The Peacock Proposal

Downtown businessman John Peacock has sent the board members the below, 7-page document for discussion at our November 9th Committee of the Whole.

I believe he will be seeking the Board's "blessing" on the formation of a charter study committee.

As I have stated publicly---I'm willing to listen to what is presented--but I do not support a "strong" elected County Executive---nor am I necessarily "sold" on the idea that Escambia County needs to be a charter county.

There are plusses and minuses to both forms of county governance.

So if the committee wants to form and present options and ideas that are non-binding recommendations they can do so anytime;  they don't need our permission to do so--and to request a board vote on this or a straw vote should in no way signify support for whatever such a committee pulls out of the process....

Nevertheless, I look forward to the discussion.  See his proposal to start their process, below.

Some County Reorganization "Group" Members Don't Necessarily Agree with a Strong Elected County Administrator

I'll never support establishing a powerful "KING" elected County Administrator.  Never. To do so would be an absolute disaster.

I wrote last week about the initiative to radically transform Escambia County's current governance structure--being spearheaded by downtown businessman John Peacock.

Rick Outzen published a list of individuals purportedly "supporting" this radical change.

And I know many on the list so I have now had the opportunity to speak with a number of them personally on this topic specifically.

One I spoke with said simply "I was asked to attend a meeting and provide input, and that's what I did.  I didn't know my name was going to be used and associated with supporting this effort, though."  This individual continued  "I received a couple of emails and I stopped responding and stopped attending--I agree with some of what they are trying to do--but certainly not all of it."

Another individual, with whom I am very well acquainted and with whom I speak very frequently, summed it up succinctly  "Jeff, I am supportive of making the 5 elected commissioners be voted on county-wide like most commissioners are around the state--but knowing the civil rights rulings out there I knew this would not be possible--so I was supportive of the idea of going with 7 commissioners, two of

Is a Full Court Press Coming for Escambia County/City Government Consolidation?

 

Some folks believe that there should be a different form of goverance in Escambia County/City of Pensacola--------but who do you think should call the shots-------the voters, or a few powerful, wealthy and well-connected businessmen?

I sat down recently with a resident of Pensacola who is focused on, in his words, “Making this community better.”  This individual requested a meeting with me to talk about governance in the county, and particularly what he feels would be a better way forward.  We agreed on several points, (e.g., county-wide election of each commissioner and some departmental functional consolidation for efficiency and taxpayer dollar savings) but we vehemently disagreed on the topic of pivoting to a county-wide, elected, and strong County Manager or County Executive.

Sitting with me at the round table in my office, this individual did make one point with emphasis: “Look, we are the largest county that still operates the way we do [elected commissioners, hired executive]—and if we move to a more modern structure like Duval County/Jacksonville-we would be Florida’s 4^th largest city.”  (While I do agree that such a move would make Pensacola one of Florida's largest cities--I disagreed that we are an outlier structuraly; most Florida counties elect commissioners who, in turn, hire an executive like we do it here) He went on to enunciate the benefits of such a move in terms of how the Governor treats the panhandle in general, and Pensacola/Escambia in particular.  

He stated “look, if we’re the 4^th largest city in the state---- which we would be if the County and City Consolidated------the Governor and his staff pick up the phone when we call.”   I don’t disagree with that assessment; however, I believe that view is a distinction with no difference as the Panhandle is a Republican stronghold and therefore, we do receive attention from the Governor.  Although it is diffused through a mayor, state representatives and a state senator, and to a lesser degree thorough locally elected county commissioner(s) and business leaders---we do have a strong voice with this current governor.  If anything, consolidation might have negative impacts on anyone other than a “strong county executive” having the Governor’s ear—so is this a good thing?

Is changing to a consolidated city/county a good thing?  I don’t think so.  

I think electing strong, intelligent, ethical county commissioner candidates solves these perceived governence shortcoming "issues."  Giving one person all the power inevitably leads to problems.  Look no further than how Escambia scuttled the outdated concept of an Elected Superintendent--when nobody thought that was possible.  The county's voters did it because they saw that having one guy calling all the shots and pushing his agenda did not work and was not right.  So thankfully the voters fixed that dysfunctional structure in our area's schools locally.

Nevertheless, I am not afraid of discussing consolidation or even discussion of a strong county executive elected countywide. 

In fact, I welcome it.  

I think such a discussion should be added to an upcoming agenda of the BOCC and it will either receive support, or it won’t.

Meanwhile-in the days since this meeting with this downtowner, I have spoken with several others who are aware of the push for consolidation and a charter county “structure” like the city of Pensacola has.

Said one observer with whom I spoke, who has intimate familiarity with all aspects of local politics due to the nature of the business he runs: “They suddenly want the county to consolidate because they are not getting the outcomes they want from the current structure in the city with the mayor and the council.  But you should ask them---why do you think the county having a strong, elected administrator is important when you, the same people, just fought to rid Escambia county of a strong, elected superintendent of schools for the Escambia County School District—the largest governmental agency,