After nearly two decades in Minneola city leadership, Mayor Pat Kelley announced Thursday that he will step down later this month, citing family changes, a planned move outside city limits and his campaign for the Lake County School Board.

Kelley said his resignation will take effect during the May 19 City Council meeting.

Kelley was first elected to the City Council’s Seat 1 in 2007 before being elected mayor in 2009, a position he has held since.

In a Facebook post Thursday titled “Time for new leadership in Minneola,” Kelley writes: “As I consider new opportunities to continue serving the residents of Lake County in other capacities, I will be stepping down as Mayor of Minneola, effective at the May 19, 2026 City Council Meeting, at the start of the Action Item section.”

In an interview following the announcement, Kelley said several personal and political factors led to the decision.

As for the personal side of things, Kelley says his daughter and her family recently moved outside Minneola into the Clermont-Groveland area and invited him and his wife to relocate to their property.

“My daughter is married and now has children; our grandchildren,” Kelley says. “We have two of them, a 3-year-old and a 9-month-old and we (he and his wife) spend a lot of time with them.”

Politically, Kelley also confirmed he is running for Bill Mathias’ current seat on the Lake County School Board. Kelley says he qualified more than a year ago, adding that whether he would have chosen  to stay in Minneola or make the move he’s decided on, he still qualifies because Seat 1 would be in his district either way.

“I’m actually a candidate for school board seat number one,” Kelley said.

Kelley said although his mayoral term was already nearing its end—he was up for re-election in November—he chose to step down early because of what he described as the “optics” surrounding Florida’s resign-to-run law and public conversations he had with the council during recent meetings on how best to handle the situation.

“Technically, I didn’t have to resign because my term would be over, but the decision was I will just resign to run.”

Kelley said he felt compelled to run for schoolboard after some encouragement.

“Bill Mathias is stepping away, and he asked me to run for his seat,” Kelley says. “With my family situation and moving out of the city, it was just natural, and everything kind of just kind lined up.”

Kelley says city leaders have been aware for months that he planned to leave office before his term officially expired. He said discussions about the transition began late last year when the council selected the city’s vice mayor, Pam Serviss, who according to Minneola’s charter, would assume the mayoral position. 

The council would then be able to appoint someone to fill the upcoming vacancy rather than hold a special election.

“We will be appointing a person to come in and fill an empty council member seat at the next meeting,” he said.

Kelley says what’s surprise him the most during his tenure, is the significant population growth Minneola experienced.

“When I took over the city, there was 8,000 people and now there’s 24,000 people,” Kelley says.

He also pointed to education and school planning as one of the accomplishments he is most proud of, specifically efforts tied to the new Academy of Minneola that opened last year in the Hills of Minneola development.

“One of the most important things that we’ve done … is bring in the Academy.” Kelley says.

He said he worked to ensure developers contributed land for future schools as growth accelerated across South Lake County.

“We’ve always made sure in Minneola that the developers set aside properties for schools, at the developers’ expense,” Kelley says. “We did that for Grassy Lake. We did that for the high school. We did that for the new K-8.”

Kelley says that same philosophy would carry into a potential role on the school board.

“It’s just taking what I think my passion was as a mayor, hopefully taking it on as a school board member and spreading it out over South Lake County and just being that voice … to fight to ensure that school sites are not forgotten,” he says.

While Kelley acknowledged stepping away is emotional, he says he believes Minneola is positioned well for its next chapter, with positive people in the mix and interested in leading the city forward.

 “It’s always good to have new perspectives,” Kelley says. “I think the future of Minneola is very positive.”

“I think I left them in a good position and I’m excited to see where the next group of leaders will take the city.”