Panama City Beach Council gives city manager more decision-making power in emergencies

PANAMA CITY BEACH − The city manager now has more unilateral decision-making power during select emergencies.

The Panama City Beach City Council on Tuesday approved the second and final reading of an ordinance to give the city manager the authority to make governing decisions during natural, technological and human-made emergencies without the approval of the council. Such situations might include hurricanes or terrorist attacks.

This adds to an existing ordinance put in place in April 2022 that gave the city manager the same authority during civil emergencies. The ruling came in the wake of "Panamaniac," an unsanctioned event that created a dramatic spike in crime throughout the area.

"Time is of essence," Councilman Phil Chester said. "Bottom line, I think it's a good tool. If we need to come in and take care of the (city manager) if something goes wrong, we can. ... I think we need to have it (and) implement it."

"We can always call an emergency meeting and undo anything in a matter of hours," Mayor Mark Sheldon said. "This lets us be more responsive to something and less reactive."

The ordinance allows the city manager to quickly act during such emergencies without wasting time waiting for the City Council to call an emergency meeting to determine the city's next steps. This might include creating curfews, blocking roads, halting alcohol sales or closing businesses.

Without the updated ordinance, it took an emergency City Council meeting to enact an official state of emergency in the aftermath of a hurricane or terrorist attack in Panama City Beach. Such meetings can only be called by either the mayor or three members of the council.

An official state of emergency must be in place before city employees are eligible for disaster pay − something the city can be reimbursed for by the federal government. If a devastating hurricane were to hit PCB, it might take a day or so before an emergency meeting could be organized by the City Council.

Meanwhile, there still might be emergency decisions that need to be made − decisions that without the updated ordinance could not happen until an emergency meeting occurs.

Along with giving the city manager more authority during emergencies, the updated ordinance set at 42-day limit for how long the City Council could extend any emergency measure enacted by the city manager. Officials have said this timeline was added to be uniform with the sate Legislature.

Any executive emergency decisions made by the city manager can only last up to 72 hours without a vote by the council.

"Everything in the ordinance exists in state statute," Councilman Michael Jarman said. "This is not manufactured for our own pleasure. The state of Florida, in its statute, grants these powers to a local municipality, whether we have an ordinance or not.

"This ordinance gives us clear instructions as to how we are going to exercise those powers and how we will control them. ... This is not a willy-nilly ordinance, nor can it be applied as such. There are many checks and balances."

First reading: Panama City Beach council ready to give city manager more authority during emergencies

The update to the ordinance was introduced during a City Council meeting in July, where Mary Coburn was the only member of the council who said it was a bad idea. Noting that her opinion has not changed, Coburn also voted against it on Tuesday.

Sheldon, Chester and Jarman voted in favor of the update. Councilman Paul Casto, who voted with the majority during the first reading, was not at the Tuesday meeting to cast a final vote. The ordinance passed 3-1.

"I understand civil unrest," Coburn said. "I voted for taking action and putting the (previous) ordinance out, but this expands that ordinance to natural, technological or other manmade disasters that have occurred or are imminent, whether or not the county or the state recognizes that emergency.

"To me, that is broad and overreaching. ... I do not think it is necessary, and I think that it could have dire consequences."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City Beach allows city manager more power in emergencies