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Managers who live in the areas served will provide a liaison between residents and Pinellas government.
By ANNE LINDBER
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 11, 2002
The county's new initiative to bring government services to the people relies on an important thread: neighbors helping neighbors.
Each of the folks who will manage the three County Connection Centers scheduled to open in January lives in the area he or she will oversee.
Residents of unincorporated Pinellas and the cities can go to the centers with their questions about county government. The centers' managers also plan to court community groups and residents in becoming familiar with local issues.
One center will be in Palm Harbor. The other two will cover the area south of Clearwater.
"This is my home," said Largo's Jane Gillespie, who will run the South County Connection Center. The goal, she said, is to do whatever she can do to "make home even better."
Gillespie's center will serve residents of Tierra Verde, unincorporated Gulfport and South Pasadena, unincorporated Seminole and west Lealman (west of Kenneth City and east of Park Street between Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg).
The other center, led by Clearwater resident Frank Bowman, will serve folks in Highpoint, Feather Sound and East Lealman.
The connection centers are the brainchild of Pinellas County Administrator Steve Spratt, who patterned them after similar operations in Miami-Dade County.
"Throughout his tenure here and throughout the budget process, it became clear that citizens did not feel they had adequate connection with the county government," Bowman said.
The goal is to provide a liaison, or ombudsman, in the communities to answer questions, help folks through the maze of county government, solve problems, and seek citizen comment on issues the county is facing. That information will be taken back to county officials who can use it in deciding what programs are needed in different areas.
"We're going to be an information conduit in both directions," Bowman said. "We're not going to just be the complaint window."
Much of the work will likely be done at night at civic meetings, such as crime watches and neighborhood associations. Bowman and Gillespie also will help new groups take shape.
Bowman knows the area well. His family moved to west Lealman when he was 8, and he grew up on the west bank of Joe's Creek, across from Kenneth City. He attended Westgate Elementary, Tyrone Junior High and graduated from Dixie Hollins High School.
"I got roots," Bowman said.
He first studied music at the University of South Florida, but received his degree in anthropology and psychology. He later earned a master's in applied urban anthropology.
He has worked for the county as director of the Job Training and Partnership Act program and has worked for Tampa and Hillsborough County in housing and neighborhoods. He also has been a self-employed cabinetmaker. He left government work in 1992, and for several years he "sort of knocked around and attempted to make a living playing music. ... I was never able to get away from the music stuff."
In 1999, Bowman returned to county work to help revitalize east Lealman and Highpoint. He still plays "jazzy blues" on the saxophone and clarinet, most often the Molten Mike band.
Gillespie, 40, grew up in St. Petersburg and went to Clearview Avenue Elementary and Lealman Junior High before graduating from St. Petersburg High.
She went to St. Petersburg Junior College (now St. Petersburg College), then took a break from school working at Lockheed-Martin and Barnett Bank in marketing and community relations.
Gillespie went to work for Pinellas County a little more than five years ago and attended Eckerd College's experienced learners program. She has a degree in business management.
Pinellas officials plan to open Connection Centers in January staffed with employees who will act as advocates for folks with problems or questions about county government. Call 464-8210 until Jan. 13. After that date, residents in the area south of Clearwater and east of 66th Street should contact Frank Bowman, center manager at the Mid-County Connection Center, Airport Business Center, 14010 Roosevelt Blvd., #704, or call him at 453-7394. Residents who live south of Clearwater and west of 66th Street should call Jane Gillespie, center manager, South County Connection Center, South Cross Bayou Water Reclamation Center, 5900 74th St. N, or call her at 582-7014. The county plans open houses for both centers, 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 11. The public is invited.