The Kant is dead. Long live the Quinn!
Not so long ago a member of the Fairhope city council described the city as having a so-so council and an Imperial Mayor. That was then and this is now – and now means a newly energized council under the leadership of Debbie Quinn. And now means the once-Imperial Tim Kant is rapidly being reduced to the Weak Mayor that the state constitution mandates for a city of Fairhope’s size.
Although a contentious work session the previous week gave the community a preview of the enormous shift in power that was in the making, the start of the council meeting Nov. 11 suggested little had changed. After preliminaries were over, Mayor Kant had the financial status of the city summarized. Even this customary shallow look revealed serious revenue problems. As in the past, higher utility rates and increased fees were suggested as solutions.
Then, taking advantage of having the floor, Mayor Tim launched into a meandering story about a check he authorized to pay for drainage improvements at Quail Creek being held up by a council member. We learned the history of the project, going back to 1986, and how the relationship with the landowner had been jeopardized by this unseemly behavior. In the old days this sort of thing would have derailed the proceedings and become an immediate cause célèbre.
Unlike the previous council, this new council with its new president, the re-elected Debbie Quinn, and two new members, Lonnie Mixon and Rick Kingrea, had control and knew where they were going. So Kant was allowed to rattle on until finished and then everyone moved to the next subject. The mayor left a short time later. I guess if you can’t sit up on the dais with the big dogs and you can’t dominate the agenda, council meetings aren’t fun any more.
From that point on the council members showed they were focused and had done their homework. Mixon led off. He had found out from the folks in Montgomery exactly what the powers of the council are and how they are to be implemented. As described in Lonnie’s a two-page handout, the city council has great power – if they enact ordinances to exercise their authority.
The former council members enacted little or nothing in this area, and, in fact, appeared to have just begun to understand how things were intended to run when their terms in office ended. Evidence of this was long-serving council member Mike Ford’s querulous question as to why the rest of the council was trying to cut the mayor out of everything.
“Now we have the power we want to change everything,” Ford complained. But he could do little to halt the transfer of authority from the mayor to the council. Tersely replying that the actions were necessary because this is the way things should have been all along, Council President Quinn moved through the agenda.
City employees are hired and fired by the council: Passed.
Council meetings can be called only by council members – not the mayor: Passed.
Repealing the ordinance establishing the mayor as head of city utilities: Passed.
Hiring consultants only with approval of the council: Passed.
Some topics were tabled, but the big changes in how the city is to be run were approved with little debate – except for consistent Kant supporter Mike Ford. He made it clear, again and again, that he was unhappy about how things were going. He was especially critical of the new authority the council took on in the personnel area – and in this he was not alone.
Several residents agreed that, while legally correct, having the council hire and fire, while the mayor supervised the employees’ daily activities, wouldn’t work. One old soldier in the audience said the mayor was left with responsibility but no authority, adding, “If you can hire and fire, you got them by the (anatomical reference), and after that their hearts and minds will follow (the council’s direction).”
There were some other rough spots during the meeting, but as Debbie noted, “We’re still learning.” Rick Kingrea observed that the next three or four months will be rocky. Picking up where Ford left off, he commented on the difficulty inherent in the authority the council had just accepted in personnel matters – “It needs to be clear that there is only one boss and one voice in dealing with city employees.”
He could have added, “And this is just one of those rocks.” Finances are a problem that will affect every action the council takes; most certainly they will have to seek additional revenue. Raising utility rates or cutting services are both unpopular solutions. Maybe even more unpopular (irrationally so, to my mind) is having visitors share in the burden of paying for Fairhope’s “life-style” by enacting a city sales tax. Any fix will be a hard sell and the council better start talking about the alternatives real soon.
But for the moment Fairhopeans can celebrate their new council. Its members have shown they eagerly take on the responsibilities the constitution grants them. In doing this they can start addressing many of the financial and administrative problems that have been glossed over for years. Most of all celebrate that this council has made the commitment and has the authority to execute its newly assumed responsibilities with transparency and fairness.
Contact Pete Gleszer at jubilee@lagniappemobile.com.
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