Tomorrow at 1:00 pm, the City Commission will formally consider the resignation of City Manager Rick Fernandez. Fernandez submitted a letter of resignation today. The resignation is effective January 3rd. The resignation letter can be read here and the agreement here. On November 8, 2017, the City Commission approved paid administrative leave to the City […]
Recent raises for the Leon County Administrator and Leon County Attorney are being questioned by Budget Hawks. Budget Hawks is a fiscally conservative group that produces fact based analysis for decision making on local spending and tax issues for the public and local government leaders. In a letter to the Leon County Commission, the group asks […]
Tallahassee Reports has obtained a copy of a legal journal article recently written by Julie Meadows-Keefe, the City of Tallahassee Ethics Officer, which reveals that she believed the ethics climate in Tallahassee before the creation of the independent ethics board was “benign.” The article entitled, “From Rumblings to Reality: One City’s Story of Ethics Reform“, was […]
TR has learned that the City of Tallahassee’s Independent Ethics Board has begun an investigation into the pension payments being made to former City Commissioner Debbie Lightsey. The Executive Director of the Ethics Board, Julie Meadows-Keefe, provides a status of complaints and investigations each month. This months report, which is part of the agenda to […]
As we move into April, a look back at March finds the top three articles on TR were: Former Commissioner Debbie Lightsey Benefits Monthly From City’s Deferred Compensation Which Ended in 2010 Wildwood Church To Build Northside Community Center ROUND 1: Pons and Maddox Spar at Local Forum. There were 28 comments generated by these […]
Recently, City Commissioners and the Mayor have been told they have been “asleep at the wheel” and that their priorities are “out of whack.” These are not the words of Erwin Jackson, frequent City Commission critic. These are the words of current City Commissioner Scott Maddox. Could these comments be the beginning of Maddox’s campaign […]
The City Commission vote against the Ethics Advisory Panel (EAP) recommendation for an appointed Ethics Officer was bad enough. But to think the probable future Mayor of the City of Tallahassee could not see the wisdom put forth by the EAP is even more troubling. When the Tallahassee Democrat, Martha Barnett, the former President of […]
On Wednesday, March 12, 2014, Mayor John Marks used an electronic kill switch to repeatedly turn off the microphone being used by Dr. Erwin Jackson during the time allotted for citizens to speak to the City Commission. Dr. Jackson, who has been a frequent participate in the unagendaed speaker portion of City Commission meeting over […]
The transformation of the media industry over the last thirty years has presented severe economic challenges to the newspaper industry. The newspaper business, fueled by a near monopoly over local advertising for so long, has had to make drastic changes to the way they operate. Without much, if any competition in reporting local news, many […]
The City’s Ethics Advisory Panel held a public hearing Wednesday night in the City Hall Chambers. But before the public meeting, the Panel took care of some unfinished business with regards to the structure of the oversight authority for a new ethics code. The focus of the Panel was a recommendation by Panel member Jaber […]