Could the Science Center be Ken Welch’s undoing?

Ken Welch just got lawyered.

St. Petersburg City Council member Lisset Hanewicz on Thursday — after the Council voted unanimously^[1] to support the Science Center project and identify land for a future water storage facility — offered a master class in the type of governance possible when you do your due diligence and have a handy background as a prosecutor.

Without ever mentioning his name — and even with one of his most trusted administrators taking the fall — Hanewicz eviscerated Welch over his administration’s handling of the St. Pete Science Center plan, which includes the city selling land to a third party that has plans to revitalize the education facility for mostly public use.

A price — $1.6 million — had even already been agreed upon^[2].

So what happened?

That’s the line of questioning Hanewicz explored after a presentation updating the City Council on the Science Center issue, one showing that the facility, and the land it sits on, is needed not as a reimagined Science Center, but as future water storage.

Hanewicz — and as it turned out later in the meeting, the entire Council — wasn’t having it.

A group of concerned citizens, The St. Petersburg Group, submitted an unsolicited proposal to purchase the Science Center property in 2023. The $1.6 million price tag was agreed upon by both parties after two separate appraisals.

Welch changed course after a feasibility study showed the Science Center property as the city’s best option for future water storage. The city had claimed that the study was needed to assure debt holders that selling the property wasn’t essential to its utility services.

But that wasn’t true. Only a one-page document was needed, prompting Hanewicz to question whether the administration can be trusted. She said the one-page document would have signaled a sale was on the horizon. The feasibility study, she argued, was the opposite.

“This is to basically have documentation to say, ‘guess what, we’re not going to get rid of a property,’” she said, insinuating the feasibility study was ordered as cover to cancel the sale.

There are a lot of bad looks for the Mayor stemming from this one issue.

For starters, getting called out like that in a public meeting — in a tone anyone could recognize as an admonishment — sends a message to St. Pete residents that City Hall is suffering through at least some dysfunction between its executive and legislative branches.

Beyond that, it raises the question as to whether Welch’s hesitance to sell the Science Center property stems from sour grapes. Former St. Pete City Council member Robert Blackmon championed the project during his short tenure, and it was a priority when he ran for Mayor in 2021^[3] against, you guessed it, Welch.

Finally, his response is a major red flag. It’s passive aggressive and dismissive.

“I appreciate City Council’s comments and input regarding the Science Center development and the consultant’s report on enhancing our Water and Wastewater infrastructure,” Welch said in a prepared statement.

Let’s unpack that before getting to the next part. We’re off to a good start, praising the City Council for its input. But then he references the report “enhancing our water and wastewater infrastructure.” This seems, on its surface, to be wise language. After last year’s back-to-back storms and the widespread flooding and impacts to water infrastructure the storms caused, shoring up water resources is a top issue.

But for anyone who knows political strategy, the posturing has already begun. He’s laying the foundation for saying, “nope, not going to listen to the City Council, because water is more important.”

Then, the statement really goes off the rails.

“Council’s rationale for moving forward on the Science Center agreement as a higher priority than maximizing our water/wastewater system capacity per the consultant’s recommendations is clear. I will give these items full consideration as we evaluate capacity, operational and cost impacts of the available alternatives.”

Welch gets points for saying he will consider alternatives — that’s kind of what the City Council asked him to do Thursday. But the details are troubling, ignoring what the City Council ACTUALLY said.

The eight members who all voted to encourage Welch to move forward with plans to sell the Science Center AND identify a future location for water storage never said they believed the Science Center revitalization was a “higher priority” than water infrastructure. In fact, they acknowledged the importance of such forward-thinking planning.

What Welch’s statement ignores, and what some Council members were quick to point out — most directly by Brandi Gabbard — is that there are currently no plans or funding for a water storage project. It’s conceptual.

And more broadly, his tone further highlights what political watchers locally have been saying for months, if not years — that Welch’s arrogance often gets in the way of progress.

I hope I am wrong, but his statement seems to imply the administration has no intention at this time to reverse course on the Science Center, and it does so with a level of bravado that can sometimes backfire.

As someone who is facing re-election next year with approval ratings that are only slightly above water, Welch may want to rethink his strategy here.

The Science Center has already attracted $10 million in public and private donations, with millions more pledged. And some of Welch’s own allies have been responsible for bringing home the bacon^[4] — most notably, Sen. Darryl Rouson, who was peeved Thursday night with the city’s stance.

A wrong move on this issue could be a cudgel for any would-be challenger.

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