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Cities gird for charter battle

At least eight of the cities in Pinellas favor a media campaign and lawsuit to foil proposed amendments to the county charter.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published August 11, 2006

Is it an attack on the democratic right of self-governance or simply the paranoid delusions of municipal officials?

Perceptions vary.

While few probably imagined that county charter amendments could become such a divisive issue, municipalities across the county are mobilizing to stop measures they believe threaten to undermine their authority.

Municipal leaders unanimously agreed at last week's Pinellas County Mayors' Council to formalize their united front. They pledged to ask their respective commissions and councils to contribute money for a lawsuit and collective education campaign. A political consultant was retained and directed to form a political action committee: Pinellas Cities for Home Rule.

"We want our citizens to retain the ability to decide future issues on self-rule," said Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard, chairman of the council. "We believe we will have unanimous support."

Already, at least eight cities are on board, and the others are scheduled to vote in upcoming weeks.

Prompting the outcry are the seven proposed amendments to the county charter that are scheduled to appear on the November ballot.

The proposals are the result of a two-year process of deliberations undertaken by a special 13-person review commission made up of nine residents and four elected officials, including County Commissioner Susan Latvala, St. Petersburg City Council member John Bryan, Sheriff Jim Coats and state Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg.

Municipal leaders believe that the process was flawed and facilitated an insidious plot to embolden county authority at the expense of the cities.

"The bottom line is that we will lose control of our city," said Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris. "We are looking at doing an all-out information campaign to educate people as to how detrimental these revisions would be."

The plan is to roll out a media campaign and file a lawsuit requesting an injunction to keep the proposals off the ballot. The cities' attorneys say they have collectively identified several procedural irregularities that warrant intervention, including voting by phone at the final meeting that they say violates Sunshine laws.

"If we did something illegal, they have a right in pursuing legal remedy," said Alan Bomstein, chairman of the review commission. "But the cities' paranoia about a power grab is totally unfounded. When has the county ever attempted to grab power from the cities?"

"The unspoken fear the cities are trying to propagate is that the county is going to come in and take over their fire or police departments."

Bomstein may be helping cultivate doubt amid what had appeared to be a united front.

Last week, he attended the Dunedin City Commission meeting. The commission supported the public information campaign, but rejected the idea of joining a legal battle against the county.

Dunedin City Attorney John Hubbard told the city's commissioners last week that one of the proposals, the removal of the dual referendum, would be "a major removal of democratic control."

The dual referendum, which has never been used since it was implemented in 1999, requires that any changes to the duties and responsibilities of county or municipal officers must pass a countywide referendum, as well as a majority of voters in each municipality.

Mayor Bob Hackworth told city commissioners that the public information campaign would cost Dunedin about $18,500, or 50 cents per resident. "We just want them to be fully informed of what the issues are," he said.

Bomstein told the commission: "The intent was not to bestow more power on the county and less on the cities. There's no hidden agenda where the county wanted to get rid of the dual vote to go after the (city) building departments or something."

On Aug. 1, Largo City Commissioners voted 6-1 in favor of resolutions to join the campaign, which staffers estimated may cost between $10,000 to $30,000. Commissioner Mary Gray Black was the holdout. Black said the city could have its own campaign to educate Largo residents and said she objected to only one of the proposed amendments.

"Let the people vote on it," she said.

[Last modified August 10, 2006, 22:47:59]