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In May, up to 150 government and civic leaders will gather for three days to work out their differences and brainstorm new approaches.
By CHRISTINA HEADRICK, MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN and ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 28, 2002
Pinellas County -- with its 24 municipalities, more than any other county in the state -- sometimes seems like one big dysfunctional family.
Conflicts between governments over issues such as annexation, laying sewer lines, transportation, public safety and who should pay for new recreation facilities are common.
So Largo City Manager Steve Stanton suggested last year to county officials that it was time for some group therapy. Months later, his suggestion is coming to fruition.
In May, up to 150 government, business and civic leaders will get together for three days. They will discuss their conflicts and write policies to resolve them. They will try to define what services should be provided by the county and which by the cities. And they will talk about long-term goals for Pinellas.
Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration at Florida State University, and Jim Murley, director of a research center at Florida Atlantic University that tackles environmental and urban problems, will conduct the seminar -- called an "American Assembly."
According to deHaven-Smith, it can work. The American Assembly process was established in 1950 by Dwight D. Eisenhower to provide a setting and technique for bringing diverse people together to discuss important questions.
"It forces them to talk, and once they're talking, human beings are funny creatures," said deHaven-Smith, who has conducted about 35 American assemblies in Florida. "They're reasonable."
The county has agreed to pay half of the assembly's $51,000 cost, with St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo and Seminole each paying $5,000. Other participating governments will divide up the remainder of the fee based on their populations.
"I think one of my immediate observations here was that the county and the cities need to work on intergovernmental efficiency," said Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt, who started his job six weeks ago. "(Pinellas) is one big community and, frankly, these issues transcend municipal boundaries."
Most municipalities in Pinellas have endorsed the process.
"I'm looking at this as one important element in an overall visioning plan for the county into the future," said Clearwater City Manager Bill Horne. "If you look at some of the conflicts that have existed, I think there's plenty of evidence to show we can work together better to service our residents."
But as usual, there is dissent. Pinellas Park officials have three times rejected county nudges to become a part of the process. Council member Chuck Williams declared last year that he would not want to be involved in anything that Largo is involved in, while other council members have criticized the process as pointless and bureaucratic.
County Commissioners John Morroni, Karen Seel and administrator Steve Spratt visited the Pinellas Park council last week to make one more bid to have Pinellas Park participate. They were greeted by a hostile tirade from council member Rick Butler, who even tossed a pile of papers at them. (Butler insists he "slid" the papers.)
Butler said the assembly will deal with countywide issues such as annexation, drainage and services. But those are issues Pinellas Park successfully manages, he said.
"I was disappointed, and it's unfortunate that the (Pinellas Park) council wasn't willing to join the process," said Spratt, the county administrator. "I happen to liken it to chicken soup: It's something that can't hurt and might help."
Two St. Petersburg council members also recently questioned the assembly process, although St. Petersburg ultimately decided to participate.
St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster said he opposed the assembly because he believes St. Petersburg should have more members on the steering committee as the county's largest city. Instead, representatives of smaller towns far outnumber St. Petersburg's voice.
"The city of St. Petersburg has been the Cinderella of the county, and we've been treated like the stepchild, even though I think we've got the most to offer the county in this entire region," Foster said.
Foster said that a meeting for St. Petersburg City Council members to meet with the County Commission face-to-face would be a more effective way for St. Petersburg to get some of its concerns addressed.
Nevertheless, Largo's Stanton insists that the assembly process is a good idea. He suggested it last year as a way for Largo to resolve some of its disputes with the county, many of which center on annexation. Largo has fought legal battles against the county, Clearwater, Seminole, Pinellas Park, the Indian Rocks Fire District and St. Petersburg in recent years.
"I have significant faith that we all can come together and have a real dialogue," Stanton said, adding "that the sum of the parts are greater than the whole."
Here's how the American Assembly process works:
Members of a steering committee, who represent a variety of backgrounds and organizations, meet once or twice a month until the date of the assembly.
The committee works through the community's issues and selects the topics to be considered at the assembly. Issues can include infrastructure, intergovernmental relations, future land use, economic viability, natural resources and transportation.
The committee also decides where the assembly will take place and who should participate. The goal is to have a mix of community leaders from various backgrounds.
So far, the local steering committee includes city administrators from Madeira Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Treasure Island, Seminole, St. Petersburg, Oldsmar, Clearwater, Dunedin, Gulfport, Tarpon Springs and Largo, in addition to representatives from other civic and business groups.
Once invited to the assembly, participants are divided into groups that meet for six to eight discussion periods during two days. A facilitator and a recorder are assigned to each group to encourage open participation and to summarize the group deliberations.
It's up to deHaven-Smith to make sense of it all. On the third day of the assembly, a draft report is presented to the participants. It is reviewed section by section and amended, if needed.
The document is written in simple terms, deHaven-Smith said. "I hate 'bureaucratese,' " he said. "Part of what I do is put it in plain English."
Those unsure if the process actually makes a difference can look to Palm Beach County, which held its first American Assembly in 1984. The result of that meeting, called Directions '84, was the adoption of a county charter, the creation of an infrastructure task force, the formation of a task force on intergovernmental relations, and the creation of a water resources advisory board.
Robert Weisman served on the water board in the mid 1980s. "It led to a groundwater protection act here in the county," he said.
Now Palm Beach County administrator, Weisman said the county has had at least three other assemblies since 1984.
"I've always found them to be worthwhile because they bring diverse individuals together," he said, citing an example of a homeless advocate swapping ideas with a builder of upscale developments. "These are people who normally don't talk together."