SEMINOLE — Anyone who has sat through more than one Seminole council meeting — especially around budget time — comes away with at least one bit of knowledge: City Manager Frank Edmunds is a favorite of (most of) the council. And now they're proving it to the world.

They're holding a party — and everyone's invited — to celebrate Edmunds' 14 years as Seminole's first and only (so far) city manager. The bash will be Thursday (that's July 23) from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Seminole Recreation Center Auditorium. The recreation center, 9100 113th St. N, is across from the Seminole City Hall. Dress is casual. (No word on if they plan to toss Edmunds in the pool during the evening.)

Council member Bob Matthews, who is spearheading the event, has handed out a list of Edmunds' accomplishments throughout the years. Among those are annexations that slightly more than doubled the city's size, from 2.2 square miles to 5.6 square miles, and almost doubled the population, from 9,600 to 18,700.Other accomplishments include renovating the city library to become a City Hall and brokering a deal with St. Petersburg College to create a joint-access library that city residents and college students can both use. Then, of special interest in these harsh economic times, is the reduction over the years of Seminole's property tax rate, from $3.50 per thousand dollars of assessed value to $2.47 per thousand dollars of assessed value. For more about Edmunds' accomplishments and to rub elbows with some of the county's political elite, plan to drop in for the evening.

Anne Lindberg, Times Staff Writer