I was out of town for work and was unable to attend the May 13th city commission meeting in person. However, I have watched the recording of the meeting multiple times and certainly read the news clips from various media outlets especially the coverage of the “City Manager Recruitment Process” agenda item.
Let me put some data on the table since my opinion may draw some fire.
I am not running for any local office. I did apply in 2018 with 92 other people to fill Scott Maddox’s vacant city commission seat.
I have made previous political contributions to all three sitting commissioners in the 3-2 current split. That does not mean I agree with 100% of policy position those sitting commissioners have or have taken during their tenure.
In August 2021, the Tallahassee Democrat published a Your Turn column by me with the headline “Matlow’s political style requires a villain”.
I have been in a meeting with Reese Goad, in my memory, on only one occasion, which was a meeting of a volunteer committee I was serving on with the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. I do not know him personally or professionally beyond that.
With all this public record data on the table, my opinion piece today focuses on the discussion of good governance.
While I respect the commentary about the “pending possible changes” to the composition of the city commissioner post November elections, given that there are two open seats on the panel and one contested seat on the commission during the 2026 election cycle.
The fact of the matter is that “best practices” in the corporate, civic, and not for profit worlds indicate that the currently populated governance body should be the one to conduct the search for a city manager.
The city manager’s role (a CEO in a private sector setting) is extremely important. The budget for the City of Tallahassee is public record for all to see at Tallahassee / FY2026 Adopted Budget and Historical Budgets.
To potentially ask two if not three “new commissioners” to provide the most effective fiduciary oversight on the search process for the city manager vacancy post November elections does not make logical sense. Yes, some candidates have been in office before, but the city’s needs, demographics and vision are different from when they served in the past.
Tallahassee City Hall, 300 S. Adams St.
This is not meant to be a slight to any of the declared candidates running for office and their intent or their backgrounds. However, most would be coming in “green” not only to their commissioner role, but certainly to their understanding of the role of the city manager.
Like it or not, the current commission has the most governance experience conducting the search for the next city manager.
Bennett Napier
Bennett Napier has served as CEO for several not for profit organizations during his 30-year-plus career and served as a board member on a number of local, state, and national not for profit organizations including as board chair. He is President/CEO of Partners in Association Management headquartered in Tallahassee.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Sitting Tallahassee commission should choose new manager | Opinion