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Belleair Beach mayor to sheriff: Back off

The head of Belleair Beach accuses Jim Coats of pillaging the city police staff. The sheriff replies: I won't "strip'' the force.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published September 22, 2006

BELLEAIR BEACH - The city has declared a virtual state of war against Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats, blaming him for the loss of its police chief and two police officers and stalled police union negotiations.

"This city will not be intimidated into a contract with your office," Mayor Rudy Davis said in a two-page letter to Coats.

Under the city charter, only the residents, in a citywide election, could decide to close the Police Department and hire the Sheriff's Office to patrol its streets.

In two referendum elections in the last decade, voters have strongly supported keeping an independent city police department.

The city recently received a proposal from Coats to provide one patrol deputy around the clock at a cost of $368,000 annually. The current city budget for police services totals $540,000, but that provides two or more officers on every shift.

Davis said Coats and his staff have "engaged in a concerted effort to maliciously interfere with the operation of our Police Department by hiring officers away from our city."

Recently, the city's police chief, Earnest Armistead, and two Belleair Beach police officers were hired by the Sheriff's Office. The remaining full-time city police officers have also applied for jobs with the sheriff.

"Your efforts to destroy our Police Department by hiring all of its members, including the chief of police, are totally unconscionable and clearly a malicious attempt to interfere with an important function of our city government," Davis said in the letter.

He also said the sheriff's actions are the "proximate cause" of the current impasse in contract negotiations with the police union.

Davis said if the sheriff is "successful" in forcing the Police Department to shut down, the city will "demand" that the Sheriff's Office provide law enforcement services at no cost.

"Failure to meet and perform your constitutional responsibilities will surely result in litigation," Davis warned Coats.

The city's property owners already pay county taxes to cover services that include the Sheriff's Office, Davis said.

Coats says that is not correct, because Belleair Beach does not pay the additional county municipal services taxing unit levy that supports most of the Sheriff's Office budget.

Coats said Monday that he has promised the city not to "strip" its department of its officers and will keep that promise "until the situation is resolved."

That promise was confirmed by City Manager Reid Silverboard.

"The sheriff indicated to me he would not strip the department so it could not function," Silverboard said.

Davis insists, however, that it is "obvious" the sheriff is trying to "force" the city into contracting for law enforcement services. "His timing is very suspicious. He has put us between a rock and a hard spot," Davis said Monday.

No so, says the sheriff.

"My interests are only for the safety and security of the residents of Belleair Beach," Coats said in a letter to Davis.

The Sheriff's Office "stands ready" to provide law enforcement services to the city, Coats said.

He also says Davis' letter is filled with "inaccuracies" he wants to correct in talks with city officials.

At least one city official does not agree with the letter Davis sent to Coats.

Council member Stan Sofer wrote his own letter to Coats apologizing for the "tone and direction" of Davis' letter.

"I want to go on record that I do not agree with the mayor and council on issuing such an unreasonable piece of correspondence. Blaming someone else for our own misgivings is nothing more than looking for a scapegoat," wrote Sofer, who insists the city itself is at fault for the problems with the Police Department.

[Last modified September 22, 2006, 07:01:05]