Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/100825
Sarasota News Leader December 28, 2012 ��������� Could Sarasota County adopt a domestic partner registry identical to the one recently approved by the city? Perhaps, according to County Commissioner Carolyn Mason, who says she plans to formally introduce the idea after the November elections. The City Commission voted unanimously Oct. 1 to approve the registry, which would grant unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, rights such as hospital visitation. Former City Commissioner Ken Shelin has been instrumental in moving that policy forward, and he is working behind the scenes now to convince the county to follow in the city���s footsteps. Shelin tells The Sarasota News Leader he reached out to Mason first. ���I had gone to her some time ago about the possibility of doing this and she was sympathetic,��� he says. Mason had indicated in an Oct. 4 email to a constituent that she would bring up the issue this week, but she decided to hold off till the commission���s makeup is clear ��� i.e., after the elections. Page 63 OCT. 16 When Tom Barwin took office as Sarasota city manager on Sept. 4, he had a list of 15 names as prospects for police chief, including three women. Barwin quickly slashed that list to seven, then five names. The three men and two women on paper looked equally qualified, some a little stronger in one area than others, but all solid professionals. After a public meet-and-greet on Oct. 5, however, a number of citizens quietly said, ���It���s the two women; it���s got to be,��� as the final finalists. The following day, the five were grilled by panels of bureaucrats, citizen leaders and cops. The whispers were the same. All three men, while professionals, were wooden and stiff. The meet-and-greet was a test of their human and political skills, and they could not compare to the African-American female deputy chief of the Richmond, VA, Police Department or the female chief of the Ocean City, MD, Police Department. While the women were the youngest candidates, between them was a vast difference in one specific type of experience: Mayor Suzanne Atwell (left) and City Manager Tom Barwin (second from left) join Sarasota Police Chief Mikel Hollaway (second from right) and City Commissioner Willie Shaw (right) in listening to remarks by newly appointed Police Chief Bernadette DiPino on Oct. 16. Photo by Norman Schimmel