Committee Kills Charter Government Push

By Matt Wiley

For the past three months, a group of citizens has weighed the possibility of revising the structure of Pasco County’s government. But, it looks like the county’s governmental structure will remain the same for now, since the committee tasked with deciding whether or not to move forward with changing to a charter form of government officially has struck the idea down.

During the Charter Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting at the West Pasco Government Center in New Port Richey on Aug. 24 (which was just after we went to press with our Aug. 29 Wesley Chapel issue), the 15-member appointed group voted 8-7 against writing a county charter, after hearing from several members of the county’s legislative delegation, including Dist. 38 State Rep. Danny Burgess (R-San Antonio, who represents Wesley Chapel), Dist. 17 State Sen. John Legg (R-Lutz), Dist. 18 State Sen. Wilton Simpson (R-New Port Richey) and Dist. 36 Rep. Amanda Murphy (D-New Port Richey). 

In addition, the CAC also heard from the future Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Dist. 37 Rep. Richard Corcoran (R-Land O’Lakes), who originally presented the idea of moving to a charter form of government to the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) in January, touting the concept as a way to make government “more accountable” and as a way to “empower” voters. 

Rep. Corcoran said that a charter form of government would put more power in the hands of Pasco’s voting population by allowing for single-member county commission districts (instead of all five commissioners being elected county-wide), for the ability of voters to recall constitutional officers (such as the Clerk of Court, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser and the Sheriff), to be able to create an elected county mayor/administrator position and implement term limits. None of those provisions are possible under the current structure, because local non-charter governments in Florida can only be changed by the state legislature. 

As we’ve reported in previous issues this year, CAC members heard from the county’s constitutional officers about the roles each of their offices currently play in local government and their thoughts about moving to a charter at their earlier meetings. The Aug. 24 meeting was the first time the committee heard from the legislative delegation itself; it also was the day the CAC was scheduled to approve or deny moving forward with writing a charter.

“Term limits would be a good idea,” Sen. Simpson told the committee, adding that he thinks that there should be a recall provision for any elected position.

“I think the beauty of what we’re doing here is having a discussion,” said Rep. Burgess. “It can only lead to something positive.” Burgess added that he trusted the CAC’s judgment, regardless of what decision the committee ultimately made.

“My one respectful request would be to preserve local government power and home rule,” Burgess said, referring to municipalities within the county like Zephyrhills, where he previously served as mayor.

Corcoran’s ‘Last Stand’

However, Rep. Corcoran had much more to say than his Tallahassee colleagues, insisting that the idea for a charter was motivated solely to empower Pasco voters.

“Politics is a nasty business,” Corcoran said. “I try to stay above the nastiness, but I’ve heard a lot of imputation of motives behind this thing.”

Corcoran acknowledged that there are parts of a charter form of government that are controversial.

“I think the thing that’s most important is to earn the trust of the voters,” Corcoran said. “If a county mayor is controversial, chuck it out the window. If nonpartisan elections are controversial, chuck it. If a public services tax is controversial, put it in the charter that we’ll never have one.”

He added, “One thing I’ve been hearing a lot is that things are ‘good enough’ and ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I’ve just have never heard a crazier argument for what we should do.”Corcoran added that the county shouldn’t let “good” be the enemy of “great.”

“If we can have a county that’s more accountable to the voters and strives for greatness as opposed to good, why is that a bad experiment?,” he asked the committee.

“It’s easy to get bogged down in arguments and not do anything,” Sen. Simpson added. “But, if that’s the conclusion that this committee makes, that’s okay.”

“Even if it’s a total non-starter, this discussion was good for our county,” Corcoran admitted.

The People Speak

Members of the public also had one last chance to tell the committee their opinions of the charter idea, including recently retired Dist. 2 Comm. Pat Mulieri, who used to represent the Wesley Chapel area on the BOCC. “Why are (legislators) pushing charter government?,” she asked the committee. “I thought that would be answered. I was a commissioner for 20 years and, not once, nobody wrote and said ‘I want charter government.’” 

Current Pasco tax collector, former state legislator and outspoken charter opponent Mike Fasano echoed that sentiment.

“I still haven’t grasped this yet, as to why (the push for charter government),” Fasano said. “How many emails have you gotten? How many letters have you received? How many knocks on your doors have you gotten? I would guess very few.”

He added, “It concerns me that (the legislators) who just left Tallahassee and didn’t do what they were supposed to do and needed to do (balance the state budget and redraw Florida’s Congressional district maps) are concerned with accountability and responsibility.”

To Charter Or Not To Charter?

After a short discussion among the committee members, former Pasco administrator and CAC member John Gallagher brought the motion to vote against moving forward with writing a charter.

“I’ve seen very few things come before this committee that would make Pasco County a better county,” Gallagher said, later adding, “The only thing that’s going to make Pasco a better county is if the voters and citizens take interest in their local government.”

CAC chair Michael Cox voiced support for writing a charter.

“Our county’s not broken and there’s not an uprising to write a charter,” Cox said. “But, when our county is in turmoil isn’t really a good time to consider changing the government.”

Cox said he liked that a charter can help protect the county from some laws passed by the legislature that could take away power from local governments.

“If Pasco County wants to become a premier county, I think we could write a charter that would help them along that quest,” Cox said.

Former Zephyrhills mayor and CAC alternate Cliff McDuffie also supported dropping the charter concept. 

“Having worked in a city with a charter government, I don’t see anything at this time or in the near future where a charter would make any difference in what the county is doing right now,” McDuffie said. “Probably 95-98-percent of the people voting for the charter on a referendum would not even know what they are voting for.”

As each member’s name was called, he or she responded with “Yes” if in favor of not moving forward with a charter. Cox, Randy Maggard, Gary Bradford, Mel Eakley, Robert Eckard, John Kinsman and Mike Ryan made up the CAC’s seven votes to move forward with writing a charter, while Steve Booth, Billy E. Brown, Gallagher, Candace Glewen, Chuck Grey, Dewey Mitchell, Pattie Spoeth and Bill Woodard voted to stop the process.