Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on the Homeless Count:

Politics

Volunteers take to streets for Hillsborough’s annual homeless count

By Keith Morelli | Tribune Staff
Published: February 26, 2015   |   Updated: February 27, 2015 at 05:51 AM

TAMPA — Mark Francis Price, dressed in raggedy shorts, a dirty jacket and knit cap pulled down tightly over his forehead, had no problem talking with Stephen Taylor, a red-shirted volunteer who was asking some pretty personal questions Thursday morning.

Date of birth, Social Security number, names of relatives, marital status all were written down by Taylor as the two stood on the muddy corner of Saxon and South 22nd streets near Port Tampa Bay.

Price, 53, said he had been homeless for about five years.

“Ain’t nobody wants me,” he said, with the guarded grin of a man who saw some secret humor in his situation.

Similar scenes played out across Hillsborough County all day Thursday as some 300 volunteers armed with pens and clipboards fanned out around the region, counting, one by one and face to face, people without homes in the annual Point in Time Homeless Count.

The counting began before dawn and was expected to conclude late Thursday. It’s an attempt to get a handle on how many homeless people call the streets of Hillsborough County home and to break down the numbers to find out how many are men, women, families, veterans and juveniles.

Taylor, who works with Humana insurance, said his company encourages employees to do volunteer public service. This, he said, was his choice.

“I like it,” he said between interviews. “It gives you a good perspective of something you don’t really see.”

The counters worked in shifts and in assigned zones. Some homeless were found under bridges in Plant City, others beneath building overhangs in Brandon. Some were counted in campsites and woods of the University area, at lunch sites and in shelters and transitional housing programs.

A group of volunteers worked downtown from the Marion Street bus station to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park to the Florida Aquarium to Palmetto Beach just east of the port.

Among those counted and interviewed was Jon Clark, 53, who came here from Illinois last year to work. Things went bad and he became homeless three months after arriving.

He’s been staying downtown and in other areas of the city since. He wants to be close to the downtown library when it opens on weekday mornings so he can go in and look for employment on the computers.

“I’m unable to get work,” he said, sitting with two other homeless men in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. “I’m looking everywhere.”

He and others don’t care for shelters, he said, adding he feels safer under the stars and on the streets.

The information collected in the survey will be used to create and carry out strategies to get people off the street and into temporary and then permanent housing. The count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of its funding process.

The federal government typically awards about $6 million in grant money to Hillsborough County each year to help deal with homeless issues. Over the past few years, the strategy has changed from first offering services, such as counseling and job training, to getting homeless people into housing first and then providing services to help them stabilize their lives.

One reason: It’s cheaper for taxpayers and seems to be an effective way to reduce the numbers.

The alternative is the public paying for emergency room treatment of the homeless for injuries they get or illnesses they contract on the street. It’s also cheaper than jail, said Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman. A jail stint costs taxpayers $101 a day per inmate, she said, and homeless people typically are there for extended periods for minor, non-violent crimes.

Murman participated in Thursday’s count, traipsing around downtown with a group of about seven red-shirted volunteers.

“We want to do away with chronic homelessness, among veterans, single males and females,” she said, and the county has taken the initiative over the past few years to mount a concerted effort to solve the problem.

“The county has made substantial investments,” she said, and the commission has allocated more than $7 million to the cause.

“We’re hopeful that we will soon start to see results,” she said. “We want the homeless to know we really care about them.”

The Point in Time Homeless Count is coordinated by the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative. This is the first count for CEO Antoinette D. Hayes Triplett, who was hired in August.

No major changes were made in the methodology of the count this year, she said.

“I’ve only been here a few months,” she said. “I don’t want to rock the boat too much.”

She said she’s hoping to see a reduction from last year’s totals because of programs implemented recently, but the real cut in numbers should come next year when new programs put into place in December, including a push to get homeless veterans off the streets, take hold, she said.

Though homelessness likely never will be eliminated, as people are evicted and lose their homes for various reasons all the time, the goal is to have programs in place that can immediately put those people into transitional housing and then permanent housing.

Tom Snelling usually is in his office at Tampa City Hall crunching numbers as the city’s director of planning and development, but Thursday morning, he helped count homeless people downtown. A walk through the Channelside District with other volunteers came up empty, but several were counted and surveyed around the Marion Street bus station, he said.

“There’s shelter there,” he said, “and vending machines. There are people moving in and out, so it’s safe, too.”

Homeless advocates estimate there are more than 2,200 homeless people on any given night in Hillsborough County. Last year’s count totaled 2,243 homeless people.

Data from Thursday’s count will be compiled and made available by the end of April.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Biz Journal article on bioscience in Hillsborough:

Morning Edition

Bioscience building initiative gains ground in Hillsborough

Feb 23, 2015, 6:26am EST Updated: Feb 23, 2015, 7:00am EST

Margie Manning

Print Editor- Tampa Bay Business Journal

There’s strong bioscience research going on Hillsborough County, but limited options to find out about it.

That’s why the county commission unanimously approved a measure that could lead to creation of a biomedical depository for clinical trials — a sort of one-stop shop for patients to learn about research that could benefit them and an initiative to draw more bioscience companies to the county.

The medical community currently posts data on trials to a federally run website, but it’s difficult and time-consuming to find a specific clinical trial in a local community, said Commissioner Ken Hagan at the board’s Feb. 18 meeting. “The purpose is to create a local depository, which will provide the community with [information about] the trials being conducted, answering basic questions about who is conducting the study, what is being studied, why it’s being studied and when it’s being studied,” Hagan said. “The results of these studies can provide individuals or patients with more options.”

See Also

• What’s next for the downtown Tampa USF medical school

It’s also an opportunity to build the local bioscience cluster.

“Big companies follow big data,” Hagan said. “This depository would enhance what is going on industrywide in this community and would be an incentive for companies to take notice and want to be located in this cluster.”

Commissioners unanimously approved Hagan’s motion to expand a study by the independent research organization, the Battelle Institute, of the local bioscience industry to look into the viability of a biomedical depository. Hagan said he expected it would take four to six months to complete the work.

“I think if we’re successful in modeling this and the Battelle study does help us, we’re going to see a lot more demand and activity in the USF area and downtown, and it will entice more private businesses to come in and partner with us,” said Commission Chair Sandy Murman.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on Homebrew Hillsborough:

Homebrew Hillsborough cooks up networking for techies

• Arielle Waldman, Times Staff Writer

Sunday, February 22, 2015 9:02pm

TAMPA — As the smell of coffee wafted through the crowded cafe, men and women, some casual in jeans and T-shirts, others in jackets and ties, chatted about their passions, accomplishments and future plans for the Hillsborough community.

Small business owners, retired engineers, app launchers, mentors and inventors had all gathered at a local coffee shop to exchange ideas with fellow entrepreneurs.

The scene reflected just what the Hillsborough County Economic Development Innovation Initiative was hoping to cook up with Homebrew Hillsborough, a new series of networking events scheduled for the last Friday of each month. It launched in January at Buddy Brew on S Kennedy and the second will be held at 8:30 a.m. Friday at Jet City Espresso, 5803 N Florida Ave., in Seminole Heights.

“Technology affects all of our businesses,” said Jennifer Whelihan, economic development manager for Hillsborough County.

Whelihan helped coordinate the event sponsored by the initiative, also known as EDI2. The program aims to drive the growth, technology and innovation of start-ups and small businesses, and the networking event aids the goal by drawing folks familiar with the burgeoning tech community and those looking to get more acclimated.

Charlie Pratt of Quantum Measurements Corp. said he came out to the event after reading an ad in the newspaper. Newsline Media president Peter Vaka and Milford Communications Partners managing partner Robert Francis reminisced about gathering with fellow techies at coffee shops, long before this networking event became official.

“They used to be called Friday Hangouts,” Francis said with a smile. “I’m glad it’s back.”

Tony Selvaggio, founder of Scrap on Spot, a company that recycles and re-purposes electronics, recently won Access to Capital Summit’s Business Pitch Competition. He spoke with excitement about his technology being implemented in local schools.

He isn’t the only one gaining success in schools. Ayesha Hackman, Harmon STEM School founder and principal, also was there.

In addition to Homebrew Hillsborough, EDI2 will schedule other networking events.

Whelihan has a Hillsborough Women in Tech event in the works for late March, during Women’s History Month. Collaborative Technologies of Tampa Bay CEO and founder Sylvia Martinez also has an event planned for March. With the help of an EDI2 grant, she will host a collaborative peer networking event, Q1 Tech and Entrepreneur.

Wevue, an app designed to gather pictures and videos to turn into movies, is helping the community network in another way.

“We realized businesses could use the app as a way to share presentations, meetings, projects and other things with the rest of the office,” co-founder Taylor Wallace said.

In fact, Wallace used his application to share the first Homebrew Hillsborough event.

County Commissioner Sandy Murman is not a “techie” herself, but she is an advocate for small businesses and stopped by to support the scene.

“Small business is the foundation of our community,” Murman said. “It’s an investment.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Tribune article on tourism:

Business News

Tourism leaders looking for more funding

By Yvette C. Hammett | Tribune Staff
Published: February 19, 2015   |   Updated: February 19, 2015 at 08:47 PM

TAMPA — Tourism leaders lining up for a piece of the county’s bed tax pie are asking for 45 percent more funding over the next two fiscal years.

“This pie has gotten a lot bigger and there are more people and a lot of great stuff going on,” said Hillsborough County Commission Chair Sandy Murman, who also sits as chair of the Tourist Development Council. “We’re exploding,” but will have to make choices on how much each group will actually get, she said, because it isn’t likely there will be enough to fulfill everyone’s requests.

The Tourist Development Council, during its quarterly meeting on Thursday, heard from people representing 15 organizations hoping to get money to help market everything from the Florida Aquarium to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce and the Gasparilla International Film Festival.

Board members will hold a workshop on March 23 to discuss the requests, then make a final decision on funding for 2016 and 2017 on April 9.

Tourism in Hillsborough County has been on the upswing for months now, which means the county is collecting more money in bed taxes. Tourists pay 5 cents on the dollar in bed tax when they rent rooms. Two cents of the 5-cent bed tax goes to pay for debt service on Amalie Arena, Raymond James Stadium and on Steinbrenner Field and the Tampa Convention Center. It also pays for capital improvements at the convention center and at Steinbrenner. Of the remaining 3 cents, Visit Tampa Bay, the county’s official tourism agency, typically gets 72 percent with the rest split up among other recipients.

This year, Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada requested 75 percent of the funding, or an estimated $11.6 million in 2016 and $12.7 million in 2017.

The money is used to market the Tampa Bay area all over the country. In requesting the funding, Corrada produced numbers that showed how the money is invested in ad campaigns.

Corrada said that for every dollar the county invested in tourism marketing through Visit Tampa Bay in 2014, it got a $77 return through money tourists spent here for rooms, food and entertainment.

The Tampa Bay Sports Commission, which is responsible for bringing the Women’s Final Four back to Tampa next month and has booked the College Football National Championship for 2019, now gets 4.5 percent of the funding and wants to increase that to 6 percent in 2016 and 7.5 percent in 2017, said director Rob Higgins.

Tourist Development Council Director Ron Barton said the budget figures haven’t yet been projected for 2016 and 2017, but once they are, commitments to the various venues can be finalized.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Biz Journal article on Citigroup:

Morning Edition

Murman: Hillsborough commissioners send message with incentives vote

Feb 19, 2015, 5:48am EST

Margie Manning

Print Editor- Tampa Bay Business Journal

Hillsborough County’s approval of more than $3.5 million in potential incentives to three companies considering boosting their local workforce sends an important message nationwide, according to the chair of the Board of County Commissioners.

“We are dead serious about economic development in Hillsborough County,” said Commissioner Sandy Murman, after the votes.

The board unanimously approved a package of incentives, totaling $3.4 million in county funds, for Citigroup (NYSE:C), which has proposed adding 1,163 jobs and investing $90 million in capital improvements at its Brandon campus, where it currently has 5,173 employees.

See Also

• 25 People to Watch in 2015: Sandra Murman

Also approved was $60,000 in tax refunds for an unidentified logistics operation in the county that would create 100 new jobs, and $78,500 for a Tampa financial services firm – also not named – that plans 157 jobs.

Each proposal would draw state incentives as well.

Critics of tax incentives argue the money would be better spent on helping homegrown startups. They say those companies are more likely to remain rooted here and create not just jobs, but wealth, as they grow.

Murman said the jobs Citi is talking about – with an average wage of $75,000 – provide a huge return on investment in a relatively short period of time. Citi would have to create the new jobs by the end of 2017.

“You’ve got more people working who can buy houses and cars and plow money back into the economy and help the economy grow,” she said.

Incentives are just one part of the attraction, she said. Developable land is key, as is a well-trained workforce.

“We need to make sure we fill those jobs with people from our area, make sure we have the educated workforce coming out of University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Hillsborough Community College,” she said. “We are creating more ways to keep our young talent in this area.”

Word about deals like the ones approved Feb. 18 gets around among companies.

“They talk in the financial marketplace, the IT marketplace, and if they have a great experience, they’ll say ‘let’s look at Tampa and Hillsborough County,'” Murman said.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Tribune article on the Greater Brandon Chamber Community Leadership Award.

South Shore News

Storied coach, veteran sheriff share leadership spotlight at Brandon chamber dinner

BY Linda Chion Kenney
Special Correspondent
Published: February 18, 2015

RIVERVIEW – The town’s self-described “local wrestling guru,” who last year received the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s leadership award, said he was honored to announce this year’s recipient – Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee.

“What a great leader this gentleman is,” said coach Russ Cozart. Under Cozart’s watch the Brandon High School wrestling team captured the longest winning streak in high school history anywhere. “What a great hero Sheriff David Gee is, because without him our communities would not be as safe as they are.”

Gee accepted with humility the Greater Brandon Community Leadership Award, which he received at the Feb. 6 annual membership dinner, hosted by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce at The Regent in Riverview.

“The deputies and the staff do all the work and I get all the credit,” said Gee, a Brandon High School graduate and a Brandon High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame inductee. “I accept this award on their behalf.”

In turn, Gee offered his own regards to Cozart.

“I’m following after a guy who’s my hero, who’s done as much for this community as anybody,” he said.

It’s the numbers that tell that story of a storied coach who came to the dinner after his team won five matches at Leto High School, securing an undefeated 43-0 record this season. But it’s “The Streak” that he’s known for, which amounted to 459 consecutive wins over a period of 34 years, broken by a singular loss in 2008.

“So, the streak was over, the longest winning streak in the history of high school sports,” Cozart told the chamber group. “We can hang our hat on that.”

There’s another streak, though, that Cozart said his players are hell-bent on continuing this year in post-season play.

“We’ve won 14 consecutive state titles and no one’s ever done that,” he said, “I’m pushing the boys, and we’re working out hard to stay focused, and to lead those guys on to carry that banner another year.”

At The Regent podium, Cozart in turn stood as a fan of Gee’s, reading from a script that listed the Brandon native’s many accomplishments, including his “progressive positions of leadership, including homicide investigator, internal affairs supervisor, chief financial officer and chief deputy until he was elected sheriff in 2004.”

As sheriff, Gee is responsible for managing the nation’s 10th largest suburban law enforcement agency and an annual budget of more than $370 million.

“I’ve served three sheriffs in my almost 40 years” with the agency, said Gee, who holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Tampa, graduated from the FBI National Academy, studied dignitary protection with the U.S. Secret Service and is a law enforcement aviator rated in fixed-wing aircraft and turbine helicopters. Locally, he is an active member of the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches and serves on the boards for A Kid’s Place of Tampa Bay, the Hillsborough County Head Start program and the Judeo Christian Health Clinic. He is the former chairman of the Boys & Girls Club in Brandon.

In all, 17 people have received the Greater Brandon Community Leadership Award, including Cozart and Gee. The other recipients — with their designating titles at the time they received their awards — are Senate President Tom Lee, Speaker of the House Johnnie Byrd, Sheriff Cal Henderson, John and Kay Sullivan, State Representative Sandy Murman, Julian Craft, Earl Haugabook, Paul Senory, Senator Malcolm Beard, Sandy and Dottie MacKinnon, Earl Lennard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and State Representative Rich Glorioso.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this 83 Degrees article on Guy King:

Features

Q&A: Tampa is on fire, says Guy King of ME Wilson

Diane Egner | Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Guy King III is president of M.E. Wilson.

Tampa

Guy King III and his brother, Doug, are the third generation of their family to run the ME Wilson insurance company (Guy as president, Doug as CEO), which was started by their grandfather 95 years ago.

The company currently employs 40, up 2 from a year ago, following the “best year ever’’ in 2014. Best, Guys says, in terms of profitability and new accounts written. The company primarily writes policies around workers compensation, group health and property insurance – both commercial and higher-end homes.

“We have three departments: Commercial, Insurance and Risk Management, and Corporate and Employee Benefits,’’ says King. “We also have a private client division that does home owners.’’

ME Wilson recently added two new positions in the corporate benefits division. One is a new advisor agent and the other is an experienced benefits consultant.

Guy talks with 83 Degrees Media Managing Editor Diane Egner about how the business has evolved, what’s new and what’s next. Here is a condensed version of their conversation:

83D: What characteristics are you looking for in employees?

GK: First they have to be self-starters. We’re not the overlord mechanical bosses. We expect everyone to be inspired internally. Second, we look for people who’ve been successful in other places. And we look for someone with an excellent reputation, someone who is well-liked for their attitude.

83D: What’s most innovative thing ME Wilson has done as a company since you took over?

GK: Compared to other commercial insurance agents, we never have been into aggressive sales. We always try to be very thoughtful and help our clients become educated on what more they could do to avoid risk. For example, we encourage and train companies to create a risk management committee.

83D: Why?

GK: The ultimate cost of insurance is determined by losses. If a company has a greater frequency of risk, it probably can’t protect its team members. So it’s all about reducing the risk. Our full-time risk manager (Mark Betten) can help set up safety training, OSHA classes, do site inspections, training of supervisors. If the client is amenable to this, we can make a huge difference in their risk profile.

Also, we will suggest people look at limited self insurance as a way to finance part of the risk. We’ve been able to show bigger clients the advantages of a captive insurance program. In a captive, you can take several businesses that are similar, like distributors, put 10-12 in a group. They become the insurance carrier as a group. They pay a certain of amount of losses and hire reinsurance to pay anything over a certain amount. So if claims got to be too big, reinsurance would kick in. Many of clients find that’s an excellent way to manage risk if they’re focused on safety.

83D: What kind of companies do you target?

GK: Our focus is on companies with 50 employees or more. We have to have capital to be able to afford that approach. It’s not a brand new concept but it is innovative in this area.

83D: What’s the greatest value ME Wilson brings to clients?

GK: We’re adding risk management to our value proposition and not charging any more for risk management and safety training. It is the right thing to do for the client, and another approach other than straight insurance. Basically we want to use our expertise to improve everyone’s risk profile.

83D: Any plans for expansion?

GK: We’re growing at a really good clip now. We’re 15 percent ahead of where we were last year. Our fiscal year ends October 31st. In November, December, January, we were up 15 percent. Overall, last year was our best year ever. We tend to do well when everyone else also does well. Premiums are based on lots of data. So as companies and the economy grow, we grow.

83D: What is the state of the insurance industry today?

GK: Workers comp is always challenging. … because it’s the sole solution or sole remedy when someone gets hurts. State statutes lay out what benefits that will be paid. The plaintiff attorneys are always doing their jobs, trying to get more benefits. Recently the cost of workers comp has been going down slightly. That could change and we could all of sudden see it explode if the Legislature changes just a few statutes.

Property insurance is better. Consumers currently have lots of different options. So pricing is soft. Generally, the costs are going down for commercial insurance, with the exception of auto. Auto rates are going up.

83D: Why?

GK: Companies that don’t have aggressive defensive driving programs and don’t monitor their own drivers are costing everyone more and are going to pay more.

83D: What’s next for ME Wilson?

We’re just really enjoying a period of sustainable growth. We have a lot of people who are very experienced who are out in the community making connections. Everyone we hire, we look for community leadership because we get all our clients by referral and do no cold calling. It’s part of our convening strategy.

83D: What do you mean by ‘convening strategy’?

GK: We like to educate, we like to do seminars, like teaching people about the Affordable Care Act. We just did a small workshop on the captive insurance approach. We participate in community organizations, including the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. It’s not just about me as chair-elect of the Chamber, but about getting people on committees. Anyway that we can help solve community problems by our participation, we’re doing it.

83D: Why does community engagement matter to you beyond that it’s good for business?

GK: You hear people talking about giving back all the time. Frequently, you hear about people giving back after they’ve already gotten what they want. My philosophy is you give as you go. If you’re young, get involved. You don’t have to be invited to do it. Just do it. My team gets that. They’re involved in everything. For one thing, it keeps you informed so you’re way ahead of lots of others. Once you get involved, you will see the community’s shortcomings and your involvement may find the solutions.

83D: What’s your assessment of the region’s economic future?

GK: We were hit harder than other parts of country in the economic cycle. So it’s gonna take longer to come back. We’re not where we were pre-recession, but we’re definitely making progress. The best thing is we now have terrific community leadership. A wonderful mayor (Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn). We have a terrific (Hillsborough) County Commission chair (Sandy Murman). And we have white knights like Mr. (Jeff) Vinik who want to make a difference and will make a difference. If the local economy gets fouled up, it won’t be caused by anything that happens in Tampa Bay. 

83D: So it’d be fair to say you’re bullish on Tampa?

GK: Very bullish. There’s lots of pent-up demand.

83D: What’s the greatest challenge in the local economy?

GK: We don’t have the next generation of construction workers. The boomers are retiring. The next few generations aren’t trained in trades. Too many of them are college educated. I’m helping convene a group of people in construction and in education to find what can we do to rectify the situation. How do we get more of our young people to become plumbers, electricians, builders, contractors. With so many projects like Mr. Vinik’s coming on line, we have to create and recruit the appropriate workforce. Our goal is to convene people to find solutions.

83D: Why would people in the trades and with other special training opt to move here? 

GK: Tampa is on fire. I’ve never seen Tampa like this. Great leadership is key. Right now I can’t see anything that can inhibit us. Only an outside force could get in the way. 

83D: So what’s on your bucket list, personally and professionally?

GK: Some people play golf for a hobby. Being involved in the community is what I do now and forever. It’s so rewarding. I get to do things and meet people that I wouldn’t have otherwise. That’s what I want to do.

This Q&A was edited for clarity and succinctness. Comments? E-mail 83 Degrees Media.

Commissioner Murman’s guest column appeared in Sunday’s Tampa Tribune, and TBO online:

Commentary

Sandra Murman: Help shape Hillsborough’s transportation future

Published: February 15, 2015

Beginning this week, residents, businesses and organizations throughout Hillsborough County have multiple opportunities to actively participate in creating transportation plans in their neighborhoods and the broader community.

Known as GO Hillsborough, this countywide public engagement effort is designed to better understand transportation needs at a grassroots level, to explore options that make sense and to help our community weigh in on some important and likely tough choices.

Each of these 36 sessions is designed to be highly participatory and interactive and will build upon the previous one. There will be informational displays and stations arranged to facilitate meaningful discussions between members of the community and local government leaders and staff.

In addition, online engagement channels include Facebook, Twitter, an I-Neighborhood Project App, and a dedicated telephone number to receive comments from the public.

Whether you’ve lived here your entire life or moved here and raised your family, this is your community, and we need your voice.

Although our GO Hillsborough team has expertise in all modes of transportation, we have no preconceived notions or plans for Hillsborough County. We are — together — creating recommendations that reflect consensus around a community transportation plan all of us can be proud of, support and help implement — a plan that will make a positive difference in your everyday life.

Please join us at any and all of these meetings. Also, join us online, www.GoHillsborough.org, on Facebook, Twitter and our specially designed I-Neighborhood Project App. Or call in during one of the four telephone town hall meetings we will host, or leave a comment at 813-274-6922.

Let’s GO Hillsborough! And get our community headed in the right direction!

Sandra L. Murman is a Hillsborough County commissioner.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Tribune column on Jim Norman:

COLUMN

Henderson: Jim Norman’s rise from political undead scary

By Joe Henderson | Tribune Staff
Published: February 13, 2015

Jim Norman is thinking of running again for the Hills­borough County Commission. Of course he is. We don’t have ex-politicians in this town, we just have politicians taking time in between legislative gigs.

You remember Jim Norman. How can we forget? Although heaven knows, some have probably tried.

He served 18 years on the county commission before moving to the state Senate for 2010-12. He probably would have won another term if it hadn’t been for the house.

The house?

You know, that $435,000 residence in Arkansas financed with money from the late Ralph Hughes, Republican puppet-master. Norman admitted he failed to list that on his financial disclosure form when running for the Senate.

There were follow-up investigations, of course, including by the FBI, and Norman was cleared … well, never indicted. That’s a terrific campaign slogan when you think about it.

Anyway, in an interview with Mike Salinero in Thursday’s Tampa Tribune about his interest in running for the District 6 countywide seat in 2016, he pointed to a “Letter of Resolution” about the Arkansas property, signed by Ralph Hughes’ son. He said that proves everything is hunky and dory in the Ozarks as far as the Norman clan is concerned.

Of course, in keeping with this entire mysterious caper, neither Norman nor the Hughes family would disclose details of the settlement. That’s OK if you’re a private citizen doing a private transaction, which Norman currently is. If Gentleman Jim ventures back into public life, though, every dotted “i” and crossed “t” needs to be disclosed.

He may be legally off the hook, but the court of public opinion has different standards, and the judges there can be awfully nosy.

My initial reaction to Norman’s possible tiptoe back into politics went something like this: What the (oops, this a family newspaper)?

When you think about it, though, the notion of Norman returning to dine at the public trough isn’t so far-fetched. We do love to recycle politicians around here.

For instance, Charlie Miranda has won six elections to the Tampa City Council, dating to 1974. He explains it thusly: “I like serving.”

So does Mayor Bob Buckhorn — eight years on the city council, and soon to be formally re-elected to a second term as mayor. Then it’s on to Tallahassee in 2018, eh governor?

Oh, that’s right (wink, wink).

Commission Chairwoman Sandra Murman spent eight years in the Florida House before moving to county politics in 2010. New Commissioner Stacy White moved over from the school board.

Speaking of the school board, Carol Kurdell has served six terms, starting in 1992. Doretha Edgecomb and April Griffin are in their third terms.

Back at the county, Ken Hagan has been elected four times. Al Higginbotham just won a third term. Victor Crist bounced from the state House to the Senate and is now in his second term on the county commission.

We haven’t even brought Dick Greco into the conversation. There must be something out there he can run for.

And now Norman says he was “contacted in the last election cycle by at least five or six influential groups.” He wouldn’t name them, of course.

I’ll leave you with this thought: When a politician uses the words “election, contacted and influential” in the same sentence, be afraid.

Be very afraid.