By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

Tim Svoboda didn’t want to be the mayor of Tampa after Jim Clemmer died in November.

Council member Paul Backhus urged Svoboda to take the responsibility.

“Just stick in there,” Backhus said.

So far, Svoboda has taken care of the little things that needed to be done.

Svoboda helped finish a sewer project that Clemmer had been working on and he helped solve a stray dog problem.

Svoboda usually spends about 10 to 15 hours a month performing mayoral duties, far less than Jim Clemmer spent.

“He made mayor a full-time job,” Svoboda said. “He had time during the day to go down to city hall. I know Jim did things that nobody ever knew about.”

Clemmer took over as mayor of Tampa more than 20 years ago after already retiring from Cardie Oil Co. Svoboda works full-time at Agri Producers. He regularly gets home at 7 or 8 p.m. this summer. He also has a young family, including three sons.

“My kids are only going to be young once,” Svoboda said.

On top of being mayor, he is assistant fire chief and on the board of the Durham fire department. He said that the problems facing the town — loss of a grocery store and post office and lack of funding — are daunting and need a devoted public servant.

“I just don’t have time to be a proper mayor,” he said.

Although he hopes someone will take the mayoral position when Clemmer’s term ends in spring 2011, Svoboda said that he wants to leave his mark on Tampa.

“Just a little something to say Tim Svoboda did this,” he said.