Pasco Commission veteran stops at seven terms
By Kyle LoJacono
In 1984 Pasco County lacked a library system, the county’s parks department operated only a small handful of facilities, and the major roadways were meant more for light traffic rather than the thousands of vehicles they accommodate today.
It was 27 years ago when Ann Hildebrand successfully ran for the Pasco Commission District 3 seat — a post she has occupied ever since.
Hildebrand fought to modernize the county, bringing forward legislation to create the first Pasco library system, expand parks and road infrastructure and transform it from a bedroom community into one people could live, work and play.
“I really think we’ve taken Pasco into the next century,” said Hildebrand, a Republican. “I think Pasco is a better place to live now and a big player in the region. It’s been a great ride, but it had to end sometime.”
Hildebrand, 73, said she will not seek an eighth term on the commission.
County records are sketchy going back to Pasco’s earliest days, so no one can say for sure if she is the longest tenured board member ever. Then again, no one in those same partial records served as many as seven four-year terms like Hildebrand will after her current one ends in January 2013.
“I love what I do and I’m doing what I love, so I’ve been really lucky,” Hildebrand said. “But there comes a time when you want to look at other venues and opportunities. … I’ll tell you one thing: You’ll still see me out and about. I’m not going to just sit around and watch the grass grow.”
Hildebrand came to Pasco from Michigan, where she had been working as social worker. In 1984, she did not file the paperwork to run for the commission until a week before she had to.
By her own admission she was the unknown and the underdog in that first race, which included seven candidates.
“I guess the people liked what I said,” Hildebrand said. “The day I filed I don’t think I thought I was going to win the seat.”
One of the first things Hildebrand successfully pushed for was overhauling the sewer system and building an incinerator that converted garbage into energy for county residents.
Next up was creating Pasco’s first libraries.
“When I heard there wasn’t a library system in Pasco I was kind of taken back,” Hildebrand said. “It’s the kind of thing I expected every county to have. It just kind of shows where we were and where we’ve come.”
Linda Allen was one of the people initially brought on to create the first libraries in Pasco in 1987. She retired in February after 25 years with the system and said Hildebrand was always its biggest supporter.
“She’s the reason we have libraries in Pasco,” Allen said. “She said we have to have libraries and wouldn’t let the subject go until it happened.”
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Hildebrand worked to get parks and recreation centers built up from the Gulf Coast to the Withlacoochee River system in east Pasco.
Hildebrand’s big project during the last 10 years has been the Penny for Pasco sales tax, which pays for road improvements, building new schools and renovating existing ones and buying land for environmental conservation purposes.
Hildebrand also stretched out to work with other governments in the region by serving on a number of planning boards, such as the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) and Tampa Bay Water.
“From where the county was before she got on board to now, she’s really helped improve the quality of life,” said District 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano. “Parks and libraries all evolved under her tenure.”
Next up for the District 3 seat
Hildebrand’s departure leaves a void on the five-member board. The freshly revamped District 3 stretches from Holiday in west Pasco to Wesley Chapel, but stays mainly between the SR 54/56 corridor and the boarder with Hillsborough County.
Anyone who wants to fill the District 3 seat must live within its boundaries but is elected by all voters in Pasco.
Three people have filed as candidates for the District 3 Republican primary: GOP activist Wil Nickerson, former Pasco Mosquito Control board candidate Nikolas Tzoumas and healthcare marketer Chris Gregg.
Gregg is the only one of the three who has received any campaign contributions as of Nov. 3 — a $100 deposit given to himself.
