Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Paul Parson's Possible New Ordinance

This is the email that was forwarded to Atlantic Beach Residents by Lindley Tolbert. Thank you for keeping us in the Loop Lindley. Please read below to and feel free to comment back with your thoughts on the ordinance Paul Parsons is wanting to introduce to the commissioners. Also, Paul Parsons is looking forward to hearing back from you, please feel free to email him back your pro's or con's.

From:
wgaspaul@bellsouth.net [mailto:wgaspaul@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 12:35 PM

Subject: FW: Re: Redistricting --

Hope all is well with everyone,

I am going to introduce an ordinance changing the "new law" on district voting.

My ordinance will read that:
1), All candidates will run for a Seat "at large" and campaign city wide with all citizens voting for every candidate and mayor.
2), The residency requirements for a commissioner will return to what they are today, a candidate for commission seat must reside within Atlantic Beach.
3) With the exception of Seat 1 (the Mayor's seat), Seats will be assigned to a district by the commission.
When a commissioner wins that "Seat" they will be that districts "representative" on the commission.

There will still be four year terms for the commissioners and two different seats run every two years. The mayor's seat will run every two years, just as it is set up today.

I am sure there will be some more discussions at the commission meetings and this will have to be introduced as a "first public reading" in the first August meeting and the second and final public reading the second commission meeting in August. This MUST be done by this time frame in order for this ordinance to be on the November ballot.

The reason I want to change the districting ordinance that was just voted in, is I feel it has some terrible flaws. You should not have to live in a district and represent that district and run a city wide campaign. We are going to be forced to change the districts anyway after the 2010 census, because it will show a population change, that's no big deal. I don't know of any other cities that do this, and I don't see it working here. My main fear is that someone from a district could be un-opposed or worse, appointed because no one would stand up and run for office. My new ordinance allows any citizen a chance to run for office if he or she desires no matter where they live. They would be the voice of a particular district and the citizens will know who they need to call in the event they need some help in their neighborhood or district. Of course all commissioners and mayor would still be responsible for the entire city and this will not allow any district to be ignored.

I firmly believe that this new ordinance is much better for the entire city. I also believe this ensures a candidate for every seat. If you agree with me, please let me know. I don't think I have it written exactly how it will appear on the ballot but I think I got the jest of it. If you think it's dumb, I'd like to hear that as well. We need to move fast, very fast, so please let me know as soon as you can. I also encourage you to pass this on. I'd like to hear from as many people as possible. I also encourage you to talk to other commissioners and the mayor as well.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Commissioner
Paul B. Parsons
Cell 568-4232