COLUMN

Que Sierra, Sierra: Fearing Wetlands' Fate

By STEVE OTTO

Published: Aug 12, 2007

I pulled in next to the car with a bumper sticker that read "Coal is filthy," figuring this had to be the place. It was the Hillsborough County Children's Board building in Ybor City where the Sierra Club had scheduled its meeting.

The woman on the phone had said there would be a reception before the meeting, and I might want to show up early and mingle. There was a table to sign in and a plate of crackers. I supposed Sierra people were into conservation, and hoping for a shrimp bowl or even sandwiches was pushing it.

There was some kind of pre-meeting meeting going on inside the meeting room, so I meandered over to look at some of the children's artwork on display in the lobby.

There was a woman looking at the displays. She looked like a school teacher, and I happen to know what school teachers look like. They run in packs. I married one.

I recognized her as Jadell Kerr, the evening's speaker. Kerr is the former director of Hillsborough County's wetland protection division of the Environmental Protection Commission.

Kerr resigned a couple of weeks ago after being suspended for two weeks for saying some pretty accusatory things in a letter that appeared in a local blog called Sticks of Fire.

The letter was the result of the dismantling of her division by the Gang of Four that controls the Hillsborough commission and seems bent on letting developers destroy the county.

Risky Business

Among the things she wrote: "The Commissioners did not hear me when I said that local government had saved over 200 acres of wetland from phosphate-related impacts. The state already approved them. The Little Manatee River and the Alafia continue to be at high risk."

She went on to suggest conflicts of interest at the Southwest Florida Water Management District and to accuse county commissioners of having an agenda to eliminate local regulation to pave the way (so to speak) for developers.

You can see why she had to go.

I asked Kerr whether she knew there would be consequences - that you don't attack your bosses without knowing you are walking to the very end of the plank. I mean, we're talking government here, and in government, nothing bad is ever hinted at, even if the emperor is wearing no clothes - or in this instance no responsibility.

"This was the best job I have ever had," she said. "We had put together an outstanding staff and were making a tremendous impact on the county."

'So How About Politics?'

Asked what she might do now, Kerr said she wanted to do something creative, maybe teach.

"So how about politics?" I asked. She did mention that someone had put together a Web site with her name on it and that she had given it some thought - maybe a county commission seat, maybe an at-large seat, maybe the one Brian Blair holds.

But then she had to go speak to the Sierra Club, which was like speaking to family. She explained why the county EPC wetlands arm was so critical.

The public will get a shot at voicing its thoughts at a public hearing planned, for your convenience, at 9 a.m. Thursday at the county center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.

Steve Otto's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.