By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Where do Apopka City Council powers begin and end? Can it have a city clerk or city attorney removed, or does that require a Mayor's decision? Do they serve at the pleasure of the Mayor, Council, or both?
These are critical questions that Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson and the City Council will need to answer to avoid what is shaping up to be a City Charter crisis.
In its April 14th edition, Nelson told The Apopka Chief that the decision to fire City Attorney Michael Rodriguez and Fire Chief Sean Wylam was up to him and that the 3-2 votes to remove them both (at the April 5th meeting 11 days ago) did not change his mind.
"It's just a ceremonial vote," Nelson said. "They have no authority to fire anybody."
The City Council, however, sees things differently.
"My interpretation of our Charter permits the collective City Council, of which our Mayor is included as part, the ability to fire the City Attorney, which we did at our last meeting with causes stated by three of the majority members," said Commissioner Kyle Becker. "Clearly, we will need to take further steps to make that a reality. It appears the Mayor seeks the will of our Council only on topics convenient to him."
Commissioner Diane Velazquez was also frustrated by Nelson's remarks.
"The days after the last marathon public council meeting, I learned through the Channel 9 News, The Orlando Sentinel, and the local Apopka Chief newspaper that the Mayor has no intention of removing the fire chief from his leadership position or terminating the services of our city attorney," Velazquez said in a statement to The Apopka Voice. "The Mayor referred to the official VOTE taken, 3-2 at the dais, as being "ceremonial". I researched the Apopka City Charter and Florida Statutes to find if the chair conducting an official public meeting can arbitrarily dismiss an official VOTE as ceremonial when an official VOTE was made by the sitting elected commissioners. To date, I can’t find any documentation or case law that would allow the chair/mayor to dismiss an official VOTE."
Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore, who represents District 2 (which includes parts of Apopka), also disagreed with Nelson's assessment of the Council's vote.
On her Facebook page from April 14th, she made the following statement:
"The (City) charter is quite clear that the Apopka general counsel serves at the pleasure of both the Mayor and Council. It is vital that all members of any board can freely consult legal counsel trusting the advice given. I pray [Mayor] Nelson gets another opinion."
Moore expanded her thoughts in a statement to The Apopka Voice on April 15th:
"I asked and received legal advice from a reputable attorney," Moore said. "It is important for the Council to get together on an attorney they can all support."
Moore also had advice for charter revisions that would deal with issues such as this one in the future.
"The Council can only impact the two charter positions - attorney and clerk. The fire chief is up to the Mayor. However, I would advocate for a policy for annual reappointments, which would require council approval. The County Commission and School Board do so."
In a strong Mayor form of government, the Mayor is given a lot of power. Here is a part of what the charter lays out:
The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city and shall be responsible to the electorate for the administration of all city affairs placed in his/her charge by or under this Charter. The mayor shall:
- Appoint, and, when the mayor deems it necessary for the good of the city, suspend or terminate all city employees and appointive administrative officers provided for by or under this Charter. Department heads shall be appointed by the mayor and ratified by the city council. The mayor may authorize any administrative officer who is subject to the mayor's direction and supervision to exercise these powers with respect to subordinates in that officer's department, office, or agency.
- Direct and supervise the administration of all departments, offices, and agencies of the city, except as otherwise provided by this Charter or by law.
But the charter also makes a distinction as it applies to the city clerk and city attorney positions, where it seems to depend on what the definition of "and" is:
ARTICLE III. - CLERK AND CITY ATTORNEY, AND CITY ADMINISTRATOR
Sec. 3.01. - Appointment and duties of clerk and city attorney.
- The city clerk and city attorney shall be appointed by the mayor and ratified by the city council. The city clerk and city attorney shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor and the city council.
Do you need BOTH or EITHER the mayor and/or city council to remove the city clerk or city attorney?
Nelson, however, shows no signs of wavering.
In an interview with WESH-2 News a week earlier (on April 6th), Nelson said he would stick with Wylam.
"I think he's done a good job," Nelson said. "I mean, you know, it was an accident," he said. "We haven't had a lot of turnover. We’re putting in those things that maybe we were lacking, and he knows that continuous improvement is what he has to do to get the vote of confidence of the firefighters here in Apopka."
Becker, however, is adamant about his lack of confidence in Wylam to lead the Apopka Fire Department.
"While I agree that a vote of no confidence regarding Chief Wylam was ceremonial in terms of the authority the current Charter grants our Council, I think it shameful that our Mayor keeps finding excuses to defend the Chief’s performance when the vast majority of the Chief’s own workforce has given him the same vote of no confidence, as well as the State Fire Marshal’s report documenting training deficiencies, the significant negative findings of the Gannon report, a report the Mayor and Chief commissioned without the guidance of Council," Becker said. "Yet with all of this compelling evidence and more, the Mayor gives the Chief a perfect job rating and
continues to publicly diminish the significance of the sand trailer in this tragedy based on his disgusting remarks in a recent WESH 2 news interview. I would challenge the Mayor to answer the question of why he or the Chief hadn’t done anything over the last four years. They are the ones accountable for the full day-to-day operations of the city and their department from day one and every day thereafter - no excuses.
In the interview with WESH 2 News, Nelson said:
"We're talking about one [sand] trailer, okay, one sand trailer that went through four fire chiefs, was never, ever taken out of service," Nelson said. "So if it was so dangerous, why didn't somebody say, 'Hey, fire chief, why don't you take it out of place?'"
Moore is also concerned about the AFD and how it would serve the residents of South Apopka if they were to be annexed.
"I watched this [April 5th] meeting last night," said Moore. "I hope the fire department gets the help they need now to move forward. I cannot support annexation of folks in South Apopka until the department is fully trained and Austin Duran’s family receives the peace they need to move forward, knowing that their son’s death was not in vain."
The next Apopka City Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19th at 7 pm.
