Pensacola's Strong Mayor
Compiled by Kelly Oden
After the upcoming 2010 elections, the Mayor of Pensacola will no longer be a member of the Pensacola City Council. He or she will instead serve as the City’s elected executive under the newly adopted Mayor-Council form of government. Characterized by having a mayor who is elected by the voters, Pensacola will adopt the strong mayor form in which the elected mayor is given administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence.
On the following pages, Northwest Florida’s Business Climate Magazine gives you a glimpse into the personalities and policies of the four strong mayor candidates, in alphabetical order, of course. We hope you continue to research the candidates and show up at the polls on August 24th to cast an informed vote!
Interviews with the Candidates
Charles Bare
1. What is your position on the Maritime Park?
I believe the maritime park started as a positive plan to revitalize our waterfront. I am very concerned about the tremendous debt our city will face as the result of the financing. It is very important that we are able to fully utilize the multipurpose stadium for events that will help boost tax revenue. We must also focus on phases 2 and 3 for additional commercial development. I also support a discussion on relocating city staff to another location outside of the current city hall. If we truly want to create a catalyst on the waterfront, then we need to encourage private business growth in that area. The current city parking lot would be a far better location for a parking garage than the existing planned location on the maritime park property.
2. How do you intend to transition from a weak mayor to a strong mayor?
I will re-structure the department heads into a cabinet. Each cabinet member will be granted managerial and fiscal flexibility to run his or her department like an efficient business. In addition, I will hire a Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) who will serve as my chief of staff. I will run the city on a day to day basis and the CAO will work to ensure that our cabinet members are managing their departments transparently and consistently reaching out to our citizens. I will also set a regular schedule for myself and cabinet members to visit citizens throughout our community. Finally, I will begin meeting with our legislative delegation and other governmental leaders to push for initiatives that will benefit Pensacola.
3. What plans do you have to attract industry and commerce and decrease our dependency on tourism?
I will immediately appoint a diverse Economic Development Commission that will study our current workforce skills, educational opportunities and infrastructure advantages. Based on their results, we will target businesses that we can grow, expand or recruit to our area. We must first know our workforce strengths before we can attract businesses. I will meet with members of the county commission so that we can look at regional opportunities for business growth and seek funding and incentives. I will also appoint a citizen task force to review all of the city’s economic initiatives, including the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, and make recommendations for better use of our limited funds.
4. What is your position on city funding for the arts?
I believe the arts are an important part of our community. They need to be funded by a variety of sources. I support public funding of the arts on a limited basis but this must be balanced against the needs for public safety and other governmental functions.
5. What do you see as the most pressing issue for the city?
We must provide employment opportunities for our citizens. This requires a new strategy for economic development that will end our reliance on tourism. We must focus on bringing more than minimum wage jobs to Pensacola so that our citizens can not only earn a decent living but also be able to raise a family. The lack of jobs causes a ripple effect which not only leads to higher crime rates, but forces people to either relocate or suffer. We have far too many people suffering right now
6. What do you see as the city’s role in responding to the oil spill?
The city must serve as the liaison to British Petroleum and to state and federal agencies. The city must have an environmental staff person to advise the city government and citizens on their rights. The strong mayor will play a much bigger role in facilitating communications between the city and other governmental entities.
7. How will you work with the police chief and the sheriff to clean up the gang activity—the violence, the shootings, and the drugs—that seem to be on the rise in Pensacola?
This issue is primarily economic. If we provide more opportunities for jobs, then we will reduce the dependence on other means to make money. We must get people back to work and provide opportunities for children to get involved in meaningful activities after school. The problem starts with youth and must be addressed long before the opportunity arises. I also support a restoration of training funds to the police department so that our officers will be prepared to do the job we ask them to do. Finally, we must team up with the Sheriff’s office on a regular basis to achieve efficiency in training and management of crime in our area. I support functional consolidation of services between the sheriff and Pensacola Police as long as it does not diminish our current level of service.
Ashton Hayward III
1. What is your position on the Maritime Park?
I support the Maritime Park for two reasons. First, we have to develop our waterfront - it is the only way we will grow as a city. I have been advocating this for years. Second, I support the Maritime Park because Pensacola needs a “win.” We need to show our citizens, and the rest of the country, that we can make a true public-private partnership work, and create a waterfront draw for businesses, entertainment, and public events. We need to send a signal that we as a city will honor our contracts and our commitments. Whether you’re a private philanthropist, an out-of-state developer, or a local small contractor, people need to know that Pensacola is a place where you can do business.
2. How do you intend to transition from a weak mayor to a strong mayor?
City government is really about people working to deliver services to citizens. My goal is to make sure that every city employee is on board with my vision for the future, provide those employees with the training, equipment, or skills they need to do the job, hold them accountable for results and compensate them fairly. I also want to encourage more innovation at City Hall - we have some great people working for Pensacola who simply haven’t been given the encouragement to think “outside the box.”
3. What plans do you have to attract industry and commerce and decrease our dependency on tourism?
The City of Pensacola needs to create an environment where businesses want to be, and that means going the extra mile to attract and retain business. Beautifying our urban areas, protecting our environment, expanding entertainment districts, making the city pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, public wi-fi...all these things create a sense of “place” that today’s businesses know their employees want.
Specifically, I want to explore the idea of a “grant czar” at the City who would focus full-time on finding sources of funding and revenue for these sorts of projects. I would work to expand the IHMC and other high-tech employers, and improve the relationship with health care and military-industrial employers. We also have to streamline permitting so we don’t continue to lose businesses to other cities, which is inexcusable.
4. What is your position on city funding for the arts?
The arts are tremendously important to our city’s culture - whether you’re talking about poetry and jazz at Belmont-Devillers or Warhol at the Pensacola Museum of Art. In tough budget years, the city does have to fund essential services first, but I think there is room for more collaboration between the private sector and the public sector to promote the arts across Pensacola, perhaps including the “grant czar” I mentioned earlier.
5. What do you see as the most pressing issue for the city?
Creating an environment to support private sector job growth is the biggest challenge facing our City as a whole. Internally, the massive unfunded pension liabilities facing our city budget is the biggest challenge the next Mayor will have to tackle.
6. What do you see as the city's role in responding to the oil spill?
The primary responsibility of the City responding to the oil spill is protecting the physical, economic, and financial health of the city and its residents. Because the county is the lead agency in emergency situations, the city's current responsibility boils down to accountability for BP and its contractors. This is a massive spill, from a massive, multinational corporation that clearly doesn’t understand how to fix it. We need to hold their feet to the fire, and the City should be taking a much more aggressive posture publicly to make sure that our community is made whole - environmentally, economically, and socially.
7. How will you work with the police chief and the sheriff to clean up the gang activity--the violence, the shootings, and the drugs--that seem to be on the rise in Pensacola?
Law enforcement experts will tell you that crime increases when unemployment increases, but there are places in Pensacola that have always been plagued by crime, even when times were good. We have to make sure that people see opportunities outside of crime and drugs - whether this means more education, better after-school programs, or an easier job market, we have to do something. My goal as Mayor would be to engage the stakeholders from all parts of our community, not just city government, but education, business, neighborhoods, law enforcement, and social services, to find the best ways to address this problem, and then act on those solutions.
Diane Mack
1. What is your position on the Maritime Park?
The Maritime Park is a project of supreme significance to the City and to the region from three perspectives. A public investment of this magnitude, $52 million, sends a clear message to the private investment world that we have full confidence in the future of our downtown waterfront and our city. Private investors need to see such public confidence if they are to risk their dollars in a community. Secondly, the project will open a stunning piece of the waterfront for public use and enjoyment. Finally, the project should provide a shining example of how to make it possible for traditionally disadvantaged businesses to win contracts.
2. How do you intend to transition from a weak mayor to a strong mayor?
The strong mayor’s authority will be in force officially as of noon on January 10, 2011. Between the November election and that date I will meet with the outgoing mayor to arrange a working relationship for the interim and with senior staff at City Hall to set the structure of the transition. The transition should take about six months, during which time (a) an operational audit of City departments will be conducted to determine the future organization chart, (b) a chief administrative officer will be hired, and (c) department directors will have the opportunity to demonstrate their value as it relates to the mayor’s vision and program of work and to their employees
3. What plans do you have to attract industry and commerce and decrease our dependency on tourism?
As mayor I will become directly involved in recruiting new business and clean industry to the area in concert with the Chamber. Additionally, I will (a) hire a professional director of business development to aid in the growth of existing City businesses; (b) restructure the existing tax incentive program to reward new job creation and higher wages; (c) fast-track development of the Airport Commerce Park; (d) work toward the founding of a medical college within the City; and other efforts which are detailed in my Leadership Plan for 2011-2014, available at www.dianemackcampaign.com on the “Vision 2014” page.
4. What is your position on city funding for the arts?
There are quality of place elements that are essential to recruiting new business to a city, and a diverse and active arts scene is one of those elements. To the extent that funds may be available, supplemental support of the arts from city revenues is appropriate. It will be the City Council, not the Mayor, who will make such decisions, as the power of the purse is granted by the new City Charter solely to the City Council.
5. What do you see as the most pressing issue for the city?
The most pressing issue for City government is future financial stability. By law and rightfully so, we operate on a balanced budget. That budget has been balanced by cutting costs to match projected revenues. Pension costs comprise a great deal of the budget, but pension changes that would have resulted in substantial savings have essentially been rejected by the unions. So the cuts have had to be made elsewhere, and we are on the knife edge of diminishing the quality of municipal services to an unacceptable level. The solution is twofold: First, we must look deep into the organization for efficiencies that will improve services without additional cost; secondly, we must increase the population of the City in order to produce more revenue. The greater our population, the more taxpayers there will be to share the cost.
6. What do you see as the city’s role in responding to the oil spill?
The City of Pensacola, working with Escambia County as the lead agency in emergency operations, must protect the City shoreline and inland waterways from oil contamination to the best of our ability. We must not only pursue reimbursement for all expenses related to the disaster, but also stand beside affected businesses operating in the City and use our collective influence to make certain that their claims are fully paid.
7. How will you work with the police chief and the sheriff to clean up the gang activity—the violence, the shootings, and the drugs—that seem to be on the rise in Pensacola?
Youth crime is a complex issue that must be attacked from many sides. Law enforcement can only effect short-term solutions and must repeat the enforcement over and over again. The long-term solution is to keep young people from entering into crime in the first place, and that will require parenting where there is no parenting, educating where education is not valued, inculcating values, and showing that the rule of law is more desirable than the law of the streets. It will require the efforts of many organizations and institutions to accomplish this over time.
Mike Wiggins
1. What is your position on the Maritime Park?
I am in total support of the Community Maritime Park. Our citizens voted for this park and it is important that we move forward with its construction. The park will be a linchpin for economic development in the downtown area. Not only will the park allow waterfront access to our citizens, but attractions such as the multi-use stadium will draw residents and visitors to the park as well. Private development will follow throughout the area.
2. How do you intend to transition from a weak mayor to a strong mayor.
Having served as your Mayor this last term, I am ready to hit the ground running as the mayor in our new form of government. As your Mayor, I will have the knowledge of current issues, knowledge of our staff and its capabilities and an understanding of the needs of our citizens. This will enable me to develop a management team that shares my vision for the future of Pensacola and thereby be ready to govern on day one. The new Mayor will be the leader of a $200 million organization with approximately 800 employees. With my experience, the transition will be smooth.
3. What plans do you have to attract industry and commerce and decrease our dependency on tourism?
Economic growth and job creation are a top priority for me. First, we must work with our economic development partners in the field of business recruitment. As Mayor, I will be at the table working with businesses, offering incentives, and selling prospects on the value of moving to Pensacola. Second, the nourishment of existing businesses is critical. Our existing businesses create 80 percent of new jobs. I will work with these businesses to do all government can to ensure that they grow and prosper. Third, I will continue to enhance Pensacola’s quality of life to attract new businesses. For example, I will promote the expansion of air services, the building of new libraries, the expansion of parks and recreation activities, the increase in beautification efforts, the support of our police and fire departments, the streamlining of government services and the implementation of customer service strategies for business and residents.
4. What is your position on city funding for the arts?
We in Pensacola should be very proud of our arts and culture. It is important that city government assist as it can to support these organizations. Many are small with budgets that are challenged and we as the city government need to give them support. Also, studies show that investment in the arts pays off by enhancing economic development.
5. What do you see as the most pressing issue for the city?
There is no question that jobs and economic growth are the most pressing issues affecting the city. I will implement many of the strategies I spoke about in question #3. Also, Pensacola has been hit by a trio of events, Hurricane Ivan, the recession and now the oil spill. These events have offered the City a challenge to be faced and that is to work to assist our businesses and citizens to overcome the obstacles in their way as they recover. I am dedicated to helping those businesses and citizens who are in need of assistance. I will utilize the services of the City and the relationships with officials on the regional, state and federal level that I have developed to move us forward.
6. What do you see as the city’s role in responding to the oil spill?
The City’s first responsibility is to be sure the shoreline of the city is protected from the oil. Second, the Mayor has to effectively communicate to our citizens the actual situation in our area. To accomplish this, I have been monitoring this situation daily and meeting with local, state and federal officials. Third, our businesses need support. To that end, I have been an advocate for the processes to repay our businesses for their losses and also communicated to the people of the region, state, and nation that Pensacola is a wonderful place to visit because of the many and varied activities offered here.
7. How will you work with the police chief and the sheriff to clean up the gang activity—the violence, the shooting and the drugs—that seems to be on the rise in Pensacola?
In the City, our statistics actually show a small reduction in crime. But, there is much work to be done. I believe in neighborhood policing and cameras in high crime areas. Of course, additional police personnel need to be funded when the budget allows.