City of Panama City Beach issued the following announcement on March 11.
Hello and welcome to the latest installment of Minute with Mark. I need you to mark your calendars for an important date. April 19th is Super Tuesday and this year’s ballot will include eight questions related to our City’s Charter. The Charter was originally established in 1970 and has been updated by voter referendum 11 times over the years. These proposed changes would increase the efficiency of hiring, purchasing and other City operations.
Last year, City staff told the Council that some rules were hurting the City’s ability to make timely purchases. Specifically, Charter language has caused us to lose out on certain purchases and good pricing. For example, had we been able to utilize competitive bidding through a government consortium, as hundreds of cities and counties do, we would have been able to save $50,000 on a new fire truck. Instead, we paid more and waited and additional three months to get the engine.
Supply chains are clogged and inflation has pushed prices up. As a City without a property tax, we have to watch our spending. City staff wants to be able to act, they want to be able to make these purchases, to get what we need at the best price. And some of these purchases, like the fire truck I already mentioned, are crucial for public safety.
The same applies to hiring. Job seekers obviously have the advantage in this tight labor market. Applicants may have multiple offers to choose from. Supervisors and department heads need more independent and immediate hiring ability without waiting for another month for a Civil Service Board meeting. The Civil Service Board would still play an important role with our employees, as an impartial group to hear grievances. This is not about hiring friends of friends or friends of family. The staff needs to be able to act fast and hire the best applicants quickly before those applicants take other jobs.
Something else to note: These proposed Charter changes have been vetted by a group of fellow residents. After hearing staff concerns, the City Council appointed the Citizen Charter Review Advisory Committee, which is made up of one resident from each of the City’s four wards. These residents spent months going over the Charter, meeting with staff and the chairman of the Civil Service Board. They finished their work with a list of 28 possible amendments, and a recommendation to put all of them before the voters. Their proposals were compiled into the eight questions you will see on the ballot.
Thank you to Matthew Bush, Zachary Coleman, Rick Ramos and Ryan Houk for giving hours of your time and to suggest updates to this historic document. At the top of our website - www.pcbfl.gov- is a Charter Amendments link, which has the full text of the proposed amendments for the ballot. The ballot language is there, the contact information for each of the citizen board members is also there. I encourage each of you to read this information.
Thank you and God Bless You.
This video can be viewed on the City's Facebook page here.
Communications Director Debbie Ingram can be reached at (850) 233-5100, Ext. 2261.
Original source can be found here.
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