Instead of going along to get along, city and county officials give up on any annexation issue compromise.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published June 8, 2003
When the county and four cities met last week to mediate their dispute over annexation boundaries, the goal was for each side to give a bit toward a compromise.
Instead, negotiations broke down, with the climactic highlight Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler shouting at county commissioners and begging the mediator to let the case go to court immediately.
"Realistically, please, Judge, let us go to court. Let's get this over with," Butler said at one point, sparking laughter among the elected officials, government staff members and attorneys."
No one was laughing at the end of Wednesday's session when Butler launched into an oration that steadily rose in volume until he can be heard on an audiotape of the meeting, shouting: "Let me (be) real clear to you about boundary lines: Put them back. Did you get that one?"
The session ended minutes later, leaving attorneys to decide between another mediation attempt or a courtroom.
If the yearlong disagreement goes to court, a judge would decide if Pinellas County commissioners who, saying they wanted to protect the Lealman Fire District from annexations, had the right to shrink Pinellas Park's annexation planning area.
Butler's outburst left some jaws dropping, but others who know him better say the performance was typical.
"Real traditional Rick Butler," county Commissioner John Morroni said.
John Frank, a Lealman fire commissioner and member of the Lealman Community Association, said Butler's loud voice was a contrast from his presence at Pinellas Park council meetings, where he is hard to hear despite sensitive microphones.
"You know Rick, he has a tendency to explode pretty easily," Frank said Thursday. "He got very boisterous toward the end. It was almost like a 5-year-old kid saying you're not going to do that to me, so he's going to throw a tantrum."
Frank and others said Butler periodically stood up during the evening, occasionally leaning on the table and pointing his finger at county representatives.
"His image wasn't too good with the County Commission," Frank said. "I think it's lower."
County Commissioner Susan Latvala said Butler was intemperate and sarcastic: "He raised his voice and yelled into the microphone. I was certainly surprised by that kind of behavior."
But worse, Latvala and Morroni said, was the mediation's failure.
"It's fairly apparent that we're going to court," Latvala said. "I was very disappointed."
Morroni said he was frustrated by the lack of compromise because a court case means more tax money will be spent on fighting the battle rather than on items people in cities and counties really need.
The dispute between the cities and the county began last June when county commissioners heeded pleas from Lealman activists to halt annexations into their fire district. Lealman stretches between Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg from I-275 to Park Street. Kenneth City bisects the area.
Neighbors argued the repeated annexations by Seminole, Pinellas Park and Kenneth City had eaten into the tax base and were destroying a historical community.
The County Commission temporarily moved annexation boundary lines to protect the area. On Tuesday, the commission is scheduled to revisit that decision.
In changing the lines, commissioners deprived Kenneth City of any annexation planning zone and took away a bit of Seminole's planning area. Hardest hit was Pinellas Park, which had promised not to annex into Lealman.
Kenneth City sued the county. Seminole, Pinellas Park and Largo joined the fray on Kenneth City's side. But state law requires governments to try to work things out before going to court.
For the past year, attorneys and staff members of the county, cities and the Pinellas Planning Council have held peace talks.
During that time, the county did several things:
- Restored Kenneth City's and Seminole's planning areas.
- Came up with proposed criteria on which to base future annexation decisions.
- Sent out postcards to folks in the unincorporated area around Pinellas Park, Seminole and St. Petersburg asking if they wanted to be annexed into a city or remain in the county.
Registered voters and property owners overwhelmingly said they did not want to be annexed.
Butler and other city representatives Wednesday resisted discussing criteria and the postcards. For them, county voters approved an ordinance in 2000 that established the planning areas, hence the lines never should have been moved.
Butler took the floor in the meeting's final moments:
"I have a solution. I think the county would probably agree with me on this, I hope. I'm going to make a proposal: We throw it all out. We throw it all out. We start all over again with another referendum because the first vote didn't go the way some people (wanted) ...
"Then I'm going to make another proposal. I'm going to start a campaign. I'm going to send postcards out and ask if those residents are paying too much for their taxes and I'm going to make sure those responses get to you. Okay?
"And then we're going to start a whole new form of government. It's not democracy because democracy started when people voted on these planning lines, not the fact that certain postcards were sent out. The first batch wasn't right because there were only the registered voters as I understand. There was a little problem with that that didn't seem to come out tonight. So if that's your democracy, I don't want to be a part of it. Let me (be) real clear to you about boundary lines: Put them back. Did you get that one?"
The mediator, Pinellas-Pasco Senior Judge Horace Andrews, who struggled for about four hours Wednesday to get a compromise, finally asked if anyone thought they should continue with another mediation. No one did.
"I want to know if there's any way to avoid leaving here with no resolution passed by all of these boards that have been gathered here tonight," Andrews said. "Anybody got a proposal that they think would be acceptable to everyone?"
Andrews paused."I don't see any hands."
Butler's behavior
At a mediation session Wednesday night intended to resolve the county and cities' differences regarding annexation, Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler shouted at county commissioners and begged the mediator to stop the proceedings so the case could go to court. Here is a list of some previous outbursts by Butler.
August 25, 1998, Outside City Hall after a City Council meeting: Vicki Hudgins and other equestrians had protested the construction of a baseball field at Helen Howarth Park. During a conversation with Hudgins and others, Butler several times used profanity to describe the horse advocates. "He told me he personally took offense that we showed up," Hudgins said at the time. "He was yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs. ... He said, "You're a bunch of a-------."' He also characterized the horse community's pleas as "b-------." Hudgins said Butler continued to scream at her as he walked away. Butler conceded he used both terms, but denied he called anyone or any group a-------. "It was basically just a heated discussion. It was not directed at them. It was just talking," Butler said then.
January 2002, council workshop room in City Hall: County Commissioners Karen Seel and John Morroni and County Administrator Steve Spratt personally invite the Pinellas Park council members to participate in the American Assembly (now called the Pinellas Assembly), a gathering of elected officials and community activists to talk about issues, such as annexation. The Pinellas Park council previously had voted not to join in. During the workshop, Butler tore into the visitors, presenting a litany of county shortcomings. Butler tossed or threw some papers at Morroni. Seel was almost in tears when she left the meeting. Mayor Bill Mischler called the county representatives the next day to apologize for Butler's actions. Butler denied he attacked the others or threw papers at them. As far as he was concerned, it was a forum for blunt dialogue.
August 2002, City Council meeting: Butler argued with Pinellas Park resident Charles Settgast and Mayor Bill Mischler over fireworks. At one point, Butler and Mischler leaned toward each other across city attorney Ed Foreman, who remained impassive while some other city employees left the room. Butler issued several sentences of sarcastic praise for county Commissioner Ken Welch, who was not present but had advocated a ban on fireworks. Settgast demanded that Butler resign. Butler refused.
December 2002, City Council workshop: Butler criticized Pinellas Park department heads who had responded to his request for information on how a temporary hiring freeze was affecting delivery of services. Butler raised his voice as he called the memo writers "whiners" and said he was sick of seeing the e-mails. "I'm tired of seeing some of those e-mails of fluff I've read in the last 24 hours." As he finished, Butler slapped his pencil on the table and walked out of the meeting.
