After Commissioner Jeremy Matlow released his evaluation of City Manager Reese Goad via Twitter, the Tallahassee City Commission passed a ceremonial vote of confidence for Goad at their October 28th workshop on ethics.
Mayor John Dailey, who labeled the issue the “elephant in the room”, called for the vote. Dailey expressed support for Goad and said the vote was necessary to send a message of unified support for Goad to Tallahassee’s citizens and employees.
Commissioner Curtis Richardson made the motion for the ceremonial vote.
“I have full faith and confidence in our City Manager, as was reflected in my evaluation of him, not only this year, but in the previous years that I had an opportunity to evaluate him,” Richardson said. “And I think that it is necessary that we make a strong statement to this community that there will be stability in the leadership here at the City of Tallahassee.”
Commissioner Elaine Bryant said she is “in 100% support” of Goad and that he exhibits “exemplary leadership.”
“I just want to say in very simple terms that I support Mr. Goad,” Bryant said. “I’m looking forward to another year or years ahead to support him.”
Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said Goad has done a “tremendous job” and that she stands by her evaluation.
“I can only evaluate what I have experience with, and my evaluation of 4.3, which is an ‘exceeds expectation,’ of Mr. Goad, I stand by that,” Williams-Cox said.
Finally, Commissioner Jeremy Matlow commented on his evaluation of Goad.
“I’m not going to mince my words,” Matlow said. “I think the City Manager should resign, and if he refuses to do so, I think this Commission should relieve him of his duty.”
“The fact is, he’s part of an old guard. It’s time for us to move in a new direction,” Matlow continued. “It’s time for us to clean house, wash our hands, and finally rid ourselves of the corrupt past of this City and put our City on course for where we need to go, and we can do that together. But we can’t do that by hiding and covering up what’s happened here in the past.”
The ceremonial vote passed 4-1 with Matlow dissenting.
Ceremonial Vote Reveals City Commissioners’ Views on City Manager Goad added by Lexie Pitzen on
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Well, so 4 out of 5 commissioners vote in confidence in our City Manager, and all 4 but the 1 is wrong? Maybe the question is why is Jeremy Matlow so dead against a City Manager that has been showing himself worthy of the position? Is there some personal vendetta going on in the background here? I’m starting to really wonder.
I am of the true opinion that Mayor John Daley truly wants to do his best for the best for Tallahassee. I have seen nothing in his demeanor to show otherwise at this point. The Kraft Nissan deal seems to have been addressed and dealt with. Maybe the Kraft company took the old saying, “Easier to ask forgiveness than permission.” They did, they got told to stop and remove the commercial. Done, over with. I agree with Concerned Citizen, that there seems to be this on-going deal with corruption. Yes, we were fooled. It has been dealt with (still being dealt with) and removed. Yet there are those that I’m starting to wonder if they just don’t want to admit they were duped, so they believe, no matter who is in office, there will be more of the same? I’m calling it what it appears to be, trolling! How about we back up, take a look at the big picture, and wait to see what is happening.
All I know is some time ago a citizen by the name of Erwin Jackson, told everyone what was going on, all laughed, called him crazy. Now, everyone owes him an apology. I haven’t heard from him on this, but if I do, I’ll consider what he says first. He’s at least been proven. And hey, if I wind up wrong, I know how to apologize and admit I was wrong. But as for now, I’m still going to have faith in our city manager and mayor to lead our commission and city in a new direction. Matlow, shame on you, stop with the nonsense when you have nothing current to go on. Your witch hunt needs to be over. Sounding awfully like a bunch of lib’s in Congress that aren’t doing their job and just trying to start stuff.
The city manager is not qualified, does not have the experience, nor the education to be in the position he is in.
He makes political decisions that are not healthy for the city of Tallahassee and he has shown that by example.
He is grossly overpaid and is spending or should I say mis spending taxpayer dollars to implement programs that are not needed that should be under the direction of Social Services.
Mayor Dailey’s tenure at the county was not that impressive. He made many mistakes and many were just by not speaking out, but just going along with the status quo, — that had devastating consequences on the lives and the quality of life for its citizens.
The free airtime the mayor received has not been addressed properly and basically it comes down to the mayor receiving a free gift of airtime that is worth in the tens of thousands of dollars. The mayor knows the value of television commercials and with his experience education and tenure in politics this was a mistake that the mayor should not have made. It needs to be properly addressed.
The mayor has lived here a long time and has a lot of friends and those friends ignoring the mayor’s missteps will not help the situation or make it go away.
If an airplane had a problem the airline looks into pilot error or mechanical error, but they look into it. They don’t go get the pilot’s friends to rally around him to make it right.
So, let the good ol boys scream there fool heads off but it doesn’t change the fact that the city manager is not qualified and the mayor is making missteps.
Hope, you should really take a deep breath and go do some soul searching. The Mayor did a ground breaking for Kraft Nissan. Nothing more..nothing less. The fact that Kraft used his likeness in their commercial without his knowledge is not illegal or even unethical on the Mayor’s part. The Mayor contacted Kraft and asked them to discontinue running the commercial when he realized that his image was being used in their advertisement.
We have had a lot of public corruption take place here in Tallahassee, but it ain’t coming from John Daley. In fact, I like the fact that our Mayor is a board member of Tiger Bay because it is a local organization that many, many local business leaders attend in our community. In fact, it makes the Mayor accessible to his constituency which is a good thing. So please spare me the continued trolling of our Mayor over this stupid commercial along with his membership to Tiger Bay. Perhaps the Mayor has a different way of leading than what you are accustomed to with Andrew “Take a trip to NY with FBI” Gillum as our esteemed former Mayor. If you disagree so much with Mayor John Daley you can support a different candidate, but the false accusations against John Daley are becoming stale, tired and, quite frankly, irresponsible.
Good to know I have touched a nerve.
We don’t have confirmation from the production company or the PR people that is the truth. Why aren’t they willing to clear this up?
Receiving free airtime and misusing your position as Mayor to receive it is corruption. The cover-up is becoming as bad as the crime.
OK, because someone KEEPS bringing up “Mayor Daley did a TV ad for Kraft Motors” in just about every Post I have to say something…………… I believe the Mayor on this issue. I saw the Kraft Story that was done on the Ground Breaking of the new Dealership Building. Events like this always have prominent people at them LIKE the Mayor of City/County Commissioners because it has to do with the City/County. Usually, those prominent people make a speech talking about how wonderful the Business is afterwards they all grab a Gold Shovel and dig a hole. That’s how Ground Breakings work. THEN I saw the Kraft Commercial on TV, it looked like parts of the Ground Breaking Video was “Cherry Picked” for the Commercial. I do not think he actually went to the Ground Breaking to do a Commercial. If he was told that the Ground Breaking Video looked really good and they would like to use in their Commercial and he said OK and did NOT get paid, I have NO problem with that at all. It is the Duty of the Mayor and Commissioners to SUPPORT Local Businesses and if allowing Kraft to use that piece of the Video helps that Business thrive, GO FOR IT, after all, More Jobs means MORE Revenue. IF, and I do mean IF, he knew what he was doing and did it to get paid, then, there is a problem BUT, we do not know that, THAT is the case. Maybe TR can do an story on it so it can be put to rest.
The point is is that the mayor was using his position or should I say misusing his position and it doesn’t matter if he got paid or not it matters that it became a TV commercial and he received a gift.
Let me say it again, the mayor received a gift in the amount in the thousands of dollars.
It has nothing to do with supporting businesses or not supporting businesses. The mayor can support businesses without misusing his position and making TV commercials. The mayor is free to do TV commercials, but he has to pay for it himself and not misuse his position as mayor in doing so.
Many thought that not living in your District and being able to bypass the law was of little consequence and mattered not. Following the law does matter and if the leaders can’t follow the law then what else are they doing? The TV advertising issue needs to be investigated and needs to be cleared up and the mayor needs to be held accountable.
The mayor is educated and has done TV commercials before. The mayor knows the cost of TV commercials and the importance of TV commercials.
The point is the mayor received a gift that was inappropriate and possibly illegal.
Do to misusing his position as mayor and the amount of the gift which could be in the tens of thousands of dollars they should go through the ethics board or the state ethics Commission.
A full investigation and clarification needs to be made.
And while they are at it how is it that the Tiger Bay Club received $1,200 and the mayor sits on the board of Tiger Bay? Let’s clear that up , too.
I don’t ever remember reading where he was PAID or given a GIFT. I am standing by what I said until you can show me actual Proof that he received Payment for that.
The “GIFT” is in the form of airtime which is worth in the thousands of dollars. Also, he was acting in His official capacity as mayor.
You are not understanding the issue so how are you able to advocate for the mayor if you don’t even understand the concept or the issue?
This is why we need clarification and a further in depth investigation to clear the matter up.
With the mayor being in politics and running numerous campaigns that involve public relations, and advertising and also having to adhere to election rules the mayor should not be making a mistake of this magnitude.
If it was truly a mistake it was a mistake he should not have made with his education and experience. If he is too embarrassed to come clean then it steps it up to another level that is even more troublesome. If he attempts to cover it up then it goes to even a further level that is even more troublesome.
If it’s really a mistake he should take the steps necessary to rectify it and admit it and apologize.
I just hope he doesn’t take the cover it up route that will take it to an even further level that is even more troublesome.
This was so easy to clear up and why it is being so hard for them to come clean does not bode well regarding integrity and trust. I hope he does the right thing
Just to clarify, EVERY Local Business that has a Ground Breaking, Ribbon Cutting, Grand Opening or a Launch Party is usually participated by a local Elected Official, many times, more than one and there is usually many Videos and Photos taken, some of which will find there way On Line and on TV. At Events like these, there is ZERO expectancy of Privacy and there is nothing you can do about it. The Elected Official is usually asked to give a Speech which mostly praises the Company. All of which will be on Video. If it was my Company, I would have used it to. Just saying. Before I say someone is Guilty, I was actual Proof.
I agree Carpe Diem, Dailey is a class act! Has been as long as I have known him for almost 3 decades.
Why is it that you are always on corruption”s side? It wasn’t too long ago you were defending Scott Maddox, give me a break!
I try not to vote for ANY democrats, but I’m gonna vote for Mr. Matlow every chance I get. At least until he becomes part of the old guard. They always do…
Have to look at Matlow’s far left agenda before anyone decides to give credence to his wanting to remove Reese Goad as City Manager. What he would propose, in many instances would be a gillum styled replacement, which would be a disaster.
John Daley becomes Mayor and everyone blast the guy, but he was a County Commissioner for 12 years before that and not a single word of criticism.
John Daley is a class act who was born and raised in Tallahassee. He cares about this community. He is smart and charismatic. WTH do you want for a Mayor? He is about 1000% better than Andrew Gillum. He could do about 1 million other jobs but chooses to provide his time and energy for public service.
I say let John Daley be Mayor and work this beaten community forward for the next generation. I know Hope..he did a Kraft commercial so let’s troll him for the next year.
Ridiculous!
I take offense at you calling me a troll. Let’s get one thing straight… Mayor Daley did a TV ad for Kraft Motors misusing his position as mayor and receiving free airtime worth in the tens of thousands of dollars. That is a fact! Until the matter is resolved, goes properly through the ethics board, or the state ethics board, or the producer writes a public letter stating they duped the mayor or Kraft Motors writes a public letter staing they duped the mayor I will continue my speaking out on this issue. It is called saying something when something isn’t right which more people should do.
As for Daily’s tenure on the County Commission it was terrible if you want to know the truth. He sat there and did nothing when the joint Dispatch Center was being mismanaged and two people died because of the incompetence and the commissioners and the county manager doing nothing, nada, zilch.
Daley voted for Waste Pro even though Gary Yordon and Scott Maddox were running an illegal scheme and Waste Pro should have been disqualified in the bidding process. Because Waste Pro received the contract the County’s citizens were underserved by Waste Pro. Furthermore, Waste Pro is under FBI investigation. Dailey didn’t question anything he went along with his little Democratic Party buddy voted for it, and it was a fiasco.
Finally, Dailey is oblivious to the crime problem, is manipulating city employees or worse to get involved in his political party nonsense.
Dailey is no Class Act, Dailey is no leader and we are not better off now than when when Gillum was mayor… and that is a pretty sad state.
You need to do some soul-searching .
I don’t get all the pounding on”liberals”, person pushing to have him removed may be the most progressive member of the whole commission. The current manager should be disqualified for how he handled the investigation into Fernandez…full stop. It’s a mystery to me why that didn’t happen.
Fiscal conservatives will NEVER gain a foothold in this town.
Never.
Too many illiberals voting.
The only way a change will occur is for the northeast (because that’s where the money is) de-annexes.
That would hit Mayor Flintstone and his sycophants in the pocketbook. Big time.
It would put and end to their latest tax grab called the Chikdrens Services Council.
(Hey, I’ll start paying for your kids when you start paying for my mortgage.)
The childern’s tax method of delivery of services is designed to be very difficult to audit and prove any positive results will actually be implemented.
You will be pushed to vote yes “for our Kids” with tear jerker advertising complete with sappy piano background music.
It’s all about getting 30% of that 8.5 million first year tax confiscation into the pockets of local minority Ministers to enrich them on the belief of our local white liberals that those same minority Ministers will herd the local minority plantation population voters into delivering the block minority “Democrat” vote.
Those white liberals got the system locked in to Lord over our local minority plantation population, in the historical (think KKK) Democratic way, and local white liberals want to keep it that way.
The other 60%?
Plan on 30% going to local political insiders in various hard to unravel schemes and questionable business scams.
The remaining 30% will go to an agency that will promote the non existent benefits our local childern “enjoy”.
Vote No on the Childern’s Scam Tax issue.
The number of ‘Ministers’ and other Black church embedded COT employees who have and continue to shunt COT funds to/through their organizations for their own personal gain will amaze all. The trouble in identifying this issue – FBI – is that they have been doing this for so many years and are quite good at this pea under the walnut game. They do this in return for getting votes.
Dial back and look at the huge Black Ministry organized out-cry to make sure that Cassandra Jackson be emplaced as the successional City Attorney. Coincidence? First of all they (COT puppeteers) had this successional plan via Thompson circa 2012 to 2014 emplaced – while Maddox was in his heyday; and the City was running off the chain. No this wasn’t coincidence- Cassandra Jackson had been internally selected via Thompson, Gillum, Richardson, Barber and numerous others – everyone knew that. The outcry by the ‘community’ for Jackson as City Attorney initiated, organized, communicated, synchronized by none-other then the COT Black internal Ministry. Yes – naming names can be done: FBI – AKA & NFBPA – start there….Again under Maddox’s crooked criminal vote – this vote for Jackson was cast. Get it FBI?
Agree with NE Secession completely, Maven. But we here in the NE will have to Lawyer up as part of the strategy. One of the first things the City of Atlanta did as the surrounding suburbs seceded was to try and sue to have the newly-formed cities’ charters revoked. So we’ll likely have to fight for our freedom from corrupt, tax-hiking, money-laundering Tallahassee.
Bryant will never vote for ethics. She will support the corrupt status quo because that is what she stands for. She is part of the problem and will never be part of the solution.
“Meet the new boss(es)… same as the old boss(es)”
This is one of the saddest days in politics where the mayor hijacks, is practicing indentured servitude, and misuses his position and gathers his fellow Democratic cohorts to go along with this farce. They are running a plantation and not the city government.
All the more reason the city manager needs to go.
He is making up positions and jobs at high salaries that will accomplish nothing and that is not the role of city government to build a democratic coalition to roll with him on this nonsense. We saw this with the children services council.
The corruption is just being repackaged.
He is only building a higher ladder that will make the fall that much harder.
Matlow ROCKS
Dailey Sucks
Richardson Sucks
Cox Sucks
Bryant Sucks
Mr. Goad was selected by, promoted by, and trained by and served under our former city manager who accepted personal benefits from lobbyists, allowed Maddox to control a pay to play city commission, and opposed creation of meaningful ethics oversight. Mr. Goad watched as the city manager ran the city for the benefit of a select few. When the city manager finally got caught, Goad conducted a ludicrous investigation of the allegations that found $400 tickets really only cost $99. Then, with two months left in office, a disgraced commission selected Mr. Goad to be the new manager!
Tallahassee voters must ask WHY? Why would the current commissioners not want a new captain at the helm? Don’t they want a manager who wasn’t trained and mentored by a crooked manager? Don’t they want a manager who is not tainted by his past affiliations? Apparently not, but why not?
Mr. Goad does not have the credentials, is not qualified nor experienced to be in the position he is in. He is grossly overpaid and was put in the position buy a commissioner who was indicted on 44 counts of corruption.
A ceremonial vote was not in order as it was not on the agenda it was just a political corrupted action. The mayor is out of control and I don’t know if the legislature, the governor, or who needs to be notified that the mayor is just making misstep after misstep that is highly corrupt.
I feel your frustration Hope.
And am mystified why local conservative talking heads are bending over backwards to dance around the crazy things Mayor Daily is doing.
Local conservative normally sensible media talking heads are bending over backwards and ignoring so much regarding Mayor Daily’s foolishness that they are beginning to look like compliant fools themselves.
Yes I realise the Mayor will stop liking them if they stop providing cover for Daily and maybe stop giving interviews…so theres that to consider.
Perhaps they are just giving him enough freedom of action to create his own downfall.
Retaliation is a real thing in this town as I wonder what the consequences would be for those employees if they had not come forward in support for the plantation owner and his sidekick for the mock-up non agenda farcical display at the ethics meeting the other night.
Hopefully those playing along will see the light soon.
Old Cop, I thnk your question answers itself, especially in light of the indictments of two long-time COT insiders. So – Perhaps Mr. Goad knows “a few things” about all that’s gone on (and probably still is) at COT and with individual COT officials, staffers, appointees, etc. And perhaps said COT officials desperately want such “few things” to remain unknown. Thus Mr. Goad is “Hereby Approved” in a ceremonial vote and can continue on in his COT City Manager position.
Commissioner Matlow is spot-on with his original statements “It’s time for us to clean house, wash our hands, and finally rid ourselves of the corrupt past of this City”. Too bad most of the COT and Mayor didn’t vote in favor of that direction.