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Salzman Drafting Bill To Implement ECUA Term Limits, Oversight Commission
December 15, 2020
State Rep. Michelle Salzman is drafting a bill that would bring term limits and an oversight committions to the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority.
ECUA was created as a local governmental body with elected board members as the Escambia County Utilities Authority by an act of the Florida Legislature back in 1981 with control over water and wastewater services in Escambia County, Sanitation services were added in 1992.
Salzman wants to rewrite that legislative act that gives ECUA its authority after a 2018 grand jury investigation that was not made public until September 2020.
“I’m not trying to create a political issue or red tape, but we just need to make sure we don’t make those mistakes again. If we don’t see a positive change, we can do more or consider dissolving the entity altogether if that is best for the citizens,” Salzman said. “The current way the special act is written, there is no authority over the five board members, no way to hold them accountable for how they operate.”
She said term limits, likely three terms or 12 years, are needed. While she did not specifically mention him, Larry Walker served on the ECUA board representing District 5 for nearly three decades – from 1988 to 2000 and 2004 until his defeat by political newcomer Kevin Stephens in 2020.
Fresh into her first term in the Florida House, Salzman is calling for an oversight commission as an ECUA budgetary watchdog. There is currently a Citizens Advisory Committee that is appointed by the five-member ECUA board, but it has no real authority.
She wants the oversight commission to be appointed by the Escambia County Commission and the Pensacola City Council, but does not want those bodies to serve as the committee. She wants the oversight commission to have direct input on the ECUA budget.
“I want them to suggest changes, and if the ECUA board does not implement the suggestions, then maybe require a super majority vote. That gives the commission the authority of say ‘you should look at this’,” she said.
And also wants to make sure ECUA follows the state bidding process not using the single bidding process.
Salzman said she is working with Sen. Doug Broxson on the local bill and anticipates support from the local legislative delegation to make changes at ECUA. In January, the local delegation will hold a public meeting on local issues.
“We don’t need to remove the whole reason ECUA is there; we don’t need to take all of their authority away from them,” she added.
Comments
19 Responses to “Salzman Drafting Bill To Implement ECUA Term Limits, Oversight Commission”
the B.O.C.C. needs to be on term limits also
So you want the Escambia County BOCC to run the utility authority?? Because the BOCC does such a great job with everything else they manage…….
Also, people talk about bloated salaries for ECUA Board members. I’m not sure what the exact salary is right now but I do know that ECUA Board members are paid the same salary as School Board members which is approximately half the amount of a County Commissioners salary. Just good for thought.
I think term limits are a good thing and they should also be applied to County Commissioners and City Council Members
Until one has worked @ ECUA…. you can’t imagine what is going on there…. Drop mic
I agree with Gail M – seek out the truth. Add ECAT another waste of money.
Interesting topic.
We have many more people in Escambia County than we did 40 years ago. If the County took over and ran the responsibilities of ECUA we would need to have a bigger Escambia County government to handle the workload. This change would get rid of elected representation and take away choices for voters which is probably the real goal behind this idea in the first place. There are likely to also be ambitions to privatize the work being done now by ECUA which would mean it would cost more for the citizen of Escambia County in the long run.
I don’t like the idea of term limits. I like the idea of informed voters choosing who stays and who goes in elected positions. Big corporation like the idea of term limits because they can fund candidates and rotate who they want to have run for elected offices.
need oversight with DCF as well. Criminally negligent and circumvents the Constitution…
yep ECUA is organized crime.
Glad to see this. I hope it happens.
Kill the board! It should fall under the County Commissioners and Pensacola. That’s why they get their bloated salaries.
Finally a politician with common sense.
A better solution is to dissolve ECUA consolidating it to become part of the Escambia County government. For starters, can anyone explain why elected offices that deal with “water, sewage and garbage” should be “partisan” vice “non-partisan”? In 2009, the Escambia County Consolidation Study Commission looked at consolidating the county and two municipal governments in Escambia County. I was one of only two city appointees and the commission’s secretary. I insisted that we also look at “special districts” that often worked at cross-purposes, had their own bureaucracies and wasted taxpayer dollars. I was counselled that it would be hard to get rid of a special district because each is protected by people who benefit by its continued existence as a governmental body of perpetual existence. It is very rare for special districts to be eliminated. More about “special districts” is at this link: https://floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/special-districts/special-district-accountability-program Escambia County currently has 12 special districts many of which could be abolished with no loss. ECUA’s “Local Governing Authority” is “Escambia County.” ECUA’s executive director testified before our commission explaining that the elected ECUA board was opposed to making ECUA part of the new “consolidated government.” He said that they wanted to keep their elected offices with big paychecks, pensions and other benefits. We were both that if we messed with ECUA they would oppose us. I voted NO opposed to our own plan because we lacked the courage to stand up to the ECUA board. Imagine if ECUA were absorbed into the Escambia County staff. Right away, there would be a significant cost savings that could be passed onto ratepayers. It would be more efficient. We would have one governmental agency picking up the garbage, recycling some and putting the rest in the landfill, etc. Workers jobs would remain but few of the ECUA bureaucrats would be needed. Coordinated planning would be better because all public works work done by ECUA would be better coordinated with other work done by Escambia County and also the City of Pensacola. The fiascos with the big ECUA sewer tanks would not have happened. There would no longer be a separate ECUA budget because its functions would be part of the Escambia County budget. Escambia County’s budget process is well run. By the way, I raised this very specific ECUA issue with Alex Andrade when he ran for the State House District 1 seat in 2018. I told him that the best thing the Florida Legislature could do was stop pre-empting local governments and make it easier for local governments to abolish special districts. Escambia County has several times in recent years discussed abolishing ECUA. Right now, they would need the approval of the Florida Legislature. The Florida Legislature could instead amend the special district law and give each “Local Governing Authority” – Escambia County in the case of ECUA – the power to abolish special districts created years ago by the Florida Legislature. I feel confident that at least three and perhaps four of the five Escambia County Commissioners would, if given the power, vote to abolish ECUA. Someone should ask the commissioners if they would like to exercise the power to decide which special districts in their Escambia County to keep and which to get rid of when they no longer work well. If local governments had this power, I bet that the City of Pensacola would also vote to abolish the Downtown Improvement Board that has become a magnet for the homeless, panhandlers and downtown shootings. No one is in charge of “downtown” Pensacola because the DIB, Community Redevelopment Agency and City of Pensacola all exercise overlapping and confusing authorities. In local government, “less” government is better and less expensive.
Great!!! This is long overdue.
I do agree with term limits but the voters have the final say. If they / we are tired of a person ten vote them out. The problem is most people do not research the candidates before election time so they cast a vote for the most familiar name. Hopefully term limits will force voters to do their part and know who is running.
As long as she follows them too….
#1 – YOUR TAX DOLLARS DO NOT GO TO ECUA!!! Funding is strictly through user fees. Citizens you need to learn how ALL your government entities work, including you Representative Salzman, before stating what needs to be done. Do not listen to disgruntled people who have an axe to grind. Seek out the truth and answers for yourself.
#2 – Term limits should be no more than two. Same should apply to Councilmembers and County Commissioners. And, all salaries for these “public servants” need to be drastically reduced or completely done away with.
#3 – The City and County does not need to be involved in the affairs of ECUA. It was created due to their poor governance of the water and sewer utilities in the first place – funds used to do road work and private personal projects of elected officials. No funding was put back into the water and sewer systems, thus the expensive costs for maintaining the system today and into the future.
#4 – If you want to make a change, have a non-paid qualified governance board for ALL TAX based activities and one for ALL USER based activities. That way you know exactly what your taxes go to and why, and what you user fees go to and why. This would help eliminate the tremendous amount of waste, fraud and corruption in local politics.
YYYYEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A-B-O-U-T T-I-M-E.!!!!!!!!!
Thank YOU, Rep. Salzman.
This ECUA business has been a pain to us taxpayers since the beginning and has provided darn near Life-Long “jobs” (Ha-HA-HA) for those who constantly RAISE Taxes.
If they cannot be voted out then Term Limit them OUT….
Best Wishes with your First Bill…..SO Much Better than our previous non-representative.
Can she special provision away ECAT while she’s at it.
Yes!