Funeral delays county session

A last-minute change snubs citizens who had planned to appear, Ferlita says.

By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 15, 2007

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean announced Tuesday that the start of today's commission meeting was postponed until the afternoon "due to a light agenda."

The real reason: Most commissioners planned to skip the scheduled morning session so they can attend the memorial service of an influential developer.

Bean confirmed this Tuesday, and said the light agenda simply made it easier for her to accommodate the scheduling conflict.

That has piqued the ire of County Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who says the last-minute change is a snub to citizens who are normally allowed to address the board in the morning. The public speaking time will now be held at 1 p.m., which Ferlita said some may not know about.

"Constituents have scheduled their days, and perhaps their work hours and any other personal agendas, to attend the Commission meeting that is always scheduled at 9:00 a.m.," Ferlita wrote Bean in an e-mail before she knew the reason for the change. "I must tell you that this, to me, is a very inconsiderate decision from the standpoint of our primary responsibility as elected officials representing Hillsborough County citizens."

Bean said she made the decision based the circumstances. While holding her standard one-on-one briefings with commissioners, the first four board members she spoke with told her they planned to attend the memorial service for Charles "Wes" Kearney Sr.

Commission meetings normally start at 9 a.m. and continue into the afternoon, with a break for lunch. Kearney's service is at 10 a.m. today at Bell Shoals Baptist Church.

Kearney founded Kearney Development Co. Inc., a major land development business based in eastern Hillsborough County. His family and affiliated companies have contributed thousands of dollars to local political campaigns, including six of the seven commissioners, excluding Ferlita.

His son, Bing Kearney, is active in county politics, particularly regarding land-use issues.

The four commissioners who told Bean they planned to be absent are Chairman Jim Norman, Ken Hagan, Brian Blair and Mark Sharpe, she said. In the case of Blair, Bean said his aides told her his intentions.

"I didn't do this on my own. I was not going to have a quorum, probably, for the meeting," Bean said. "I though that was a problem. We're still going to have a meeting and we're going to take care of business."

Sharpe said he never told Bean he was going to the memorial service, but she apparently assumed he was, based on something he said. He planned to go after hearing that the meeting had been postponed, he said.

Sharpe said he would have attended the commission meeting if it had not been delayed, and he does not want to see Kearney's death politicized.

Blair and Hagan did not return telephone messages.

Norman said he has known the elder Kearney for 20 years. He said he didn't understand the fuss from Ferlita, since people generally can't plan the time of their deaths.

He acknowledged that he initially called Bean to inform her of Kearney's death and his plans to attend the service. Bean later called back to suggest that they postpone the start of the meeting after learning other commissioners also planned to go.

"You ought to be able to honor someone," Norman said. "When someone passes away, we ought to be flexible if a majority of people want to go to the funeral."

Norman said he notified representatives of one citizens group that had planned to attend to speak out about a proposed road project. And he said the move is not unprecedented.

Land-use meetings times are sometimes delayed when the agenda is light. And Norman said he canceled several county-related appointments last week to attend another funeral.

He noted that the board has canceled meetings altogether to observe the passing of a colleague, such as when former County Commissioner Sylvia Kimbell died in 1994.

Ferlita said she means no disrespect to the Kearney family. But there are other ways to express sympathy, such as sending a designee from the board, or a card.

"That doesn't inconvenience the citizens," Ferlita said. "To pin it on a light agenda is misleading."

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Bill Varian can be reached at 813 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 15, 2007, 00:29:18]