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Leader winds down from a tough term

Alex Mourtakos had some sleepless nights as president of the Pasco Building Association. His term ends in December.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published September 4, 2006

For about two weeks in June, Alex Mourtakos had a string of sleepless nights.

"I'd be sitting in the rocking chair, thinking about things," said the 30-year-old president of the Pasco Building Association. "Surfing the Internet to get my mind off it."

The roots of Mourtakos' sleeplessness can be traced back to May 31.

That day, Mourtakos sent a letter to his association's 400-strong membership. In it, he laid out a proposal for a legal challenge to Pasco County's proposed amendments to its comprehensive land use plan.

In wide-ranging criticism, he attacked the county's plans to introduce new growth management policies, including traditional neighborhood developments and conservation subdivisions.

Then he asked the membership for $500,000 to mount a lawsuit against the proposals, which had been four years in the making.

A week after Mourtakos' letter went out, County Attorney Robert Sumner declared his intention to fight the lawsuit. He threatened the county may pursue a moratorium on all developments and deny a new impact-fee assessment system that builders sought.

In the two weeks that followed, some big hitters quit the association, including developers Newland Communities and Lexington Homes, the law firm of Figurski & Harrill and engineers Heidt & Associates.

Crown Community Development's general manager Craig Weber e-mailed county officials to express disapproval with Mourtakos' tactics. Stewart Gibbons, president of the Connerton megadevelopment, scheduled emergency meetings to probe the association's rationale.

It was a small group of dissidents, but high-profile enough to grab headlines and derail the association's fundraising drive.

In his Tarpon Springs home, Mourtakos paced at night.

* * *

Apart from earning mentions as a three-time all-conference baseball player for Ridgewood High School, including pitcher of the year in 1993, Mourtakos really didn't make the newspaper much before this busy summer.

But there was that awful day in 1987 that would change the family forever.

On Dec. 20, 12-year-old Alex and his brother Dean, 16, were watching the movie Armed And Dangerous on television at their New Port Richey home. Dean had been the subject of a series of Pasco Times articles because he had undergone a heart transplant 2¹/₂ years earlier.

That afternoon, when Dean suddenly developed breathing problems, Alex yelled for their mother. She gave Dean mouth-to-mouth as Alex cradled his brother. By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late.

The laughter that had filled the house disappeared with Dean's death. Their father, a painting contractor and occasional developer, threw himself deep into work. For about six months after his brother's death, Alex could not read or recognize numbers in school.

Closure and emotional relief proved elusive.

"My mental state was pretty screwed up back then," Mourtakos said. "Nineteen years later, I can talk about it without breaking down. For the rest of my life, when something goes bad, I know it's not that bad."

Mourtakos began playing baseball again and eventually won a baseball scholarship to Flagler College in St. Augustine.

Among his fondest memories of college were his days as a sports writer and editor. Even today, he toys with the idea of writing again.

But family ties would take him down a different route.

After graduating, Mourtakos joined Tampa's Johnson Brothers wine distributors as a salesman. But after a year, he chafed at what he calls "the corporate environment."

His father stepped in, striking an agreement with Pinellas County builder Doug Naumann of Image Custom Homes to hire his son.

Mourtakos said he took a 30 percent pay cut to join Naumann and put in 12-hour days working everything from field superintendent to purchasing manager to sales and marketing director and general manager.

"He didn't know a lot back then," Naumann said. "But he had a good attitude. I remember he asked a lot of questions. You tell him something one time, he pretty much got it. He didn't go on the site and act like the boss."

Without planning it that way, Naumann came to regard the young Mourtakos as a son, friend and partner, he said. By 2003, Naumann partnered with Mourtakos in a venture called Southern Image Homes.

Encouraged by Naumann, Mourtakos started volunteering to work for the building association.

In December, he was elected to a one-year term as its president.

* * *

Mourtakos now says the association will no longer sue Pasco over the comprehensive plan.

The state should approve the changes this month. When that happens, it will mark the end of a key chapter in one bumpy presidency at the Pasco Building Association.

"I'm probably not the best politician in the world," Mourtakos said. "It took a toll on me ... with the combination of the market going into the toilet."

Looking back, Mourtakos defends his role and says the association gained from the episode.

"I was the lightning rod," he said. "But now the county has assured us that we'll have a seat at the table and input on new ordinances. The feedback on capacity assessment units - which would spread home buyers' impact fees over 10 to 20 years - is now positive. That would be beneficial to the county and building industry if it was instituted."

His sleepless nights were not the result of personal misgivings over the threatened lawsuit, he said. It came from unhappiness with the dissidents.

"In board meetings, these folks who resigned didn't open their mouths once," he said. "I can't blame them (for resigning). I understand. But I felt like they should have come and said something to me."

Those who resigned cited his failure to circulate a draft.

"I never saw the letter before he sent it out," Rhonda Brewer, Newland's project manager, said in July, shortly after she resigned her board seat.

"I guess they weren't at those board meetings," Mourtakos responded. "But most of the membership talked to one another. They must have heard about it." As president, he said, he reserved the right to issue unedited letters.

More distant observers, like Patrick Berman, a broker at the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, think such lawsuits are inherently risky, given the teams of in-house county lawyers and counties' ability to stay a long course.

Had a lawsuit and county moratorium proceeded, those with a stake to lose would be developers with ongoing prospects.

In Pasco, that would include Newland's 7,000-acre Bexley Ranch; Terrabrook's 5,000-acre Connerton; Crown's 2,500-acre Seven Oaks and 1,000-acre Watergrass; and Lexington's 300-acre Serengeti.

But one observer, who counts nearly three decades' experience in building association work, offers praise for Mourtakos.

"Alex is a young man, and to be president of a trade association that has so much at stake is a lot of responsibility," said Joseph Narkiewicz, president of the Tampa Bay Builders Association and a former head of the Pasco association. "He has obviously risen to the challenge."

Mourtakos acted in what he believed to be the association's best interests, Narkiewicz said.

Lawsuits like the sort Mourtakos threatened are by no means unusual, he said, reeling off a list that includes litigation against Polk County, Tallahassee and Palm Beach County. His own association has sued Hillsborough County before, Narkiewicz said.

"Litigation sometimes is not the least expensive way, but it's the only way," he said.

* * *

When Mourtakos steps down in December, it will be with some relief.

"It's been a little rough (this) year," he said, laughing. "The last few years were pretty easy. I get the tough year."

He may not stay a builder all his life, he said, just long enough to assure financial comfort.

He may open a restaurant or a sports bar, he said. Or maybe enroll in law school at Stetson.

Some people have suggested he run for the Pasco County Commission or another public office, he said. He isn't ruling it out, he said.

"I would shake things up somehow," he said, smiling.

How? Stay tuned.

Times researchers Caryn Baird and Mary Mellstrom contributed to this report. Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 3, 2006, 20:25:32]