Frustrated by their lack of influence in the recent hiring of new police chief Tony Holloway, the St. Petersburg City Council this morning voted unanimously to place a measure on the ballot this November calling on voters to change the city's Charter, to allow them to give their opinions about key hires by the mayor.The reason that the Council wants the change is that currently offering an opinion on such mayoral appointments could pave the way for their removal from office, per the Charter. The measure will be added to the November 4 ballot in St. Petersburg, at an added cost of $20,500.
The conversation at Council this morning took a turn when Council member Jim Kennedy introduced the idea of the Council also being able to weigh in on firing city officials, but that proposal was ultimately whittled away after Karl Nurse contended that the bill was being "loved to death."
Nurse has been one of the most outspoken members of Council expressing his frustrations in having little say in the hiring of the new chief. Steve Kornell has been another, though he insisted today that issue was in the past, with the community so far supportive of Mayor Rick Kriseman's selection. "It’s not about the Chief," he said."I completely like Chief Holloway ... this is about the bigger issue."
Mayor Kriseman stunned the Council (and some segment of the public) when he bypassed his own shortlist of four candidates and selected Holloway to become the permanent replacement for Chuck Harmon, who stepped down earlier this year as St. Pete Police Chief. Council members were already expressing frustration about the process when the mayor made sure to include time for those four candidates to get the chance to meet with them individually.
Councilman Wengay Newton said a change to the charter is required because the council is already being asked to influence the process when they receive emails from the mayor's public communications office eliciting their opinion on various issues. "If I'm an elected official and am responding to a document, that doesn't influence the process?" he asked. "It's already happening."
Councilman Charlie Gerdes emphasized that what the council wanted to do was not really change the Charter, but clarify it regarding the input that council can have on an issue. "We’re not making an exception, we’re not carving something out, we’re clarifying what this really means," he said.
The unanimous vote comes just days after a Tampa Bay Times editorial urged the Council not to go down this route, writing that it would "alter the balance of power in City Hall and undermine the mayor's authority."