Countdown

"Counting Days" by Heather Gorham

On Wednesday, February 22, 2012, this latest new City Commission celebrates 100 days in office. Following every Presidential election, we seem to give the newly elected Commander in Chief 100 days to get his administrative ducks in a row and reveal the sum and substance of what he hopes to accomplish in his next 3 and 3/4 years in the Oval Office.

We in Lake Worth have elections every year. Every year we have a new Commission. And every year, after 100 days there only 9 months left before we have a new Commission. Every year, after 100 days, there are only 6 months left before the campaign to re-elect gets in high gear. Every year, after 100 days, it's immediately time to craft the next budget. So how long  do any of our Electeds really have to simply, you know, govern? 

We don't elect a Commander in Chief to preside over an Executive branch. We elect Commissioners from four districts, and a Mayor at large, whose only special executive duty is to preside over Commission meetings and cut ribbons. Our Five Electeds set policy, vote on resolutions and ordinances, hire, fire and direct the administrative efforts of the City Attorney, the City Auditor (if we had one) and the City Manager (when we have one), who really functions as the Chief Executive.

None of our Five Electeds have any more power or authority than the other Four. Each of them has one vote and no one of our Five Electeds have the power to veto anything. They do what they do as a majority or not at all. So it matters what kind of a majority is sitting up there on any given day on any given issue. No three people out of five are going to agree on important issues all the time. Sure, we see unanimous votes on lots of items, but it's the big items where what kind of majority we have matters - a lot.

It's regrettable, but nonetheless true, that we simply do not have a lot of sitting room on that fence between what's good for Lake Worth and what's going to end up costing us millions more in outside counsel legal fees. And there's never enough time for newly Electeds to gel with formerly Electeds before the formerly Electeds have to run for re-election. Our Electeds have to find their footing, keep their balance, get something accomplished and do it in a great big hurry before election season starts up again.

I think it's at least twice now that longer terms for our Electeds have been voted down by those in Lake Worth who care enough to vote. We simply don't want to risk allowing any of our Electeds more time in office just in case one of the "other guys" happens to be elected and we find ourselves with a majority we don't like for more than one year.

All we have, under the system we have now, is what kind of majority do we have in office and who among the candidates that step up is more closely aligned with whatever we think the majority should represent. That's the bitter irony of having non-partisan elections. We, and the Candidates are forced to align with one non-partisan side or the other. Parties run slates of Candidates - Not Non-Partisans. And we do too, we just don't call them slates.

We, and our Candidates, PRETEND that they run on their own merit and we listen every year to every Candidate talk about bringing sides together for the good of the City. But we, and they, know better. In Lake Worth, alliances matter whether you call it partisan or not. And the reason that's true is because majorities matter and individual Electeds don't. Think for a moment of the best City Commissioner or Mayor you ever knew. What was it that they were able to accomplish without at least two other votes? And then how often was that action undone as soon as the majority shifted the very next year?

Maybe all we can expect of a good Mayor or Commissioner is how well they listen. What any of them say or how any of them vote individually sure doesn't matter except to them when re-election time comes around. All that seems to matter is how any three of those Five Electeds vote on things that have consequences all of us are going to have to pay for, long after they're gone from City Hall.

So, I don't have any answers here. And I'm not advocating for longer terms. I'm just counting days. I'm counting days.