Bradenton Beach officials struggle to clarify powers of mayor, define administrative oversight

BRADENTON BEACH -- The Bradenton Beach Commission struggled Tuesday to interpret parts of the city charter detailing the role of mayor and defining what administrative oversight of city government means.

After discussing at length whether they would like to serve as liaisons to department heads, officials voted 4-0 to have City Attorney Ricinda Perry prepare an agenda item for further policy discussion on the city charter at a later meeting.

Commissioner Ralph Cole pointed out Bradenton Beach has no city manager and asked his fellow commissioners for clarification on the definition of administrative oversight.

According to the city charter, the mayor is the executive head of the city government. In addition to duties as a voting member of the commission, the mayor is "responsible for administrative oversight of the city government."

Cole pointed out a part of the charter states the mayor may appoint commissioners as liaisons to city departments and functions.

"If the mayor can't do it, he can delegate you as liaison, so if he didn't want to oversee one of the departments for a certain amount of time or wanted you to get familiar with it so you know how it ran, he could delegate you as liaison from the commission to the department head," Cole said. "There's an option there. I don't know if past mayors have done that. I know it was done when my dad was here. In fact, when he was a commissioner, they made him liaison to the garbage -- when we had our own garbage collection."

Cole's father, Gail Cole, is a former mayor of Bradenton Beach.

Attorney Perry told officials their role is to see if there's an area in the charter specifically related to article II, section 3 (which lays out the duties and powers of the mayor and vice mayor) that needs clarification.

Mayor William Shearon was unable to attend the meeting, but an email he sent to the city commission Sunday evening was read aloud. In it, Shearon said he looked forward to direction from commissioners.

"As you discuss the policies and procedures presented, it is my hope the commission will understand the concerns from the county investigator, auditor and city attorney," the mayor wrote. "Complete restructure of our policies and procedures is necessary."

According to Vice Mayor Edward Straight, officials in the past encouraged each other to visit all city departments.

"I don't think we want a commissioner to oversee a department, right?" he said. "That's not what we're talking about."

Straight then asked city department heads for their thoughts on the matter.

"Since you have a voting mayor, maybe it would be a good idea for the department head to actually be the one doing the negotiating and then bringing that forward to the commission," said City Clerk Terri Sanclemente, "so that you guys can say what you want and what you don't want in a contract."

Bradenton Beach Public Works Director Tom Woodard told officials he believes it's up to the commission to decide how they want things to run.

"Things are much more constructive when I receive direction from the commission and I'm allowed to go and do what I'm supposed to do -- acting as a city representative, manager, what have you and bringing you back the information," he said. "That seems to be a more productive way of doing things, in my experience. ... but I'm a city employee. I'll do what the commission directs. That's what I'm here for."

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter@AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Bradenton Beach officials struggle to clarify powers of mayor, define administrative oversight ."