Commissioner Doug Underhill said the joint meeting between the Escambia County Commission and Pensacola City Council will lack fireworks when they meet at 1 p.m. today at City Hall.
The Escambia County chairman said off the agenda is county-city disputes over the Local Option Gas Tax that funds transportation projects and Pensacola Energy using a pool of plumbers to do utility hook ups and install water heaters.
“My goal really is to exercise the concept of cooperation,†Underhill said. “I am confident people will see their elected officials working together and taking their jobs seriously. It’s not the city bullying us at all. The goal is to focus on all the things we can agree on.â€
One of the 14 issues on the joint meeting agenda that Underhill wants to focus on is the Restore priorities for the Pensacola area.
“That’s critical,†Underhill said.
To view the agenda go to: https://fl-pensacola.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/01302017-1394
Like his predecessors, Underhill seems clueless about “municipal” government. As a result, it is easy for Hayward to bully the Board as he has done since 2011. During today’s meeting, the Board and City Council should discuss whatever they want to discuss. If Hayward gets upset, he can leave. Hayward is not a member of the Pensacola City Council (the governing body of the city) and has no power to demand that it and the Board discuss or not discuss anything. Commissioners are wrong to think that Hayward is co-equal to them. In truth, the Mayor of Pensacola’s powers are most similar to those of County Administrator Jack Brown. Underhill could do us all a favor if before today’s meeting he read the ten page document at this link below. If he did, I think that a newly educated Underhill would see why the relationship between the governing bodies of Escambia County (Board) and the City of Pensacola (Pensacola City Council) would be a lot better if he and other Commissioners stopped kowtowing to Hayward.
http://www.pensacoladigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/charter-faq.pdf