Pensacola City Council President Charles Bare passed on this email he sent to Mayor Ashton Hayward:
Mayor Hayward:
I just received word from a local blogger that your administration will not be granting city council access to all floors of City Hall without an escort. According to the source, Mr. Olson said that the resolution passed by council is non-binding. Just to clarify… Is it the administration’s position that all resolutions do not bind the mayor’s office? The budget is also passed by resolution. Before we seek a legal opinion, I would like to know which resolutions you feel are non-binding on the mayor. Thank you.
Charles Bare
Pensacola City Council, At-Large B
The mayor’s office has limited the council members’ access to several floors at Pensacola City Hall since the last security analysis of the building was done.
As I wrote in my Outtakes column “Let’s Communicate Again“, the public can freely walk the halls of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. and knock on the door of any senator’s office, once they get past the security screening at the entrance. Not so, in Pensacola City Hall.
Last week, the Pensacola City Council passed a resolution requiring the mayor to allow access to all floors of the city hall government building, without escort, to its members. It will be interesting to see what the mayor’s response will be to Bare’s email.