By blocking mayor vote, Broward is embracing business as usual, again

The people have spoken. All nine of them.

The Broward County Commission soundly rejected a modest proposal Tuesday to let voters decide this fall whether to create a new office of county mayor, to be elected by all voters countywide. After two hours of testimony and discussion it was obvious that seven of nine commissioners opposed the idea. So it died again, for at least the fourth time in three decades.

The undisputed winner Tuesday was business as usual. The status quo.

For the foreseeable future, Broward will continue to suffer from a leadership void and lack of political accountability. The title of mayor will rotate yearly and meaninglessly among commissioners. The county will be led by County Administrator Bertha Henry, a capable appointee who reports to nine Democratic commissioners, some of whom surely view a mayor as a threat to their power.

Only Tim Ryan, who sponsored the proposal, and Barbara Sharief, spoke in favor of letting voters decide on Nov. 3. The others offered various reasons and rationalizations for opposing it, with Michael Udine expressing support for delaying the election of a mayor until 2024.

“We’re doing pretty well,” Commissioner Beam Furr said.

The titular mayor, Dale Holness, argued that a real mayor would “politicize a professional government.” Seriously? Politics are all around us.

“Let’s say we get an elected mayor for four years and that person is a buffoon. We’re stuck with that person for four years,” said Commissioner Mark Bogen, who also suggested that the question be deferred — again.

That’s the heart of the matter. Rather than decide, commissioners prefer to defer. It’s human nature to procrastinate but it short-changes taxpayers.

If Broward had a real mayor, it would have a consensus leader, an unambiguous CEO accountable to voters in this huge sprawling county of 2 million people. A mayor could set a countywide agenda and perhaps bring a sense of urgency to festering problems.

As for a buffoon, that would never happen in Broward, would it? Seriously, the answer is that people get the government they deserve. Elections have consequences.

Ryan proposed a full-time mayor who could serve no more than two four-year terms, would not be a member of the commission and would be barred from outside employment. The job would pay $220,000 a year and staff expenses would push the total to about $700,000. Ryan watered down his proposal to avoid the obvious pitfalls of a “strong” mayor. As one example, the mayor could not veto commission decisions.

But Ryan’s concessions only provided more fodder for his opponents.

During public testimony Tuesday, talk took on racial overtones, as some African-American residents saw a scheme by the county’s shrinking white political power structure to preserve its clout in a majority-minority county. A former long-time county staffer, Phyllis Berry, described “a political power play.” But Sharief, one of two black commissioners, countered: “This was not about race.” Her simple advice: “Put it on the ballot and let people vote.”

Critics falsely claimed that an elected mayor is a plot to dump Henry. In fact, Ryan’s proposal retains the administrator, who’s paid about $350,000 a year.

An opposition leader is lawyer Burnadette Norris-Weeks, who served on charter review commissions that have twice refused to put the question before voters. She asked why the county was discussing such a major change during the Covid-19 pandemic and a period of civil unrest and racial tensions.

The answer, predictably enough, is that the proposal has languished for about seven months and has kept getting postponed.

Facing sure defeat, Ryan withdrew his proposal, which spared his colleagues from an on-the-record vote. Ryan deserves credit for forcing the debate but it’s obvious his colleagues will never do this. A citizen’s petition drive is needed to put the question of a county mayor on the ballot.

Each Broward voter elects only one member of a nine-member county commission.

All voters deserve a voice in choosing a mayor, or at least whether we should have one. Business as usual just isn’t good enough.