it, Howard took part in legislative updates and traveled to Tallahassee twice to address lawmakers.
The Municipal Operations Committee is one of the league’s five legislative policy committees. League President Mark Franks, mayor of Shalimar, appointed the committees’ chairs, vice chairs and members, according to a Sept. 9 league release.
As a committee member, Howard will help develop the league’s legislative platform, which outlines the issues most likely to affect daily municipal governance and local decision-making during the session.
Howard said working on tax and finance issues through the program taught him a great deal about the property tax proposals facing the state, and he called the experience of being part of the legislative process a wonderful one.
“It opened my eyes to the balance between property taxes and what’s best for the town,” he said.
In other business
With council member Ellen Bauer absent, the council voted 4-0 on each of the following items.
The council approved a site plan from DA Florida Properties LLC for a two-story duplex over parking at 19105 Gulf Blvd., following a recommendation from the town’s Planning, Zoning and Building Committee.
Council members tentatively set the 2026-27 property tax rate at 1.87 mills, or $1.87 for every $1,000 of taxable value, on a townwide taxable value of $1,717,187,256. They also tentatively approved a $6,483,618 budget for the fiscal year. The final budget hearing is set for 5:01 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21.
The council gave final approval to an ordinance authorizing the town administrator to issue parking permits for town streets and private property.
It also passed on first reading an ordinance affirming the public’s longstanding customary use of the dry-sand areas of the town’s beaches.
Schear noted that the monument the town dedicated in July 2022 at James J. Lawrence Veterans Park memorializes the Tocobaga using the beach for net fishing — a depiction, she said, of the beach’s ancient use.