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Dade City Correct To Keep Appointed Mayor System

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

One of the key advantages of having a city or county charter is that voters can decide how their policymaking boards are structured.

In New Port Richey, for example, voters elect four city council members and a mayor, all of whom have voting power.

Zephyrhills has five council members who have voting rights and a mayor who has veto power but no authority to vote on regular business. All are elected by voters.

The Dade City Commission has five members, all of whom have voting power and are elected by voters. The commission appoints one of its members to be mayor.

All these forms of government work, and there is no reason to change them without valid reasons. This is why Dade City officials were wise last week to keep the status quo - allowing the commission to continue appointing the mayor from within its ranks. The decision was in line with the recommendation by the city's charter review committee, whose work should not be easily ignored.

Dade City's commission structure works very well. The current mayor, Hutch Brock, is a strong and extremely effective leader. Also, as Commissioner Scott Black noted, the mayor has two powerful groups to answer to - voters and fellow commissioners. It's a very good system of checks and balances.

Of course, this isn't to suggest that Dade City should never change how its mayors are selected. Voters in New Port Richey and Zephyrhills have track records of selecting very good mayors. Dade City commissioners do too, and there's no reason to change the city charter at this point just for the sake of trying a different method.

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