Mitch Perry
Tampa public relations firm Tucker/Hall was paid more than $400,000 by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) in 2013 and 2014 to create a public education campaign for the Greenlight Pinellas transit referendum. It was soundly defeated at the polls in November.
One of the leading players for Tucker/Hall at the time was Tony Collins, the agency’s senior vice president. But after Collins and the firm parted ways early in 2014, so coincidentally did PSTA’s relationship with Tucker/Hall. By law PSTA couldn’t advocate for the initiative, so those efforts were taken up by a political committee known as Friends of Greenlight.
PSTA has continued to work with Collins since then.After he left Tucker/Hall, he created the Blake Collins Group, a consulting firm where he’s president and CEO. Records obtained by FloridaPolitics.com show that PSTA paid the group nearly $8,000 for a variety of tasks since last fall.
There was a $2,500 check on Nov. 19, 2014, for “research and analysis of leadership models and case studies.” Another check, for $5,458, was written on April 22, 2015 for scheduling and meeting with PSTA board members to assess the “current situation.” A pending request is now pending for $3,758 for “strategic planning/meeting with key stakeholders/ongoing consultation and alignment review.”
PSTA CEO Brad Miller wouldn’t speak to FloridaPolitics.com about the issue. In an email, spokeswoman Ashlie Handy wrote that Collins has had two assignments with the Pinellas transit agency. The first was for a Feb. 18 workshop, and the second for an upcoming board workshop on Friday, when he’ll present information to the board.
Of Collins’ duties, Handy wrote, “At the February workshop, Collins preformed a S.W.O.T analysis on PSTA with the board members. His primary purpose was to interview the board members to find what they believed the strengths and weaknesses were of PSTA. He also created a questionnaire for this purpose.” (S.W.O.T. is an acronym for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats).
She indicated that at the workshop this Friday Collins will give a presentation on the strategic direction of PSTA.
“His main role has been to help identify and prepare a strategic direction for PSTA moving forward,” Handy wrote.
Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long wasn’t aware of the hiring of the Blake Collins group, but said she applauded whomever made the decision to use the firm.
“I think it takes a strong message with educational components that keeps people on message, and your message is so strong and bulletproof that you keep on moving forward, and that’s what Tony has a gift for,” she said.
In retrospect, Long said things went awry for the Greenlight effort after Collins and Tucker/Hall was jettisoned last year: “They brought in consultants from out of town that weren’t Pinellas County-centric who put a whole new emphasis on how the plan was going to get implemented, and I think that’s where we started to go downhill.”
Long said that there was a void in the transition period between Tucker Hall and Yes on Greenlight’s work, and said the main opposition group, No Tax for Tracks, took advantage of that void.
Joe Farrell, director of public affairs with the Pinellas Realtor Association, was the campaign manager for Yes on Greenlight, the advocacy group that worked on getting Greenlight Pinellas passed. “This is a growing, evolving community issue that the campaign team was proud to be a part of, and will continue to be part of moving forward,” he told FloridaPolitics.com Wednesday. “I hope stakeholders continue to look at all options.”
Whether the guidance from Blake Collins is what’s required for PSTA to move forward remains to be seen, as different local transit agencies deal with the issue of more service with less money coming in to provide such service.
PSTA’s cross-bay fellow transit agency, HART, also has to contend with many of the same issues. However, they’re not employing any consultants at this time, spokeswoman Sandra Morrison said.
“We don’t have anything like this,” Morrison told Florida Politics. “In the last three years we haven’t had any consultants meet with the Board.”
