2022 officers Named For Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council

PINELLAS PARK, FL — The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council elected new board officers for 2022 at its meeting on Dec. 13. The leadership reflects the council’s wide geographic reach, with leaders hailing from Manatee, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

St. Petersburg City Council member Brandi Gabbard is the new chair of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council board. Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh is vice chair and Largo Mayor Woody Brown is secretary and treasurer. Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano is immediate past-chair.

St. Petersburg City Council Vice Chair Gabbard has been involved with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council since 2018. A St. Petersburg City Council member since 2017, she is part of the steering committee for the TBRPC Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition, and she served as chair of the Board of the Pinellas Realtor® Organization in 2014.

A Manatee County commissioner since 2012, Baugh has been involved with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council since 2019. She is chair of the council’s Covid-19 Recovery Task Force created to assist local governments in recovery and CARES Act funding. She is a member of the board of Manatee Port Authority.

Brown was first elected as a Largo commissioner in 2007, then mayor in 2014. He has been involved with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council since 2012, and he previously served as chair of the council in 2016. He currently serves as vice chair of the council’s Agency on Bay Management, which is focused on the protection and management of the Tampa Bay estuary.

First elected in 2004 to the Pasco County Commission, Mariano is currently serving his fourth term. He is a past chair of the Pasco County Commission as well as the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with the council’s leaders to coordinate planning for our region’s bright future and creating opportunities to address our shared challenges,” said Regional Planning Council Executive Director Sean Sullivan. “This coordinated approach to shaping our community makes a difference.”

The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council brings together governments to coordinate planning for the community’s future and provide an opportunity for sharing solutions among the local government jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay region.

The TBRPC works with six counties and 21 municipalities as they make long-range plans related to the future of the Tampa Bay region. The council’s work focuses on resiliency, planning for climate change and sea level rise, environmental management, water quality, emergency preparedness planning, protection and restoration of the Tampa Bay estuary, economic analysis, coastal zone management, housing and infrastructure analysis, local government comprehensive plan reviews, cross acceptance, dispute resolution and reviews of transportation plans.