It took a journalist to make him a politician.
“We didn’t always agree, but we could still walk away and be good friends,” former Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon said June 25 of his relationship with the late Islander editor Paul Roat.
They eventually developed a friendship and shared a vision for a brighter future for Bradenton Beach.
“My philosophy to agree to disagree, but still fight for what I felt was right, persisted throughout my time in city government,” Shearon said. “I go 110% or I don’t go at all.”
Previously working as an independent petroleum marketer, Shearon was a self-professed “workaholic,” who retired young.
“As a businessman, I often dealt with politicians, but it wasn’t until I came to Bradenton Beach that I ever thought I’d be one myself,” he said.
He became a resident of the city in 2003 after living aboard a boat traveling between Chicago and Florida with his life partner of 25 years, Tjet Martin.
From 2001-03, Shearon and Martin built Linger Longer, their private residence and a vacation rental, in the historic area of the city. During that time, Shearon began to lose his eyesight to retinitis pigmentosa.
When he told Roat of his frustrations with permitting and construction of Linger Longer, Roat recommended he run for public office.
“I decided it was time to give back,” Shearon said. “But I also felt there had to be a better, more productive and accountable way to run the city. Paul was always there for me to bounce ideas off of.”
Shearon served on the planning and zoning board, then as a city commissioner 2004-07 before defeating incumbent John Shaughnessy by 17 votes in the 2013 mayoral race.
As mayor, he first took aim at the administration.
“I faced a lot of uphill battles when I came in,” Shearon said. “There was so much stuff that had fallen through the cracks.”
There was no city clerk or treasurer, record-keeping had been poor and policies and procedures needed updating.
City employees “wore many hats,” according to Shearon, with minimal accountability. Shearon also said he found the city’s weak mayor form of government, which allows the mayor an equal vote, but prohibits communication with commissioners outside of meetings, effective, but “cumbersome.”
“I always felt that I had one hand tied behind my back,” he said, adding that for a weak mayor form of government to work well, the city requires professional management, like a business.
“My greatest wish for the city would be to acquire professional administration to get the best bang for the buck, with budgeted projects done in a professional manner, rather than by volunteers,” Shearon said. “That, to me, is the hope for the future.”
As the number of full-time residents dwindles, the pool of possible candidates lessens, he added.
He said a city manager could oversee contractors to ensure they were not overspending, as well as develop organized plans for city projects.
“A city manager or administrator would allow for checks and balances, and would save the city money in the long run,” Shearon said. “I met with resistance when I tried to assume those sorts of responsibilities for the city.”
Even so, Shearon was able to bring the city budget back into shape.
“When I was elected mayor, there was a material weakness and we had been running a deficit budget for years,” Shearon said. “I worked with the staff and commissioners as a team to create a balanced budget. That to me was a huge accomplishment.”
He cites the reconstruction of the Historic Bridge Street Pier as another significant achievement.
Plans for reconstructing the pier, originally built in 1921, with piecemeal repairs and restorations over the years, had commenced by the time Shearon took office in 2013.
With help from pier team facilitator, Police Chief Sam Speciale, Shearon guided the effort and the new pier was completed in January 2015.
Half of the pier’s $1.4 million cost was paid by the city, with the other half matched by the Manatee County Tourist Development Council, and Shearon takes great pride in the accomplishment.
Shearon and Speciale also attempted to develop a mooring field in the bay waters surrounding the city pier, but the cost to the city was deemed too high.
Shearon said the development and completion of the pier was a task that involved rigorous planning and documentation, as well as compromise.
“My work with Sam (Speciale) taught me a lot about respect,” Shearon said. “And that, in politics, does not happen all the time. We proved our ways to each other. And we did our best for the city.”
Shearon said of the pier opening, “It may have been the happiest day of my life.”
He said the support of the county and other island cities on behalf of the project was fulfilling.
“In the end, I wanted their buy-in,” he said. “And that is what it will take for the future of this island. People need to learn, as I did years ago from Paul Roat, sometimes we disagree. But to succeed, we must seek to understand each other and work together to get through it, to do what is best for the future of the island. It’s the only way.”
Editor’s note: Bill Shearon, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, is receiving hospice care at home.