Council needs to get serious

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published June 26, 2007

Tampa's City Council didn't need to spend a day last week with a facilitator to grasp why it has so little clout. The city charter gives the board no real power and little leverage over the mayor. The council is part-time work, members answer to different constituencies and seven people can garble an agenda. Still, the council's big problem is not the charter or even a mayor who has pushed the bounds of executive authority. It is the naivete of board members, their history of pushing second-tier priorities and their failure to use modern media to put out any message.

Tampa's strong-mayor government leaves the council with few tasks beyond the usual legislative jobs of overseeing local laws and land development. It approves the mayor's budget and senior staff appointments and passes along residents' requests for parks, speed bumps and other mundane services. But contentment with that ceremonial tradition ended in March, when strong and liberal personalities won council seats across the board. At their retreat Monday, members agreed to become more involved in writing the budget, bringing commuter rail and affordable housing to town and protecting the environment.

Mayor Pam Iorio shares these goals but her administration can be slow closing the deal. If the board, by raising its voice, can speed the process - fine. Our concern is the council's ability. Its members have no technical staff and little history of following through. The board also can miss the big picture. Its praise for a proposed dump recently for the central city, which the administration withdrew, showed alarming indifference to good planning. Some members also seem preoccupied with internal power games and parochial projects.

The council must put forward a more serious agenda and work with Iorio. Members also need to figure out how to sell their agendas. Few bother to reach out, build constituencies or use the media. That is no way to redraw the balance of power with a popular mayor. The council is seen as reactive because its members so rarely bring anything to the public. The mayor may have a shadow, but it's another thing altogether who chooses to live under it.

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 21:35:59]