Notes: Charter Review 5.28

The city of Pensacola’s Charter Review Commission meeting on May 28 began with discussion about how to replace a member of the commission with an alternate.

“The selection committee, which again we’ve had this discussion, this was obviously something that when we received this email we had a discussion on the first business day, which was Tuesday regarding the issue, and that issue is, do we go back to the city council, ask for another appointment as an alternate or do we ask the city council to reconvene a selection committee? Again, it needs to be an agenda item for the commission, something that we can discuss and something that we can look at more thoroughly when we aren’t surprised by it,” said commission member Crystal Collins Spencer. “Given tonight that we have a paid speaker who’s wonderful and presenting his time here, we thought this is better discussed as an agenda item at the next meeting.”

Commission member Robert Holmes said one member of the group should go before the city council to aske them for direction and “at least get the ball rolling,” to install the replacement, he said.

The commission’s legal counsel Margaret Stopp, seemed to agree with Holmes. “That’s always a very good suggestion and that would give us some time before the next meeting I think that’s an excellent idea to get some direction from the city council,” Stopp said. “There is something in the bylaws about it – they are the ones that constituted this body and they’re the ones that stated that we needed to have the diversity that reflected this city. So in light of that, this is becoming an ongoing problem so let’s get it solved now so that way we get more information and input and it’ll be a more productive discussion at the next meeting. I think Mr. Holmes’ idea is excellent.”

Commission member Dee Dee Ritchie said she though it was time to install the replacement, the senior alternate member, James Reeves. “I think that the way address this in the future is just that, we might ask the council for direction there, I doubt they want us to run to them every single time we have some kind of question,” she said. “We’re going to be the nuisance out there instead of a productive body and I think that we’ve got two alternates that are on this board that were approved by the city council and I think we’re making a mountain out of a molehill by not just going ahead and appointing the senior alternate to this position. In the future, if its diversity that we have to look at, they certainly hold back on the alternates because of diversity before and think that the logical procedure is like getting a vice president – we may not elect him but we get him by ascension.. I think its just silly to not appoint the alternate and just move on.”

Commission member Ed Ranelli said, “I’d like to suggest that you go back to the city council and indicate that it’s the consensus of the group that we appoint the alternates.”

However, Spencer expressed several times that she thought the action should be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. “This has been given some thought, though we didn’t have this information. Ms. Pratt was timely in her resignation upon her announcement. Because of the holiday weekend we could not discuss this matter until late Tuesday and then at that point in time, it was how much discussion had happened and how much review had happened prior to today’s meeting and what we’re talking about is this procedure something that you foresaw in constituting this CRC,” She said. “Lets have the diversity within the four in line and maybe rank them if you want… this is exactly the kind of discussion that Ms. Stopp had advised that we really shouldn’t do because we need to have this an agenda item. We have thoroughly discussed this, basically decided that this is part of sunshine and it should be on the agenda, that we will publish it on the agenda and at this point and in between. I can go before the city council for some direction.. We have absolutely no vote tonight.”

Ritchie again pressed for the group to come to a decision. “I’m not sure I understand the role of an alternate, she said. “If you have an alternate here because you’re supposed to put an alternate in the position of someone who leaves, I don’t understand why we don’t so that and just move on.”

At that point in the meeting, Rarelli was asked to restate his motion, saying, “My motion is for this group to go ahead and fill the vacant position with the most senior alternate and that you go to the city council and ask for their concurrence with our recommendation.

Commission member William Haraway III said, “What I would like to see also is that we go to the council and ask them that we ask for more alternates. One of the things we didn’t do when we replaced our last person with an alternate was to get another alternate. We didn’t anticipate that we would need a whole lot more of them. We need to go ahead and do that.”

Spencer then added, “We need to address the diversity to – so if we lose another female or we lose an African American, that we potentially have some diversity within the alternates. [We are charged] to be representative of the city.”

Once again, Rarelli was asked to restate his motion, saying, “We the body recommend that the senior alternate be appointed as a member of this body and we go to the city council and express our intent and ask that they concur with us and address the subsequent issue of more alternates.”

The motion carried unanimously.

The group then listened to a lengthy, informative and eloquent presentation given by Arizona State University professor of public administration James Svara. The professor’s presentation covered the detailed differences between city councils that have a voting mayor versus those that have a city manager-style administration and staff.