Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on MOSI:

Hillsborough County, Jeff Vinik plan to bail out Museum of Science and Industry

• Steve Contorno, Times Staff Writer

Thursday, June 8, 2017 11:12am

TAMPA — Hillsborough County is preparing a seven-figure bailout of the beleaguered Museum of Science and Industry, and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is going to help.

The museum, known as MOSI, owes more than $2 million to vendors, banks and creditors and doesn’t have the money to pay them.

Additionally, MOSI leaders need $350,000 to bankroll their plan to shutter part of the museum’s building and move operations to a smaller wing of the 80-acre north Tampa campus. Downsizing operations is expected to save money, but in the meantime, they need cash to close the old building and reopen as a smaller science center.

Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill told the Tampa Bay Times this week that the county is inclined to pay off those bills and loans and provide the startup money. MOSI will not have to pay back the county.

Key to the financial rescue is Vinik, who has offered to split the cost of the debt with the county in hopes of keeping the museum afloat as it awaits relocation to his downtown Tampa redevelopment project. His share would be about $1 million

Vinik declined to comment Thursday on the details of his contribution, but he confirmed that his charity, the Vinik Family Foundation, has “agreed to share in the costs of preserving this community asset during its transition period.”

“We look forward to working with all stakeholders in trying to build a great new MOSI in downtown Tampa,” Vinik said.

Putting the museum in bankruptcy was considered, Merrill said. However, they ultimately decided MOSI, already in significant decline, couldn’t recover from that kind of negative publicity.

And as the owner of MOSI’s building and land, Hillsborough officials were concerned creditors and disgruntled vendors might have showed up on the county’s doorstep asking to be reimbursed.

They also discussed closing the museum entirely until the move downtown, but MOSI would have had to pay back a $2.5 million state grant it received to host an exhibit.

“At that point we had three options, none of which were great,” Merrill said. “We chose the one that we thought was the best of the worst.

“We debated back and forth: ‘Does MOSI still have a brand that has value?’ And we concluded that it does because it still has a strong following and it has a legacy. More importantly for Jeff Vinik, he had to feel comfortable that there was enough of a brand value that it could transition downtown. So that’s why we rejected bankruptcy or just shutting it down.”

The financial rescue of the museum comes less than two years after MOSI leaders rejected the terms of a $400,000 loan from the county and instead vowed to retire the nonprofit museum’s debt through charitable donations.

But fundraising fell well short of goals, a common theme in recent years. Meanwhile, admission sales plummeted, deficits grew, and vendors remained unpaid.

Asked why the museum was now willing to accept financial help, MOSI board chairman Robert Thomas said it was “just a normal evolution to figure things out.”

“Things change,” he said.

Merrill has been reticent in the past to extend financial aid unless the museum made significant concessions, such as county oversight of its finances. But he said consultants have vetted the museum’s plan and leaders are finally making tough decisions.

MOSI owes vendors about $1.15 million, according to a presentation by museum leaders at this week’s County Commission meeting. The museum must also reimburse the company that took over the MOSI restaurant — after cost overruns and poor health inspections — for $300,000 in improvements made to the cafe. The cafe is closing with the rest of the main building in August.

The museum also owes a $372,000 bank loan. Merrill acknowledged that loan was taken out by former president and CEO Molly Demeulenaere. The Times reported in 2015 that Demeulenaere borrowed that money without approval from the county in violation of a previous agreement.

Demeulenaere resigned earlier this year.

To pay off MOSI’s debt, the county will tap into money it receives from the state’s gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe as well as the cultural assets grant program. That program requires participating institutions to match the grant. That provision will have to be waived, Merrill said.

Still needed is the approval of the County Commission. A vote could some as soon as the next board meeting on June 21.

Though symbolic, commissioners offered a unanimous vote of confidence Wednesday in the plan by museum leaders to turn around MOSI in its waning years on E Fowler Avenue near the University of South Florida.

The museum announced in May it would close at the end of summer and reopen only the Kids In Charge wing in November. A move to the downtown development project of Vinik and Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments is likely still five years away.

By slashing expenses, cutting staff and downsizing from 300,000 to 40,000 square feet, the museum should operate at a slight profit, chief financial officer Julian MacKenzie said. Even if there are losses, they should be much more manageable because day-to-day operational costs will shrink with the smaller footprint.

“It is a bailout,” Commissioner Sandy Murman acknowledged. “They have a lot of bills.”

But she said she was encouraged by Vinik’s contribution and his increased involvement in the museum’s operations. The Vinik Family Foundation will have a seat at the table as the museum plans its next steps and two of Vinik’s close associates have joined MOSI’s board.

“It’s a new day,” Murman said.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on Palm River bridge:

Palm River will be without Maydell Drive Bridge until 2019 or later

• Steve Contorno, Times Staff Writer

Thursday, June 1, 2017 5:00am

PALM RIVER — A year and a half after the Maydell Drive Bridge was closed as unsound, the people who relied on it still are taking detours.

That’s not likely to change for at least a couple more years.

The 616-foot long bridge carried traffic over the Tampa Bypass Canal and needs to be replaced entirely, Hillsborough County officials have learned. That will take until 2020 at the earliest.

“Following closure of the bridge the county conducted an engineering analysis to determine if the bridge could be repaired and reopened,” said Jim Hudock, technical services director with the public works department. He said it “resulted in the conclusion that complete replacement of the bridge was required.”

Hillsborough County closed the bridge in December 2015 after an independent engineering study found it was structurally unsound.

The 344-page report by HDR Engineering Inc. recommended on Dec. 17, 2015, that the structure — then 47 years old — be “closed to traffic immediately” because its underwater pilings could no longer support the weight of the span let alone a daily load of traffic. About 2,700 vehicles used the bridge every day.

Four days after the report, the county announced it was closing the bridge.

The Maydell Drive Bridge crosses the Tampa Bypass Canal just south of the Selmon Expressway and connects the Palm River community to State Road 60. Without it, cars have been detoured to other bridges over the canal on U.S. 41 and 78th Street.

Those are much busier thoroughfares than the Maydell Drive, a two-lane road, and its closure has added to growing congestion in the Palm River area.

It will cost $6 million for Hillsborough County to replace the bridge. The project was included in the county’s 2017 budget.

But it will take several more years for the bridge to open because of federal hurdles. The county first needs environmental approval from the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the go-ahead from the U.S. Coast Guard “due to the navigable waters status of Palm River,” Hudock said.

Construction is expected to begin in February 2019 and will take one year.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman, whose district includes Palm River, likened the impact to that from another lengthy bridge closure in her district, on Second Street in Ruskin.

First closed in 2014, the bridge, also about 50 years old, is causing traffic nightmares for locals with its closure. It will cost $1.5 million to replace the Second Street Bridge and construction will begin in 2019.

Murman said she has been assured that all other bridges in the county have been inspected and these are the only two in such poor condition.

“This is a situation where we haven’t had the money to do it,” Murman said. “It’s very unfortunate.”

Contact Steve Contorno at scontorno@tampabay.com and (813) 226-3433. Follow @scontorno.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on burn ban:

Hillsborough exempts fireworks shows from burn ban after hearing company’s plea

• By Langston Taylor, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 3:23pm

TAMPA — Hillsborough County officials exempted the use of fireworks from the ban on open burning Wednesday out of concern for business and fun as the Fourth of July approaches.

Since April 27, the Emergency Policy Group has met weekly to extend a ban on campfires, fireworks use and other open burning as drought and heat put the county at risk of wildfire.

But at the group’s meeting Wednesday, representatives from a local fireworks retailer asked members to legalize their products’ use.

They found a receptive audience.

“Fourth of July without fireworks seems pretty un-American,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White.

The Emergency Policy Group is made up of representatives from the county and the cities of Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City. The only members in attendance Wednesday were two county commissioners and county Administrator Mike Merrill.

Sharon Hunnewell-Johnson, president of Galaxy Fireworks, said news coverage of the burn ban is hurting her company.

“Our phones are not even ringing the way they should, to even apply for positions,” Hunnewell-Johnson said.

Her Tampa company typically hires 300 short-term employees to sell fireworks from temporary tents, she said.

Luke Lirot, a Clearwater lawyer speaking on behalf of Galaxy Fireworks, asked the group to consider those jobs in addition to public safety.

“We’d love for you to err on the side of benevolence toward the business interests involved,” Lirot said.

White proposed exempting fireworks from the open-burning ban but leaving the rest of the prohibition in place for another week.

A burn ban in Pasco County will remain and continue to include fireworks, county spokesman Doug Tobin said. He said Pasco hopes to rescind the ban on June 20.

Pinellas County restricts all fireworks use without a county permit, spokeswoman Irena Karolak said.

During the Hillsborough County meeting, fire Chief Dennis Jones said he would be concerned about allowing fireworks use right now. After the meeting, he advised residents to “use the fireworks in the way they are intended.”

Since October, Tampa has received just 8 inches of rain, less than half its normal amount for that period, according to the National Weather Service.

On Wednesday, the county’s average drought index was 588, the fifth highest in the state, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Patrick Keogh, a supervisor with the Florida Forest Service, said the number last year was 342.

Keogh said April, May and June are always busy times for him, but this year has been extreme. The heat across Florida has helped fuel more than 2,200 wildfires across 174,000 acres so far this year.

Officials hope for and expect some relief in coming days.

“I know — we all know — the rain’s coming,” said County Commissioner Sandy Murman.

Keogh cautioned that even with a little rain, grass can dry out quickly, becoming flammable again within an hour.

Hunnewell-Johnson defended the safety of fireworks, noting that the state tracks causes of wildfires and none in the past year has been caused by fireworks. Keogh said that’s correct, but said the tally doesn’t include fires that drew only local or municipal fire departments.

The ban prohibited fireworks over the Memorial Day weekend. Channelside Bay Plaza, which held a celebration with live music Sunday, apologized on its Facebook page for its lack of fireworks.

White said that if the drought continues, the Emergency Policy Group will be sure to reconvene before July Fourth.

“We always have the ability to put the brakes on,” he said.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this WUSF article on medical marijuana:

Hillsborough To Consider Cap on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By JULIO OCHOA • WUSF

15 HOURS AGO

Hillsborough County commissioners will consider placing a cap on the number of medical marijuana dispensaries that can open in unincorporated parts of the county.

A public hearing will be held June 7 to consider a cap based on population and patient demand. The proposal would allow 13 dispensaries to open in Hillsborough County based on a cap of one for every 67,222 people.

Commissioner Ken Hagen proposed the cap because the industry is new and untested in Florida.

“It may not be a perfect comparison but I am having flashbacks to the pill mill nightmare and I am confident having dealt with that that we want to prevent anything like that from happening again,” Hagen said.

The dispensaries would be awarded through a selection process that was adopted by the board in March.

Hagen proposed the cap as a starting point.

“If we need or want more dispensaries later we can add them,” Hagen said. “As patient demand and population increases we can amend it.”

Commissioner Sandra Murman requested to include an amendment that would ban smoking marijuana.

“This is for medical needs,” Murman said. “This is not about any kind of recreational issue.”

Murman said it’s is important that the community gets that message and limiting the number of dispensaries will help.

“Young kids are experimenting with marijuana at a very young age now,” she said. “They think it is no worse than alcohol and you can’t die from it and I think limiting the number of dispensaries will be good for us in enforcing our message that we are restricting it to medical use.” 

Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on juvenile car theft:

Hillsborough commissioners request report on juvenile car theft from sheriff

• Zachary T. Sampson and Lisa Gartner

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 4:40pm

Hillsborough commissioners, distressed by a Tampa Bay Times report about the juvenile auto theft epidemic in neighboring Pinellas County, ordered the sheriff to provide a rundown of the crime in the Tampa area on Wednesday.

Commissioner Sandy Murman asked the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to draw up a report on kids stealing cars and potential solutions. She said deputies have seen some teens come from Pinellas to Hillsborough in stolen cars or to break into cars.

“Car theft is a very serious problem with juveniles in Pinellas County,” Murman said. “I don’t want Hillsborough County to get in that.”

She referenced statistics from the Times series, “Hot Wheels,” which showed that police in Pinellas arrested a juvenile for auto theft on average at least once a day. In 2015, officers arrested more juveniles for stealing cars in Pinellas than in any other Florida county. Reporters detailed the thieves’ methods and motivations, as well as the serious danger of the crime. Kids driving stolen cars crashed once every four days in Pinellas, the newspaper’s analysis found.

The Hillsborough commission passed Murman’s motion unanimously. The Sheriff’s Office will provide the report at a future meeting.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this SPB article on medical marijuana:

Hillsborough Commissioners consider limiting medical marijuana dispensaries to 13 countywide

MITCH PERRY

15 hours ago

Hillsborough County Commissioners intend to restrict the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to 13, reversing a decision made two months ago that would have opened the door for unlimited dispensaries throughout the county.

In March, the board voted 4-3 to back a proposal by Commissioner Pat Kemp, which reversed an earlier decision to limit the number of sites that those with a legal prescription could purchase medically approved in the county, once it becomes legal in October.

But on Wednesday, Commissioner Ken Hagan said he regretted that decision, proposing a motion to hold public hearings on the matter June 7, possibly limiting the number of dispensaries to 13 countywide.

“The way our ordinance is written, there are no caps on the number of dispensaries that can open in Hillsborough County,” Hagan said. “I do not believe this is a prudent approach to take for an untested industry, and I also do not feel that the intent of the board was to allow for an unlimited number.”

Both Hagan and Commissioner Sandy Murman made unfavorable comparisons to the dispensaries resembling the state’s notorious “pill mills” that ran rampant in the late aughts throughout Florida that contributed to the opioid crisis that has spread across the country.

The board’s decisions come less than two weeks after the Florida Legislature ended the Regular Session without agreement on a bill creating statewide rules on medical marijuana.

If lawmakers do not return to Tallahassee to address the issue with a Special Session next month, it will be up to the state Department of Health to promulgate the regulations starting in July.

Hagan’s proposal would limit the number of dispensaries to one for every 67,000 residents in unincorporated areas — 13 in all. However, Hagan insisted it was a “starting point, not an ending point.”

“If we need or want to add more dispensaries later, we can always add them,” Hagan added.

Murman also wanted to add an amendment to prohibit selling smokable pot. Neither bill that was working its way through the Legislature this spring allowed for that, which would have Florida join only New York and Pennsylvania as being the only states that have legalized medical pot, yet do not allow it to be sold in smokable form.

Neither bill that progressed through the Legislature this spring allowed for that. If either bill passed, Florida would join only New York and Pennsylvania as the only states that legalized medical pot but banning it in smokable form.

“Young kids are experimenting with marijuana at a very young age now,” Murman said. “They think it’s no worse than alcohol and you can’t die from it, but I think limiting the number of dispensaries will actually be good for us in enforcing our message that we are restricting it to medical needs and medical use.”

Hagan’s motion passed 6-1, with Kemp being the lone dissenter. She maintained that the board was still getting ahead of itself, as some key leaders in the Legislature continue to say that they need to come back and pass a bill on the issue before July 1.

“All the states that have made legal medical marijuana — not one of them has put into place a system that limits the dispensaries like this is,” said Kemp.

The board will hold a public hearing June 7 to vote on the proposal.

Commissioner Murman quoted in this SPB article on HART board:

HART board members want ‘catalyst’ transit project expedited

MITCH PERRY

19 hours ago

Although a potential new transit route connecting people in the Tampa Bay area is still a long way from being a reality, two Hillsborough County Commissioners say that once such a route is identified, it should be built as soon as possible.

That topic came up on Monday at the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) Legislative and Strategic Planning Committee Meeting.

As the search for solutions to improve transportation in the Tampa Bay area slowly moves forward, transit fans received some news last month when five potential routes identified for a future transit system in Tampa Bay were unveiled. Identifying those routes is part of the first step of a much touted regional premium transit feasibility plan in the region being funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Jacobs Engineering is charged with overseeing the report. Last month they identified these five routes as a starting point:

1) Westshore to Brandon

2) Downtown Tampa to USF

3) Wesley Chapel, USF Tampa — St. Petersburg

4) Clearwater, Gateway St. Petersburg

5) South Tampa to downtown Tampa

The Tampa Bay region is defined for this plan as the urbanized areas of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.

Scott Pringle from Jacobs Engineering told HART board members that his team will soon begin holding public workshops to get more feedback on the proposed routes, with the five projects whittle down to three by this fall.

Step three will focus on how and who are the best projects built, starting next January.

“We’re going to take a step back and fully vet that draft with the community from January to October,” said Pringle. “We’re going to have a lot of outreach at the beginning and spend almost nine months just vetting that.”

“Have you considered adding an element to plan what can be produced the fastest?” asked Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman, the chair of the subcommittee.

Murman said that members of the public aren’t willing to wait ten to twenty years to see a transit project be built, and asked if speed to produce a route was a factor in his calculations?

Pringle said that he has thought about an initial “catalyst project” that could generate excitement and would be eligible for federal funding once it was scheduled to be built, adding that the “sense I’m getting is that there might be multiple catalyst projects, and then you start building that network.”

“People really want something more quickly deployed than in decades,” added HART board member and fellow County Commissioner Pat Kemp, adding she hopes that whatever that catalyst project was, it would be “congestion-proof,” a point that Pringle heartily agreed with.

HART board member Kathleen Shanahan wanted to be apprised by Pringle on how many people his agency is communicating with outside of HART and FDOT, saying that “people should know about this study and be able to engage.”

Pringle responded by saying that there has been a business leaders group already formed made up of members of the respective Chambers of Commerce from all three counties, but he agreed with her premise.

“You’re right. We can’t just be talking to ourselves.”

The most immediate step for Jacobs Engineering is a meeting scheduled with the Tampa Bay Transportation Management Area Leadership Group (TMA) for Friday, June 2.

Commissioner Murman mentioned in this StPetersBlog article on Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians:

#22 on list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians — Sandy Murman

PETER SCHORSCH

19 hours ago

Early last year, former state legislator Sandy Murman flirted with another run for Tallahassee, but opted ultimately not to challenge fellow Republican Dana Young in the newly created state Senate District 18 seat.

Instead, Murman ran for re-election, easily defeating her Democratic opponent to keep her seat on the Hillsborough County Commission. She campaigned by taking some credit for the county’s decision to go into their own coffers earlier this year to spend more than $800 million on transportation projects over the next decade.

The board stalemated last year after rejecting two separate attempts to put the Go Hillsborough transit tax referendum on the ballot. Murman, who originally supported the proposal, turned against it but adds that she does believe that there will be a need in the coming years for another referendum.

Saying that she wants to see follow through on the various issues she’s working on at the board level, Murman announced recently that she’ll step down from her District 1 seat next year to run for the countywide District 7 seat being vacated by a retiring Al Higginbotham in 2018, which would allow her if elected to have served 12 and possibly 16 years on the BOCC.

Murman ranked No. 20 on the list in 2016.

Joe Henderson’s Take

“Sandy is one of those folks who seems like she has been in elected office since, oh, she was in elementary school. I would never call her dynamic and I wish she would put a little distance between herself and the transportation naysayers. Her initial proposal after the Go Hillsborough transportation initiative imploded looked like it was written on the back of a tea party pamphlet. On the other hand, she is on the short list of nicest people ever to serve in political office around here.”

Commissioner Murman quoted in this NewsChannel 8 article on foster care:

DCF demands action plan from Eckerd after 8 on Your Side foster care investigation

By Mark Douglas

Published: May 11, 2017, 6:13 pm  Updated: May 12, 2017, 8:48 am

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Violence and recurring police responses to an after-hours foster care teen center in Tampa, first revealed in an 8 on Your Side investigation, have now helped spark a call to action from Florida’s Department of Children and Families.

Related concerns surfaced this week in a Community Alliance meeting involving foster kids being kept at the teen center until 11 p.m. on a regular basis, then transported elsewhere to sleep.

Wednesday, DCF sent Eckerd Community Alternatives a letter stating “It has come to our attention that the teen center, utilized for foster children under case management of Youth and Family Alternatives (YFA), continues to experience issues related to the lack of appropriate placements for some teens.”

DCF’s Regional Managing Director Lisa Mayrose goes on to say “Please deliver a plan that outlines how Eckerd intends to redefine the function of the teen center and how you will handle those teens who were at the facility after hours.”

That DCF letter arrived the same day that Eckerd Community Alternatives, also known as Eckerd Kids, announced it had fired the contractor that runs that teen center for foster kids in Tampa, that has been the subject of 136 police reports since January, and a fight that sent two teens and a caseworker to the hospital early Saturday.

Read the letter from the DCF

Eckerd Kids announced Wednesday it was terminating Camelot Community Care’s contract and stopping the practice of using the teen center as an after-hours holding pen for foster teens. But, DCF wants more.

Mayrose is calling for Eckerd to clarify, by the end of business Friday, what it plans to do with the teen center and how it will handle the foster teens that still go there during regular hours of operation.

She also ends with a threat to underline the seriousness of the issue. “Failure to implement appropriate measures to consistently provide safe and appropriate placements for all children under your care will result in a corrective action plan and possibly termination of your contract,” Mayrose writes.

Eckerd receives $73 million a year from DCF to provide foster care for nearly 3700 children in Hillsborough County. The private social services agency released a statement late Wednesday that said “Eckerd Kids has made numerous attempts to improve the performance of Camelot’s Teen Center. Because of that, the contract was put up for bid last month, but only Camelot responded.”

The Eckerd statement went on on to say “We see no other alternative but to close the portion of the facility that provides after-hour services to foster children…We believe this move will provide the best environment for our foster children, which is our number one goal.”

That change also follows a disclosure that surfaced at a Community Alliance meeting Tuesday, that Eckerd had been routinely sending some foster teens to the facility to hang out on a daily basis, where they would stay until 11 p.m. before being shipped somewhere else to sleep before going to school the following day.

Child advocate Robin Rosenberg praises Eckerd as among the best private community care providers in Florida, but doesn’t like that teen center practice.

“The concept is there’s not a permanent place for them to stay at, so there’s a place for them to lay their head at night and then they have to be out first thing in the morning,” said Rosenberg. “That is traumatizing.  That is not stable and that is not something better for kids.”

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman is a longtime advocate for children and helped create the community-based care system while she was a state lawmaker and Jeb Bush was governor.

Murman was troubled to hear how Eckerd was sending foster kids to the teen center every evening before taking them somewhere else to sleep every night.

“I have not spoken with a board member with the Eckerd board, but I want to say that I am not happy with that situation. They should not be doing that,” Murman said. “That is highly unacceptable. These kids do not—especially with all other problems these teens have—they don’t need to be bouncing ’round anymore.”

Murman is now trying to broker a deal between Eckerd, DCF and other social services agencies that would open up 12 vacant beds in two cottages controlled by Hillsborough County as additional space for foster kids who are hard to place. She’s troubled that hasn’t already happened, despite nine months of discussion sparked by revelations in an 8 on Your Side investigation last summer that some foster kids were sleeping in Eckerd offices, because they had nowhere else to go.

“There’s been a lot of finger pointing,” Murman said. “I’ve asked all parties to reach an agreement by Friday.”

It’s not yet clear what Eckerd is doing to respond to the various concerns raised by Murman and the DCF, but the organization has hired former WTSP-TV General Manager Elliot Wiser to serve as a public relations consultant following critical news reports focused on the teen center.