Pinellas Park spent public money on private company

PINELLAS PARK -- To solve noise complaints last year from neighbors in the Mainlands, then-City Manager Jerry Mudd spent $8,800 of taxpayers' money to help repair a business' smokestacks.

But the fix failed. A year later, folks who live in Mainlands Unit 6 are still upset about the noise and vibrations coming from Cintas, an industrial laundry just across a retention pond in the Gateway Centre complex.

"I think that this is a kind of classic dilemma of the government, industry and close quarters," said Robert Tankel, a Dunedin attorney who represents Mainlands Unit 6. "The question is who's going to make the next move in the chess game."

It appears Mainlands will. Although unhappy about it, Tankel and his clients are looking for an expert to measure the noise and vibrations caused by Cintas and to suggest a final solution.

"The city allowed the problem to take place. It's not fair the city is requiring the people of Mainlands to solve this directly," Tankel said.

But Centex, the Gateway developer, says it is fair because both companies and the city have tried multiple solutions.

"We have spent a lot of money -- just as Cintas has, just as Pinellas Park has. ... We don't know what else to do," said Robert Sebesta, vice president of Centex Commercial Development.

"Our last communication to their attorney was, 'We are happy to review any suggestions ... but until you tell us what you want us to do, we're not sure what we can do."'

Cintas representatives did not return a phone message Monday asking for comment.

Mainlands has complained about noise, vibrations, lights and pollution from Cintas since it opened at 9300 MCI Drive in 1991. At first, the Mainlands residents tried to handle the situation through calls to code enforcement, but when they got no satisfaction there, they went to the city's zoning offices.

Although code officers concluded that the noise from Cintas' dryers did not violate city rules, zoning director Tom Shevlin conceded there was some noise coming from the laundry.

About that time, Unit 6 residents went to the City Council to complain, and the matter was referred back to code enforcement. A citation was issued and the matter went before the city's code board.

But before the paperwork got there, the companies hired an engineer who suggested some possible remedies. Those involved changing exhaust vents and reorienting them, among other things.

The code board decided those fixes were enough and decided Cintas was in compliance with city rules. Unit 6 disputed that finding and continued to complain. One resident contacted then-City Manager Mudd, who had the authority to spend up to $10,000 without the council's approval. Mudd had the city write a check for $8,800 to help reorient the stacks. Centex paid back $1,000 of it.

Mudd's decision infuriated John Zurenda, a member of the code board. Zurenda could not be reached for comment, but he wrote a letter to Mudd about the situation.

"As a taxpayer, I do not want taxpayers' funds used to appease a few malcontents who, no matter what you do, never seem to be satisfied," Zurenda wrote Mudd in his letter of April 16, 2002. "This should not be a taxpayer liability."

Zurenda also objected to the message Mudd was sending.

"I am incensed that you would use taxpayers' funds to resolve an issue that has already been resolved in a code board hearing," Zurenda wrote. "The precedent you are setting will be an expensive one for all the taxpayers of Pinellas Park if the message is: 'If you don't like the decision of the code board, go to the city manager for resolution.' Mr. Mudd, your actions attack the credibility of the code board and my personal integrity since I am a member of this board."

Mudd wrote back in a letter that was copied to the mayor, City Council members and the city attorney: "The city administration has a duty to attempt to resolve the problem as opposed to taking a kind of bureaucratic approach -- to ignore the issue -- which we do not like to see in government where a significant number of citizens claim to be affected."

But it's unclear why Mudd thought this issue was of such concern. The city has a clear policy, enunciated by its attorneys, against spending public money to improve or fix private property.

That's been such a steadfast rule that city officials refuse to clean out retention ponds owned by private citizens or homeowners' groups, even when it appeared city runoff helped contribute to the problems.

Interim City Manager Mike Gustafson said he remembers Mudd telling them to "resolve the neighborhood problem if we could," but he doesn't know why Mudd thought it was okay to spend tax money to fix a problem between a business and some homeowners. Mudd, who was city manager for about five years, killed himself in February. Gustafson conceded the decision to fix private property was rare but not unusual. Mudd had authorized a payment of $2,979.50 to resolve a similar dispute between residents of Pinebrook and a cabinet manufacturer. In that case, the money went to redirect vent stacks so the smell of glue would not bother the Pinebrook residents.

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