The race for City Commission seat 2 is heating up. Today at the Florida Press Center, Steven Hougland, who is running against current City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, revealed that his opponent accepted $750 in campaign contributions from a city vendor on the same day the City Commission voted to extend the vendor’s contract. The vote […]
The two candidates for City Commission Seat 2 see Tallahassee and the problems it faces very differently. Incumbent Curtis Richardson thinks Tallahassee is one of the state’s best run cities and wants to keep it on its current path. Opponent Steven Hougland thinks Tallahassee’s path is unsustainable, that the level of crime, taxes and spending […]
TR has learned that State Attorney Willie Meggs is investigating the pension payment calculation of former City Commissioner Debbie Lightsey. TR reported about the issue in March. Since then the City’s Independent Ethic’s Board took up a complaint but decided not to move forward because the complaint failed “to state a violation of the City’s Ethic […]
Tallahassee Reports has learned that City Manager Rick Fernandez counted the salary from a position that had not been filled since 2014 as savings to justify the raises he gave to a select group of executive managers. Last week, City Manager Rick Fernandez went before City Commissioners to explain the 5-digit raises that resulted in […]
In an interview today with Tom Flanigan on WFSU’s Perspectives show, challenger Steven Hougland traded jabs with incumbent City Commissioner Curtis Richardson over the recent executive pay raises given out at City Hall. In the discussion about the raises, which in some cases were between $30,000 and $50,000, Hougland said Commissioner Richardson should have asked […]
City Manager Rick Fernandez put on the performance of his life last week. And Mayor Gillum and the City Commissioners gave him the equivalent of a “group hug.” Over the last two weeks, Fernandez has faced criticism in the local media and on the message boards over the 5-digit raises that put some city employees at […]
In a move that is sure to be controversial, all five City Commissioners offered their full support to the executive raises doled out by City Manager Rick Fernandez. Despite the fact that the City’s own pay study did not support the larger raises, not one City Commissioner questioned the increases that reached $50,000 for one position. […]
Back in January when the City Commission voted 3-2 to extend the bar hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. it appears no one checked with the higher education community. Well, no need to call them now. Ahead of the City Commission’s scheduled reconsideration of the vote tomorrow, leaders at FSU, FAMU, and TCC, have […]
In an attempt to influence upcoming votes on the FY2017 budget, local groups questioning the budget priorities of the City of Tallahassee commissioned a scientific poll that was conducted on July 7th and July 8th. The poll gathered answers to 13 questions from 400 likely general election voters. The poll had a margin of error […]
Tallahassee Reports has received a copy of the pay study that City Manager Fernandez used as support for the the recently reported executive level pay raises.View City’s “market rate study” here. Surprisingly, the numbers reported in the study do not support the majority of the pay raises. This report addresses only the Assistant City Manager […]