Government Consolidation Commission Holds First Meeting; Elects Officers

June 3, 2009

(Updated 1:15 p.m.) The Escambia Consolidation Commission — the group tasked with developing a plan for voter approval to combine Escambia County, Century and Pensacola — held its organization meeting last night in Pensacola.

Seven of the committee members are attorneys and several work in the financial services field.

At Tuesday night’s meeting in Pensacola, former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ken Bell was elected chairman of the commission. Rick Harper, a professor at UWF, was elected vice chairman; C.J. Lewis, a retired Marine, was elected treasurer; and Rich Stone, Deputy Escambia County Tax Collector, was named parliamentarian.

The commission was lectured by attorney Gregory Smith, who explained that the group is subject to Florida’ Sunshine Law that requires public access to meetings and consolidation records. The Sunshine Law would also prevent any member of the committee from speaking with any other committee member about consolidation issues.

The first challenge Bell will face will be funding and support staff. The legislation by Rep. Greg Evers that established the consolidation commission provides that the group can ask Escambia County, Pensacola and Century for legal and clerical support, but none of the entities are required to help.

The commission can, according to the Legislature’s bill, solicit private party contributions of up to $3,000 from businesses or individuals. The commission is also allowed to ask for other public contributions.

The consolidation commission must meet once per month through January 15, 2010. A status report must be submitted by November 30 to the board, Town of Century, City of Pensacola and the local legislative delegation. A final recommendation is due to the legislative delegation no later than January 15, 2010. The proposal would then be placed on the ballot in 2010 for consideration by voters in Pensacola, Century and the rest of Escambia County.

The following persons have been named to the committee:

  1. District 1 County Commissioner Wilson Robertson: John L. Peacock, Jr., a financial advisor for Edward Jones
  2. District 2 County Commissioner Gene Valentino: Edward P. Fleming,  partner in law firm McDonald Fleming Moorhead
  3. District 3 County Commissioner Marie Young: Gerald McKenzie, attorney at McKenzie & Allen
  4. District 4 County Commissioner Grover C. Robinson IV: Rick Finch, with Actigraph, LLC
  5. District 5 County Commissioner Kevin White: Russell “Rusty” E. Tanner, of Molino, service director at Hill Kelly Dodge
  6. Pensacola City Council: Christopher J. Lewis, retired U.S. Marine
  7. Pensacola City Council: Clarry Ellis, financial advisor for UBS Financial Services
  8. Century Town Council/Mayor: Charles L. Scott, Sr. (father-in-law to Century Town Councilwoman Sharon Scott), college professor
  9. Escambia Taxpayers’ Association, Inc: Jeremy Brown, with Williams-Brown, Inc.
  10. League of Women Voters: Sharon L. Barnett, attorney
  11. Pensacola Young Professionals: John Gormley, with SunTrust Bank
  12. Escambia County Farm Bureau: Jimmy Cunningham with Farm Bureau
  13. Home Builders Association of West Florida: Stephen R. Moorhead, attorney with McDonald Fleming Moorhead
  14. University of West Florida: Rick Harper, director of the Haas Center for Business & Economic Development
  15. Sheriff David Morgan: Darlene F. Dickey, attorney for the Sheriff’s Office
  16. Tax Collector Janet Holley: Richard Stone, deputy tax collector
  17. Property Appraiser Chris Jones: Enoch Leatherwood, chief deputy property appraiser
  18. Clerk of the Circuit Court Ernie Lee Magaha: Cheryl Maher, Circuit Court clerk
  19. Supervisor of Elections David Stafford: Michael Hardin, Escambia Public Safety bureau chief who has announced his resignation and is about to go to work for the Supervisor of Elections Office.
  20. Chief Judge Kim Skievaski: Janet Lander, former county attorney
  21. Chief Judge Kim Skievaski: Kenneth B. Bell, attorney with Clark Partington Hart
  22. Escambia County School Board: Norm Ross, deputy superintendent of schools
  23. Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA): Tim Common, with ECUA
  24. Ministerial Alliance, LuTimothy May
  25. NAACP, Dr. John Veasley

Comments

7 Responses to “Government Consolidation Commission Holds First Meeting; Elects Officers”

  1. Kelly Brown on June 12th, 2009 12:10 pm

    Original post by Dmitri Gromov

  2. wanderinghoo on June 3rd, 2009 1:40 pm

    Jay,

    The enabling legislation was written for the Chief Judge to appoint two members who are members of the Florida Bar and have expertise in local government matters. If you figure that the three “legislative” bodies get a total of eight appointments (5 county, 2 city, 1 town) and each of the constitutional officers gets one for a total of 5 then it only seems reasonable that there be more than one named from the judical branch.

    Both of those positions were filled prior to the organizational meeting yesterday.

  3. William on June 3rd, 2009 1:17 pm

    Updated @ 1:15 pm with final two appointees (bottom of list)

  4. W.R. on June 3rd, 2009 10:02 am

    Well get ready all of Escambia citizens. With all these fat cats needig their pockets lined you might as well get rady to shell out big time!!!!!!!!!!!!
    This is as done deal looks to me like. Too much influnce from the likes of these and our simple minded citizens will not even know what hit us.

  5. bob hudson on June 3rd, 2009 9:02 am

    Well since this is EAFO’s grand idea, then they need to support it all by them selve’s . Not one penny should come from the county or any other source. LEARN TO ANNEX LIKE MOBILE AND VOTE NO TO CONSOLIDATION.

  6. concerned2 on June 3rd, 2009 8:02 am

    25 people in a room are going to come up with an agreement? When 7 of them are lawyers? Boy they are going to be looking out for the north end.

  7. Jay on June 3rd, 2009 8:00 am

    I see the good chief judge gets two appointments, why is that? One of the selections is Janet Lander who was asked to depart the county commission after the Touart scandal. I’m not sure that she’ll have the best interest of the county where the majority of the people live in this effort.
    And what about the two non-appointed positions at the bottom of the list, isn’t there anyone in those organizations worthy of appointment?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News