Charter Review makes ‘some headway’ [podcast]

By Grayson Keglovic

Time continues to tick as the Pensacola Charter Review Commission finds itself in a time crunch to finish its report. The report with its recommended charter changes is due to the Pensacola City Council by the end of June. The commission made some decisions at its meeting last night.

Former Mayor Mike Wiggins serves on the commission. This morning, he appeared on WCOA and said the group had “made some headway.” The meeting covered the first half of the charter review’s provisions, sparking several debates. Wiggins found himself in agreeance with some proposals but could not support others.

The commission did agree to recommend moving the start date up for the next charter review. This group began meeting in January and only had six months to complete its work. The recommendation is for future commissions to start a year earlier. Wiggins explained, “If you go 10 years from now, you would meet in January 2032, which would put that future commission in the same time crunch we’re in now. So we are changing that to you can start meeting in January 2031.”

The commission unanimously voted to recommend reducing the number of consecutive terms that the mayor can serve from three (12 years) to two (eight years). Council members can continue to serve for three successive terms.

The council’s power to inquire and investigate municipal departments will stay the same. Wiggins said that keeping this section of the charter review is important.

“A lot of people will say that this form of government has a very weak council with not a lot of responsibilities,” the former mayor said. “With the council being able to do investigations and also in charge of the budget, I think that kind of translates to a relatively strong council.”

The commission did vote to modify the mayor’s power when terminating a department head. The 2010 charter allowed the mayor to fire his leadership team and any city employee. Wiggins disagreed with the majority.

“The commission added that the department head may appeal such action to the city council,” Wiggins said. “I thought we should have left it like it was, where the mayor, because of the mayor-council government, should be able to discharge a department head.”

The charter review commission is set for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15. Wiggins knows what he would like his fellow members to discuss.

“One of my favorite topics is filing fees and petitions,” he shared. “I think both are too high, way too high. I’ve got some suggestions insofar as how to reduce that a little bit.”

In their next and final meeting, the Charter Review Commission is scheduled to discuss the citizens’ right to petitions and the rules for the redistricting commission and future charter commissions. Wiggins also would like to commission to look at the code of ethics for the city council.

He said, “It’s in the charter now. I think we need to maybe add a little bit to it.”

Once the charter review is delivered, the city council will decide whether to include proposed amendments on a ballot without any changes, revise them and include the modified amendments on a ballot, or send them back to the commission for further review. Amendments may be included on the ballot during the November general election as a single question, individual questions or any combination of either.

Wiggins said, “On July 21 is the first reading of the ballot amendment ordinance. And then in August, the council has got to deliver the ballot information to the Supervisor of Elections.”

Will they have a final commission report completed at the June 15 meeting? Wiggins said, “We’ve got to get that done in our next meeting. No question about it,” Wiggins said. “It’s a real-time crunch, but I do think we’re going to make it.”