Be wary of a big idea that any elected official springs on his colleagues at the end of a long meeting.
Be doubly wary if that idea never appeared on a public agenda, which means the people had no advance knowledge it was coming.
And be triply wary if that surprise was sprung by a city official who is resigning his seat and, figuratively speaking, already has one foot out the door.
All of this just happened in Delray Beach.
Those are three reasons — there are many more — why city officials should quickly reject an idea that Commissioner Rob Long floated on the night of Oct. 14.
A supermajority vote
Long wants his four colleagues to place a question before city voters to require a supermajority vote — four of five commissioners — to fire the city manager. That used to be the rule in the city, but the voters eliminated it more than a decade ago.
The proposal may seem hopelessly bureaucratic. It’s not. It’s a seismic change, which is why it requires approval of voters in a city election.
Delray is governed by a five-member board, with a mayor and four commissioners. On many issues, every single vote is critical.
City Manager Terrence Moore has run the bureaucracy since 2021.
It has been an exceedingly rocky ride at times, with a number of scandals in city government, but he’s still there, more than four years later.
Changing from a simple majority of three to a supermajority of four would mean Moore would keep his job even if he lost the support of a bare majority of the commission.
A history lesson
Long provided a brief history lesson, that Delray used to require a supermajority vote to fire the manager until voters repealed it.
“We kind of know what followed,” Long said. “There was a lot of churn at the top and difficulty finding qualified replacements. That revolving door hurt continuity, morale, recruiting and public trust.”
Long was also right that a period of extreme instability followed. But that’s because the city made seriously boneheaded hiring decisions in the city manager’s office.
“Our history is the strongest lesson here,” Long argued. “Delray was steadier under a supermajority.”
Not necessarily.
Remember George?
When City Hall was rocked by turmoil in 2020, George Gretsas, the eighth manager in seven years, was fired — on a 3-2 vote. If the supermajority rule were still in effect, Gretsas might still be in charge.
Unfortunately, Long is wrong. Delray Beach should leave things as is.
Long said a higher bar for removal would make the manager less vulnerable to “political winds,” and yes, Moore often appears to be looking over his shoulder to make sure he still has three votes. As controversy ebbs and flows, so does the manager’s job security.
But the real-life effect of the change Long wants is to insulate an ineffective or incompetent city manager and make it nearly impossible to get rid of him.
At a city meeting on Oct. 21, Commissioner Juli Casale challenged Long on his claim that most other surrounding cities have a “four-to-fire” provision.
Casale did some homework and got copies of other cities’ charters. Boynton Beach has a supermajority rule, she said, but many others do not, including Boca Raton, Lake Worth Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington. It’s three-to-fire in Fort Lauderdale, but four’s the rule down in Pembroke Pines.
Casale vows to fight to defeat Long’s proposal, which must pass twice as a city ordinance. It could come up for discussion on Nov. 4 and Nov. 18.
Let everyone vote
Another flaw in Long’s proposal, as he proposed it, is that a charter change would go before voters in March, on the same date that many other cities in Palm Beach County hold municipal elections.
In our opinion, more votes is more of a mandate. Put it on the November general election ballot, when the turnout will be much higher. A change this important needs the input of as many Delray Beach voters as possible.
A supermajority vote requirement is inherently undemocratic. It makes the minority even weaker.
As Long may soon discover if, as expected, he wins a December special election to fill a vacant seat in the state House of Representatives (District 90), he will have to live as a Democrat in a state Capitol controlled by a Republican supermajority.
For Democrats, it’s very frustrating. The GOP has the votes to crush the minority Democrats on any issue it wants.
What’s so bad about the simple concept of majority rule? It’s more democratic, and it should remain that way in Delray.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
