A brief history of our City charters

City of Pensacola residents will soon have the opportunity to vote on a new City charter. It’s the first time they’ve had such an opportunity in 78 years. The 1931 charter under which the City is currently organised provides for a council-manager form of government, in which a part-time City Council exercises both the legislative and executive power. A professional staff, headed by an appointed City Manager, handles the day-to-day operations of the City. The proposed charter which will soon go to referendum provides instead for a mayor-council form of government, also called by some the “strong mayor” form. In that system, the Council is exclusively legislative. An elected mayor, who does not vote on Council, would serve as the City’s chief executive.

When you’re trying to figure out exactly where you’re going, it’s sometimes useful to take a moment to look back at where you’ve been. Since being brought into the United States in 1821, Pensacola has essentially had four different forms of government. The reasons for the changes have varied. Below, we present a brief history of the different charters and forms of government the City of Pensacola has used.

1821-1885: The early years

In the early part of Pensacola’s American history, from 1821 up through Florida’s entrance into the Union in 1845, the City of Pensacola operated under a succession of charters that the Territorial Legislature alternately passed, amended, and repealed. While the specifics of these charters varied, they each provided for a basic, aldermanic, “weak mayor” form of government, which remained in place through 1885.

In imagining what that government was like, think of our current council-manager system, except without the City Manager and his staff. All decisions, big to small, were made by a Board of Aldermen, and any staff they hired answered directly to them. Of course, Pensacola was a much smaller city then, with much fewer decisions to be made. This less formal style of government did just fine.

1885-1895: The Provisional Municipality of Pensacola

After the Civil War, Pensacola government, like that in much of the defeated South, was controlled by Republicans. Control of the state government and Florida Legislature swung back to the Democrats, though, and in 1885, Pensacola’s own Edward Aylesworth Perry was elected Governor of Florida. In order to wrest control of Pensacola government from the Republicans, Governor Perry convinced the Legislature to pass a special act revoking the City of Pensacola’s charter and creating the “Provisional Municipality of Pensacola.”

Under the special act, the “Provisional Municipality” was to be governed by a state-appointed commission, appointed by Governor Perry. He filled it with loyal Democrats like William Dudley Chipley. This commission governed Pensacola for the next ten years, until the Florida Legislature granted Pensacola a new charter in 1895.

1895-1913: Strong mayor,  Take 1

For the full text of the 1895 charter, see Pensapedia.

The 1895 charter provided for a mayor-council government, also called a “strong mayor” government. This in many aspects was much like the government proposed by the CRC’s 2009 charter, with a legislative Council and an executive mayor. The mayor appointed officers of the City, with the Council’s consent, but could dismiss officers at will. There were some differences, though. Under the 1895 charter, the mayor voted only in case of a tie; the mayor under the proposed 2009 charter would never vote. Under the 1895 charter, the City Attorney was elected by the Council; under the proposed 2009 charter, the City Attorney would be a mayoral appointee.

The 1895 charter was only in effect for 18 years, but they were 18 important years. Although Pensacola was booming economically, the “strong” mayor had to handle crises like the 1906 hurricane and the 1908 streetcar workers’ strike. On March 4, 1913, City voters approved a commission charter by an 850-600 vote.

1913-1931: The commission years

A three-member Board of City Commissioners was elected and took office in June 1913. Under this system, the three-member Commission elected from itself a mayor, who chaired the meetings. Each of the three commissioners was responsible for a section of city government: one for police and fire, one for finance and revenue, and one for streets and public works.

A few years after the change to the commission government, a group of citizens decided they didn’t like it and petitioned the Florida Legislature to appoint a review board, which they did. The 15-member Charter Board met for several months before recommending the City revert to the previous mayor-council form of government. On October 10, 1916, the recommendation failed at referendum by a 1225-575 vote, and the commission government was retained.

1931-present: Council-manager

In 1931, the winds of change blew again, and the City adopted a new charter, providing for a council-manager government. This sort of change took place in many other cities as the commission form of government lost popularity after World War I.

The council-manager government is a framework; it’s not a rigid structure. Theoretically, the manager and his staff in a council-manager government are apolitical, don’t have an independent agenda, and are subordinate to the Council. Our council-manager government was like that, once, perhaps; but at some point, city managers and their staffs became dominant and proactive. City Managers like Steve Garman had overt agendas. Over time, the City Council became subordinate to staff in many ways, a trend which has been somewhat but not entirely reversed by the present Council.

The future

The charter proposed by the Charter Review Commission would address a number of issues. It would certainly create a clearer, more defined leadership position, something that many, Progressive Pensacola included, advocate. It would in a sense trade the institutional stability offered by the council-manager government for a system which, for better or worse, would allow elected officials to take control of the agenda.

Is it the right choice? It’s hard to say. Our history shows us that we’ve changed our minds often. Some forms of government were kept around longer than others. The council-manager form of government has served Pensacola for 78 years; but has it served us well? City voters will soon have a chance to decide.