By Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Debate over appointed and elected continues
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
That phrase was used by speakers in front of the City’s Charter Revision Commission to illustrate that the City of Jacksonville has a good structure of government in place, so it doesn’t need sweeping changes to its Charter. The speakers addressed the issue of elected or appointed constitutional officers and school board members.
The Commission hosted three speakers at their regular weekly meeting Thursday and they included Peter Rummell, former CEO of The St. Joe Company and past chair of Florida Council of 100, a collection of top business leaders who provide a business outlook to the Florida government to help it achieve quality of life improvements for its constituency; former Jacksonville Mayor Jake Godbold, who has served as a leader in both the public and private sectors; and Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, who has been appointed as police chief for the City of Orlando and elected as the Orange County Sheriff.
“We live in a very different world than we lived in 41 years ago,” said Rummell, referring to the beginning of consolidated government. “The question is whether something that was structured 41 years ago in this changing world still makes sense.”
Unlike speakers before him at prior meetings, Rummell didn’t see one side of the debate over elected vs. appointed standing out from the other.
“Over the last 10 years I have spent a lot of energy and time looking at the subject and I can tell you that there is no clear evidence that either one works better than the other,” said Rummell. “In some cases X works better and in other cases Y. Because of this lack of evidence, we have to be very careful not to change for the sake of change.”
That change could be suggested by the commission as it carries out its duty charged to it by the City Council. Every 10 years a commission is created to review the Charter of the City of Jacksonville and the laws by which it is governed, in an effort to make sure those laws still provide the proper guidelines for how the city is run. The Commission began its work in August and has until February to present any recommendations for amendments to the Charter. One issue that has received much debate is whether or not constitutional officers and school board members should be elected, as they currently are, or appointed by the mayor. This was an issue that Godbold warned the commission to consider with caution.
“Go with caution. This is particularly true when it comes to proposed sweeping changes that would remove voters opportunity to elect a sheriff and members of the school board,” said Godbold. “Go very, very carefully because you are messing with dynamite. You are fixin’ to open a can of worms that’s going to bite you, because the people aren’t ready for this.”
While Godbold was firmly against changing the sheriff and school board members to appointed positions, he was for making the “administrative positions” of Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser and Clerk of Court appointed positions.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings offered the commission a unique perspective from his own experiences as both an appointed and elected government official. Demings was police chief of the City of Orlando.
“As an appointed official I had trouble discussing my differences with the mayor or the city commission in public,” said Deming. “Those discussions took place behind close doors with little public input, but it was a very well-oiled machine.”
Deming was also recently elected, November 2008, as the Orange County Sheriff.
“I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, be here today talking to you in an open forum if I was in an appointed position,” said Deming. “The best governments should be open governments, where citizens can adequately and fully participate in the process to ensure that their tax dollars are spent the best and that they get the best out of the people they put in office.”
Volunteers under attack?
Charter Revision Commission Vice Chair Mary O’Brien felt it necessary to start Thursday’s meeting by alerting the commission and the public about recent developments that had occurred in the private lives of some of the commission members.
“As commission members we all serve in a volunteer capacity. A vast majority of us do work for public or private employers. We work on this commission with the permission of those employers and with the blessing of those employers, but we serve as independent individuals on this commission representing our own views and not those of our companies or employers. It has come to our attention that certain presenters have called the superiors of certain members on this commission. We do not believe that practice is appropriate or warranted in this case. We ask if you have comments in regards to our personal opinions that you address them not in a personal manner, but as subject matter. We do not wish you to call our employers again. Again, we are serving as independent individuals on this commission with the blessing and permission of our employers, but we are not representing our employers opinions as a member of this commission,” said O’Brien.
356-2466