ORANGE PARK – Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker spoke to constitutional officers, nonprofit directors, community leaders and more at the Thrasher-Horne Center last Friday about the importance of a seamless city.

Baker spoke to about 100 people about the importance of strong leadership and how it can permeate throughout a city and county to create benefits felt by all. His two-hour discussion featured stories from his time as mayor starting in 2001, including some of the highlights and how he got through some of the tougher moments during his tenure.

“A lot of the things I did for the city (of St. Petersburg) I think applies to what you’re doing here and I’m thankful that people, people like you, care enough about their city to do what’s best for it when you can,” Baker said. “I hope what I have to share helps you do that.”

Baker remembered starting as mayor of one of the largest cities in Florida and seeing shirts that listed St. Petersburg among the likes of Paris, London and Rome. It was a tongue-in-cheek joke at the time, but it was a joke that Baker wanted to prove correct. After two terms, Baker said he accomplished that.

“St. Petersburg is one of the best cities,” Baker said. “Ask the people there. I liked those T-shirts but I say now that St. Petersburg should be first.”

He won the Governing Magazine Mayor of the Year award in 2008, an award in which he beat out 20,000 other mayors.

The five tenets of his mayoral platform were: public safety, neighborhoods, economic development, schools and city services.

Baker said that any public official should have public safety as their number one priority. After that, the other four tenants should be focused on thoroughly.

“For neighborhoods, how can we make them better?” Baker said.

Baker focused on bringing affordable improvements to neighborhoods city-wide such as dog parks and playgrounds. Economically speaking, Baker said he lowered tax rates and increased employment to ensure St. Petersburg was a cost-efficient city to call home.

Much like Clay County, schools in St. Petersburg are managed by a superintendent and their staff. Baker said this didn’t stop him from working with the superintendent in any way he could.

“If the schools are bad, businesses won’t want to move in because the people they’ll be hiring come from those schools,” Baker said. “Sure, schools aren’t my jurisdiction but the neighborhoods and the businesses are. If people aren’t moving into our neighborhoods or opening businesses in our city, that falls on me so in that way, it’s all connected.”

Baker said he didn’t step on the toes of the superintendent. He instead kept an open dialogue at all times to ensure he could help in any way possible.

Baker said everything a public servant does should caters to city services. That includes libraries and other services that show people they’re being listened to by their government. When all five of these tenets are working together, what you get is a seamless city, according to Baker.

“You set an objective to be the best and then you make it happen,” Baker said. “I think all of you should be doing that. I think everyone should.”