Candidates for the Tallahassee City Commission Seat 2 participated in a forum Thursday hosted by WFSU Public Media, the Tallahassee Democrat, and the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee.
Incumbent Commissioner Curtis Richardson and his challengers, former Tallahassee Mayor Dot Inman-Johnson, Bernard Stevens Jr. and Donna Nyack were all in attendance fielded questions from reporters for about an hour and a half.
This was the first candidate forum Nyack attended. A new resident of Tallahassee, Nyack has received allegations of being a ghost candidate from the local democratic party and other sources.
During the forum, she denied being a ghost candidate.
“I'm very real and very sincere, and I love people. I'm an advocate for people, and my 30 years of nursing, I believe, has qualified me very well for the role. And no, I have no ulterior motives, and I'm not a ghost candidate,” she said.
Here’s a breakdown of what was said during the forum about some of the most pressing issues in Tallahassee. The full video of the candidate forum is available here.
Police Station
The City of Tallahassee voted in April to move forward with a new police station after its projected cost ballooned to $135 million. The original estimate was $46 million in 2018
The candidates were asked whether they were concerned about its skyrocketing price. Inman-Johnson, Stevens, and Nyack all said the project had grown too expensive. Inman-Johnson said the amount it went up was almost unheard of.
“It started out $40 million before Covid. It went up to $60 million after Covid, and now it stands at 135 million. I would have asked some serious questions about those negotiations, because I've never heard of a project that has already been negotiated having over a 100% change order,” she said.
Richardson, who has voted for the station at all stages, placed the blame for the rising cost on the pandemic.
“After Covid, we saw increases across the board in every aspect of our society. If you look at the blueprint projects, every single one of them, the 32 blueprint projects, the price has, in some instances, doubled, and that's what's happened to the site at the Northwood center,” he said.
Firefighter Contract
While the City of Tallahassee accepted a special magistrate’s recommendation for the previous year’s contract with the Tallahassee Firefighter’s Union, the two sides are now fighting over what the special magistrate meant and the standoff for a longer three-year deal is still ongoing. The candidates blamed different sources for what was causing the bumpy negotiations.
Stevens said the standoff has taken way too long.
“The collective bargaining process is something that they decide to just drag along to put people out of work, have more firefighters quit. This is something that doesn't take all day to fix,” he said.
Inman-Johnson blamed that standoff still happening on Richardson, saying he missed an executive session to give city management direction on how to handle negotiations and hasn’t supported forcing a resolution at city meetings.
“The commissioner says he supports the firefighters, but when there was an executive session to for the City Commission to give the city manager guidance on what needed to be done, the Commissioner didn't even show up for that executive session,” she said.
Richardson responded by saying it was not his place to interfere with the collective bargaining process that is outlined in state statute. He also gave his reasoning for not being at the session.
“I had already been briefed on what would be talked about was in the building and it just, I just lost track of time,” he said.
To Richardson, the standoff has turned political.
“At this point, this has become political to influence the outcome of this election, there is no doubt,” he said.
Inman-Johnson agreed, but believes its Richardson and other commissioners playing politics.
“It is political because there are three city commissioners who refuse to support treating firefighters the same as they do all other employees,” she said.
Property Tax Increase
Last year, the Tallahassee City Commission approved via a 3-2 vote an 8.5% property tax increase that was primarily going towards public safety measures and to increase the number of Tallahassee Police Department officers.
All the candidates but Richardson said they oppose the increase. Richardson defended his vote by saying public safety is worth the cost.
“The modest property tax increase that was approved by the City Commission, where 70% of the property owners will not be impacted, is being devoted 100% to public safety in our community, hiring 20 additional police officers, increasing their salaries,” he said.
Inman-Johnson said taxes shouldn’t have gone up and instead the budget should have been balanced. She said she wants a forensic audit of the entire city budget.
“Staff is spending like a drunken sailor, and we need more people to look at what's happening with the finances,” she said.
Local Democratic Party
One of the pressing issues in city commission races has been the role of the local Democratic party in Tallahassee elections.
Local party chair Ryan Ray is the aid to Commissioner Jeremy Matlow. The commissioner has been backing Inman-Johnson over Richardson.
During the forum, Commissioner Curtis Richardson says he does not like how the local party is being run.
“But to tell you the truth, I am very disappointed in how the local Democratic Party is being run now, when our chairman chooses who he will support in local elections, when you've got Democrats running against each other. They have manipulated the Democratic Party database to their benefit,” he said.
In an interview with WFSU, Ray said the local party is not taking a side in the city commission races.
“The Leon County Democratic Party has not taken a position in City Commission seat two, but we have certainly endorsed a woman's right to choose, and we have also absolutely adopted a position in favor of decriminalizing cannabis,” he said.
During the forum, Richardson said he would not be voting for a ballot initiative in Florida that is looking to legalize recreational cannabis. He also voted against a commission resolution in 2021 that urged Florida lawmakers to protect abortion rights.