Sparks fly again over how Palmetto picks music acts for festivals in the city

Tensions rose between Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant and city commissioner Harold Smith Monday night during a discussion about the possibility of taking the selection of entertainment for festivals out of the hands of city commissioners.

Palmetto’s Community Redevelopment Agency director Jeff Burton suggested to commissioners the responsibility of choosing entertainment, including music, for festivals held in the city be given to the CRA advisory board.

The move, Burton explained, would de-politicize the selection so commissioners are not making the decision. Bringing it to a CRA advisory board meeting would also keep the process transparent and open to the public. With this set up, commissioners could also come to the meetings and provide their input along with community members.

Smith said “everyone here knows the mayor asked” him to pick the band for the most recent multicultural festival, the city’s annual festival held at Lincoln Park after the Martin Luther King Jr. parade.

Bryant countered it was a move she would never do again.

When Smith started to comment back, Bryant spoke up again.

“I will not have my integrity questioned by you,” Bryant said.

In 2018, Smith took offense to an effort by Bryant to invite a Latin band to play at the festival after she said her review of entertainment selected at the time showed a lack of diversity.

“I don’t want to bring too many people from the outside. ... Getting a Latino band, you don’t know who they’ve been playing for,” Smith said in December 2018.

“If anyone gets shot, it’s on you. I don’t want no problems. It’s been going great. Everyone is having a lot of fun and we need to keep it that way.”

Smith, who is black, also accused the mayor of “intimidating” a CRA employee to ensure the band was included and said he was “appalled” at any insinuation that the musical lineup was not multicultural. Smith had not selected any Latino or white bands and was inappropriately making the entertainment decisions. Commissioners are not allowed to be in charge of city events.

Commissioner Brian Williams said the policy is that the mayor makes appointments and the commissioners ratify them.

“I don’t believe the mayor is going out and appointing any one of us as going out to make sure we do this or that without making sure we ratify it as a group,” Williams said.

The process, Burton said Monday, has been a group effort in the past. Previously, staff made the decision on the performing acts and informed the board.

“What happened tonight is why we want to take it to the advisory committee,” Burton said.

It’s getting to point where it needs to be serious and transparent, Burton told commissioners, adding they needed set rules and policies. He did not want to create another board when the CRA advisory board already exists and is made up of members of the community, not elected officials.

Burton further suggested city officials end any on-stage presence during festivals and events. Leave on-stage presence to the DJ for the event, even if it costs a little more money. Extra funds were added to the CRA budget if that is the case, according to Burton.

In order for these changes to happen, the CRA Board, which is made up of city commissioners, has to approve of the proposal, Burton said.

No official action was taken Monday. If no direction is given by the board, Burton said they can take a number of potential acts to the CRA advisory board and get their consideration to bring back the CRA board.

This story was originally published August 6, 2019 at 4:57 AM.