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Cities, county still feuding

By WILL VAN SANT
Published February 10, 2007

They agreed that suing each other makes cooperation in other areas harder.

They noted that further taxpayer-funded litigation could dampen voter support for extending the Penny for Pinellas sales tax, which is on the ballot March 13.

And a moderator pleaded with both sides not to give up.

But despite gathering in an unprecedented meeting Friday, about 150 city and county officials could not end their legal feud over the county charter.

"The Board of County Commissioners had a great opportunity to save face and do the will of the people and end the litigation," said St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster. "And they chose not to."

Of course, county officials may be inclined to say the same thing of the cities.

The parties met in a large banquet room at the Harborview Center. Each of the 21 cities challenging the county had its own table. County officials also had one of the tables, which were set up in two rows running the length of the room.

Friday's failed mediation was ordered by a circuit court judge who allowed voters to cast ballots on seven proposed changes to the county charter in November, in spite of a lawsuit brought by the municipalities challenging the amendments.

The cities won big on election day when many changes they opposed were defeated. But voters approved two amendments that could limit the cities' ability to annex unincorporated land.

A key sticking point of the mediation involved the cities' desire for the county to admit that the ballot language for the amendments that passed was ambiguous.

That admission would have made it all but impossible for the two approved amendments ever to take effect.

And that possibility, or any other move that would undermine the decision of the electorate in November, was impossible for county leaders to accept.

"We believe that the people voted," said County Commission chairman Ronnie Duncan. "And we believe we have to respect and honor their votes."

Yeah, right, city leaders said.

They have long held that the ballot language for the amendments in question didn't give a clear picture of what was at stake.

"It was ambiguous language," said Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris. "They didn't know what they were voting for."

What does the failed mediation mean? Litigation will go forward. While it continues, it's highly doubtful the changes to the charter will take effect.

And the litigation could be lengthy. Consider this: The cities and the county are still in another legal spat over an earlier round of charter amendments.

That lawsuit was filed in 2000.

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 445-4166.

[Last modified February 9, 2007, 20:11:25]