Pensacola Council President Brian Spencer responded last night to Inweekly’s request for his position on Mayor Ashton Hayward’s veto of a council action to begin the hiring process for a budget analyst.
“I need to give this some more thought and will seek a legal opinion on the validity of the veto. Thanks, Brian”
According to the charter, the City Council can override a veto “any time prior to midnight on the fifth (5th) business day after the day the Mayor exercises the veto or prior to midnight on the day of the next City Council meeting after the exercise of the Mayoral veto, whichever last occurs.â€
The next scheduled council meeting is on April 13, according to the city’s website.
The real issue is that what Councilwoman Cannada-Wynn wants to do can only be done by ordinance “and” by amending the City Charter. I mention the City Charter too because she slipped in a provision that is in open conflict with the City Charter. State law gives a Council a very limited ability to amend a Charter without voter approval. This is not one of those limited cases. She just screwed up and no one said anything presumably because no one actually “read” the agenda item. That said, it would not surprise me if City Attorney Bowling knew that the Council was going to screw up and said nothing because the longer this mess drags on the longer her boss Mayor Hayward has the advantage over the Council. As for the meeting requirement to override a veto, Spencer does not have to call a meeting within five days. He can wait until the next meeting in April, or do so before then. In truth, the veto is every bit as invalid as the Council action so they would seem to balance each other out. The shocking part is that Hayward thinks he is vetoing a “resolution” when in truth his veto was directed at a make-believe action taken because the Council did not want to comply with the state law requirements of adopting an ordinance to amend a prior ordinance. In April 2016, the Council adopted an ordinance providing for the Budget Analyst position. Spencer should direct Council Executive Kraher to get with city staff to begin the recruitment process. By my math, this is the fourth time the Council has voted to violate a law in 2017, the fifth time if you count the two separate problems with Cannada-Wynn’s Legislative Action Item.
B.S. will never call a meeting within 5 days to vote to over ride the veto. However, this isn’t even the issue because, why over ride a veto that isn’t valid.
The only way this could definitively be resolved is for the council to sue the Mayor and move ahead with hiring their budget analyst. If the Mayor refuses to assist with Sisson and HR, then set your own contract and bring that person on board.
However, all that being said, the Council doesn’t have the intellect nor courage to do any of the above. B.S. is B.S. and he will never stand up – because ts to do the same exact thing with a little more brains.