Tallahassee Commissioner Jack Porter has again been passed over for the Mayor Pro-Tem role.
The role is largely ceremonial and designates who runs commission meetings when the Mayor isn’t available. Traditionally the job has alternated among all members of the commission.
But in recent years, Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Diane Williams Cox, who along with the mayor make up a three-person majority voting bloc, have been appointed to the role repeatedly.
That trend happened again this week, with Commissioner Curtis Richardson taking the job with a 3-2 vote. Richardson held the job through most of 2024.
Commissioner Jeremy Matlow took issue with that decision.
“Currently, all of us have had the opportunity to serve, except Commissioner Porter, who gets passed over. Frankly, it feels targeted and wrong,” he said.
Mayor John Dailey gave his reasoning for it.
“Commissioner Porter, you consistently give the city manager a zero on his evaluation year after year after year. It's important that in my absence, the Mayor Pro Tem has a working relationship with the manager and with senior staff, especially in a declared state of emergency, I'm not comfortable with the relationship that's there,” he said.
Porter wasn’t buying that.
“It's just not genuine that the Mayor Pro Tem has anything to do with decision making on their own. In the case of an emergency, it's just, I mean, just say whatever it is. But that's not the case,” she said.
The move is the latest chapter in the political back and forth between the two factions at city hall, who have run candidates against each other and publicly fought throughout the past several years.