Tarpon Springs City Commissioner Peter Nehr believes he was elected last March by the voters to be their representative and advocate in City Hall. So Nehr can't understand why anyone would accuse him of stepping out of line when he intervenes on behalf of residents who feel ignored or wronged by the city staff.
When such an unhappy resident contacts Nehr, he sometimes asks city staffers if they can change their decision. Perhaps there is another way to interpret a city ordinance or policy, he will say. He's also organized meetings between complaining city residents and city employees, and during those meetings he sits as the mediator, seeking to work out the problem to the residents' satisfaction.
Nehr firmly believes he is doing what is right.
We say, just as firmly, he is wrong.
Nehr was indeed chosen to be one of five elected representatives on the City Commission. But he was elected to be a policy maker. The voters themselves made that clear in the charter they put in place to govern the actions of both elected and appointed city officials.
The Tarpon Springs city charter, a collection of laws governing the actions of city government, makes it clear that the only person in city government given authority to manage the city and direct the city staff is the city manager. Not the mayor. Not a commissioner. In fact the charter expressly forbids commissioners to deal directly with employees who are under the city manager unless they are in the midst of a formal inquiry or investigation. Day to day, commissioners "shall deal with city officers and employees...solely through the manager, and neither the board of commissioners nor its members individually shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately."
The charter goes on to say that individual commissioners may scrutinize the government by asking questions and personally observing all government operations, but they are given that opportunity expressly "to obtain independent information to assist in the formation of sound policies," not to solve some homeowner's dispute with the sewer division.
If a resident wants a building permit and the Building Department says no, city commissioners don't have the authority to go to the building official and try to get it for them. If a resident threatens a lawsuit against the city, a commissioner doesn't have the right to sit down with the complainant and the city staff and mediate a settlement. Indeed, it is a violation of city law for a commissioner to do so. Such limitations are common in the charters of cities that have a professional city manager-council form of government.
Like every commissioner, Nehr swore an oath to support, protect and uphold the charter and laws of Tarpon Springs. That's what he should do.
Nehr is smart, well-organized, energetic and politically ambitious. Whether he is motivated by ambition or by the desire to be helpful, he seems to relish the role of resident advocate, riding into the fray to get residents what they want. There are hazards to what he is doing beyond violating the charter:
City laws and policies generally have been adopted for a good purpose: to help people live in relative harmony in the close confines of a community. Those laws must be equally enforced. If they don't work, there is a process for changing them. If Nehr pushes for the rules to be interpreted differently for one person, he not only undermines the goal of equal enforcement, he also starts to build a system of favors tied to politics. Tarpon Springs doesn't need that throwback to ward-style politics.
Nehr's actions can negatively impact the city's professional staff and taint the public's perception of the staff. Some city employees already have complained that they feel bullied or pressured by Nehr to modify the way they do their jobs. They are put in a tough spot, forced to choose between following the dictates of their bosses or the preferences of an influential elected official.
Nehr wants to be productive, communicative and responsive as a commissioner - commendable goals. He contends that one reason he has been so active in dealing with residents' problems is that the city manager and other city workers don't return phone calls from residents or are not responsive enough to them. If that's the case, they need to work on the problem.
All of this may make the role of a city commissioner seem quite limited, but commissioners have sweeping powers in their policy-making mode. And if Nehr is contacted by a frustrated resident, if he believes a city decision needs review, if he wants to change the way the staff works, he has two legal avenues to effect change: He can take those issues directly to the city manager, who works at the pleasure of the City Commission, or he can bring them up in a public meeting and seek the support of the public and his commission colleagues.
In either case, Nehr will accomplish more if he has a congenial and productive working relationship with other city commissioners and the city staff.
