Slats Murphy, Senior SCW columnist

Seminole county and its cities held their initial Joint Advisory Committee meeting last week amid an initial sense of giddiness and optimism.

It started out as quite a love fest, but even before it was over a scant few hours later, the relationship showed signs of strain. 

The committee is comprised of representatives from Seminole County and its seven cities and is tasked with determining how, and if, services can be consolidated between the various governmental entities.

It allowed for an interesting mix of mayors and commissioners, of political novices and veterans, and at the outset, it seemed everyone was enthralled with the uniqueness of their newly-structured relationship.

But a little past the midway point, reality crept its nose back under the edge of the tent, and the feeling of cooperation and unity began to wane.

It started to turn with the comments of Altamonte Mayor Russell Hauck, whose personality is such that good feelings usually disappear the moment he begins speaking.

Even when not actually being combative, Hauck seems to want to be.  Implicit in his tone and manner is an aggression that seems to be spoiling for a fight for its own sake, and it was no different when he made his initial remarks to the Joint Committee.

In this case, however, Hauck actually seemed to be performing a public service when he deflowered the committee's frivolous approach to their virginal meeting.

Up until Hauck's combative manner laid some serious issues on the table, the committee was awash in high times and good feelings, bathing themselves and each other in a feel-good frenzy that stressed how well the county and cities had worked with one another in the past, when they had not even been trying. 

Just imagine what wonderful achievements would now be their's now that they were actually coming together to work together!

After Hauck's reestablishment of the mood, longtime County Commissioner Randy Morris helped bring the atmosphere even further back down to ground level, reminding the city reps of the distance between them on at least one issue, that being storm water.

As Morris referenced at one point, it appears the committee's intent was to initially pick all the low-lying fruit, the inference obviously being that the initial giddiness would soon be forced to yield to actual hard issues that were waiting to be handled and decided.

A hint of what is to come made itself readily visible towards the latter portion of the meeting.  As each city representative spoke of their concerns and desires, it became clear that we would soon be back where we started. 

In one room, on the committee's designated meeting day of the third Wednesday of each month, would be representatives of seven cities and one county, all vying to come away with the most for themselves after battling one another in a feeding frenzy at the public trough.

To its credit, the committee did discern three areas in which, to use Morris' term, the fruit hangs the lowest and progress may actually be possible:  parks and recreational areas, libraries, and storm water.

Whether they will successfully consolidate services in those areas and others will largely be determined by how well they mesh personal egos and parochial concerns during future sessions.

The early returns indicate a brief honeymoon has already yielded to the rocky road of a strained relationship.

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