Gainesville City Commission awards raises to Charter Officers, selects Willits as Mayor Pro Tem, sets committee assignments

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At a Special Meeting on December 8, the Gainesville City Commission evaluated its Charter Officers and, with a narrow 4-3 vote, gave each permanent officer a 3% raise except for the Clerk, who received a 10% raise. Commissioner Casey Willits was selected as Mayor Pro Tem for the next year, and Mayor Harvey Ward made committee assignments after three Commissioners argued over the two seats on the Library Governing Board.

Charter Officer evaluations and salary increases

Before the meeting, City Commissioners evaluated each of the four permanent Charter Officers (City Manager Andrew Persons is currently an interim Charter Officer), with overall ratings of 4.69 for City Clerk Kristen Bryant, 4.66 for Equal Opportunity Director Zeriah Folston, 4.63 for City Auditor Stephen Mhere, and 4.89 for City Attorney Daniel Nee.

Human Resources Director Laura Graetz said the budget for Charter Officer salary increases of 3% came to $21,894.30.

Several Commissioners thanked the Charter Officers for their work in a “challenging” environment and said they appreciated the stability in recent years and the Charter Officers’ ability to work together. 

Willits made a motion to give a 3% increase to Folston, Mhere, and Nee and a 10% increase to Bryant. He said Bryant recently became a Certified Municipal Clerk through the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.

Commissioner James Ingle seconded the motion and said Bryant never got a bump when she moved from interim to permanent Charter Officer. Bryant was making $67,000 before she was selected as the Interim Clerk with a salary of $120,000; the outgoing Clerk made $157,781. Bryant’s salary increased to $123,000 (a 2.5% raise) when she accepted the permanent position, and Ingle said he wanted to “true up” the gap between Bryant and the other Charter Officers.

Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said she could not support a 10% increase, but she would support a 3.5% increase for all the Charter Officers: “I think we are doing well with the budget, but I think 10% sends the wrong message to the rest of the staff.”

Ingle said the other Charter Officers got significant salary increases when they became permanent, between 10% and 20%, and “the issue, to me, is it looks like we’ve shorted this worker already, and I think it’s important to try and get some equality built into that.”

Chestnut pointed out that the other Charter Officers had significant experience in their positions before being hired by the City, but Bryant did not. 

Ward said, “Even if we go at 10%, that position will still be significantly lower-paid than any of the other Charter Officers, and that ought to get some true-up,… so I’m inclined to support it.”

After some discussion about implementing a policy to reward Charter Officers for earning degrees or credentials, Willits added to his motion a request to staff to bring back some options for doing that.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman said he was comfortable with the 3% raises but “a little less comfortable” with the 10% increase for Bryant.

The motion passed 4-3, with Commissioner Ed Book, Chestnut, and Eastman in dissent.

Mayor Pro Tem

Ward said the City Commission has a long tradition of letting the sitting Mayor Pro Tem make the motion to nominate the next Mayor Pro Tem; Mayor Pro Tem Bryan Eastman said that two other Commissioners were elected when he was — Book and Willits. He said both would be “great” as Mayor Pro Tem but made a motion to appoint Willits as Mayor Pro Tem; Ingle seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, and the change will take effect in January.

Committee assignments

The Commission next took up committee assignments for the upcoming year; Ward said that although he, as Mayor, makes the appointments, he wanted everyone to have a chance to weigh in.

Audit Committee 

The Audit Committee has mandatory members from the City Commission, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, so Ward and Willits will serve on that committee.

Finance Committee

Ingle rated the Finance Committee (three members needed) as his #2 choice, and Willits listed it as his #3 choice. Eastman said he would also be willing to serve on that committee, so those three were appointed.

North Central Florida Regional Planning Council

Ward questioned whether the City needed to appoint three members to the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC), saying he doesn’t know what benefits the City gets from the Council. He said the Council is more useful for smaller municipalities and counties “that don’t have robust planning departments. We do.”

Book said he had been on the NCFRPC for three years, and he thought it was valuable for “networking with the region” and to “kind of weigh in” on applications for grants and other funding streams.

Willits said he had served on the NCFRPC for two years, and he thought there was “a theoretical benefit” to learning about what other cities and counties are doing. 

Eastman said the NCFRPC provides a mediation process if there are Comprehensive Plan disagreements between various governmental entities, and City Attorney Daniel Nee said the City had used that mediation process once, but the issue was resolved outside of that process. Eastman said he didn’t think the City needed to send three members to that board, and Book suggested sending two members. Ward said that because the City is allotted three members, “we should appoint three, whether they go all the time or not. In case we need to be represented with three votes, we should take full advantage of that.” He said, however, that none of the Commissioners had listed the board as one of their top three priorities. 

Persons said he would research the NCFRPC and bring back information that the Commission could use in a future meeting to decide how many members to appoint. 

Eastman said, “Historically, it has been the newest members of our Commission who are the ones who are hazed into the Regional Planning Council… I think we could probably have three people that would volunteer as tribute for the Regional Planning Council, and then have the City Manager review the bylaws.” He said he would be willing to serve on the Council, and Ingle said he would, too, so Ward appointed Eastman and Ingle. 

Combined Communications Center Executive Board

The Mayor is required to serve on the Combined Communications Center Executive Board.

UF/Community Steering Committee on Responsible Alcohol Use

Book said he was uncertain whether the UF/Community Steering Committee on Responsible Alcohol Use still existed; he said it only met once last year. 

Joint Water and Climate Policy Board

Ward said he could not recall seeing “a single recommendation” from the Joint Water and Climate Policy Board “in the three or four years that it has existed”; he added that it “often doesn’t even have quorum.” Willits said that board mostly heard “some presentations” in the past year, and he suggested that the members could bring information about the presentations back to the City Commission. Ward said he believed that “a lot of, if not all” of the presentations are later made to the City Commission and County Commission.

Eastman said he had served on the Joint Water and Climate Policy Board, and it’s “great.” He said the board has mainly been focused on the County’s Climate Action Plan, which has now been completed, so the board may not be needed anymore. 

Ingle was the only Commissioner who selected that board as one of his priorities, listing it as his #1 choice, and three Commissioners can be appointed. He said he thought the board was valuable because it gives City Commissioners “more ways to regularly, formally work with the County.” Ward said one downside of serving on that board is that the City Commissioners on that board can’t talk to the County Commissioners on that board outside a noticed meeting, while normally a City and County Commissioner can speak on any topic because they serve on different boards. Ward appointed Ingle to the Joint Water and Climate Policy Board, and Eastman offered to serve as a second member.

SHIP-AHAC

The SHIP-AHAC (Affordable Housing Advisory Committee) needs one member and one alternate; Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker and Willits both listed it as their #2 choice, and Eastman listed it as his #3 choice. However, Willits withdrew his request because he is required to be on the Audit Committee, so Duncan-Walker was selected, with Eastman as the alternate. 

Alachua County League of Cities

Book listed the Alachua County League of Cities as his #2 choice, and Eastman listed it as his #1 choice. Eastman said committee meetings are “fairly informal,” so Book was appointed with the understanding that Eastman will attend if Book can’t make it to a meeting.

Library Governing Board

The Library Governing Board (two appointments) was the most contentious, with Ingle putting it as his #3 choice and Willits, Chestnut, and Duncan-Walker all listing it as their #1 choice. Duncan-Walker said she wanted to “have a conversation about how we all have a chance to do our #1 at least one time during our term.” She said that although SHIP-AHAC was “very, very important” to her, “in the interest of complete transparency, my number one priority right now is the Library Governing Board.”

Ingle said he would “bow out” of the Library Governing Board, which would leave him on Finance, the Regional Planning Council, and the Joint Water and Climate Policy Board. 

Duncan-Walker said the Library Governing Board is “an exciting board” and “there will always be several Commissioners who want to serve on this board.” She suggested asking staff to do some research “into the idea of term limits on this board,… so that each Commissioner can serve at least one time.”

Ward said he has typically tried to give everyone a chance to serve on the board by letting Commissioners serve for two years each. Duncan-Walker said she has only served one year, and Ward said Willits had served one year and Chestnut had served two years. 

Book suggested counting how many boards each Commissioner had been appointed to and selecting Commissioners who were on the least number of boards. Ward said that was a good idea and would put Chestnut and Duncan-Walker on the Library Governing Board because Willits was already on Audit and Finance.

Willits said pointedly that attendance at committee meetings is important: “I have almost perfect attendance at all my committees,” with only two absences across three active boards, “and so one of the reasons why I’m willing to serve on three [boards] is because I show up to all three.”

Commissioner Duncan-Walker: “The Library Governing Board is something that falls directly under the idea of arts, culture, and literacy. Those things are all married with each other, and everybody that knows me, knows that that’s been my profession for the last 30 years of my life. So the Library Governing Board will always be my first choice.”

Duncan-Walker countered, “Yes, attendance is very important,… but I think what’s… just as important… is an expertise in the subject matter area.” She said it’s also a matter of fairness because “some individuals have sat on boards for years, and that takes away an opportunity for other people to come to the board… The Library Governing Board is something that falls directly under the idea of arts, culture, and literacy. Those things are all married with each other, and everybody that knows me, knows that that’s been my profession for the last 30 years of my life. So the Library Governing Board will always be my first choice… This is a strength of mine. You would never see me signing up for Joint Water and Climate, because that is not my strength… This one is.”

Chestnut said she enjoys the Library board “because it brings a diversity of people together; it impacts all of us,… and attendance is very important, because if you’re not there, you cannot contribute in making decisions.” She said she did not support term limits for committees.

Willits said he had enjoyed being on the Library Governing Board this year because “we got to reduce the tax rate for people in the county… It felt really good. In the future, they might have to increase millage if they’re gonna build some new libraries.”

Chestnut said, “It’s good to serve on a board that has money… That’s the only board that I know has some money to do something with, and the Library Director does an excellent job in providing services across the county.”

Eastman jokingly said he might throw his name into the hat, too, because “I’ve never lowered a tax before, and I’ve never been a part of a board with any money, so this is great.” In an attempt to help resolve the situation, he asked how long the Commissioners had served on the Library Governing Board, and Ward said Chestnut had served twice and Willits had served one year.

Chestnut: “I don’t think I should be punished because I had the opportunity to serve the citizens [as a County Commissioner].”

Duncan-Walker pointed out that Chestnut also served on the Library Governing Board when she was a County Commissioner, and Chestnut responded, “I don’t think that can be counted… No, no, no, no, no, I don’t want anyone to count any experience I had in the prior political experience. I don’t think that’s fair… I don’t think I should be punished because I had the opportunity to serve the citizens [as a County Commissioner].”

Duncan-Walker said, “I just want to be clear. I did not want to indicate or in any way make it seem like I was suggesting that you should be punished… Back to the original point I was making, in terms of everyone being able to have the opportunity to serve, just so that we all understand where we’ve been. It’s about opportunity for me, so I hope that you did not receive it that way.” Chestnut said, “That’s exactly how I received it… So you can’t count my prior political experience.”

Duncan-Walker said, “That’s okay… I think it’s a good thing for everyone to understand.”

Tourist Development Council

Ward said that since they weren’t getting anywhere, he would move on to the Tourist Development Council, with four Commissioners expressing interest in one seat. He recommended appointing Book because he only had Alachua County League of Cities. He also noted that Chestnut hadn’t been appointed to any boards but was “contested on two.”

Book, Chestnut, and Eastman all put the Tourist Development Council as their #2 choice, and Duncan-Walker listed it as her #3 choice. 

Ward asked Ingle if he had any ideas for making decisions about the two disputed boards, and Ingle said, “There’s plenty of room for everyone on the North Central Florida Regional Planning Commission and the Joint Water and Climate Policy Board.” Ward said, “All right, that was not helpful.”

Ward suggested distributing a ballot to Commissioners to vote, but Bryant said she would need to print more. Willits offered to withdraw from the Library Governing Board, so Ward appointed Chestnut and Duncan-Walker to that board.

Returning to the Tourist Development Council, Ward again said his inclination was to appoint Book to that board: “He has not served on it before and brings a different outlook to it.”

A motion to direct the Mayor to make the appointments listed above passed unanimously.