County reaches out with three centers

Pinellas County is opening three new offices, including one in Palm Harbor and one just outside Largo, to give residents better access to county government and to make it easier for them to find answers to their questions.

For example: Ever wonder whether an overgrown ditch belongs to the county? Or where to go to apply for a permit?

Whatever the question, county officials want to do a better job of guiding citizens through the maze of government services and telephone numbers. The new offices will be staffed with managers who have more than 10 years of experience working for Pinellas County.

"If you feel like you haven't gotten the service that you thought you should have gotten, you can go to us, and we can intervene and double check," said Bob Janowski, who has worked for the county since 1989 and will head the new North County Connection Center. "We are not here to grant wishes, but if you come to me with a question, I'll make sure you get complete and accurate answers."

The offices will have an opening ceremony Jan. 11 and will open the following Monday, Jan. 13. The one in Palm Harbor will be on Tampa Road near U.S. 19. The one near Largo will be on Roosevelt Boulevard across from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. A third office will open in Lealman, near St. Petersburg.

The managers of the new offices will meet with residents to get to know the community and to establish themselves as local advocates. The idea is to improve the communication between residents and the county, said Frank Bowman, who will head the Southeast County Connection Center near Largo.

"We also will be proactively going out and meeting with community associations, homeowners associations and crime watch groups, just engaging them to let them know we are available and to answer questions," said Bowman, who has about 14 years of experience working for the county. "My generic, overall goal is to improve citizen participation in county government."

County Administrator Steve Spratt has pushed the centers as a way to bring county assistance for residents closer to where the problems are.

Twenty-six years ago, Spratt's first job out of college was to staff telephones and answer residents' complaints in Miami-Dade County. Since coming to Pinellas, Spratt has said that a common refrain he has heard from residents is that they would like the county to pay more attention to them.

"This is a beginning of the county's attempt to enhance that relationship" between the county and residents in unincorporated areas, said Gay Lancaster, assistant county administrator. "This is an open hand. It's an extended hand to say, 'Here we are. We are desirous of helping you and of providing assistance.' "

The centers also will help address the issue of cities' trying to annex unincorporated areas, Lancaster said.

"The cities are saying, 'Let us annex you, and we will meet your needs,' " Lancaster said. "Fact of the matter is, we feel very equipped to be able to do that. We want to be able to bring our folks to them and to make it more convenient."

The county is spending less than $300,000 of money redirected from other places to open the centers. All three will operate out of existing county facilities and will be open to anyone.

"Personally, I think it will be a big help to the average person," Janowski said.

-- Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or quioco@sptimes.com .

New centers

Locations and telephone numbers for new Pinellas County connection centers:

North County Connection Center: 2431 Tampa Road, Palm Harbor; (727) 793-2300.

Southeast County Connection Center: 14010 Roosevelt Blvd., suite 706, Clearwater; (727) 453-7394.

Southwest County Connection Center: 5900 74th St. N, St. Petersburg; (727) 582-7014.

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