Sam Horton tries again.
Opinion 2
Soon the Citizens of Pensacola will be asked to vote on a new form of government for the city that is best described as a Strong Mayor. This change will not be beneficial to our community and I strongly urge you to vote NO when you get your ballot in the mail. The ‘Strong Mayor’ will have total control over City Staff and the information both you and the council receive.
Rebuttal: Sam is completely correct here. It is the point of strong mayor to have control over city staff by an elected official. Information is governed by Florida’s public records laws and can’t be hidden from the public or the council. The mayor will have no more power here than the city manager. There is one huge difference under the new charter –all department heads can only be hired with City Council approval. Currently the city manager doesn’t have to get approval.
The ‘Strong Mayor’ system sounds good, except it can and may bring a return of the ‘good ole boy’ and/or patronage system and make it easier to ignore the minority community concerns.
Rebuttal: The current system has produced a huge disparity in how the city runs its purchasing department. MGT Study of the City of Pensacola’s Procurement and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program that was released this year showed that from FY 2005-FY 2007, the City of Pensacola used 1,616 vendors, only 12 were minorities. Horton needs to tell us how this current government has been good for the minority concerns.
As far as patronage systems, we only have to look at the other constitutional offices in the county. Neither the Sheriff or Superintendent of Schools gutted their departments. It just isn’t practical and would be political suicide.
The Council which now has three minority member will rely on what the Strong mayor wants them to know.
Rebuttal: A strong council member can and will the get information that they need. Claiming discrimination will occur without any basis is race baiting.
One of the major reasons the business community (not the Minority Business Community) is pushing this change is so they will not have to deal with the council but make their deal with the strong mayor.
Rebuttal: The business community deals with city staff. You only have to look at the loss of Avalex to Gulf Breeze. Avalex was working with the council. It was working with staff. And the result is Avalex left the city. A more active mayor may have handled the negotiations completely different…or at least we could hope so.
We must understand that this is a power play for total control of the political system in the City and as has been shown in the past political power is a zero sum game (A Strong Mayor equals a Weak Council).
Rebuttal: Typical straw man argument, creating a false enemy to frighten people to oppose the charter. The council is widely seen has being weak – with or without a strong mayor.
We as a community will only be able to elect or reject the candidates that run in our districts and, with power concentrated in the office of the Strong Mayor, they alone will not have the clout to meet our needs.
Rebuttal: “They?â€â€¦.Fear & Smear politics still live in Pensacola.
This form of government will cost you the taxpayers more in salaries and benefits for the Strong Mayor and his staff. The Charter Review Commission purposely avoided setting any salaries to hide how this will increase your taxes. If other cities are any indication, the Strong Mayor will be paid $150,000 a year or more, he will have at least two assistants bringing in at least $100,000 plus other lower functions that will serve the Strong Mayor first and last. No matter how you slice it they will have the Strong Mayor’s back.
Rebuttal: The assumption here is that the new mayor will not shift the staff around and stay within his budget. This single city manager without any assistants is a new thing. Just two years ago, the city manager budget was over $1 million with two assistants. Today it is $512K with no assistants. Don’t expect to the city manager to operate as it does today once Al Coby retires next year. There are already rumblings that Coby needs help.
I served on the Charter Review Committee for nineteen months. Fifteen of those months, the committee members were being indoctrinated in the ‘Strong Mayor’ system benefits, even though the change is not really necessary there as no evidence of how the current system has or will fail to provide for the needs of the citizens of Pensacola. This is a change that will benefit the moneyed and white business community and they will continue again to drag their ‘fee’ on equity for the minority community.
Rebuttal: How more blatant a racial attack can there be? I fail to see how this current system has been so great for the minority community. I have sat in council meetings and watched LeRoy Boyd call the council racists and the council is only voting on a staff recommendation. Last year, when the staff pushed to have power lines put along E Street, Boyd said the staff recommendation was racially motivated.
If you do not vote, by mailing in your ballot marked NO, we will be cutting our own throats. You must vote and you must vote against a system that could end the gains we have worked for, especially economic equity.
Samuel Horton
Member, Charter Review Commission
The irony is I’ve heard certain white citizens have expressed concern that new charter may give the minority too much power—which is just as ludicrous as some of Horton’s statements.