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The Charter Review Advisory Commission will recommend changes to Tampa\u2019s governing document (Alex English)<\/p>\nThe Charter Review Advisory Commission will recommend changes to Tampa\u2019s governing document (Alex English)<\/p>\n
Inside Tampa\u2019s Old City Hall, a Plan Hillsborough staffer offered a striking projection: over the next nine years, the city\u2019s population will swell by another 15 percent, to about 475,000. Most of the arrivals will land in central Tampa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the urban core, one in six residents will be new to the city. And the rules for how the municipal government operates in the city they\u2019ll be moving to haven\u2019t kept pace. While Tampa has seen a decade of rapid growth and change, the city\u2019s current charter was adopted 50 years ago. Like its industrial waterfront, the city has outgrown its governing framework, and now it\u2019s up for review.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enter the Charter Review Advisory Commission, a group of residents appointed by the City Council and mayor to review the charter, discuss and debate how the city should function at its most fundamental level, and recommend changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be awkward for elected officials to rewrite the rules that govern them,\u201d says Stephen Benson, a commission member appointed by Council member Guido Maniscalco. \u201cThe review process asks independent residents to consider what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not, and how the city\u2019s government should evolve as Tampa grows.\u201d<\/p>\n
By September, the commission will make recommendations to the City Council on what, if anything, should change in the charter. The City Council will then approve or reject the recommendations, and the mayor will sign or veto. Each proposed amendment that makes it through the process will appear as a referendum on the March 2027 ballot.<\/p>\n
The process is a rare opportunity for citizen community leaders to provide direct input on how the city is run. But what\u2019s really under review isn\u2019t just language, it\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
Power and friction<\/p>\n
In 2023, proposed charter amendments focused on the balance of power between the City Council, the city\u2019s legislative branch, and the mayor and administration, the executive branch. The City Council voted to put five charter amendments on the ballot. Mayor Jane Castor vetoed all five. A City Council supermajority overrode four of the five vetoes. The disputes centered on increased council control over city departments and police oversight. The mayoral veto that survived the override vote was Tampa\u2019s first in over 30 years. Unlike the current process, there was no Charter Review Advisory Commission in 2023. The City Council proposed the amendments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be a natural rub between the two branches,\u201d says Garrett Greco, an appointee of Council member Alan Clendenin. \u201cToo much tension is bad, but too little is also bad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amendments approved in 2023 set a limit of four consecutive terms for City Council members and require the charter review process every eight years, instead of every 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, the City Council has sent the Charter Review Commission issues such as additional consideration of mayoral term limits, the extent of City Council\u2019s independent investigative power, and clarification of the role of the city attorney, and whether they are ultimately accountable to the mayor or council. Another question is whether the charter should establish arbitration protocols for disputes between the branches.<\/p>\n
Bobby Creighton, an appointee of Council member Lynn Hurtak, felt the city attorney should not represent the council and the mayor\u2019s administration when only the administration evaluates the attorney\u2019s job performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an equity issue,\u201d Creighton says. \u201cThe City Council needs its own independent attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growth\u2019s impact<\/p>\n
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Redevelopment and a population surge transformed Tampa; the city charter is largely unchanged (City of Tampa)<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s rapid growth has sparked debate over whether the City Council should have more than seven members. Compared to cities of similar population, Tampa is below the national average of nine city council seats but right around the average for population per council seat (58,000), according to data provided by Plan Hillsborough, the local planning agency and the entity tasked with redrawing the city council districts boundaries every four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is no standard rule of thumb for how municipal governing bodies are organized. More council members would mean more voices and representation, but potentially more gridlock.\u00a0The advisory commission is also reviewing residency requirements for municipal employees, a question that touches on housing affordability and whether city residency should trump the worthiness of a qualified candidate who lives outside the city limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The decision-makers<\/p>\n
For all its work, the commission doesn\u2019t actually decide anything. The City Council puts amendments on the ballot. The mayor can veto their decision, and a council supermajority can override a veto.<\/p>\n
The voters have the final say and, historically, turnout in Tampa\u2019s springtime municipal elections hovers around 15 percent, according to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. By comparison, countywide turnout was 79 percent for the 2024 general election, when the presidency was on the ballot.<\/p>\n
The Spring 2027 ballot will also include a mayoral election that may well set the city\u2019s direction for the next decade, even if only a small portion of city voters participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need more people to get involved civically and to pay attention to elections,\u201d Greco says.<\/p>\n
Community ties<\/p>\n
The Charter Review Advisory Commission\u2019s members have deep community ties and involvement.<\/p>\n
District 5 Council member Naya Young<\/a>\u2018s appointee, Ashley Morrow, is a local historian and photographer<\/a>, a fifth-generation Tampanian, and a fixture at Tampa City Council meetings, where she starts by saying, \u201cMy name is Ashley, and I will be sharing Tampa\u2019s Black history.\u201d<\/p>\n Her presence is a reminder that the charter isn\u2019t just about structure \u2014 it\u2019s about who that structure serves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see what\u2019s happened nationally with constitutional challenges. I\u2019m here to protect the interests of the people in my community\u2014East Tampa\u2014in our city ordinances,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Garrett Greco is also a Tampa legacy. His grandfather, Dick Greco Jr., was mayor twice. Greco is also the creator and host of the Tampa Bay Developer podcast, which features local leaders, movers, and shakers discussing development and related topics like transit, planning and zoning, and urban design.<\/p>\n Bobby Creighton is a community advocate and Vice President of the Ybor Heights Neighborhood Association. He credits former City Council member Jan Platt and her colleagues in 1975 with detangling the charter\u2019s complex legal language and making it understandable for average citizens. This time around, he\u2019d like to see it reorganized.<\/p>\n Amid construction dust and the mirrored highrise fa\u00e7ades that dot the city center, the most consequential civic project in Tampa this year may be a group of people meeting twice a month under fluorescent lights to debate the document that sets out the rules for city government.<\/p>\n