City Charter Review Committee wraps with a vote to let commissioners set their own salaries

After struggling for weeks to agree on a way to give Tallahassee city commissioners a pay raise, the city’s Charter Review Committee voted to toss the political hot potato to the elected officials for them to handle.

During a final and consequential meeting Thursday at City Hall, the CRC voted in favor of a plan that would allow city commissioners to set their own salaries after empaneling a citizens committee to study and make recommendations on pay. The committee opted against recommending moving to single-member City Commission districts or putting the police chief under the supervision of commissioners, two proposals that never got much traction.

In other moves, the CRC voted in favor of officially giving the city’s Independent Ethics Board authority to investigate complaints against commissioners when serving on outside boards like Blueprint and handle whistleblower complaints against commissioners, the inspector general and their staffs.

The 10-person committee, whose members were appointed by a sharply divided 3-2 City Commission, managed to reach consensus on most of the issues before them. After split votes on the two ethics proposals, the committee reconsidered and voted again, the second time unanimously.

“We have done really an exemplary job as a team coming together toward a common goal, which were the items we started out with and those we added,” said Elaine Bryant, a former city commissioner who chaired the final meeting. “So thank you all very much and good night.”

Other CRC members, however, expressed regrets about where the committee landed, especially on the question of districts. Right now, all five city commissioners are elected citywide, a system that has allowed Black candidates to win office for the last half century but that has kept a Republican off the commission for the past 20-plus years. A single-member scheme would open the door to a district in the northeast, where GOP voters are concentrated.

The Leon County Republican Party pushed for the move to districts, and the Killearn Homeowners Association’s board voted unanimously for it last month after a presentation from Steve Stewart, founder of the conservative Tallahassee Reports and a former City Commission candidate who vocally supported districts on his radio talk show. Meanwhile, the local Democratic Party, led by Ryan Ray, aide to City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, opposed the change.

In a surprise move, CRC member Jared Willis announced he was withdrawing his motion to move to single-member districts. The proposal had begun to die on the vine earlier in the process after the CRC voted to keep the number of city commissioners at five rather than expanding to seven or more.

“We’re in a position as a community where we are not able to have big conversations because we are so divided,” he said. “And we have so much distrust for each other that we can’t be productive. I think we’ve done some good work, we’ve had some good discussion, but there is a cloud over this community that is just frustrating.”

CRC member Bruce Strouble, who similarly pulled his proposal to change police chief management, said the committee “did a great job” amid some controversy and division.

“But I want to make it clear those divisions exist for a reason,” he said. “We have communities that are split, we have distrust for a reason. Because the actions that have been taken — people feel violated, people feel that they haven’t been heard.”

CRC approves commissioner pay model as one member says 'optics are terrible'

On the question of city commissioner pay, the CRC opted against a proposal that would have seen them make two-thirds of the roughly $90,000 Leon County commissioners earn each year.

Under the current charter, city commissioners make half the salary of county commissioners, whose pay is set annually by state formula and based on population, with the exception of the mayor, who earns the same as county commissioners.

Bryant expressed support for a model that would allow the City Commission “at any time deemed advisable” to create a salary study committee made up of between five and seven people to make recommendations to commissioners on how much they should be paid. Under that system, commissioners would set their salaries in ordinance.

“I am definitely in favor of this,” Bryant said, “because it takes into account things other than population.”

CRC member Bugra Demirel called the proposal “extremely complicated” and suggested keeping keeping a formula in the city charter, which he said “lifts the political pressure off the commissioners.”

“I think that is a valid point, where there is an autopilot,” he said. “And then it’s fair, it’s adjusted automatically whether it’s tied to the CPI or population, and this (compensation) committee doesn’t go through another political drama over salaries every two years or four years or six years.”

The CRC voted 7-2 in favor of giving city commissioners the power to set their pay after a study by a citizens committee. Demirel and CRC member Howard Kessler, a former Wakulla County commissioner, voted against it. Kessler noted the pay increase follows the City Commission’s approval last year of an 8.5% property tax rate hike.

“I think the optics are terrible,” Kessler said. “After you pass what’s been passed, a significant tax increase, to turn around and now up salaries, it just goes in the wrong direction for me.”

CRC passes ethics measures amid call to address Tallahassee's 'image of corruption'

The CRC, which began meeting in January under a condensed timeline, was charged by city commissioners to review a short list of four proposals, including pay, as part of its first charter review in 15 years.

In previous meetings, the committee dispensed with the other three items, voting to keep the number of city commissioners at five, to move two-person City Commission races from the primary to the general election and to require city charter reviews every eight years.

At the urging of CRC member Ernie Paine, the committee added two items that weren’t on its official to-do list, both involving the Ethics Board. Paine and Independent Ethics Officer Dwight Floyd, who spoke at recent meetings, both pointed to a need to fill a “gap” in whistleblower protections for certain city employees.

The city’s inspector general handles whistleblower complaints for most city employees. However, because the inspector general reports to commissioners, his office can’t handle complaints involving them or their staffs. The office also can’t take complaints involving its own staff.

Paine referenced the city’s history of corruption, which includes bribery convictions and ethics fines against top city officials from the last decade.

“There have been many calls in recent years to address the image of corruption in Tallahassee government,” he said. “We see it in op-eds and hear it in public meetings like this one. The perception of corruption leads to loss of trust. And the only way we can restore trust in city government is through transparency and accountability.”

The CRC initially voted 5-4 on the whistleblower proposal and 8-1 in favor of giving the Ethics Board jurisdiction over commissioners while serving on other public boards, including Blueprint and the CRA. Later, they re-voted on both items 9-0.

CRC member Mark Mustian, a former city commissioner who couldn’t attend Thursday’s meeting, is expected to deliver the committee’s final report and list of recommendations to the City Commission during its March 27 meeting.

City commissioners can accept, reject or modify any of the proposals before deciding what if any charter amendments to place on 2024 ballots. Voters will have the final say on whether to approve them.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee charter may allow commissioners to give themselves a raise