Commission Approves 2014 Election Move

The debate over whether or not the City Commission should push the 2014 Safety Harbor municipal election back nine months has been heating up for weeks. 

Monday night the issue came to a head, as residents and commissioners expressed vehement opposition to Ordinance No. 2013-16, which calls for moving the election from March to November in order to save money and increase voter turnout.

After much discussion and debate – and one citizen storming out of City Hall – the commission ultimately decided to approve the measure on first reading by a vote of 3-2.

“My position is I’m in favor of moving the city elections to coincide with the county elections,” Mayor Joe Ayoub said after a lengthy public hearing on the matter. 

Following a brief back and forth between the commissioners, Ayoub called for a vote on the ordinance, with the Commissioner Rick Blake and Vice Mayor Nina Bandoni voicing the other two yes votes. 

The issue was first brought up during a budget workshop in May when the commission discussed saving money by moving the election, something it had done numerous times in the past. 

The contention came from the direction of the move; previous votes had shortened terms, where this one would potentially lengthen the terms of Ayoub and Bandoni, whose seats are up next March. 

A decision was delayed at the last commission meeting while the city attorney looked into possible ethics violations; while no legal violation was found, that didn’t sway the opinions of those opposed to the ordinance.

“Aside from the legal concern, which has now been put to rest, the ethical concern is still there,” Besore said. 

“I believe there’s been four times in which the changes have occurred, but they’ve all occurred to move it forward,” Commissioner Cliff Merz added. “This is the only time we’ve been discussing moving it back.”

During the public comments portion nine residents spoke out about the item and one, Robert “Bobby” Saltzman, actually stormed out after ripping up a piece of paper at the podium.

"It stinks," he said. "It may be legal, it may be ethical, but it stinks."

“There’s a lot of things that need to be cut in this country,” Bernard James said, “but one of the things we don’t need to cut is the right of the people for their voice to be heard.”

Following the comments, Commissioner Blake expressed a possible solution -  shorten the terms of the other three commissioners by moving the 2015 city election up to November 2014. 

“My proposition is, to save the city money, the three of us agree now to reduce our terms and have the election then.”

But that suggestion was met with disapproval also. 

“Moving elections back and forth is confusing. I don’t think it’s a good thing,” Merz said. “People are losing faith in their elected officials…and I think this adds to that.”

After more discussion, including the possibility of changing the city charter to move the city elections permanently to coincide with the county, the commission passed the ordinance.

The second reading and potential final approval of the issue will take place during the next commission meeting on July 15.