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Local leaders 'speed-date' residents at St. Petersburg College event

 
Kevin Smith, director of Pinellas Sports Commission, talks with Vjollca Gjoka and Danijel Jakupovic at the first “Speed Date Your Local Leaders” program at St. Petersburg College on Wednesday. Government and business leaders from Pinellas County rotated around the tables of community members, with each table getting seven minutes per leader. Among the participants: Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos and County Commissioners Janet Long and John Morroni. The program was organized by the college’s Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions. Story, 10C
Kevin Smith, director of Pinellas Sports Commission, talks with Vjollca Gjoka and Danijel Jakupovic at the first “Speed Date Your Local Leaders” program at St. Petersburg College on Wednesday. Government and business leaders from Pinellas County rotated around the tables of community members, with each table getting seven minutes per leader. Among the participants: Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos and County Commissioners Janet Long and John Morroni. The program was organized by the college’s Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions. Story, 10C
Published Dec. 4, 2014

CLEARWATER — Clearwater police Chief Daniel Slaughter didn't get any warmup questions.

Moments after he sat down at a table in a lecture hall at St. Petersburg College's Clearwater campus, Candi Jovan raised the issue of police shootings and the often tense relationship between residents and police charged with protecting them.

"What do you think needs to be done?" asked Jovan, a semi-retired insurance agent from Palm Harbor.

With that, the event billed as "speed dating" with civic leaders was under way. Described as "a special way to connect with community leaders in an informal setting," the Tuesday evening gathering was organized by the college Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions.

Slaughter was one of 17 public and private sector leaders in the community invited to spend seven minutes each at 17 tables surrounded by a small group of students and members of the general public — about 60 people in all — who peppered them with questions.

Among the participants: Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos, City Manager Bill Horne, and County Commissioners Janet Long and John Morroni.

In answering Jovan's question, Slaughter made some news: His department will start a body camera pilot program, probably in the spring.

"I believe they would reduce complaints, and I believe they would reduce the times that officers have to use force," Slaughter told another table when 29-year-old Sean King of Clearwater asked about the cameras. Slaughter said he has assigned a major to work with the police union to get buy-in from the rank and file. He said the department and the state Legislature would have to navigate concerns about notifying subjects that they're being recorded, as well as public access to the recordings.

"Sometimes as a leader you just have to push that change, let people punch you in the nose a little bit and move on," he said. "I'm comfortable that if you watch all video of my officers, 98, 99 percent of the time you'll be very impressed with how they handle themselves."

SPC student Andrew Malyj, 24, asked Pinellas school deputy superintendent William Corbett what kind of changes are on the horizon for the school district.

Plenty, Corbett replied. He described the whirlwind whipped up by the scuttling of the FCAT and the plan to tie teacher pay and evaluations to student performance on new tests.

"There's a great deal of pressure being put on the state Legislature, saying, can you put the brakes on this bit?" Corbett said.

At another table, Clearwater Aquarium chief operating officer Frank Dame recounted the attraction's sharp growth after Winter the dolphin's arrival.

"We were like a deer in headlights," Dame said. "It was like, how do we handle all this?"

The attraction is currently raising money for a new building on the site of the current City Hall. One potential resident is a female stenella dolphin recently discovered on a Pinellas beach, alone and emaciated. Federal authorities will decide soon whether the animal will get to stay.

"We'd love to keep her," Dame said.

Morroni, a former state legislator re-elected to the commission last month, said he was glad he came to the event.

"It was exciting. You're hearing from so many different folks," Morroni said. "I learned there's a women's group I've never heard of, and I thought I knew every group in the county."

Another event is planned for April 22 at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

Contact Tony Marrero at tmarrero@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8779. Follow @tmarrerotimes.