PCB municipal candidates now set

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two city Planning Board members running against each other for the Ward 4 council seat in the April 17 elections have resigned their positions.

Keith Curry will leave his public seat immediately, but Ed Benjamin will remain on the board through April 16 because he met an earlier state deadline that allows candidates to submit resignations with a future effective date, city Planning Director Mel Leonard said Friday.

Leonard said Curry did not submit his resignation prior to 10 days before the first day of qualifying for the April 17 elections and will not be at Monday’s Planning Board meeting; Benjamin will. Curry filed papers to run for Ward 4 on Feb. 2.

“It’s effective immediately,” Leonard said of Curry’s resignation. “He had no choice. It’s in the state statute.”

The two men will face former Councilwoman Debbie Sasser for the Ward 4 seat, all running within the new ward boundaries set by the current City Council on Thursday.

With the noon Friday qualifying deadline behind them, the official group of candidates is now in place for the Panama City Beach municipal elections, including open seats for Ward 4, Ward 2 and mayor.

The mix of candidates who filed for the three positions has diminished from 12 to nine, however, with two people who announced for mayor withdrawing their candidacies and TV talk show personality Lee Sullivan dropping out of the Ward 2 race for health reasons. 

The main race to watch, and the one already causing heat on the current council, is the mayor’s race, with Mayor Gayle Oberst running for re-election against current Ward 4 Councilman Ken Nelson, whose two terms are up. The two other mayoral candidates remaining in the race are Sharon Hagstrom and Travis Schover.

In Ward 2, incumbent Councilman Rick Russell will face challenger Phil Chester.

Leonard said both Benjamin and Curry will be off the Planning Board on the day of the election, and the two empty seats will be reappointed by the newly constituted City Council.

Until then, the seven-member board — now six with Curry’s resignation — still will have to muster a four-vote majority to make rulings on zoning and planning decisions and recommendations to the council.