The Tallahassee City Commission will discuss six recommendations by its charter review committee on April 10th. Two of them hadn’t been assigned by the commissioners. Now, Mayor John Dailey is pushing back on at least one of them -- the one that would extend whistle-blower protection to those who bring complaints against city commissioners.
Commissioners received the charter review committee’s report on March 27th, but put off an in-depth discussion and vote until April 10th. They’ll vote on each item, and the ones that pass will appear on city residents’ November ballot as proposed charter amendments.
The CRC voted against expanding the number of commissioners. They voted in favor of holding regular charter reviews and of eliminating the August primary election in two-person city races. They dealt with the question of raising commissioners’ pay by recommending the creation of a study group.
Then they took up ideas backed by the city’s Independent Ethics Board. Here’s Ernie Paine, who used to serve on that board, at the CRC’s Mar. 19th meeting:
“The perception of corruption leads to loss of trust," he said. "And the only way we can restore trust in city government is through transparency and accountability. The ethics training provided to all city employees emphasizes that the ethics board can only do its job if employees are willing to report inappropriate activity when they see it.”
Paine pointed to a 2021 survey conducted by the inspector general, which showed that of city employees who had witnessed improper activities, only 25 percent had reported what they’d seen.
“In Tallahassee, the inspector general has been assigned the statutory role of appropriate local official to receive and investigate whistle-blower complaints," said Paine. "But the inspector general himself has said -- on the record -- that there is a gap in whistle-blower protection with regard to cases involving the city commission, since he serves at the will of that body.”
His speech kicked off a discussion that ended with the CRC making its 5th and 6th recommendations. The first would give the Independent Ethics Board jurisdiction over the city commissioners when they serve on other public boards, such as the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency. The second would allow the ethics board to receive and investigate whistle-blower complaints when those complaints name city commissioners, their staffs, or the inspector general or his or her staff. These are areas the inspector general can’t investigate now, due to a conflict of interest.
“At your December 13th meeting, Mayor Dailey stated that -- and this is a quote -- if the CRC felt strongly enough on a particular topic and unanimously presented it to the commission, then we have a duty and a responsibility to take it under consideration. End quote.”
That’s Peter Butzin of Citizens for Ethics Reform. He strongly backs the CRC’s two additional recommendations.
“I emphasize that the recommendations regarding both whistle-blower authority as well as jurisdiction over external boards were adopted by unanimous vote," he said. "These are two common-sense charter amendments that should be put to a vote in November’s election.”
But the mayor didn’t agree that the vote had been unanimous.
“It was interesting during earlier testimony by Mr. Butzin," said Dailey. "He mentioned that this passed on unanimous vote when dealing with the particular aspect with the whistle-blower status. It is my understanding that two votes were actually taken, and that the first vote -- it actually passed by one vote. It was a highly divisive vote. And then the commission went back to ratify the decisions and that passed unanimously.”
CRC Member Jared Willis is president of the consulting firm Catalyst Strategies. He was initially one of the ‘No’ votes on the whistle-blower issue, which squeaked by 5-4 on its first vote.
“My concern was that this would be something that would be weaponized," he said, "because we’re talking about whistle-blower complaints against city commissioners, and so when you look at the city commission, the 3-2 votes are pretty indicative of where the battle lines are. And I don’t think ‘battle lines’ is an exaggeration. And so my concern is that one side might use this against the other…”
Willis had other specific questions, such as how to protect whistle-blowers who might be obvious to others in city leadership. But mainly, he felt the CRC needed more time.
“We should have had more time to review that before it was something that got sent. I think the public probably needed some more opportunity to provide input," he said. "My ‘No’ vote was essentially because I felt it wasn’t baked enough and we hadn’t really done enough contemplation on it.”
A number of people associated with the CRC say they’re surprised at how well the group worked together, given the differences among those who had appointed them -- Willis included.
“There were some issues that I would have liked to see go differently," he said. "But I do think that what we came up with reflected where the community is at this point -- and what we’re ready to have a conversation about.”
But despite the unanimous vote, Willis still has concerns: One, that the whistle-blower proposal doesn’t offer enough protection to the actual whistle-blowers. Two, that it doesn’t protect against its being used to score points in a political fight. And three, that since the Legislature has passed an ethics measure and sent it to Gov. Ron DeSantis, there’s likely a conflict between the CRC’s recommendations and the bill on the governor’s desk.
“If I were sitting on the [city] commission, I don’t think I’d have enough comfort," he said, "and I’d vote no on it.”
