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Mayor's undoing was how she took a stance

Today Safety Harbor is without a mayor and, for the moment at least, without a plan for getting a new one.

Pam Corbino, who had been mayor since 1999 and was a commissioner for seven years before that, abruptly resigned Monday. She did not resign in a news conference or a public meeting, but in a letter dropped off at City Hall. Corbino had not been seen around town lately and had skipped recent City Commission meetings.

Corbino's political career had come full circle. She was first elected in 1992 as a virtual unknown in Safety Harbor. She beat two experienced politicians in that election by promising to work to end political bickering on the City Commission and to reach out to residents who felt alienated from City Hall.

By the time she resigned this week, Corbino had no supporters left on the City Commission, she had seen the resignations of a couple of city managers with whom she sparred, and residents had complained of rude treatment by her when they spoke at City Commission meetings. A group of residents had begun an effort to force a recall election to put her out of office, and a fellow commissioner had filed an ethics complaint against her.

The words of George Costage, the commissioner Corbino replaced in 1992, turned out to be prescient: "I will say she don't know what she is getting into as far as a headache."

In her gracefully worded resignation letter, Corbino said she was not running from anything, but was quitting because "I believe my continuation as mayor would have a negative effect on the city, rather than the positive effect I have always strived for."

Throughout her tenure in public office, Corbino remained an unflagging booster of Safety Harbor and its small-town atmosphere. She saw herself positioned between the town and the surging forces of development, considering it her No. 1 job to protect Safety Harbor from too much change. The public projects she promoted through the years reflected her determination to maintain that Rockwellian quality of the town, from the picturesque downtown gazebo to Marina Park to a carefully crafted downtown "redevelopment" plan.

It wasn't so much what she stood for, but how she stood, that seemed to be her undoing. She had a prickly personality, a sharp tongue and tended to go for the jugular when opposed.

Now, the town goes on without her. The rather inexperienced City Commission she leaves behind will have to figure out a plan quickly. Under the city charter, commissioners have only 30 days to appoint an interim replacement for the mayor, and then will have to schedule a special election to replace her.

Though Vice Mayor Andy Steingold has expressed a desire to be mayor, commissioners should carefully consider whether he should fill the interim role or whether it would be best to appoint someone who is not currently in office and has no interest in running for mayor - perhaps one of the former commissioners or mayors still living in the community.

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[Last modified July 19, 2006, 07:50:29]