Bradenton mayor will hold onto police commissioner job. Voters reject council oversight
The Bradenton mayor will hold onto his job as police commissioner after voters narrowly struck down a proposed charter amendment to give the city council more oversight over the police department.
In Tuesday’s election, voters in the city cast 11,924, or 51.2%, of the ballots to strike down the proposed amendment to the city’s charter while 11,368 voters, or 48.8%, were in favor.
Traditionally, Bradenton’s mayor has also served as police commissioner, having the sole authority to hire, fire and approve decisions made by the chief of police. But at a time across the country when there is a call for more accountability and transparency in law enforcement agencies, Mayor Wayne Poston fought the proposal that would have given the city council jurisdiction over the police department.
“Since this failed, we will need to have the council go to school and understand how the charter works,” Poston said Tuesday night. “The people have spoken and they said we don’t want to change it. So if the people say that, then let’s operate the charter as it written.”
Poston added that his office does more than just have oversight, but acts as a chief executive over the department.
As police commissioner, Poston was alone in the final decision to hire Melanie Bevan as police chief in 2016.
The city council attempted to past an ordinance in June to strip the mayor’s office of this power, but was struck down after a veto from Poston.
But the council took the issue up again in July following the appointment of Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey, who replaced Gene Brown.
Brown resigned as part of his successful bid for the mayor’s job. Barnebey voted with Councilmen Harold Byrd Jr., Bill Sanders and Patrick Roff to override Poston’s veto and put the question on the ballot.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:14 PM.
