Editorial: Glazer Children’s Museum quickly regained its step

Published: October 18, 2018

Updated: October 19, 2018 at 11:46 AM

The Glazer Children’s Museum is a popular attraction in Tampa and a crown jewel in the downtown waterfront arts district. That reflects the pride and ownership the public has taken in making this signature destination a success. It’s also why it was good to see the museum’s governing board take a step Thursday to prevent a momentary hiccup from becoming something bigger.

As the Tampa Bay Times’ Paul Guzzo reported this week, Jennifer Stancil was terminated from her $169,280 a year job last month as museum president and chief executive, a post she held for three years. Exactly why remained a mystery to those outside the museum, at least initially, as the 21-member board underwent a code of silence. When the Times pressed for details this week, those contacted on the board refused to talk. Board chairman Kenneth Curtin emailed his colleagues Tuesday, warning that reporters might call and urging them to “just either not respond” or “just say no comment.”

Stonewalling rarely works and is always bad public relations. Circling the wagons might be typical in business. But the museum exists thanks to public support and confidence in its civic contribution. In the three-year period ending in 2016, the museum’s latest tax records show, government grants to the museum totaled more than $1.8 million, about 21 percent of total revenue over that time period. Local governments have committed hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money to the museum this year. It’s a worthy investment. But obligations cut both ways.

On Thursday, after rethinking the matter, Curtin spoke to the Times — and his account actually reflected well on the museum. Board members had no major beef with Stancil, apart from some housekeeping matters, but rather wanted new leadership for a growing museum in a dynamic urban environment. Curtin took pains to speak respectfully of Stancil, and said his apprehension for board members to speak publicly was rooted in his concern that Stancil’s contributions and skills not be diminished. Curtin’s retelling of her departure is in line with public records the Times had reviewed as of Thursday.

This would have been a good story to tell from the outset. Private citizens who donate their time as board members for community institutions deserve credit for their commitment. But this is a lesson in how the public and private worlds can intertwine. Curtin sounds genuine when he says he gets it. And credit Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman, a museum board member, for nudging her colleagues to be more transparent.

There was never any whiff that this change in leadership had anything in common with previous problems at other local attractions, such as the Museum of Science & Industry and ZooTampa at Lowry Park. But the community expects these boards to be out front. The children’s museum served the community and its brand by addressing the matter and by promising to keep the lines of communication open and stronger.

Problems in accounting contributed to ouster of Glazer Children’s Museum leader

Paul GuzzoTimes staff writer

Published: October 19, 2018

TAMPA — Failure to properly document the use of a $211,000 grant is one example of job failures that led to the firing last month of Jennifer Stancil, chief executive since 2015 of the Glazer Children’s Museum, the museum’s board chairman said.

The grant money from the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County helped pay for 139 students to take part in Science Action Clubs run by the museum. But the Children’s Board complained in a July letter that the museum had failed to provide information about the children that was required to justify the grant.

The contract wasn’t the only reason Stancil was fired, board chairman Kenneth Curtin said, but it did serve as a “discussion point” in the board’s unanimous vote to take the action.

Curtin said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday that Stancil had voluntarily resigned in September as head of the private, nonprofit museum. But in about face, he said during a conference call Thursday with the Times that his statement wasn’t true.

“I’ve done that in my private practice,” he said. “When people get terminated, we give them the option to voluntarily resign with severance.”

He added, “We wanted to be fair. She has a family. We appreciate all she has done.”

At Curtin’s instruction Tuesday, members of the museum board declined to comment on the departure.

One of them was Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman. Murman, also on the conference call Thursday, was more forthcoming, saying, “I don’t think it’s a secret that Jen and I didn’t get along that well.”

Murman added, “I rose to a higher level and tried to evaluate her on her work performance and go forward from there. … We believe we can find someone who can do a better job, to be honest.”

The Times reported Wednesday that Stancil had been forced out, citing emails obtained from the city of Tampa. Representatives from the city and Hillsborough County, which contribute to the museum’s budget, sit on the museum board.

Under Florida’s public records law, the Children’s Board, a taxpayer-funded agency, provided the Times with accounts of its $211,000 grant to the Children’s Museum.

In a July 18 letter to the Children’s Museum, Children’s Board executive director Kelley Parris said the board could not proceed with a contract on one museum program because the museum was out of compliance on another. Parris said the museum would need to submit a Provider Improvement Plan and recover missing demographic information about the children served by the Science Action Clubs.

The museum corrected the mistake, Curtin said Thursday, and the grant expired at the end of its term in September.

Stancil could not be reached for comment this week.

A severance agreement mentioned in emails obtained by the Times would pay Stancil six months salary, or $86,750. Negotiations on her severance are ongoing, Curtin said.

Stancil, 48, joined the children’s museum in November 2015 from PBS affiliate WQED in Pittsburgh.

The museum operates on revenues of $3.5 million a year — up from $2.45 million when Stancil arrived, according to its 2017 federal tax filing.

“For the last few years finances have been good,” Curtin said. “We haven’t borrowed any money. We have no debt.”

Asked how the museum’s direction might change under a new leader, Curtin said, “In order to bring the museum to the next level, we need a CEO who can get those community donors … and that is what I want to see — more community involvement.”

Emergency rooms and jails the focus as Hillsborough task force takes on opioid epidemic

By Christopher O’Donnell, Times Staff Writer

Published: October 17, 2018

TAMPA — The opioid addiction epidemic is expected to claim the lives of almost 300 people in Hillsborough County this year.

Those who don’t overdose face an increased risk of addiction to drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

Now, the county’s Opioid Task Force is proposing a $13.7 million fix to tackle the epidemic in Hillsborough, which it says will lower the number of victims and reduce the high cost of treating them.

The plan focuses on two areas where the opioid crisis is acutely felt: emergency rooms, where overdose patients arrive, and jails, where addicted inmates have to detox.

It also proposes an education program, expanded addiction treatments and more support for recovering addicts. It will include efforts to reduce the use of opioid painkillers and more availability of Narcan, an overdose antidote.

The proposed fix is expensive.

Most of the money — around $10 million —would come from the county’s existing half-penny sales tax for indigent healthcare. About $600,000 would come from the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network. Grants will be sought for the balance from federal and state funds earmarked to tackle the crisis.

Commissioner Sandy Murman, who leads the task force, will ask fellow commissioners Wednesday to sign off on the plan, which was developed over nine months. She learned firsthand the grief caused by the epidemic when her sister, Linda Bowers, became addicted to opioids and committed suicide in 2015.

“This has become such a huge problem in Hillsborough County” Murman said. “Nine out of 10 people who need drug treatment are not getting it.”

Addicted inmates would be enrolled in a “step-down unit,” giving them addiction counseling and other social services for up to 30 days after release from jail in an effort to prevent them from offending and using again.

Treatments for inmates could include vivitrol, an alternative to methadone that is injected once a month to alleviate withdrawal symptoms.

In emergency rooms, treatment and addiction services will be provided for overdose victims.

There will also be more medical assistance for babies born addicted to drugs. In 2016, Hillsborough reported 579 babies were born addicted — the most among Florida’s 67 counties, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

The prevention part of the plan would push to increase the availability of Narcan, which counters overdoses by quickly removing opioids from the receptors in the brain that regulate breathing. It is already being carried by first responders and some law enforcement agencies.

A standing order issued by the state requires pharmacies to issue the drug to law enforcement officers, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians. It can also be obtained on request if people want to have it on hand for a family member they consider at risk.

But an analysis by the task force found that not all pharmacies stock the drug and some will only order it on request, said Cindy Grant, executive director of the Hillsborough County Anti-drug Alliance.

Cost is another problem with prices ranging from $16.95 to $260, she said.

“It’s all over the place,” Grant said. “There needs to be some way to track this and let people know where to get it.”

Hillsborough has already taken steps to tackle opioid addiction

In 2010, it enacted an ordinance to eliminate so-called “pill-mills,” clinics that dole out opioids.

It has also launched a jail diversion program for addicts and earlier this year joined the state and about 1,000 communities nationwide that are suing the manufacturers of drugs like OxyContin and Percocet.

But the crackdown has seen users switch to heroin and fentanyl, often illegally manufactured, to feed their addiction, Murman said.

The task force has set targets including a 20 percent reduction in the number of emergency room deaths from overdoses and a 15 percent reduction in the number of people re-arrested on drug charges. Reducing addiction to opioids could reduce medical costs in Hillsborough emergency rooms and clinics by as much as $12 million per year, the task force said.

“We know that for every dollar we spend on treatment,” Murman said, “we will save $7 in criminal costs and $4 in healthcare costs.”

Tampa’s plan to convert wastewater to drinking water stalls after Tampa Bay Water vote

Charlie Frago

Published: October 15, 2018

Updated: October 15, 2018 at 03:49 PM

CLEARWATER  — Tampa’s plan to turn highly treated wastewater into drinking water for the region’s booming population was rejected Monday by a coalition of Pinellas and Pasco politicians who want more time to determine how the plan might affect their communities.

The Tampa Augmentation Project is perhaps the biggest project left on the desk of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn before he leaves office in May.

Buckhorn said after the vote that he’s confident that the project ultimately will be approved and hopes to bring it back for another vote in December.

“The wheels of progress never move quickly, especially when some are throwing sand in the gears,” Buckhorn said.

Tampa officials have said the whole region would benefit from their plan to inject up to 50 million gallons a day of wastewater into the underground water table to provide an added layer of cleansing for wastewater before it is pumped back up into reservoirs and, eventually, faucets and showers.

The highly treated treated wastewater now is dumped into Tampa Bay.

The project, Tampa argues, would help clean up damaging nutrients from Tampa Bay and make available tens of millions of gallons a day for all members of the Tampa Bay Water partnership — the cities of St. Petersburg and New Port Richey, and Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

But the proposal was met with suspicion, especially among the Pinellas partners on the board of the regional water supplier. Ultimately, a majority of Pasco County officials sided with the Pinellas contingent.

The 5-4 vote split along county lines. The three Hillsborough County board members — County Commissioners Sandy Murman and Pat Kemp along with Tampa council member Charlie Miranda — voted for the plan. They were joined by New Port Richey Mayor Rob Marlowe.

Voting against it were Pinellas County Commissioners Pat Gerard and Dave Eggers, St. Petersburg council member Darden Rice and Pasco County Commissioners Kathryn Starkey and Ron Oakley.

Rice and Eggers said they are troubled by recent discussions between Hillsborough County and Polk County about possibly supplying Polk with water generated from reclamation projects. Polk is not a part of Tampa Bay Water, created 20 years ago as a water wholesaler to put an end to regional “water wars.”

Tampa officials weren’t directly involved in the Polk talks but the discussions still don’t sit well with elected officials from water-poor Pinellas County.

“Tampa Bay Water is highly regarded for solving our own water wars,” Rice said. “It seems like our reward is that that water would go to Polk County.”

Added Eggers, “I think there are a lot of questions. I just want to make sure this agency is protected.

The St. Petersburg City Council last month voted unanimously ito oppose the agreement with Tampa Bay Water, citing concerns that approving it would weaken the water agency and that Tampa’s goals haven’t been transparently disclosed to the other governments.

Buckhorn called Pinellas officials’ focus on the Polk discussions “a Trojan horse,” intended to sink the project.

Miranda, the Tampa council member Miranda, said the benefits to the Tampa proposal are obvious — a cleaner bay and a secure source of drinking water for the next half-century.

“The fears that are there are only fears, not reality,” Miranda said.

Earlier this year, Pinellas and Pasco elected officials headed off an effort by Buckhorn to win approval for the project from the state Legislature.

Rice characterized Tampa’s Tallahassee push as a “Legislative run around.”

Tampa Bay Water should take more time to figure out the long-term consequences of allowing Tampa to proceed with its plans, she said.

“I just don’t see what the rush is,” she said.

Tampa’s reclamation project is scheduled to come online by 2027. The Tampa Bay Water board agreed to keep studying the project.

Miranda said Monday’s vote shouldn’t be seen as a victory or a loss for anyone, but cautioned against more delays for a project that on the drawing board since Tampa Bay Water was created.

“The longer you wait,” he said, “the more expensive things get.”

Glazer Children’s Museum CEO leaves, interim leader named

By Veronica Brezina-Smith  – Reporter, Tampa Bay Business Journal

Oct 3, 2018, 6:46pm

The Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa will have a new top executive.

Jennifer Stancil, the museum’s president and CEO, has left, sources told Tampa Bay Business Journal. The museum’s contact information for its staff no longer lists Stancil, but has COO Kristen Nieves listed as interim CEO.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman confirmed that Stancil’s last day at the museum was Sept. 28. Murman said she couldn’t disclose further details, so the circumstances of her departure are unclear.

The museum has not yet responded to requests for information despite numerous attempts to reach museum executives through its marketing department. A call to Nieves Wednesday has not yet been returned.

Stancil served as president and CEO since 2015, she replaced Al Najjar, who ran the museum for eight years but left in December 2014 to become president and CEO at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia in Charleston. Stancil had previously served as the executive director of education at WQED Multimedia, the PBS affiliate in Pittsburgh. She also held positions with the Carnegie Science Center, McWayne Science Center and Exploris, which is now known as the Marbles Children’s Museum.

Attempts to reach Stancil directly for comment are ongoing.

Stancil’s total compensation at the museum was $174,997 and the museum’s revenue was $3,248,666 as of Sept. 20, 2017, according to museum’s most recent form 990, which nonprofits use to report financials to the IRS.

In 2016, the museum had a $3.14 million budget.

The 53,000-square-foot Tampa museum was named as the 2017 Nonprofit of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal — inspiring the “imagination generation” though creative applications of science and math in ways that will appeal to children.

Under Stancil’s leadership, the museum introduced SMALLab, which stands for Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab. Glazer Children’s Museum was the first museum in the world to incorporate this motion capture lab into its space. She also helped revamp the museum’s internal financial system and software.

Today, the museum is home to 170 interactive exhibits and sees 210,000 annual visitors.

Colorado fuel technology firm targets area for $10M facility

MLMC Florida’s move will create 45 jobs in Hillsborough

by: Business Observer Staff

TAMPA — Alternative fuels technology firm MLMC Florida plans to spend $10 million on a new, 103,000-square-foot facility in Plant City.

In a press release, parent company Materials Lifecycle Management Company, based in Parker, Colo., says it will add 45 new jobs as a result of its foray into Florida. The jobs will fulfill various functions including production, maintenance, sales, logistics, control room operation and administration.

“As we were planning our market entry, we were targeting the Midwest and Southeast, but most importantly, we were looking for a community that was business friendly and had the workforce we needed to succeed,” states Jim LaDue, MLMC Florida’s CEO, in the release. “Hillsborough County and Plant City stood out to us, and we’re confident we made the right decision.”

According to the release, MLMC Florida acquires and processes pre-consumer waste materials, such as non-recyclable, coated paper and cardboard, Styrofoam, plastic films, wood materials and other process and packaging materials to manufacture a clean, energy dense fuel product called Enviro-Fuelcubes (EFCs). EFCs can augment or replace traditional fossil fuels like coal in energy intensive industries, offering a more cost-effective, cleaner alternative to traditional fossil fuel sources.

“Manufacturing has a long history in Hillsborough County and continues to be an area of focus for us,” states Sandra Murman, chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, in the release. “We’re grateful to MLMC Florida for choosing Hillsborough County for their expansion, and the high-wage jobs they’ll bring to our local residents.”

Colorado-based alternative fuel company to hire 45 at new $10 million factory in Plant City

BY Richard Danielson

Published: September 20, 2018

Updated: September 20, 2018 at 11:53 AM

PLANT CITY — Alternative fuel firm MLMC Florida will open a $10 million factory near the Hillsborough-Polk county line and will create 45 new jobs paying an average salary of at least $58,383 a year, officials said Thursday.

Based in Parker, Colo., MLMC looked around the Midwest and Southeast for its new manufacturing facility, but Hillsborough County and Plant City stood out, chief operating officer Jim LaDue said in an announcement released through the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

“Most importantly, we were looking for a community that was business-friendly and had the workforce we needed to succeed,” LaDue said.

The state of Florida, Hillsborough County and Plant City offered a total of $225,000 in incentives — $180,000 from the state and $22,500 each from the city and county — that MLMC will be eligible to receive after it makes its investment and creates the new jobs.

“Thrilled,” Plant City Mayor Rick Lott said. “Advanced manufacturing is what we’re all about, and MLMC’s alternative fuel product is helping us become less dependent on fossil fuels. This is a great project all around.”

MLMC — its full name is Materials Lifecycle Management Co. — turns non-recyclable coated paper and cardboard, Styrofoam, plastic films, wood materials and other process or packaging materials into an energy-dense fuel it calls Enviro-Fuelcubes.

The cubes are engineered to augment or take the place of fossil fuels such as coal. Moreover, the company has developed its own patented fuel injection technology to deliver the cubes into burners at power plants or rotary kilns that make cement and lime.

MLMC will open its new, 103,000-square-foot factory at 2067 S County Line Road. There, an expected 150,000-plus tons of manufacturing process and packaging waste will be pressed into the fuel cubes. The new jobs will be in production, maintenance, sales, logistics, control room operation and administration.

MLMC, whose web address is “notwaste.com,” said the cubes are the first fuel of its kind to receive a non-waste designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company says it has processed 300,000 tons of materials that otherwise would have gone into landfills or garbage incinerators into 225,000 tons of fuel, displacing 200,000 tons of coal along the way.

EDC officials said MLMC is the latest manufacturer to launch operations in Hillsborough, which has more than 2,800 manufacturing firms employing 63,000 workers, joining Liftup, Resistacap Energy Products and Advanced Airfoil Components, a joint venture of Siemens and Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation.

“Manufacturing has a long history in Hillsborough County,” Hillsborough County Commission chairwoman Sandra Murman said, “and continues to be an area of focus for us.”

Machinery Manufacturer Relocating To Hillsborough, Hiring 45

Automated Industrial Machinery Inc. announced that it will relocate its headquarters to Hillsborough County and hire more than 45 employees.

By D’Ann Lawrence White, Patch Staff | Sep 10, 2018 11:32 am ET

KEYSTONE, FL — Automated Industrial Machinery Inc. announced that it will relocate its headquarters from Addison, Illinois, to Hillsborough County and hire more than 45 local employees.

The company, a premier CNC wire-bending machine supplier, will invest more than $4 million in the building purchase, renovations, equipment and machinery at its new 52,900-square-foot headquarters at 14101 McCormick Drive off Race Track Road in Keystone.

Founded in 1992, AIM Inc. serves customers worldwide with the latest technology in wire-bending equipment. AIM Inc. manufactures two- and three-dimensional CNC wire-bending machinery for customers in more than 58 countries. It manufactures 48 models serving the automotive, aerospace, military, medical, point-of-purchase display, refrigeration, food service, agricultural and storage industries.

“After two years of extensive research and the examination of six states, I found that the state of Florida is the best choice to relocate my company,” said Constantine Grapas, president of AIM. “I fell in love with Tampa from my first visit. Besides a much better quality of life, Tampa offers a significantly friendlier business climate than Chicago, and Tampa’s outstanding international airport makes it easy to travel for our clients around the world. The Tampa EDC and Enterprise Florida have been extremely helpful and accommodating to work with during this process. I wish I had done this research 27 years ago.”

In addition to moving its headquarters to Tampa, AIM is starting a new company that Grapas believes will revolutionize the orthodontic appliance industry. Advanced Orthodontic Solutions Inc. will manufacture micro wire bending machines for the manufacturing of orthodontic appliances and sleep apnea industry, providing equipment with accuracy at a fraction of the time of the currently manual operations. New models are set to be released for production in September.

The two companies plan to hire 45 local employees for a variety of positions ranging from engineering, sales, marketing, administration, component manufacturing and assembly with an average salary of $58,000.

The project was made possible through strong partnerships between Enterprise Florida, the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation, Hillsborough County and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

“Hillsborough County offers AIM the pro-business climate, favorable quality of life and highly skilled talent they were in search of for their headquarters,” said Sandra Murman, chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Commission. “We thank AIM for choosing our community, and we look forward to supporting them as they settle into their new home in Hillsborough County.”

AIM joins a growing list of companies that have chosen to relocate their headquarters to Hillsborough County recently, including Resistacap Energy Products, The Mosaic Company and Vendita Technology Group.

“AIM is just one of many leading manufacturing companies that have decided to take advantage of the excellent talent and quality of life our region has to offer,” said Alan F. List, chairman of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation. “We’re excited AIM chose Tampa, and our EDC team is committed to helping them engage with the local business community and connect them to the resources they need to prosper in this market.”

Those interested in applying for a job with AIM can click here.

Hillsborough transit authority changes search timeline for CEO due to tax referendum  By Veronica Brezina-Smith  –

Reporter, Tampa Bay Business Journal

2 hours ago

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority’s search for its next top executive has been pushed back.

After a back and forth discussion on proposing a new timeline for search firm Krauthamer and Associates Inc. to find the right candidates, by a majority vote the board agreed to change the November interviewing time frame to January 2019.

“I have some concerns speaking to the motion itself that we have a referendum on our ballot that could dramatically change where we are here at HART and we would know about that later in November,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman, during the Sept. 10 board meeting. “We could also have a significant board change in January and so I would really feel more comfortable pushing this out to a different timeline.”

She recommended that the beginning of January would be ideal as it would be after the holidays and the board would know whether the referendum passed; the All for Transportation referendum would raise sales tax 1 percent to fund transportation and transit improvements.

“We could also have significantly different candidates who are interested in this position. If candidates are looking at if we have a big budget, they might be more interested if we have less, they might be more interested and it could be different of who we have available,” Murman said.

Commissioner Mike Suarez didn’t share the same view that the referendum would have that much impact. The recruitment process was to start on Sept. 10 through Nov. 9, then on Nov. 16 or Nov. 19 would be the first round of interviews with roughly five candidates by the ad-hoc committee. The structure of the first round of interviews was to be videoconference and a set of pre-listed questions. The week of Dec. 3 or Dec. 10 would have been the final interviews with two to three candidates. Once the board selects the new CEO and negotiations are complete, the new CEO would start 30 to 45 days after selection.

“I assume most of the people you are going to be talking to to try to get interested in our position here as CEO would be sophisticated in understanding what’s going on with our referendum and so on,” Suarez said to Gregg Moserwith Krauthamer & Associates, who was listening in via conference call and confirmed that the candidates would have knowledge of the referendum.

“If they are going to open themselves to this position, it doesn’t matter whether or not we do it now or in January; do you think that’s a fair assessment?” Suarez asked. “Meaning the referendum might not have as much of a difference, other than those people might drop out if the referendum doesn’t pass because now they don’t want to come into a position where we will have less money.”

Moser answered by stating his concerns with extending the timeline due candidates being susceptible to Florida Sunshine laws and the market being highly competitive.

“There’s fewer candidates than there are needs,” Moser said, urging the board to avoid pause.

“I think the timeline they have set now is a reasonable timeline. I don’t think we are going to have a situation where we are going to get better candidates because we have more money or less candidates,” Suarez said. “Believe me, people who will want to move will move, they are going to want to interview and make sure they are at the forefront when money starts coming in, which is in January. I would rather have us go with the original timeline.”

In the end, the board voted to change the timeline.

Everything will stay in place except the first round of interviews will be pushed to January instead of the middle of November, Commissioner Les Miller said.

The advertisement for the new CEO will start on Nov. 7. Meanwhile, the board will review at its next meeting the extended agreement with Interim CEO Jeff Seward; his current contract expires on Nov. 30.

A new CEO will earn between $139,000 and $219,000 annually, according to previous HART documents.

HART is expected to manage a 2019 budget of $111.5 million.