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A funny thing happened on the way to the exit

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published May 14, 2006

It takes a special kind of man to change his mind in public, to admit he acted and spoke rashly.

In our age of spin, those kinds of men are rare, the unequivocal mea culpa even rarer.

Port Richey City Manager Jerry Calhoun showed us the way it should be done.

"I have to say I made a rush to judgment," Calhoun said in a phone interview two days after he changed his mind about quitting. "I should have waited a little longer."

For the city of Port Richey, a pot perpetually boiling with discord, Calhoun's second thoughts about leaving might be the best news in a long time. He works like a dog; he's competent; he's one of the good guys.

In case you missed it, several weeks ago Calhoun submitted his resignation after two years in the hottest seat in Port Richey. He announced his decision to quit soon after three new people, no fans of his, were elected to the Port Richey City council.

When you consider the history of Port Richey over the past 30 years, it's not hard to blame Calhoun for wanting to jump ship. When you consider what he has encountered in the past year, you could understand his paranoia.

He has been hearing an earful from a well organized group committed to dissolving the city. When the group couldn't muster enough support from the Pasco legislative delegation for its referendum idea, it opted for more direct tactics.

Three candidates, former City Council member Dale Massad and his running mate, Nancy Britton, along with Steven O'Neil, all of whom had at one point signed a petition asking for a referendum to disband the city, won election.

Faced with a new City Council majority, Calhoun must have felt like he was standing at the edge of a cliff with someone pointing a gun at him. Jumping seemed the better option.

To hear him tell it, there was no way he thought he would be able to work with the new City Council members. He thought they had a different vision for the city - a vision of a disappearing city, perhaps.

"For whatever reason, I guess I wasn't sure that the council had all their faith in me at that time," Calhoun said. "And if I don't have their faith and their confidence as a city manager, I wouldn't be effective for citizens. It was best to step aside and let the city move on."

He was talking to me from his home in Spring Hill, where he lives with his wife, two stepdaughters and a dog. This isn't the kind of person who can afford to walk away from a $65,000-a-year government job without a parachute. The 52-year-old also has a son in college and a daughter heading in that direction.

Still, he was willing to take one for the city - sacrificially quit in the interest of progress and good government - a novel concept in the annals of Port Richey political and civic life.

For a while, though, it was like giving up on a marriage when you hear the in-laws approaching the house. But then on his way out the door, a strange thing happened. Calhoun had candid conversations with individual council members. He heard their vision for the city and their desire for unity and healing. Sounds hokey, sounds out of character for Port Richey, but it worked.

"A solid vote of confidence from them individually helped me change my mind," he said.

So with his new confidence in his status and his voice, Calhoun spoke to me about how the city could move forward - finding ways to take advantage of the underused waterfront, attracting commercial, cleaning up the blighted areas, spending less on consultants and lawyers - fewer studies, less litigation. He desperately wants people to see Port Richey in a new way.

"When you go out on the water and look at our city, you see it in a different light, like the difference between night and day," he said.

Like taking a second look and getting a better view.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 14, 2006, 00:52:13]