Charter review needs to focus on expanding commission, reviewing election structure

Jon Ausman
·2 min read

There are 22 municipalities in the United States that have populations within 10,000 people of the population of Tallahassee.

The average size of the city commissions of these municipalities, including Tallahassee, is 8.2 members. The largest commission is Overland Park, Kansas, which has 13 commissioners. Four other cities, including two city-county consolidated commissions, have 10 or more commissioners: Worcester, Massachusetts, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Columbus, Georgia, and Augusta, Georgia.

Tallahassee City Hall, 300 S. Adams St.
Tallahassee City Hall, 300 S. Adams St.

Only two of the 23 cities have just five persons serving on the commission: Tallahassee and Amarillo, Texas.

In 1980, shortly after I moved to Leon County, the city’s population was 81,548. In 2022 the population was 201,731.  That is a sizable jump in population.  The number of commissioners, five, has remained the same.

I had the pleasure of serving on the Leon County Charter Commission when the Leon County Commission moved from five at-large commissioners to seven commissioners (five from single member districts and two from at-large districts). I also served as an advisor when the Leon County School Board moved from five at-large board members to five single-member districts. Both the County Commission and School Board have served with distinction over the 30-plus years since these changes.

It is notable that most of the municipalities comparable in size to Tallahassee, 19 out of 22, have moved away from the pure at-large system used here in Tallahassee.

Over 70% of the 184 persons elected to serve among these comparable cities are selected from among three district systems. The vast majority come from single-member districts (SMD), two come from super single-member districts (SSMD: in Augusta, Georgia, there are six wards that elect one commissioner each and then a commissioner is elected from two groups of three of the wards combined), and multi-members districts (MMD: used in Overland Park (Kansas) and Grand Rapids (Michigan).

Do recall after the 1980 Census the Florida Legislature moved away from multi-member districts to single member districts.  Around 30% of the commissioners are elected at-large (AL) though this number is inflated as it includes mayors elected citywide who serve on the commissions.

Members of the Charter Review Committee should recommend both expanding the number of commissioners and revising the election structure from a pure at-large system to either single members districts or a combination of district elections with at-large seats.  Members may also want to consider the timing of election dates.

Jon Ausman
Jon Ausman

Jon M. Ausman is the longest serving Chair of the Leon County Democratic Party in Leon County's history (April 1980 to January 2000). He can be reached at ausman@embarqmail.com or at 850-321-7799.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jon Ausman: Expand city commission seats; revisit election structure