Tallahassee Reports has been told by city staff that a portion of audio recording from the March 26th Ethics Advisory Panel meeting was accidentally deleted. One of the major issues addressed at that meeting was if the oversight process for a new ethics code would be handled by the city attorney’s office, as is the […]
On Thursday, the Citizens Ethics Panel will meet at City Hall to continue to formulate their recommendation on a new ethics policy for the City. The issues scheduled to be discussed are voting conflicts and campaign finance. Voting conflicts are one of the main reasons that the Panel was created by the City Commission. The […]
The City of Tallahassee (COT) began installing red light cameras in August of 2010. Like many local governments across Florida and the US, Tallahassee turned to the cameras in the name of safety. But from the beginning, there have been those who have argued that the program violates due process and is designed to turn […]
During its ninth meeting, the City’s Ethics Panel heard testimony from Sandy D’Alemberte and Former City Commissioner Debbie Lightsey. The City’s Ethics Advisory Panel was created to review ethical standards at city hall. If the testimony of D’Alemberte and Lightsey carry any weight with the panel, current and future city commissioners should be prepared to […]
On February 5th, 2013, Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors-Thompson made a presentation to the Ethics Advisory Panel. The ethics panel was created by the city commission to look into the recent ethical issues surrounding the city commission. The Panel is gathering information and looking at various options from creating an ethics commission, an ethic officer […]
During the January 28th, 2013 City Commission Financial Viability Target Issue Committee Meeting, city staff informed city commissioners Gillum and Maddox that fuel costs for the electric utility would decrease by approximately $10.5 million in 2013. However, the commissioners were also told that base rates would have to be increased by approximately $8.0 million. Base […]
On Tuesday, April 7, 2009, the Tallahassee City Commission heard a presentation from the head of EPER (the Green Department) entitled “Carbon Footprint Reduction Plan.” You can view the slide presentation here. Among the facts revealed are: The City of Tallahassee has a Carbon Reduction Task Team that investigates the feasibility of implementing policies that reduce carbon […]
The process that resulted in the approval of the $40 million smart meter program avoided “contact” with the citizens of Tallahassee at a number of critical junctures along the path to approval. A public data request by Tallahassee Reports has verified the following: The smart meter committee, organized in 2005 to evaluate the potential use of smart meters, was staffed with only […]
Tallahassee Reports had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Cynthia Barber, the Director of the Environmental Policy and Energy Resources Department, aka, The Green Department. I found her to be accommodating and well versed in the mission of her newly formed department. What are your qualifications? I have an undergraduate degree in Business […]
The City of Tallahassee’s capital bond rating has been downgraded. Bonds are used by states and municipalities to raise money to pay for things such as infrastructure projects. On January 16, 2009 Business Wire reported that “in the course of routine surveillance, Fitch Ratings downgraded Tallahassee, Florida’s approximately $5.2 million in outstanding capital bonds series […]