Pensacola - Rick's Blog

Bare gives his reasons for the No-Confidence vote

Pensacola City Councilman Charles Bare passed out at last night’s meeting his reasons why he has no confidence in Eric Olson serving as the city…

Olson’s No-Confidence Conversation, part two

by Jeremy Morrison It’d been a long night by the time Melanie Nichols was hugging supporters in the lobby of Pensacola City Hall. She’d already…

Hayward announces tentative agreement with general employees union

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward announced today that he has reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract with the City’s AFSCME collective bargaining unit,…

New version on Olson incident still off, continues to miss the point

Mayor Ashton Hayward relaxed his policy and allowed his city administrator to speak with the Pensacola News Journal. On Monday, the mayor had said he…

Hayward: ‘Mr. Levin speaks for himself’

We asked the city for a statement from Mayor Ashton Hayward about Fred Levin’s comments today. “I’m not responsible for what other people write,” said…

Levin compares Mayor and Administrator to rape victims. Update: He withdraws analogy. Compares Nichols to criminal

We received this new statement from Mr. Levin at 4:32 p.m. He has dropped the rape analogy. He wrote, “Upon further reflection of my initial…

What have we learned about Eric Olson incident? More questions than answers

None of the “350 emails” from Melanie Nichols’ federal account were addressed to City Administrator Eric Olson. Why did this even get on Eric Olson’s…

CRA to seek more public input on Hawkshaw parcel

For the second time in two months, Councilman Charles Bare made the motion to turn down all the proposals for the Hawkshaw property on south…

What did Melanie Nichols say in her emails to city staff? No smoking gun, routine stuff

Eric Olson had been City Administrator for three months before he was compelled to contact the bosses of Melanie Nichols, president of the North Hill…

Ethics and the City Council

The Pensacola City Council will hear from Planning Board member Scott Sallis on Thursday. Unfortunately, the council will not hear from the planning department about…

Senate, House on redistricting collision course

By BRANDON LARRABEE THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA With just four days left until the end of a special session called to redraw the state’s…

Citizens will be heard on City Administrator Eric Olson

Mayor Ashton Hayward wanted to move forward. He wanted the discussion on his city administrator’s phone call to the bosses of North Hill Preservation Association…

Bare provides background material on ‘No Confidence’ vote regarding Olson

Pensacola City Councilman Charles Bare provided to the media his add-on item for the Aug. 20 Council meeting. We’re hearing that council members are lobbied…

For betterment of the city: Mayor, investigate tower lease

In a face-to-face interview with Shannon Nickinson of the Studer Community Institute, Mayor Ashton Hayward said he wants to put past mistakes behind him and…

Mayor provides answers about his former COO

The News Journal asked eight questions of Mayor Ashton Hayward about his former Chief of Operations, Tamara Fountain,(Editorial: Mayor Hayward responds). He provided written answers…

Emails, Phone Calls and Sunshine

Last Monday, Mayor Ashton Hayward announced through a press release that his Chief Operations Officer had resigned. He said Eric Olson, his City Administrator, would…

Nichols had clearance from her boss and legal department

In a comment posted earlier this morning, Melanie Nichols, president of the North Hill Preservation Association, wrote that she had clearance from both her supervisor…