St. Petersburg, which is five times larger than Pensacola, has Terri Lipsey Scott, who is the Office Administrator to the City Council. Here is an article on her – People of the ‘Burg: Terri Lipsey Scott. Her role is not to audit the mayor or run the city, but to help the council get its community projects off the ground. It appears to be supportive of the mayor, not adversarial.
Hialeah has no council administrator or executive. According to organizational chart, it appears city clerk offers administrative support to council.
Orlando has no council administrator or executive. The City has a chief administrative officer, city attorney, CFO and chief of staff. See chart. At one time, the Orlando council had a staff director, but they dropped that position in 1993.
How thoroughly has the Pensacola City Council researched this new position that they are creating? All these cities have strong mayors and are larger than Pensacola. They don’t seem to have city councils worried about building their own staffs and investigating city hall.
Has anyone of the council called these cities and talked with their council members?
What is the real issue here? The council should prove to the voters that their reorganization of the city government will be cost effective and make the government run more smoothly. We need more examples of how this position works in a strong-mayor government in Florida.