Ex-mayor Evers objects to election change

BRADENTON — The Bradenton City Council changed its election calendar Wednesday morning over the objection of a former mayor who accused the elected officials of making the move for their “own self-good, not for the people.”

Council members voted unanimously to move elections for mayor and city council from odd years to even years to match up with county and state races.

The move is expected to save the city as much as $110,000 every two years by allowing it to share the costs of the supervisor of elections, poll workers and printing of ballots. City officials also hope it will increase voter turnout.

But former Mayor Bill Evers opposed the change because city elections scheduled for 2011 will now take place in 2012, extending the four-year terms of Mayor Wayne Poston and all five council members to five years.

“You’re going to get a free year without the people having any say-so whatsover,” Evers said during a public hearing. “Yes, it will save us money, but what will it cost the people in the meantime?”

City Clerk Carl Callahan said state law prohibits the city from shortening the terms of elected officials.

“It is certainly legal to do this,” Poston told Evers. “I don’t think it’s breaking faith with the people.”

Evers, who served as mayor from 1980 through 1999, has lost the last three mayoral elections to Poston.

The change will allow Poston, Vice Mayor and Ward 5 Councilman Harold Byrd Jr., and Ward 1 Councilman Gene Gallo to avoid previously scheduled elections in 2011. They will run in 2012. The three other council members who were scheduled to come up for re-election in 2013 will run in 2014.

Evers was joined in opposition to the ordinance by Richard O’Brien, who ran unsuccessfully for Ward 3 councilman in 2009, and former city employee Susan Erwin.

“What you are doing, in effect, is extending the term without the vote of the people,” Erwin said.

Ward 3 Councilman Patrick Roff said council members looked at the election change as a way to save money during a budget process that has city officials looking to cut $1.6 million.

“We’re running out of things to cut,” Roff said. “It’s as simple as that.”

The council also adopted an ordinance that would put a referendum on the ballot to eliminate runoff elections.

Currently, any race with more than two candidates goes to a runoff if none of the candidates collects more than 50 percent of the vote. Poston and Evers met in a runoff during the 2007 election when neither attracted a majority of votes in a matchup against Bill Johnson. Poston won the subsequent runoff by 23 votes.

If voters approve the referendum, whichever candidate receives the most votes wins, whether that candidate earns a majority or not.

Evers and Erwin also objected to the runoff ordinance, saying the absence of runoff elections will make it harder for a challenger to unseat an incumbent when several candidates split the vote.

“This is nothing but a bailout for incumbents,” Evers said. “A majority should rule. We’re breaking that up.”

The referendum will be on the ballot in the next available election after the November election, Callahan said.

Also Wednesday, council voted unanimously to extend the boundaries of the Bradenton Community Redevelopment Area to include Rossi Waterfront Park and the new Manatee Players theater.

The move will allow the Manatee Players to ask the Downtown Development Authority to contribute Tax Increment Financing that could help the troupe move closer to opening the Third Avenue West theater. Manatee Players needs $3.5 million to open the venue.

The park will receive money for safety improvements, lighting and pavement upgrades through the DDA.

This story was originally published August 19, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Ex-mayor Evers objects to election change."