Pensacola Mayor Ashton J. Hayward
October 17, 2011

In the summer of 2007, a small group of Pensacola citizens, business leaders and political activists gathered in a small room on the second floor of a local bank building to discuss how they could make local government more responsive and more effective. This small group of citizens began a public dialogue that eventually resulted in the Pensacola City Council appointing a citizen-led Charter Review Commission. This Commission was charged with reviewing and updating the Pensacola City Charter, last updated in 1931.

After months of deliberations, investigations, testimony from academics, political leaders, and citizens, the Charter Review Commission presented its recommended Charter to the city council. In addition to several technical changes, the proposed Charter included two major changes to the city's structure of government. First, the proposed Charter implemented term limits for every city officeholder, but combined those term limits with longer, four-year terms, as opposed to the previous two-year terms. Second, the new document recommended a change from the former Council-Manager form of government to a new, Mayor-Council form of government, giving the mayor broad authority over personnel, contracts and budgets. In 2009, the voters of Pensacola approved this new Charter by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin, in a citywide mail ballot special election. It was during my time as a volunteer for this Charter reform effort that I decided I would run for mayor under the new form of government.

Following my election as the city's first mayor under the new Charter, the work of the new Mayor-Council structure began in earnest. While there were several technical issues, or questions of policy and procedure that needed to be resolved, by and large the transition was a smooth one. Some city staff were reluctant to accept the new model of the organization, and some members of city council had trouble adjusting to the newer, diminished role of that legislative branch. Nonetheless, recognizing that I was not only one of the youngest mayors in recent Pensacola history, but also the precedent'setting first mayor under the new Charter, I determined that I was going to implement my 20 Solutions for 2011 campaign platform to create jobs, improve neighborhoods, make government more accountable, and take action on lingering city problems.

Since my swearing-in on January 11 of this year, I-ve learned several lessons and made several observations about this Mayor-Council structure. Here are a few of them.

Even before I was a candidate for office, I had a clear idea of what Pensacola could be, given all of its assets – a world-class waterfront, a fantastic airport, the largest municipal gas company in Florida, centuries of history, and a thriving arts and entertainment community. Taking these assets, and leveraging the city's policy and development tools to support them, is making Pensacola a better place to live, work, and play. In this Mayor-Council form of government, citizens have a clear picture of where the buck stops – it stops with me. There is no more bureaucratic maze to navigate under the previous, staff-driven structure. If I don-t produce for the citizens, they know exactly who to blame. Having a clear idea of what I want to do for Pensacola, pursing that vision, and being able to convey that vision to the citizens, the region, and my staff, keeps me focused and gives the city staff a framework for their daily activities.

Despite the broad powers of the mayor's office under the new Charter, there are still important roles played by the legislative branch, the city council. Policies, ordinances, and budget decisions are all approved by the council, as well as certain staffing decisions. I learned during my ten years in the corporate world that building consensus is critical to be successful as an operation. Whenever possible, I and my staff have worked diligently to build community, political, and legislative consensus on major policy initiatives or budget decisions. Most of the time, that consensus happens and we are successful. However, I-ve also learned as mayor that sometimes consensus isn-t possible, and it is at those times that leadership matters most. Relentlessly pursuing a vision means going it alone, and in this form of government, I-ve learned to be prepared for that. Clearly, the decision to lead away from the pack cannot be a quixotic chasing of windmills, but leadership demands making tough decisions. Sometimes the long-term health of the city conflicts with short-term political considerations, or the conventional wisdom of the crowd, but that is just the cost of leadership. It is also the responsibility with which I have been entrusted by the citizens, and they are expecting me to lead.

ead away from the pack cannot be a quixotic chasing of windmills, but leadership demands making tough decisions. Sometimes the long-term health of the city conflicts with short-term political considerations, or the conventional wisdom of the crowd, but that is just the cost of leadership. It is also the responsibility with which I have been entrusted by the citizens, and they are expecting me to lead.

The corollary to pursuing a vision, and leading the way to that vision, is that good communication is essential. One of my earliest priorities as a new mayor was to encourage regular communication of city activites and "victories," no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, and to relate those activities to my broader vision for Pensacola. In this day and age of modern communication, it is easy to become overwhelmed at the sheer volume of inputs in our lives. For my city, and my vision, to cut through the media clutter, we work diligently to convey information about our policy initiatives, budget issues, and government reforms every week. Sometimes the story is front-page news, sometimes it is a part of the local government roundup, but in every case, we tie these initiatives directly to our vision to make Pensacola more livable and more business-friendly. Not only are we communicating what we are doing for the citizens, but we are also communicating why we are doing it. This gives the public a sense of engagement and an opportunity to "buy in" to the city.

In just nine short months, we have implemented almost all of my 20 Solutions for 2011. By seizing the initiative and pursuing a plan, building consensus when possible, and communicating regularly with the public, I believe that Pensacola is moving quickly to being a regional leader and a national attraction for business and families. We are rolling back property tax rates, while still continuing to invest in infrastructure, parks, cleaner energy, and neighborhoods. None of this would have happened in such a short time without the new form of government. By having a clear idea of where to take the city, and the authority and responsibility for enacting that vision, the new Mayor-Council form of government has been, in my opinion, a tremendous success.

Ashton J. Hayward is Mayor of Pensacola (FL). He can be contacted at (850) 435-1626 or through the websitewww.CityofPensacola.com