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JADE JACKSON LLOYDCouncil members let Mayor Dottie Reeder do most of the talking during their lobbying trip to Tallahassee.
TALLAHASSEE - The Seminole City Council showed up in force. Five of the city's seven council members and the city clerk traveled to the state capital for the annual Florida League of Cities Legislative Action Day held Wednesday, one day after a debate over what some consider an excessive travel budget.
Council members arrived Tuesday and did little more than follow Mayor Dottie Reeder's lead, from legislators' offices to the gallery of a Senate in session.
Reeder's reign as president of the Florida League of Cities also allowed them a perch in the passenger seat of state politics, exposing them to a host of events and elected officials from across the state.
They sat ringside during the League's board of directors meeting, attended a lobbying workshop and ate lunch in the same room as the attorney general and lieutenant governor. They heard from legislators at a Wednesday morning League breakfast and roamed the same halls as the state's power players.
With few exceptions, the council members played the part of passive observers, saying little during meetings with legislators and limiting small talk to their Seminole companions.
Despite allegations made Monday night that too many council members travel too often, those who made the trip say taking a large group to the state capital is something they do every year to convey unity to lawmakers and the Florida League. Besides, they planned to take the trip nearly two months ago during a February council meeting.
"Initially, I was concerned there was so many of us going," John Counts, the newest council member, said during a Thursday phone interview. "But I also think there are power in numbers. ... I think the message came across loud and clear, as a result of having the numbers we had and stressing our point."
Council member Pat Hartstein agreed.
"If we come up in numbers, it's a very effective tool to let the legislators know we do have agendas and we do want the cities kept in mind when they're doing legislation," she said during a Thursday phone interview.
She said Seminole was not the only council there with a large group. South Pasadena sent its entire five-member commission on the trip, Hartstein said.
As to the council staying quiet and to itself, she said that was part of the plan. No matter who did the talking, she feels the council accomplished its goal of building better relationships with lawmakers.
"If there was a need to say something, we would have popped in to say stuff," she said. "Dottie had the leadership there. That's why we didn't talk. If we needed to, we would have added to it."
After talk during its annual retreat of adding a $5,000 contingency fund to its roughly $40,000 travel budget, the council unanimously moved to decrease the budget to $32,000 at Monday's council meeting. Pete Bengston surprised his colleagues when he criticized the council's spending, a story in Wednesday's Neighborhood Times reported.
They will vote on the matter for a final time during an April 27 council meeting.
He called the proposed $45,000 budget "atrocious" and unjustified for a city of Seminole's size. He also said that in most cases, one or two council members could attend seminars and report what they learned to the whole group instead of sending a majority of council members on trips together.
On Thursday, however, he defended the council's decision to send as many who wanted to go to Legislative Action Day. Bengston, who normally makes the trek every year, had a scheduling conflict and could not attend. He said his decision had nothing to do with Monday night's meeting or his budget concerns.
"If there's a local bill there I'd like to see pushed, I will go," he said. "If I didn't think there's something important, I won't go. I'll listen to what others have to say. I rely on Dottie Reeder. She's plugged in to that situation.
"I'm not trying to drive a wedge in the city council," he added. "I think the city council is moving in the right direction. We sometimes have a difference of opinion."
Council members Janet Long, Counts, Hartstein and Vice Mayor Jimmy Johnson traveled at taxpayers' expense, along with City Clerk Beverly Brown. The Florida League paid Reeder and her husband's expenses. Trina Watkins traveled courtesy of the Greater Seminole Area Chamber of Commerce, of which she is president, rounding out the Seminole delegation.
The AirTran roundtrip flights cost $144 per person. Add a $130 one-night stay at the Radisson hotel and the city's tab for the trip comes to $1,370. If all five expense their $20 airport parking fees, the total rises to $1,470.
The council enjoyed the Florida League's hospitality while they were there. A Florida League-hosted four-course French dinner and a breakfast meeting, as well as a lunch Reeder expensed to the League, eliminated the council's meal costs.
"I think it was an affordable trip, personally," Counts said.
Bengston also had claimed Monday that his city's spending exceeded that of Safety Harbor, Dunedin and Largo, which boasts 50,000 more residents than Seminole and a travel budget $20,000 lighter.
A phone inquiry Thursday found that of the three cities he cited, Dunedin was the only one to send representatives to Tallahassee this week. Two of its five city commissioners made the trip, the city clerk said.
Neil Brickfield, a Safety Harbor city commissioner, said though no one from his city traveled this time, he still recognizes the value of getting face time with lawmakers.
"That's not to say we don't go to the capitol," he said during a Thursday phone interview. "It's just right now, nobody's going this year. ... There's a lot of benefit to traveling to talk to your legislators in Tallahassee - or (Washington,) D.C."
Council members plan to take a group again next year.