Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Yet another missed opportunity for Broward County’s future
Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? No. The surprise would have been if six Broward County commissioners had seen the light and given voters an option to create a countywide elected mayor in a November referendum.
But no. It may just be that some commissioners are afraid their constituents would see the need for a real leader, and that would require them to lose some of their power and prestige. It’s human nature. Those inside the system naturally defend it and resist change.
So it went this week, as the commission again refused to take the small step forward and create the potential for the visible and dynamic political leadership Broward desperately needs. The fear of change prevailed. The status quo won again — and you could almost hear the insiders and moneyed interests cheering from their plush offices.
A proposed charter amendment required six votes to get on the ballot, and there were no more than five out of nine commissioners in favor of voting on a mayor proposal, so the question never actually went to a formal vote.
The lack of a single sixth vote will silence 1.3 million Broward voters who deserve to have the final say on this subject.
Does that seem fair to you?
Counting votes
The five in favor of a vote appeared to be commissioners Mark Bogen, Beam Furr, Jared Moskowitz, Tim Ryan and Mayor Michael Udine. Four others — Torey Alston, Lamar Fisher, Steve Geller and Nan Rich — all argued against the proposal, with only Fisher expressing even lukewarm interest.
Geller offered an alternative to extend the current term of a purely ceremonial mayor, in title only, from one to two years. But that went nowhere.
Ryan’s plan called for a partisan mayor to serve a four-year term at an annual salary of $220,000 beginning in 2024, and who would be a tenth voting member of the commission elected by all voters.
Opponents raised the usual red herrings, such as the salary, which ignores the fact that the recently retired County Administrator Bertha Henry was earning $369,000.
After hearing Tuesday’s debate, we suggest making the mayor more independent, and not a 10th commission member, so as to avoid tie votes. That would also exempt the mayor from compliance with the Sunshine Law, but it would give the mayor more ability to forge real consensus on issues. The professional, full-time appointed administrator should be retained.
The mayor should be chosen in a nonpartisan election open to all voters, which would be an obvious culture shock for the state’s most heavily Democratic county. As with nonpartisan city elections, attentive voters know every candidate’s partisan leanings anyway, and a nonpartisan election would require the winning candidate to gain support from a majority of voters. That’s how it should be.
We commend Ryan for his persistence and urge him to keep at it. August is the deadline to file November ballot language with the county elections office. So keep trying, Mr. Ryan.
Built-in conflicts
We acknowledge honest differences of opinion on this issue. But it has become clear that it is a built-in conflict of interest to expect all sitting commissioners to embrace changes in government that could personally affect their own careers.
The once-a-decade work of charter review boards is not an effective alternative because they have been carefully populated with pro-status quo insiders chosen by commissioners themselves — another conflict.
Broward has to change. This county of 2 million people needs a better long-range vision and clearer lines of political accountability to deal with an array of challenges, including affordable housing, aging infrastructure, climate change, gridlock, mass transit, poverty, race relations and transportation.
Under the current system, no one person has too much power, but no one person can get anything done, either.
The highly fragmented system of government, with its 31 cities, special taxing districts and overlapping jurisdictions impedes progress and fast action. Moskowitz, a former state chief of emergency management, interacted with cities all over the state during the two-year COVID-19 pandemic and said: “The ones that had an elected mayor were faster.”
For nearly 40 years, Broward has debated the need for an elected mayor with no resolution. That’s not quite fast enough.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.