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Century Charter Review Committee Begins Work To Rewrite Future Of Town Government
May 24, 2021
The Century Charter Review Committee is back at work to shape the future of government in the town.
The committee was first appointed in August 2019 to explore the town charter — the document that establishes the town, outlines its powers and spells out how it should operate. The charter has not been updated in 40 years, and that often creates problems in the operation of the town.
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed regular meetings for the charter committee and any chance of moving forward in 2020, preventing any charter change from making the ballot.
Former interim town manager Buz Eddy, acting as a consultant, met with the committee last week and discussed the forms of government that Century could choose, including the possibility of shifting many responsibilities to a town manager.
Committee chairperson Mary Bourgeois said she wants the committee to being work in earnest next month and explore the current charter “line by line.”
There were 11 members on the original committee, but over half resigned. The town council recently appointed three new members, making the new committee of eight. Returning charter review committee members are Bourgeois, Shelisa Abraham, Michelle Cunningham, Evelyn Hammond and Helen Mincy. The three new members are Leslie Howington, Brenda Spencer and Kathryn Fleming.
Pictured top: Century Charter Review Committee chairperson Mary Bourgeois address the committee at a recent meeting. Pictured below: Consultant Buz Eddy explains the forms of government available for municipalities in Florida. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
8 Responses to “Century Charter Review Committee Begins Work To Rewrite Future Of Town Government”
@Sandra; Your idea sounds like a noble idea, but you would be hard pressed to find any “similar” Chartered Municipality s in Fl. The TOC could not even obtain a charter under current Fl. statutes. Among other things, Fl. statutes requires a population of at least 6,000 to obtain a charter. Century falls much short of that number with a population of 1200. The State of Fl. found it so tedious dealing with the mini-cities that they will not allow any more to come into existence. . You have to ask yourself; Who benefits from TOC being chartered, the citizens, or the big fish in a little pond town leaders? You have to ask what services citizens of Century receive that aren’t provided by the County or other entities in surrounding communities except a bunch of higher taxes and fees.
“look at other similar municipalities that are operating efficiently” you do realize the article is about Century, right?
A simple solution would be to look at other similar municipalities that are operating efficiently and mimic their charters. Give priority to changing current charter language that is causing conflict ( hiring and termination powers of town counsel) .
So, almost 2 years have gone by and still nothing. Good grief people, no wonder there are so many problems here.
i detect a little skepticism of the charter review committee. i cannot imagine why. there is no government in century. the mayor has no control, the council is a joke. free natural gas is available to some people. covid has been a constant pain in city hall. most of the time there were no town employees, all were sick. “Dysfunction” would be a good name for the town.
What does being a chartered City actually accomplish for the people of Century above and beyond what being a rural community as part of Escambia County would. Can’t be law enforcement, that is subcontracted back to the county. Can’t be utility services, the Natural Gas utility has been mismanaged and in the red for years while the sewage treatment plant has failed. Where is the big positive that makes paying for this extra level of government worth the money, effort, and time.
I have been keeping track of these articles since I started reading northescambia.com what seems like a decade ago and I sincerely don’t remember there ever being one positive story regarding the city. It has just been one fiasco of mismanagement, petty arguments, and oversize ego’s one after the other.
It would seem a good starting place for the Charter Review Committee would be answering whether a charter is needed at all and perhaps a vote by the citizens on whether or not they should recall the city charger and go back to County rule.
This should be fun. What could possibly go wrong?
Just wondering; If this is a “new committee” as the article states, How did Mary automatically get the chairperson seat? The other question is; is Buzz on the payroll for this job, or is he just there to make sure TOC can continue to sign loans with Gulf Breeze. If this committee were truly looking out for the best interests of the citizens, they would at least consider the possibility of revoking the town charter and let the county and other entities take over the few remaining services without having to continue to tax the poor citizens to death.