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Hillsborough and Pinellas officials can't even agree that they agreed to meet

 
This month Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill (above) nixed a joint meeting of the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Commissions. But Pinellas County Commission chair Janet Long said her Hillsborough counterpart, Stacy White, had already agreed to two meetings. [DANIEL WALLACE   |   Times]
This month Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill (above) nixed a joint meeting of the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Commissions. But Pinellas County Commission chair Janet Long said her Hillsborough counterpart, Stacy White, had already agreed to two meetings. [DANIEL WALLACE | Times]
Published June 29, 2017

Tampa Bay political leaders often tout taking a regional approach to solve the area's most pressing issues. But the challenge has been getting Hillsborough County and Pinellas County leaders together on the same page.

Or in this case, in the same room.

Pinellas County Commission Chairwoman Janet Long has been jockeying behind the scenes to schedule a joint meeting of both county commissions to discuss transportation and infrastructure problems — issues that cross county lines.

But Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill sent a letter to Long this month saying it's too soon for elected leaders of both counties to meet. He said they have a lot of work to do in terms of "data, community engagement, options, costing and recommendations" before they can schedule a meeting.

"It's very disappointing," Long said. "I don't know how you solve problems if you don't talk to each other."

Merrill said he wants agendas and possible solutions laid out in advance of any discussions. Anything less amounts to a "social event." He noted that commissioners already held an informal meet-and-greet at the Westin Tampa Bay on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in June 2016.

He said Long's approach would lead the two sides to "rush ahead and have a meeting, and we don't know what we're meeting about and we can't articulate the outcome."

Not only have the two counties failed to agree to meet, but they also can't even agree that they agreed to meet in the first place.

The brouhaha started when Long sent a letter on May 18 to Hills­borough County Commission Chairman Stacy White expressing how "excited" she was that the two boards would meet.

But White's aide, Megan Nixon, said her boss told Long, Merrill and Pinellas County Administrator Mark Woodard that White was receptive to a meeting, but that it's up to the other six commissioners. Nixon said White never committed to a joint meeting.

Merrill sent Long a letter on June 2 commending her for her "forward thinking" but nixing the meeting. Long responded June 9, writing to White how "disappointing" Merrill's response was and that both commissions should be talking to each other, "not sitting on the sidelines."

She told White that kind of thinking "has kept us from moving forward as a region."

Long was also adamant that White did agree to the meeting. She pointed to that May 18 letter she sent White, which thanked him for agreeing to hold two joint meetings.

And so it goes for the two counties that share Tampa Bay. Pinellas County was formed on Jan. 1, 1912, after residents seceded from their "master across the sea" in Hillsborough. In the intervening decades, they have gone from bitter rivals to estranged neighbors to begrudging allies. There have even been rare outbursts of detente, such as the 1996 agreement that ended the so-called Tampa Bay Water Wars.

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Old habits die hard, though. In 2012, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority's board rebelled against a state legislator's plan to merely study merging with the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority to create a regional bus agency.

In 2013, then-Hillsborough Commission Chairman Ken Hagan tried to convene a regional discussion about ways to keep the Tampa Bay Rays from fleeing the bay area. That idea also fell apart, though St. Petersburg has since allowed the Rays to look for a new home in Tampa.

The region's overarching problem is transportation, and both counties on their own have failed to find solutions.

The first spark in what could be regional transportation planning was born in the spring when the Legislature retooled the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. The "T" now stands for "Transit" and reflects the streamlined agency's new focus on buses, automated vehicles and rail in easing the region's gridlock. Long helped lead the push for that change. There has also been talk of combining regional metropolitan planning organizations into one.

Merrill's letter said he is already working with Woodard to get the Tampa Bay Partnership to host a regional transportation conference and commissioners could participate.

That shouldn't be too hard: The partnership retooled itself last year to focus on regional cooperation and transportation. CEO Rick Homans said his organization will do whatever is needed to make a joint meeting happen.

Long said the region can't move forward if leaders continue to operate in silos.

"These things have been talked about for 50 years," she said. "I'm just asking for us to get together for a joint meeting. It's time for bold and visionary leadership."

Merrill insisted progress is being made:

"There's more common ground than there might appear. It's just a different approach."

Contact Mark Puente at mpuente@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2996. Follow @MarkPuente. Contact Steve Contorno at scontorno@tampabay.com. Follow @scontorno.