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Incumbents a boon to council

New Port Richey is poised to blossom. Its long-term redevelopment efforts are paying off, recreational opportunities for residents are about to be enhanced and public safety assets are increasing.

Still, significant tasks lie ahead. Additional downtown improvements are stalled by unanticipated high costs, and the city faces the loss of its top employer and biggest property taxpayer, HCA Community Hospital, which plans to relocate to Trinity.

To face these challenges, New Port Richey needs an elected council with demonstrable leadership skills and solid knowledge of redevelopment issues. In the April 11 election, we recommend voters re-elect Dan Tipton as mayor and return former Council members Ginny Miller and Tom Finn to office.

Tipton, a two-year incumbent, is challenged by Deputy Mayor Bob Langford, who is leaving his council seat a year early to run for the mayor's post. Both are competent officeholders and are capable of doing the job. Langford, however, doesn't present a compelling case for change, particularly when he is unable to cite a significant vote on which he and the mayor differed. Langford believes Tipton is too close to City Manager Scott Miller, hasn't taken advantage of learning opportunities through the Florida League of Cities and other agencies and is too preoccupied to represent the city at public events.

Tipton, however, campaigned successfully for mayor two years ago on a platform of shaking things up at a City Hall that had a reputation for tolerating an unresponsible building department. It's hardly the kind of distinction that a city focused on redevelopment should embrace.

Coincidence or not, things happened when voters elected Tipton. Though others now take credit for laying the groundwork for the departures of the building official and the head of development services, the atmosphere didn't adjust until Tipton, the owner of a remodeling business, came on board. The changes have been agreeable with the city and Tipton, despite the minor criticisms from Langford, should be allowed to continue leading.

On council, Finn and Miller are joined on the ballot by incumbent Matthew Paul McCaffery and first-time candidate Frank C. Ferreri. The top vote-getter wins a two-year term while the runnerup takes the last year remaining on the seat vacated by Langford.

Ferreri, the former general manager for radio station WLVU, also has sold advertising for the Suncoast News and The Tampa Tribune. He is likable and promises an unbiased approach to governing, but his knowledge of issues facing the city is lacking. We encourage him to join some of the city's volunteer advisory boards to build a better frame of reference.

McCaffery, a former Marine who served in the Gulf War, now is a full-time student at the University of South Florida, majoring in political science. He, too, presents an unobjectionable candidacy, but warns the city doesn't need a return of the bickering relationship between Finn and Miller.

He is right about that and both Finn and Miller should work to keep their personal differences out of policy issues. Still, both are the preferred candidates. Their knowledge of city issues is vast and during a recent Community Redevelopment Agency meeting, their comments from the audience demonstrated a greater understanding of redevelopment than what existed on the dais.

Finn, who owns a signmaking company, and Miller, a middle school teacher, helped guide the city during difficult budget times. Miller often worked to build compromise solutions. Finn deserves credit for emphasizing improved recreational opportunities in the city. He worked to make the city-county skate park a reality and his persistence, sometimes accompanied by regrettable political maneuvers, pushed a refurbished city recreation center higher up the list of city priorities. The current council finally approved the $14-million project earlier this year.

Term limits forced Finn and Miller from office in 2005 after three two-year terms. It's an unfortunate byproduct of the city charter, those in office who begin projects are often not around at their conclusion. After their departure, the current council approved a budget that increased the general fund by 13 percent to approximately $14-million. It allowed the city to add three community police officers, two code enforcements workers and three firefighters.

The city is healthy and pointed in the right direction now because of the heavy lifting done by earlier councils. We believe some of those people should be returned to office and recommend voters pick Tom Finn and Ginny Miller for New Port Richey City Council on April 11.

The St. Petersburg Times invites candidates not recommended by the newspaper to respond to this editorial. Responses should be no longer than 250 words and must be received by the newspaper by 5 p.m. Wednesday. They can be mailed to the attention of C.T. Bowen, Pasco editor of editorials, St. Petersburg Times, 11321 U.S. 19, Port Richey, FL 34668-1499; faxed to 727 869-6233; or e-mailed to bowen@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 2, 2006, 01:24:20]