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Chamber loses steady, guiding hand
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- An era ended Friday. It was Rita Bott's last day after 26 years of guiding the Pinellas Park/Mid-County Chamber of Commerce. Bott will begin a new job Monday with Concera, teaching life skills to people who have been convicted of felonies and have found it hard to find employment. "It just brings together so many things I like doing," Bott said. "It just seemed to be made for me, the job. . . .I think it's just what I'm supposed to do." Bott, 57, said she always has wanted to do something in the area of social work. A lifelong learner, she has taken college classes dealing with social issues and criminal justice. "I also have had this feeling for some time that I had other things in my life that I had to do, that I wanted to do," she said. "I think it's just what I'm supposed to do." Even so, the decision was difficult. "I've been just so torn," she said. "I feel very sad about leaving." Bott said she plans to retain a membership in the chamber that she helped shape. "I'll be stepping to the other side," she said. "I'll be able to arrive at the meeting, but not 45 minutes before everyone else." Bott was hired in 1976 as the chamber's membership director. She became executive director a year later and has remained in that position except for six months a couple of years ago, when she left to work with Eckerd College. The chamber wooed her back. During her tenure, the chamber has more than doubled in size to almost 600 members, who now take active political stances, are stressing small business development, have made exploratory trade trips to Mexico and are encouraging the city to participate in the sisters cities program. News of Bott's departure was greeted with sadness. "She's been very great for the chamber, we're going to miss her. Hopefully she will be very happy in her future," former chamber president Housh Ghovaee said. "I guess now we just need to look forward and see how we can take care of our chamber by looking to the future." "It's a terrific loss," Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said. "Rita does a great job." Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler said: "She's going to do a great job there. She did a great job for us. Been here forever. Just the thought of trying to replace her is, geez, it's tough." Butler hinted that Bott's departure was more than a desire to branch out and try something else. The chamber, he said, was in the position of many small businesses -- unable to offer adequate health and other benefits. "I just know benefits was an issue there. It was a good offer she couldn't turn down," he said. "It's not easy. You get to a certain age and you say, 'Dang.' " Bott's decision came as a surprise to chamber board members. Bott said nothing but placed an item for "staffing the chamber office" on the agenda for last Wednesday's board meeting. Most people, chamber president Bill Delong said, thought she was referring to hiring a business liaison, for whom the chamber recently received a grant. Because it was the final item on the agenda, people were edging out of the room, "then she dropped the bombshell," Delong said. "Everybody went, WHOA!" he said. Board members were even more stunned to find Bott's final day would be Friday. She explained that a training session for her new job begins Monday and she couldn't miss it. "I was really hoping to have her all year because she really is the glue that keeps us all together," Delong said. "I can't blame her. I understand her reasoning. . .but, man, it's not what I needed." Bott's departure does come at an awkward time for the chamber. It's in temporary quarters at ParkSide mall to allow its Park Boulevard headquarters to be razed to make way for a new building. And Delong has just begun his yearlong presidency. Delong was trying to look at the situation with humor last week. "You think they're trying to tell me something?" he asked. "They tear down my building. I have to refurbish a (place) in the mall. Then my executive director leaves. Anybody else would develop a complex." Still, Delong expected things to look up. "We'll make it," he said. "I've got a good board. We're still going to do great things this year."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
