Who do you want reviewing the County Charter?Every 5 years the County Charter is reviewed. The Charter is the document that gives the County Commission it’s power. It is the framework for structure, powers and functions of County government according to "Miami Today". Editor, Michael Lewis said:
“The review team can examine every county function and recommend changes, but voters would have the last word. Review is vital because voters just changed things piecemeal, shifting many powers to the mayor without debate on what ancillary changes would make that shift work well.”
Commissioner Katy Sorenson envisioned the task force to be made up of 12 members from civic groups (not Commissioner appointments) but that died in Committee. According to Lewis this was Sorenson’s plan:
“She wants the county's three law-school deans each to name a professor. Commissioners would choose the other nine, each from among three nominees by the League of Cities, the chief judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, the Human Services Coalition, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters, the chairman of the county's legislative delegation, the NAACP, the Latin Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Carlos Alvarez.”
So we are now stuck. The Commission decided to do what they always do, seize control of the process. Here are the terms they put forth for the make-up of the Task Force:
The Commissioners each get to vote on one member and Mayor Alvarez gets one appointment. The four largest cities each get an appointment and the League of Cities gets one: to represent the other cities.
On a sliding scale, I expect nothing from this task force all the way to bad things. There could be one good thing: Maybe they will term-limit the Commission since the Mayor already is.
To the best of my knowledge the four largest cities are: Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah and Miami Gardens.
The County Commission did exactly what Michael Lewis recommended against in his March 8th Editorial:
The only way their stock (County Commission) could sink further is if they were to dump Ms. Sorenson's thoughtful plan and once more put themselves ahead of the public.
Try to get yourself appointed to this Task Force. They need good people.
1 comment:
I notice that if the commissioners appoint their representitive to the committee from cities in their district, that means that us living in the unincorporated areas will not be represented even though we are 50% of the population.
We that are not incorporated have issues that are unique only to us.
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