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When Mike Brien arrives at work, it’s not unusual for him to find several people sacked out on the South Street sidewalk beneath the awnings of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture.
Brien works on the museum’s second floor, the last legislative aide, out of a staff of three, to the late state Sen. Geraldine F. Thompson, who died unexpectedly in February after complications from surgery.
Here, Brien told VoxPopuli in a phone interview, he distributes Narcan, the drug that can reverse an opiod overdose, makes calls to shelters to find open beds for constituents and tries to help residents as he can.
“We have a huge homeless population in our district," he said. "They know they can come to the Wells’Built and that this is Sen. Thompson’s building. That’s known throughout the community, especially in the Parramore area. We’ll call to make sure the [shelters] are not full, so they don’t have to walk down there in the heat. We help them with whatever resources they may need that they don’t have the ability to look up themselves.”
He said he was also keeping tabs on the 16 budget items, largely educational and Black history-related appropriations, Thompson had requested.
Brien had been told he’d be working remotely. “I was told they would be adding a virtual phone to my computer because I would continue working,” he said. He expected the office would remain open until the new District 15 senator was elected in the special election Sept. 2.
Monday he got a phone call that the district office would be closed today, May 20.
Brien said that when he asked about the change in plans, “the repeated answer I got was that it was a leadership decision and that’s all they can say.”
Kate Betta, the deputy chief of staff for communications for Senate President Ben Albritton, confirmed to VoxPopuli in a Monday email that Thompson’s office is being closed as is the office of U.S. Rep. Randy Fine who left the Florida Senate to run for Congress.
“Leases for district offices are between the Senator and the Landlord, so when the office is vacant, it is customary that a lease would end,” Betta wrote, adding, “The Senate is not a party to the lease.”
Betta said that staff in Tallahassee are taking care of constituent operations and local funding initiatives for both Fine and Thompson’s districts.
"Specifically, staff in the Democratic Office are taking over constituent operations for SD 15 until a new Senator is elected, and will coordinate with local staff of other Central Florida Senators if assistance on the ground is needed,” Betta wrote in her email.
She added that without an elected senator in place, there wasn’t much for staff to do.
“As a courtesy given the difficult situation, the Senate extended employment for remaining staff for nearly 5 months, including a period of administrative leave to extend employment through July 1, and insurance benefits through the end of August.”
The Senate also wanted the office closed, Betta said, because the landlord, P.A.S.T./WellsBuilt Museum, “notified the Senate that office rent has not been paid since October, despite the fact that the Senate has deposited funds to cover these payments into office accounts.” She added that the family was bringing the account current.
VoxPopuli was unable to independently verify if any back rent was owed.
