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Council moves toward civility

A four-hour meeting has its routine bickering, but things cool down with the help of Port Richey's mayor and city manager.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published August 25, 2005

PORT RICHEY - With the clock edging toward midnight and earlier bitter exchanges still on many minds, the City Council teetered Tuesday on the verge of a breakthrough in civility.

Tuesday's four-hour meeting had the now routine heated back-and-forth between City Council member Phyllis Grae and the council majority. A few city workers grumbled in the back as the council argued over legal fees and union negotiations.

But the council also pushed ahead on several key issues, including clearing the way for City Manager Jerry Calhoun to pursue a $5-million bond measure to reduce city debt and pay for five new wells on the city's overtaxed water system.

Mayor Mark Abbott, accused in the past of letting the council debate run out of control, made an effort to stop personal attacks and keep discussion on topic.

Tuesday's meeting also was different because Calhoun was more assertive in his authority.

"I don't know that I have problems with a particular council person or the council as a whole," Calhoun said Wednesday. "I've been here almost eight months now, and its time for me, when I feel it's needed, to stand my ground a little bit."

By the end of the night, the council members agreed they could all use some schooling on parliamentary procedure. It was not their first pledge to curb the often bitter feuding, but Calhoun was encouraged.

"To be honest, I felt like it moved fairly smoothly last night," he said. "It was long, but we had a lot on the agenda. It really is encouraging that all of the council is noticing they need to put an end to these personal attacks. I think they're all on the same page on that one."

Calhoun's engagement of council members was polite but pointed. He called Abbott's intervention that delayed a copier lease for more than four months "out of hand." Calhoun said Grae's insistence he take on union negotiations without a lawyer would make the council "derelict in (its) duties." He also shrugged off Grae's suggestion he hadn't exhausted all options before pursuing the bond measure to meet the growing city's water demands.

Calhoun got everything he wanted Tuesday - and more

He won majority approval of everything from the $5-million bond issue to the $594-a-month copier lease. He also got unanimous approval of $16,698 for environmental testing as a step toward securing state permits to dredge the city's clogged canals.

The city cannot get state permits or estimate the cost of disposing of the dredged material until is is clear what poisons, if any, are in the sand and mud.

But the council also ordered Calhoun to take on supervision of the complicated, 4-year-old effort to remove the silt from the city's canals. The city's Port Authority Board had been managing the process but agreed that it is time for Calhoun to take over.

Calhoun is already overseeing one of the fastest growth spurts in the city's 80-year history and all the related budget and infrastructure challenges. He also is trying to jump start redevelopment efforts that have been stalled for more than a decade.

"It's never dull," Calhoun said. "I stay busy, busy and that's a good thing. I don't want a 9-to-5 job where everything runs itself. I enjoy the challenge of trying to put all this stuff together."

[Last modified August 25, 2005, 01:23:19]