Surfside

Election Reform

Commission unanimously decides to do away with designated seats

By Ben Torter

Elections that force commissioners to run for designated seats may not be fair, so let’s get rid of them. That was the unanimous decision Surfside town commissioners made Tuesday night.

If they still feel the same way next month on second and final reading, then all commission candidates will run in the same pool beginning in 2010. The highest vote- getter will be vice mayor, and the other three will become commissioners. The mayor’s seat will remain a separate race. All five seats are up every two years; the last election was in March.

Vice Mayor Marc Imberman, who ran unopposed in the recent election, said he intended to reform the voting system even before he was first elected to the commission in 2006.

Surfside adopted its current election system — which requires candidates to run for one of four commission seats and mayoral candidates to run for the top spot in individual races — in 1994. Before that, there was one race for all five positions. The top vote-getter became mayor, and the other four vice mayor and commissioners.

“You can vote for the four candidates that you’d like to see on the commission, and not just the best person from each seat,” Imberman said of races without designated seats.

Commissioners agreed that having specified seats in a small town like Surfside limited choices and favored incumbents.

“This way everyone who wants to run can,” Mayor Charles Burkett said. “You won’t have a race where you might want to vote for two people in the same seat and can’t.”

Commission Steven Levine questioned why the mayor’s race should remain separate.

“I figure if we’re going to be egalitarian,” Levine said, “why not go all the way?”

The argument was kicked around that the mayor’s position was somehow more important than the others, and thus deserved separate treatment.

“I think people would like to pick the figurehead, and it’s not because I’m up here,” Burkett said.

Two residents weighed in on the debate.

Ken Arnold said he agreed that the elections process needed to be changed, but that the mayor shouldn’t be treated differently. “I don’t understand how you can justify separating out any one commissioner and putting [that person] on a pedestal,” Arnold said.

Most agreed, though, that the community perceives the mayor’s position as more significant.

“I do believe that the mayor is seen as an executive,” Commissioner Elizabeth Calderon said.

Although the mayor may be seen as a leader in people’s eyes, the fact is that the mayor’s seat holds the same power and the same one vote as the other commissioners. The Surfside mayor is not strong like Miami-Dade County’s. The town’s executive duties are carried out by the town manager, who is hired by the entire commission.

Resident Richard Iacobacci said that at some point he’d like to serve as a commissioner, but would not want to be mayor because of the extra work, such as speeches and public appearances, that mayors tend to do.

“I would not feel comfortable having the top vote-getter become mayor,” Iacobacci said.

The commission will take the second and final vote on the issue at its next regularly scheduled meeting on July 8.

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com