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LDR vote has a tense 12 minutes
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer
TREASURE ISLAND -- Three hours into Tuesday night's City Commission meeting, Mayor Leon Atkinson called for a vote on the proposed land development regulations. Two city commissioners voted for it; one against. One more vote in favor, and the City Commission would succeed at subverting the resident-led voter referendum to slow high-rise beach development. The city clerk asked for Commissioner Stephanie Lavino's vote. "I want to go to referendum," she said. "Yes to go to referendum." That issue wasn't on the table. The citizen-driven referendum will be on the Nov. 5 ballot regardless of any commission decision. The question was whether the commission would first pass an ordinance that could supersede any changes residents might pass in the future. "We're voting on the LDRs, if you want to pass the LDRs," Atkinson said to Lavino. "I want the people to have a vote on Nov. 5," she said again. The situation continued for 12 minutes as the city attorney tried to explain the issue to her. At one point, Lavino's opponents in the audience clapped, thinking she was switching and voting with their side. Afterward, Lavino insisted she understood how she was voting. "I wasn't confused," Lavino, 49, said Thursday. "I just wanted to make sure that I was voting the right way. People kept interrupting when I was trying to say what I was trying to say. I didn't want two weeks down the road to say I didn't know what I was voting on. It's too important." Lavino's two-year term expires in March. She said she plans to run for re-election. Questions surrounding Lavino's vote were especially critical Tuesday, the second and final reading of the land development regulations ordinance, because Lavino voted in favor of the ordinance on the first reading, even though she had said she would vote against it. After that vote, which took place Oct. 8, Lavino said she didn't realize she had voted for the ordinance. About 200 people watched the scene unfold Tuesday night in the City Commission chambers. At one point the mayor raised his voice when asking Lavino to clarify her vote. "Commissioner, I need you, we need you, to vote one way or another on the motion," Atkinson said. "But it should be the same thing," Lavino replied. City Attorney Jim Denhardt described the vote to Lavino three times, and she continued to say she wanted to vote for the referendum. At one point Ken Weiss, a lawyer who represents some residents who opposed the commission's approving land development regulations Tuesday, appeared at the podium to try to explain the vote to Lavino. The city attorney refused to let him, saying it was not appropriate to accept public comment at that point in the meeting. Two Treasure Island police officers approached Weiss, preparing to escort him away. City Manager Chuck Coward stepped in and asked the officers to let the city attorney handle the situation. Then Coward tried to offer Lavino a different explanation. "Maybe what you're trying to wrestle with here is that a "yes' vote would make this ordinance in front of you tonight supersede or come before the election and make the election moot," Coward told Lavino. "A "no' vote tonight would allow the people's voice to speak and would strengthen the vote on Nov. 5. "If that's helpful to you, I'm glad to provide it," Coward continued. "Yes, it is," Lavino replied. "And my vote is no." Lavino, who represents the Isle of Capri neighborhood and part of Sunshine Beach, was diagnosed 22 years ago with lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks the body. Karen Johnson, a health educator with the National Lupus Foundation, said side effects of lupus can include confusion, cloudy thinking and difficulty articulating thoughts. "It's just so different for so many people, and it can affect the central nervous system in so many different ways," Johnson said. Lavino said Thursday that the disease is under control and that her behavior had nothing to do with her health. "Sometimes I have a hard time trying to get something across as to what I really mean," she said. "I think Chuck Coward, when he explained it, then I understood it. But to me, it was too much to ask someone to vote and not have an answer. And that's my feeling about it."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Dr. Delay Letters |
