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Fire service merger talk continues cautiously
By ANNE LINDBERG © St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 2000 LEALMAN -- Pinellas Park is not only continuing to negotiate a possible takeover of Lealman's fire service, an official there is also going to help design and build a new Lealman fire station. That was the conclusion of a meeting between Lealman and Pinellas Park representatives the day after it was revealed that Seminole had abruptly withdrawn from merger talks. This means if Pinellas Park takes over fire service, it would likely do so for the entire Lealman area rather than only half of it. Had Seminole remained in the negotiations, it would have taken over fire service in one half, should any merger occur. Pinellas Park would have taken over in the other portion. One of the big conclusions reached during the meeting was one of timing for any merger. "It did not have to happen fast," said Mike Gustafson, Pinellas Park assistant city manager, who also offered to help design and build Lealman's new fire station during his free time. The lack of the time crunch is because the current Lealman fire board has tax funding to operate throughout the 2000-2001 tax year, Gustafson said. That gives time for the Lealman representatives -- Linda Campbell, head of the fire board, and Richard Graham, the new chief -- to team up with Gustafson and other Pinellas Park officials to work out a deal. Any deal would not be presented probably until after the first of the year, Gustafson said. But things could get sticky long before then. That's because the Lealman fire district is in flux. Right now, it is a private company run by a publicly elected board that contracts with the county to oversee fire and emergency medical service in the Lealman area. The county collects fire taxes on the board's behalf and forwards the money to them. Earlier this year, the fire board asked the Legislature for permission to become an independent fire district. The advantage for the district's employees would be access to state retirement and long-term disability benefits. The private company cannot afford that level of benefits. The Legislature agreed that Lealman could become an independent fire district, which means officials there would set the tax rate and collect the taxes themselves. A new board that will run the independent fire district will be chosen at the Nov. 7 election. At that time, voters will also have the chance to decide if the board should have the ability to set its own taxes and collect them. That creates a couple of problems. After Nov. 7, there may be two boards. The current board, which still has a contract with the county and the tax money until Oct. 1, 2001, and the new board, which will have no money at least until Oct. 1, 2001, when the new taxing system kicks in, if it does. The question, of course, is who has the power to make decisions for the Lealman district. The current board, which has the money? Or the new board, many of whose members will also be serving on the current board? As far as fire board member Mike Brophy is concerned, the new board will have the power. Once the new board gets in, he said, the old board's duty is to transfer the books and the equipment and go away. Brophy, who will serve on the new board because he has no opposition in election, was also upset Friday to hear Campbell and Graham had been talking with Pinellas Park. The only merger talks Brophy said he thinks the board agreed to was in a casual, "what-if" fashion. That meant the question to Pinellas Park and Seminole should have been: If the Lealman district ever becomes unable to support itself or otherwise function, would you be interested in taking it over? The merger discussions should definitely not be leading to any kind of offer, be it this month or six months from now, he said. "This is not supposed to be happening at all," Brophy said. The last time the board had the question of merger put to it, members voted it down in favor of becoming a special district. That hasn't changed, he said, and the idea of merger should remain dead until the board as a whole brings it up. Campbell and Graham, he said, have no authority to be negotiating anything. "We look like idiots. We need to get on the same page and stay there," Brophy said. "They've carried this too far without the authority (to do so)."
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