Lost leadership: Tallahassee's City Commission struggles to find direction

Once again, we find the Tallahassee City Commission embroiled in senseless disputes and political infighting, leaving our community adrift and lacking a clear vision for our future.

The recent controversy involving Leon County Commissioner David O’Keefe's trespassing incident is just the latest example of the commission's lack of focus and leadership, and its response is indicative of how this body has devolved into a group less concerned about serving their electorate and more focused on serving themselves. Instead of rising above insignificant quarrels, the commission has become consumed by finger-pointing, mudslinging, and in-fighting, hindering its ability to address the pressing issues facing Tallahassee.

The commission's insertion of itself into the criminal process is highly inappropriate. By overstepping typical boundaries and wading into a Tallahassee Police Department investigation of the incident, the city commission has crossed a line, utilizing public resources to target political enemies. As a community, it feels like we are moving in the wrong direction.

It is best to let our police officers determine the most appropriate course to address the incident, while the commissioners focus on what we elected them to do. Yet instead of finding solutions to our city's most critical problems, commissioners have once again demonstrated that they seem more interested in scoring political points and advancing personal agendas.

Fundamentally, our city leaders appear to lack a coherent vision. As a community, we are facing significant challenges such as gun violence, lack of affordable housing, rising rental costs, and a real need to bring in well-paying jobs to strengthen families and support sustainable economic growth. But our city has substantial and unique resources available to not only help us overcome our challenges, while positioning Tallahassee as a model midsize city for other communities.

These assets include renowned educational institutions like Florida State, Florida A&M and Tallahassee Community College, world-class research facilities such as the National MagLab and the upcoming FSU Health research facility, alongside Tallahassee’s serene natural beauty.

By leveraging these strengths, we should be able to build a city that we can all be proud to call home, but instead they remain almost forgotten by a commission that has become preoccupied with petty personal conflicts, leaving residents questioning our leaders’ commitment to our community’s wellbeing.

While many leaders talk about the problems we face, few offer real solutions. Their absence of a cohesive, shared plan has led to a profound sense of purposelessness in the commission’s actions.

We deserve leaders who are committed to serving the needs of the people, not advancing personal agendas. This requires fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and collaboration within the panel, working with residents to develop a clear vision for the future of our community. Only when that is in place will we have the opportunity to pursue that vision together.

Currently, too many sectors of our community are working in disparate, sometimes conflicting directions. No leader has shown the capability of rising above the muck to bring us together under a shared vision of a better tomorrow.

Despite this, there is hope. We have the potential to be a beacon of innovative solutions, where smart leadership can create safer neighborhoods, strengthen homes, and create better economic opportunity for all our residents.

The time is now. We are at crossroads, with ongoing controversies highlighting the urgent need for a renewed focus on addressing our community's needs. Our commission must move beyond the bickering and in-fighting and focus on their elected duty: serving the needs of their citizens.

By developing and rallying around a shared vision for our future that we can all embrace and support, our community can overcome our challenges and reach our potential as a vibrant, inclusive Tallahassee for all. It is time for inspired leaders to step forward, rise above petty politics, and lead our city into a brighter future.

Tallahassee resident Patrick O'Bryant is an attorney with Messer Caparello, P.A.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this column said the city directed TPD to investigate the alleged trespassing incident involving a county commissioner. The city manager has said the city did not direct the investigation, though the manager and commissioners did discuss it extensively against their city attorney’s advice.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee's City Commission struggles to find direction