Consultant tries to heal rifts among officials

Commissioner Ed Hart's insistence on attending city staff meetings defies resolution as both sides stick to their positions.

By LEON M. TUCKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2001

CLEARWATER -- A workshop between city officials and a Florida State University government consultant Tuesday seemed, at times, more like a family counseling session.

Seated in a semicircle, the mayor, city commissioners and staff members listened to Lance deHaven-Smith, associate director of the university's Florida Institute of Government, take them through the annals of government policy and procedure.

At one point deHaven-Smith suggested they treat each other's concerns like those of married couples.

But one family problem dominated the second half of the four-hour discussion: Commissioner Ed Hart's push to attend city staff meetings.

DeHaven-Smith said he could. But City Attorney Pam Akin ruled in January that he couldn't. Interim City Manager Bill Horne said he agreed with Akin's opinion.

"I felt that was infringing on my role as a manager," Horne explained to the group."Based on my understanding of the charter and commissioners attending staff meetings . . . it was awkward."

But deHaven-Smith said the City Charter allows such visits.

It states that "nothing . . . prohibits individual members of the commission from questioning and observing city operations so as to obtain independent information to assist them in the formulation of policy."

Akin said she was sticking to her guns.

"Dr. deHaven-Smith is not a lawyer," Akin said in an interview after the session. "He is a political scientist giving his opinion -- I have not changed my opinion."

Akin said state Open Government Laws and the City Charter do not give commissioners the automatic right to attend city staff meetings, except in some narrow circumstances.

"What you really have to do is balance what the charter says and come down with an interpretation of what the objectives of the charter are," she added.

The group ended Tuesday's session by agreeing to continue talking about how to accommodate both Hart and Horne.

Hart, who said he plans to continue attending staff meetings, said a change in procedure may be needed to address the city's communication concerns.

"I want to work with them in any way I can," he said. "Mr. Horne needs to protect the city manager's role and I need to protect the commission's role to have access to those meetings, so we need to take a look the policies and procedures so that we can make sure we can do that."

Horne and other city leaders agreed the talks were needed.

"I came away with the feeling that we have a way of resolving our conflicts when we have them," Horne said. "And through this we've been able to clarify our differences of opinion as it has helped both of us to better work together in accomplishing our goals."

Mayor Brian Aungst was equally optimistic.

"It was a good experience and a good discussion for us to work better in the future," he said. "I don't know if there will be changes in our procedures, but we'll see what the rest of the commission wants to do."

- Information from Times files was used in this report.

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