After hearing positive and negative comments about the administrator, the PSTA board votes 10-1 in a show of confidence in Roger Sweeney.
By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published February 26, 2004
Transit authority director Roger Sweeney is keeping his job.
And after two hours of lively discussion Wednesday about Sweeney's track record, it became apparent that he hadn't been in much danger of losing it in the first place.
The officials in charge of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority issued a 10-1 vote of confidence in Sweeney's ability to lead the agency. The lone dissent came from John Bryan, the St. Petersburg council member who initially proposed that Sweeney enter a "quick retirement."
PSTA's tiny board room was packed to capacity with Sweeney supporters toting pro-Sweeney petitions, jammed against riders and union leaders with anti-Sweeney petitions. Television camera lights glared as 17 people spoke out on Bryan's proposal, which was not an official item on the board's agenda.
Most of the speakers were PSTA support staff. A few were bus drivers, riders or union representatives.
"Mr. Sweeney has never given me a reason not to trust him," said LaQuinda Sherrod, PSTA's transportation secretary for St. Petersburg.
But union representative Tony D'Elia felt otherwise.
"We do not believe the executive director possesses the honesty and integrity which he demands from his employees," said D'Elia.
When the time came for board members to comment, Belleair Bluffs Mayor Chris Arbutine broke an obvious silence.
"As a board, we can't sit here and ignore what we sat through," Arbutine said. "This is a cancer right here. It needs to be squelched right away. Roger Sweeney has done a great job and needs this board to either endorse him now (or) move on."
Sweeney sat near the head of the table, his fingers touching his face in a "Thinker" position while the 11-member board discussed his job security.
"Roger is my favorite person to hate," said Pinellas Park Mayor Rick Butler, who ultimately voted for Sweeney. "I'll still continue to hate you sometimes, but I love you right now."
Indian Rocks Beach Commissioner R.B. Johnson said, "If I had a similar situation, I would not do it in this manner. This is not the right time for this discussion."
Bryan did not back down.
"I'm obviously the one who started all this," he said. "I have not said Roger's done a bad job. ... We need somebody dynamic who has those leadership skills. This board needs to find the wisdom to get out in front here. It's not about whether you like or dislike Roger."
Bryan initially said that Sweeney was not the best person to expand the bus agency into a countywide transit authority overseeing all forms of public transit.
Pinellas County Commissioner Calvin Harris said the problem was not with Sweeney, but with the board. PSTA's board does not offer Sweeney a consistent policy directive, Harris said. If it did then it would take more than a city's private petition to change a bus route.
Harris' comments were prompted by votes that changed, and in some cases limited, bus routes in St. Petersburg and the beach areas of north Pinellas.
If the PSTA wants more riders, the agency has to take more of a leadership role in ridership options, he said.
"If we don't believe in public transportation, we can always be swayed," said Harris.
