Tallahassee, Florida- July 9, 2012

The full survey can be found in PowerPoint format above

Half of Tallahasseeans favor returning to a “weak” mayor form of government, while half favor continuing with the current “leadership” mayor form of government.

“One might speculate that Mayor Mark’s recent ethics charges affected this outcome. Prior to the past year, there had been no outward sign from the community that the “leadership” form of government was not working.” Phillip Downs, Founder of TallahasseeVoices

The City of Tallahassee switched from a “weak mayor” system several years ago. At that time, the title of mayor was largely ceremonial and the job rotated each year from one City Commission member to the next. Now Tallahassee has a “leadership mayor” position where individuals actually run to be elected as mayor. The mayor’s term is 4 years now – it used to be 1 year.
Some people believe that Tallahassee should return to a weak mayor as a way to limit potential corruption in the office and to ensure that the mayor works interdependently with commissioners.
Some people say a leadership mayor is needed to get things accomplished.

With which group do you agree?