Let's Take Over the City

I can safely write this because, according to the built-in counter, nobody reads this blog anyway.

That means I can say things here that I wouldn’t say in, uh, public.

I could, for instance, muse about the upcoming vacancies on the Zephyrhills City Council. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s muse.

The scorecard at this moment shows Council’s Fearless Leaderette, Cathi Compton, making good on her plans to run for the County School Board. To do that she has to resign her City Council presidency before beginning her school board run. Ever dutiful she has already given the city her resignation, effective right after April’s Municipal Election. That’s one seat up for grabs, although her lawyer husband is rumored to be thinking of running. He already dipped his toes into the political waters by serving on the Charter Study Committee, along with this writer and a bunch of others. Our suspicion is that now that he’s seen Council gut his work he’ll either see the light and run from elected city office, or he’ll become filled with a reformer’s zeal and will run for city office.

Next batter up is Liz Geiger. After she beat me last election by one – yes one – vote she pronounced she wouldn’t seek another term. This, of course, is coming from Liz who has been on Council for 14 years. That easily qualifies her as a politician and we all know what happens when politicians move their lips.

I’ve been asked at least twice if I’ll consider running again. My unqualified answer has been ‘NO,’ but then, I’ve run for office once so that qualifies me to be called a politician, and we all know what happens when politicians move their lips. Seriously, the only way I’d run would be if Liz asked me to, and if she’d promise to deliver at least two votes.

Third up is Gina King. Why is it the good die young? The blonde crusader is the best thing to come to city government in decades, but she can’t live on the $4,800 Council stipend and her bosses at Verizon are thinking of promoting her to a job that will put her on the road. One thing Gina knows is that you can’t govern Z’hills from afar. Of course the stress of dealing with the generally wrongheaded City administration and her equally wrongheaded fellow councilpersons is taking its toll. Add it all up and Gina may be moving on, at least she’s not taken out her re-election papers, and may not.

That means potentially three seats on the five-seat Council can be up for grabs in the next election. That, folks, is a majority. A majority.

Now here’s a novel idea. Yes, the Council election is non-partisan, but nothing prevents three like-minded souls from joining together to run as a ticket. Imagine that; three folks in Zephyrhills who agree on the direction the city should take, who can write a platform, run, get elected and TAKE OVER THE CITY.

Arjay

Implosion? Wingnut? Where do they find 'em?

Tom Jackson printed a column in Mother Trib this week that calls one city councilperson a 'wingnut' for her plans to put critical city governance issues before the voters, since the City Council won't. He says these modest proposals put the city of Zepherhills on his list of cities most likely to implode in the coming year. If casting out the rascals and revamping city goverment in a rational fashion is what prompts implosion, let me have a dose of one of those them, that, implosion cocktails. As for the 'wingnut' reference, I find wingnuts to be among the most user friendly members of the hardware family.

Full disclosure here: I was a member of the Charter Study Committee which came up with some of the radical ideas that City Council rejected -- Radical things like term limits (old time pols hate term limits -- are you listening Liz and Clyde?) Radical things like giving Council realistic tools to hire and fire key emloyees like the City Manager. Radical ideas like an article that makes the city provide locally-manned police and fire protection. Some of those ideas were hijacked during the Charter Study Commission's studies, others were hijacked when Council went after the recommendations with a meat axe.

If Councilperson Gina King, the aforementioned 'wingnut' and 'neutron bomb trigger' of Mr. Jackson's column, hadn't come forth with the idea of a citizen's referendum I would have.

Under state law we have to get 725 signatures just to get the questions on the ballot. We plan to get 800 -- that's 126 more people than those who chose to vote at the last municipal election. So, doing the math if every signer voted, the citizen referenda would win in a landslide.

Now, Mr. Jackson might call that an 'implosion' we call it a mandate.

In the meantime, keep your eye out for the petitions to sign. Better yet call Gina at 788-0090 and volunteer to get signatures in your neighborhood or stroll down to L.G. Hood's lawnmower shop and put your John Henry on one of the petitions he has there. Time is of the essence here folks, so do what's right, guarantee at the very least your right to vote on your future, not the Pablum City Council thinks you should vote on.

Arjay