These are the latest arguments by the No Boss Mayor PAC against the proposed charter:
1. Only the mayor will have the executive power to enter into contracts, write and approve leases, and buy and sell land.
——The executive power for this now lies with the city manager. Not sure why Charlie is making a big deal of this.
2. The only professional qualification for the mayor is to be a resident of the City.
—–It is the same qualification that the mayor and city council have now. The city manager doesn’t have to live in the City or even in the state of Florida. The voters decide the mayor has the qualifications to be mayor —as they do with the county’s constitutional officers, governor, Congressman, U.S Senators and U.S. President.
3. The City Administrator will not be accountable to the City Council.
—-This is true. Under the current charter, the asst. city managers and department heads aren’t accountable to the City Council either.
4. The City Council will not have staff it can direct to solve citizen issues.
—-This is bizarre. There is nothing int the proposed charter that says the city council can’t have a staff. The current charter is also silent to city council having a staff. This is classic Fairchild.
5. There will be fewer reasons for the City Council to meet in public because most powers of the City will belong to the mayor. (The only powers that the City Council will retain will be to adopt legislation, to adopt a budget and appropriate money, to attempt to override mayoral vetoes of council actions, and to inquire into and investigate city affairs.)
—-This is a scare tactic. The City Council has the same meeting schedule under both charters. They can call their own meetings without the mayor’s approval. The mayor’s powers are almost identical to the city manager’s. The City Council has no fewer powers under the proposed charter than it does under the new one, except for hiring and firing the city administrator. Actually, the council has more – the council gets to approve the city clerk and department head appointments.
Will the media be able to cover and report on the actions of City government when most actions can be carried out by the mayor behind closed doors?-—This one I love because it is exactly how city government operates now. The City Manager and staff operate behind closed doors. The media is not there to cover and report on it.