COME ON CITY COUNCIL….LEAD….WITH A PURPOSE!

Third editorial In A Series.

Every year we elect one or more of our fellow citizens to our City Council as our representative in guiding our city today and into the future.  Every three years we elect a Mayor who runs our City Council Meetings and represents the city at public functions.  The City Council hires a City Manager who assembles a group of professionals to run the day-to-day operations of the city.  The City Manager prepares the annual city budget for review and approval by the City Council.  The professional staff can only take orders from the City Manager.  The City Council is prohibited, by law, to direct the activities of the staff.  The City Council hires and administers the City Clerk and City Attorney.  The Clerk and the Attorney report directly to the City Council.  In simple terms, that’s how it’s all supposed to work. 

So who really runs the City?  Is it (a.) the City Council, (b.) the Mayor, (c.) the City Manager or (d.) none of the above.  The technical answer is (d.) none of the above.  Technically, you, the voting citizens run the city through your representatives, the  City Council, (including the Mayor).  That’s why “transparency” has become the buzzword in local politics.  As voters, you have the right and, some would say, the duty to know who your representatives are and what they are doing with the city at all times.  The City Clerk plays the key role of keeping the records and communicating information between the City Council and the Citizens as well as running the elections in a fair and efficient manner.

When all participants know and do their jobs this Council-Manager form of government can work quite well in carrying out the wishes of the electorate and in creating a city that a majority of the people want.  Unfortunately, the Council-Manager system here in Gulfport has allowed the city to function laterally for several years with little or no participation by its citizens.  Functioning laterally means the city is moving sideways…going nowhere fast.  Those who do participate, my guess is there is a core group of about 200, are the city’s ultimate “insiders” with undue influence over elected and non-elected officials and are Hell bent on preserving the status quo.

When the electorate, being the foundation of effective government, essentially “drops out” of the electoral process and when the electorate does not demand accountability by its elected officials, the whole system breaks down.  The City Council becomes less than productive and can become a rubber stamp for the Manager and his/her administration.  The Administration becomes cautious and confused by lack of direction by the Council, or a really strong Manager takes over both sides of the process.  Technically they are not allowed by law to lead in creating policy.  What almost invariably happens is that one or more of the more politically astute of the Council Members is able to ingratiate him/herself with the insider group and transmit their wishes directly to the Administration and through their strong personality, political power building or intimidation are able to serve the needs of the small power group of “insiders” who actually is running the city.

The Council-Manager form of local government was created in the late 1890’s as a way to defeat the evils of political “bossism,” or one or two person rule which was prevalent at that time.  Bossism can only exist when the electorate allows it to happen or when the electorate intentionally gives over their rights to a popular and powerful personality.  The, ”let George do it,” mentality is a cop out for those of the electorate who are unwilling to pay attention to local politics.  Plato said that the best form of government is that of a, “benevolent dictator,” but dictatorships are seldom progressive.  The tendency of a dictator is to try and keep things just the way they are and under their control.  Sometimes a trusted political boss works out fairly well for the citizenry, but it sure wrecks havoc with the Council-Manager system of government.

Our present Council has two politically savvy individuals who seem to have political ambitions beyond serving on the Gulfport City Council.  Their influence on city government is disproportionate to their number.  Two of the others appear to be serving Gulfport and its citizens out of love for the city, (maybe too much love).  The newest Council Member is still pretty much an unknown quantity and is still learning his job although eyebrows should be raised at the huge amount of, out of town, partisan support he received in his first election, (more on this in a later article). 

None of our Council Members have much, if any training or experience in any area of administration, financial planning, business or entrepreneurship.  None have a four-year college degree.  One is unemployed while seeking a degree.  These comments on training and experience are not meant as positive or negative comments.  They are simply  statements of fact that, to some, may have a bearing on the discussion.

The two principal “movers” on the Council, Mayor Yakes and Council Member King, appear to have political ambitions both within and outside the city.  Mayor Yakes with his 20 years of incumbency is a formidable power in and of himself.  Council Member King has assiduously built a strong coalition of business leaders, past real estate customers, area Progressives and the Stone Wall Democrats, (a wing of the state Democratic Party).  Mayor Yakes does not appear to possess a specific agenda except to preserve Gulfport as it is, (or was) and to get himself re-elected.  Council Member King, on the other hand, appears to be agenda driven, an agenda created as much from its impact on her political ambitions or security as it is from its potential positive impact on the city.  In her drive to achieve her agenda, she appears to take no prisoners.  With her, you are either for her or against her.

Council Member King seems to be the only credible rival for Mayor Yakes’ seat, a fact not lost on the Mayor.  Sometimes they work together, sometimes they do not.  When they do, things happen.  When they do not, things often don’t happen.  The powerful Mayor puts his foot down and that’s that.  It’s never the other way around.  Their power plays and battles are not usually evident in public meetings but must manifest themselves in the weekly, private meetings between each of them and the City Manager.  Just think of the spot these power plays put the Manager in, especially if he’s an Interim Manager operating without a contract.  More importantly, think of how little you the private citizen knows about what’s really going in city governance.  Is this good government?
Mayor Yakes is an enigma.  On the one hand he appears to be the slightly befuddled home boy struggling to maintain order at a meeting and on the other hand, (the one borne out by facts), he appears to be a master politician with a tremendous loyal following who has guided the city through some rough times.  He likes to point to Gulfport as being, “a full service city,” that, “is on a pay as you go basis.”  He is right on both scores.  Gulfport is one of the few small cities left that provides local police and fire protection, local trash collections, locally run sewer and water services and local building permitting.  On the second point, the city has no bonded debt and almost always pays cash for improvements.

Vice Mayor Bob Worthington and Council Member Judy Ryerson are long-time residents and servants of the city with deep knowledge of almost all aspects in city government that was earned by many years of service on many boards and committees.  Vice Mayor Worthington is a retired employee of the Honeywell Corporation where he worked in a technical capacity.  Locally, he served many years as a volunteer firefighter and is a founder of and active participant in the city’s CERT program, (Community Emergency Response Team).  He represents the city on several regional environmental organizations and has developed a strong reputation in this field.  Council Member Ryerson is a retired City of Gulfport employee where she headed up the city’s Human Resources Department.  She is a leader in Gulfport’s History Museum and 100th Anniversary Committee.  She represents the Council in the City’s elder affairs.

Council Member Henderson is the newest, least experienced and far and away, the youngest Council Member having served one year.  He appears to be a fast learn and is beginning to bring some ideas to the Council.  On most key issues, he has voted with Council Member King.  This is not surprising since both sought and received the endorsement of the Stonewall Democrats.  Both were aided by financial contributions from out of town Democrats and campaign assistance from professional party organizers.  His work history is in environmental services where he engaged in Brownfield clean up efforts.  He is currently a full time student at USF.

If asked where they would like to see the city in five years time, these folks would probably say something like, “I’d like to keep Gulfport just the way it is,” or I’d like to preserve the unique character of Gulfport.”  While these answers may appear to be the same, they are not and constitute the major differences among our 5 Council Members.  Keeping Gulfport the way it is signifies a desire for nothing to change, for things to remain exactly as they are.  Preserving the unique character of the city signifies a desire for changes only so long as they are not noticeable.  My guess is that a vote of the Council would favor “no change” by a 3-2 margin which is probably the same ratio as a vote of our citizens would be.

The problem is, “no change,” is not an option.  It is a dream.  It is an illusion.  Everything changes whether we want it to or not.  The economy certainly is changing.  Even the climate is changing.  People change for heavens sake.  In many cases, change is necessary and good.

Even those who see the need for change, even if its minor and hardly noticed don’t appear to have a prayer of an idea about how to accomplish it.  At least, I haven’t seen any evidence of a plan to manage change in Gulfport in my four years of observing the City Council.  Not only is there no plan, there is a resistance to forming one as evidenced by the ignoring of any ideas presented by citizens at City Council Meetings.  A recent  City Council Workshop called for rules that would further isolate the Council by further limiting citizen input at meetings.

Our City Council Members need to understand that their primary job is to manage change!  Their job is to open up the doors to public opinion in order to gather as much information about what the citizens want their city to be.  Their job is to educate themselves in how to manage change through taking courses and seminars at such organizations as the Florida League of Cities.  Their job is to educate us as to the inevitability of change and the benefits of managed, smart changes in our city.

We need a vision of what a perfect Gulfport might be two years from now, five years from now or ten years from now.  Yes, I know we’ve done “visioning” in the past, but I don’t think we took it seriously enough or we wouldn’t be afloat as we are today.  A clear plan outlining our goals and a series of steps that will lead to our vision of what we want to be needs to be created, adjusted and implemented.  Policies that will guide the Administration in forming a budget and an organization that will get the job done must be constantly created and updated.  We need to be able to measure progress and hold people accountable for making progress.  Everything needs to be out in the open because it’s everybody’s business.

Most of all we need leadership in managing our changing landscape.  We need as many of the talented people in this city as possible to step forward and offer their special talents to a CHANGE MANAGEMENT TEAM that is our City Council.  We cannot leave our futures to a small special interest group, an entrenched political boss, political party ideologues or an overachieving City Manager.  Making Gulfport all it can be is our job.  We are the government.  Everybody else works for us.

Clearly, the leadership needed by our city is not being provided by our current City Council.  There may be individual leaders among them, but as a group, they have been less than successful as has been evidenced by all the “interims;” the $1.000,000 budget shortfall; the $200,000 empty looper trolley; the, “no job description,” full-time attorney vote; etc.  Citizens need to go to the city’s new website at www.mygulfport.us on Monday of the Council Meeting week, (first and third Tuesday of the month), check out the meeting agenda and packet and if there’s anything there that interests you, get out to the meeting and let the Council know what you think.  They may not want your input, but they sure as heck need it.

Fortunately, the annual city election is upon us and three seats are up for election: the Mayor, (Michael Yakes); Council Member from Ward 1, (Judy Ryerson); and Council Member from Ward 3, (Bob Worthington).  Council Member Worthington has indicated that he will not be running for reelection.  Anyone reading this who feels they are qualified to become part of a GULFPORT CHANGE MANAGEMENT TEAM, who has a pertinent educational background, who has work experience that would lend itself to public office, who has served on local boards or committees or who is a concerned citizen of Gulfport should contact our City Clerk, Leslie Demuth and find out how to register to run for office.  Don’t delay!  Qualification time is early in December.  If you cannot run yourself and know of someone who should, contact that person and get him/her involved.  It’s more important than ever that we assemble a leadership group that’s the best that Gulfport has to offer.

Those of us who are involved in city government have found our involvement rewarding and many times, a lot of fun.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm and is filed under 11-09. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.