At high noon at the County Center in downtown Tampa, it is doubtful we will hear Pat Bean, Renee Lee or Jim Barnes announce their resignations as called for last week by Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, because they all said last Wednesday this would not do so.
They all did it in their own unique ways, of course. Internal Performance Auditor Barnes, who has unexpectedly become something of a cult hero to good government types who believe that his inclusion by Hagan in his letter last week was the equivalent of shooting the messenger, dramatically said last week that, "I will not resign today, I will not resign tomorrow, I will not resign next week."
So put him down as probably not resigning today.
Barnes escapes calls for his ouster in an editorial in the Tampa Tribune this morning, entitled simply "Dismiss Bean and Lee."
Last week, during the colorful events that occurred during the discussion to do just that, Commissioner Jim Norman, who has been a steadfast supporter for Bean, tried to slow momentum to terminate the beleaguered County Administrator by referring to the potential fact that the structure of County government could change if citizens approve a measure for a county mayor come this fall.
Remember the whole County Mayor in Hillsborough County saga? A measure that has been discussed for nearly five years (and thoroughly opposed by Norman and Hagan over the years), could, just could finally make it on the ballot in November and thus eliminate the position by 2012.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2010.