A conversation with Susan Phillips

It’s rare to go to an event on Longboat Key and not see Susan Phillips. The assistant to the town manager is also the president of the Longboat Key Garden Club and chairwoman of the scholarship committee and president-elect for the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key. We talked with Phillips about involvement and philanthropy both inside the town’s government and outside.

Do you think people know how much clubs such as Kiwanis and Garden Club do?

I don’t think they do. I think there is a perception that Garden Club is, because of the name, a garden club and a group of ladies who putter around and cultivate orchids and things like that. The fact is, most of them don’t. But, we are extremely active in fundraising, and all of that money goes to scholarships and grants. 

A recent example was a thank you letter we received from Save Our Seabirds. It makes a difference to our nonprofit organization helping other nonprofit organizations be successful in what they’re doing. Two of our more recent award recipients are now working on their Ph.D.s in sustainable farming, in remediation of tainted soils and enhancing food supplies through aquaculture. We’re helping educate young people who are doing groundbreaking work that is going to positively impact us on Longboat Key. They don’t see the Garden Club as a service club, but we are, and last year we gave $50,000 in grants and scholarships.

Do you think there is a lack of involvement around the island and in town government?

I think largely that disinterest, if you want to call it that, for the town meetings is that most of our residents, from my interactions with them at Publix and various places, are very satisfied with what their local government is providing to them in services. We have the best fire-rescue. Everyone raves about the fire-rescue and the outreach programs that they’ve started with the Care Program. We are one of the safest cities of our size in the United States. 

Who can complain about that? Garbage [collection] twice a week, our roadways are beautiful and well-maintained, we have gorgeous beaches, though we’re constantly working on them, so I don’t think our residents have anything that drives them here to demand better services. And when they do, we’re proactive in taking care of those issues. I have this different perspective because I work here, so I’m on this side, and then at 5 o’clock, I’m one of them.

Do you think there’s a good portion of the island population that is involved outside of the government in clubs or activities like tennis?

I think everyone here is involved in some social activity and a group, but whether they’re involved actively in a nonprofit organization like Garden Club, Kiwanis, something like that, I don’t think that they are because I know my membership in Garden Club is between 150 and 175. Kiwanis is less than 50. Rotary is similar, I would imagine, but I don’t know the number, so that certainly doesn’t represent a big part of our population. I wish it did. I really wish it did. We could really do so much good.

Do you think there’s anything that would help people to join organizations?

My husband is president of Kiwanis, and we puzzle over it all the time. We [the Garden Club] try to engage people by appealing to that sense of fun and interesting field trips and programs at our meetings. I think that engages them — going to something where they’re guaranteed they’re going to smile, they’re going to learn something, they’re going to make a friend.

I had this one [Garden Club member] who told her husband that she hadn’t met anyone here and she really hadn’t made any friends here. She said, “If we don’t make some friends in the next few months maybe we should look somewhere else.” My friend brought her to the Garden Club and within the first year I had her on the board. We’re very good friends now, and she has a whole circle of friends and she wouldn’t leave Longboat Key if you dragged her out. But these are ladies who want to make friends. They didn’t come here to sit in their living rooms and watch TV.

How have you seen involvement change around the island since you became a resident?

The change in involvement is just through attrition on the one end and growth and new members on the other end. But fortunately, as people move off the island or pass, you know we do have new people who are stepping up, joining, taking on leadership positions, coming up with new ideas to keep the organizations young and energetic. 

What are the biggest things coming up for Longboat?

The town center and the Arts, Culture and Education Center project. Having that asset on Longboat Key, which is at no cost to the taxpayers, will bring about a larger sense of community giving the residents here a place to gather for events and arts and adult education. It keeps people on the island, and if you think of the events that can be held there that people currently go off the island for. They pair that with dinner out, a few shopping errands, well now we’re keeping that business on the island. People say all the time we need more restaurants here. Well if we are staying on the island, we can support more restaurants here. So it’s good for business.

The undergrounding project and the fiber, that’s also huge for the people who are here now and the people who are going to be here 40 years from now. The fiber that we are putting in now under the passes and with the underground project, it is going to give us islandwide Wi-Fi and lots of technological advances that will set us apart from other premier communities.

One of the most exciting things that people don’t think is achievable, but I know it’s achievable, is the one county. The disparity that exists for our taxpayers on the Manatee side of the island, there is almost double the tax rate, and then you pair that with the services that we received from the two counties. The preliminary findings indicate a huge cost savings could be achieved for our residents, but the commission will decide when, and if, pursuit of the one county study is moved to the next level.

— Katie Johns