I got a hold of Charter Review Commission chair Crystal Spencer last night while she was the road to Nashville for a meeting with a client. She had seen the agenda for today’s special Pensacola City Council workshop and was willing to comment on it and the charter.
Crystal said that her commission never contemplated the city council having its own executive director or administrator or the council having its own staff.
She said there was considerable discussion early on whether or not the council needed its own attorney. “It was determined that the council did not,” said Crystal. “We consulted experts on that area. We talked with other cities that had gone through the transition and found that it wasn’t necessary. In fact, we believed that if it ever got to where the mayor and council were at legal odds, both sides would have to get their own attorney any way.”
“We never contemplated a separate city council staff.”
She also said that the California League of Cities guide that the council is using as a reference for its discussion on city attorney doesn’t appear to be for a city with a strong mayor form of government, like Pensacola.
Spencer said she was surprised the city council wants to revisit the charter or look at restricting the power of the mayor.
“All this was heavily debated and discussed before the entire council when we presented the charter document to them in 2009,” said Spencer. “They know why we did what we did.”
All but two of the present council members were sitting on the board in July 2009. The two new members are Sherri Myers and Brian Spencer, Crystal’s husband.