Frank DiDonato walked out of Tarpon Springs City Hall on Tuesday night without the title of "Mayor" preceding his name for the first time in six years. Minutes before, he had relinquished the position to the person he had hoped would succeed him: former Commissioner Beverley Billiris.
Tarpon Springs is different from what it was when DiDonato took over the mayor's post from Anita Protos in 1998. Then, he just wanted to stop Tarpon Springs from being a laughingstock in Pinellas County. The city was always making headlines for the fighting on the City Commission, turnover in the city manager's office and nasty politics that permeated and poisoned the city's civic affairs.
He accomplished even more than that with the help of a City Commission majority that shared many of his goals.
Today Tarpon Springs is a member of the community of local governments in Pinellas County in ways that the city had not been under some previous mayors. They kept the city isolated, adopting a parochial approach that declined many partnerships with other local governments and pushed outsiders away. DiDonato, understanding the political and social consequences of making the city an island, reached out.
Though he had a solo chiropractic office to maintain, DiDonato found time to take leadership roles in countywide activities like the Mayor's Council and the Pinellas Assembly. At first through his professional appearance and quiet demeanor, and later through his experience and insights, he made other government officials listen to and include him, and therefore, his city. That may have been his most important contribution as mayor.
But inside Tarpon Springs, changes were taking place, too. Discussions by the City Commission were less likely to disintegrate into political boxing matches. A city that had discarded or lost one city manager after another found some stability with Ellen Posivach. City employees who had struggled to survive on shamefully low wages got salary increases that helped reduce turnover.
DiDonato's first big order of business, to see that Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital affiliated with a good partner, was accomplished quickly by an affiliation with University Community Hospital in Tampa. That affiliation has kept the city's hospital open when it surely would have foundered on its own.
The city's problem-plagued wastewater treatment plant got cleaned up. Big projects like the Sponge Docks renovation and the public safety building were completed. The city adopted a redevelopment plan for downtown. Beautification projects and code enforcement efforts started making a difference in the appearance of ragged areas of the city.
Today Tarpon Springs looks better. It is better.
DiDonato can't claim all the credit. In this city government, as in others, it takes more than one vote to accomplish anything. But DiDonato established a direction and persuaded others that it was the right way to go. When he ran on his record for re-election to his second term, he won big with 64 percent.
Tarpon Springs still has plenty of work to do, and Billiris will have the opportunity to make her own mark as mayor. But thanks to DiDonato's hard work, her path will have fewer obstacles.
