In the Arena:  Mayors Over Time

In the Arena:  Mayors Over Time

In 1822 the Congress created the territory of Florida.  In March 1824 the Territorial Council designated Tallahassee as Florida’s capital.  The same year the Native Americans living in Tallahassee were ordered to relocate to a reservation located in Central Florida.

A year later Dr. Charles Haire was elected Intendant of the Town of Tallahassee.  The position of Intendant is what we now call Mayor.  The Town’s Council back then consisted of five members.

Jon Ausman, former member of the DNC

The City of Tallahassee was incorporated in 1840.  Five years later Florida became the 27th state and Tallahassee moved from being the territorial capital to being a state capital.

After the Civil War in 1871 Everett Jones, Jonathan Gibbs and Jonas Toer were elected to the City Council.  Henry Sutton was elected City Marshall and William Stewart was elected as City Clerk.  These were the first African-Americans elected to city positions.  African-Americans during part of the Reconstruction period at one point held seven of the nine City Council seats.

In the late 1890s and continuing through the early 1920s there was a nationwide movement pushing “good government” reforms.  Some of the political ideas of this movement were the creation of municipal civil service systems, a move to the city-manager form of local government, non-partisan elections, at-large elections, and, other “reforms” designed to promote “expert” management of cities.

Tallahassee responded to this reform effort.  One reason for this response was the City’s financial problems caused by a two decades long spending spree.

The City issued bonds to build an electrical power plant in 1902.  The plant burned down in 1919 with the bonds still outstanding.  The City also bought the waterworks located downtown in 1908.  Gaines Street from the railroad depot to the capital was paved along with Adams Street and Monroe Street between Gaines and Park (1911 to 1916).

As a result of the “good government” movement and the City’s financial strain the State Legislature granted a new City Charter that created a Commission-Manager form of government.  The position of Mayor was to continue to rotate among the five City Commissioners.

In November 1996 a City charter change was approved at the polls by the citizens of Tallahassee stating the Mayor would be directly elected by the voters.  The first directly elected Mayor was chosen in February 1997.

From 1826 to 1996, a period of 171 years, Tallahassee changed Mayors 123 times.  The average tenure was 1.4 years.  The longest serving Mayor during this time period was D. M. Lowry who served from 1910 to 1917, a period of eight years.  Was it a coincidence that after Mayor Lowry’s time in office the City’s form of government changed two years later?

Since 1997 Tallahassee has elected three Mayors:  Scott Maddox; John Marks; and, Andrew Gillum.  The average tenure for an elected Mayor so far is seven years.

Two of three of the directly elected Mayors have run for statewide office.

Scott Maddox, while Mayor, ran for Attorney General.  He received only 35% of the vote in the statewide Democratic Primary.  After his tenure as Mayor he made two additional unsuccessful bids for statewide office.

Andrew Gillum, while Mayor, is currently running for Governor.  Of the four 2018 Democratic primary polls listed in RealClearPolitics Gillum average voter share is 9% for third place among the four main contenders.

What has Tallahassee gotten in return for creating a leadership Mayor?

We got two of three Mayors interested in moving up the political ladder by running for statewide public office.

We got Mayors who have created opportunities for themselves because the longevity of being Mayor has moved from 1.4 years under a rotating Mayor to seven years under the directly elected Mayor.  If you know you are going to serve only 12 to 16 months as Mayor it tends to keep you focused on Tallahassee.  If you are serving multiple four-year terms you tend to start thinking about what is next.

Tallahassee does have a significant crime problem, a need for greater income mobility, and, an ethical issue regarding insider enrichment and entitlements.

Do you think if we change the Mayor’s nameplate in the City Commission Chambers to someone new that this change alone will solve the issues above?

Does the position of Mayor in the capital city of the third largest state in the nation inherently attract people of such ambition that they eventually focus on higher offices or on enriching themselves?

Your thoughts on either the history of Tallahassee or the last three directly elected Mayors versus the previous rotational system would be a joy to read.


Jon M. Ausman is the longest serving member of the Democratic National Committee in Florida’s history (December 1992 to January 2017).  He can be reached at or at 850-321-7799.

13 Responses to "In the Arena:  Mayors Over Time"

  1. Left out my Great Grandfather, George Damon. (Damon House at the Village on the Green @ B.K. Roberts Law School.)

    1. Franklin,
      George Damon was elected to the City Council in 1866. He died in 1890 and his wife Sarah died in 1895. In 1963 the surviving heirs of George Damon conveyed his real property to The Fountain Chapel AME Church.

      Thank you for the note regarding the transfer of lobbying funds out of the Major’s Office. That was helpful.

      I appreciate the notes from Franklin and Russell.

      Jon M. Ausman

      1. Being liberal means never admitting you were wrong. You were wrong. Admit it and correct the record.

  2. Russell: don’t confuse liberals with facts. Their heads will explode. Any rational reader knew there was no way in heck a government budget has shrunk I over several years. Leave them in their protective bubble.

  3. Good history lesson and interesting observations on type of mayors we are now electing.
    The city charter is clear-our mayor’s duties are restricted to presiding over meetings, a vote and a voice in commission proceedings that counts no more than other commissioners, no veto power, may use title of mayor in executing legal documents for the city; recognized as the head of city for filing civil processes, exercise of military law,military, and all ceremonial purposes. In other words, about the same as the county commission chairman, except that the city mayor is elected by voters.

    I have seen no appreciable improvement in past rotating mayors and our elected mayors-to the contrary. Many would argue that we have had better county commission chairs than mayors.

    Jon, you are correct about the number of mayor’s aides at 4, but the mayor’s budget actually has shown a net increase in personnel costs. The mayor’s budget decrease from 2014 to now resulted from transferring the lobbying contracts (now about $230,000) from the mayor’s budget to another department.

  4. In my opinion, the City of Tallahassee has become much to large for a PART TIME commission and a PART TIME mayor, hence the talk of city/county consolidation. In turn, there would be a FULL time political influence in place that could understand the needs of the community without having to depend on so may aids / assistance / advisers that cost an insanely amount of tax payer dollars every year and that are employed by the city to “aid” them in there ultimate dissensions on critical issues.

    Yes. You read that correct. Part time. They rely on “aids and advisers” to do all the work and suggest they vote on many issues based on their recommendations.

    Just as an example: Mayor Marks (not picking on him but just using him as an example).
    Full time attorney at the Marks and Marks law firm. How can an attorney with many ongoing and open cases run a full time law firm plus take on the responsibility of running a city the size of Tallahassee? It can not be done. Well… it can be but half ass’ed. Excuse my language.

    Not to leave out Mayor Gullum, and of course, not picking on him, BUT…
    How can you be full steam ahead in the upcoming governors race, (not to forget all the TIME and money that went into the potential VP race with Clinton), working multiple private and non profit positions AND be mayor of a growing city and have the best interest and undivided attention of the community? 1968, yes. 2018, not possible and it shows.

    Tallahassee is growing. Take a drive down Bannerman Road and check out Bannerman Crossings, cruse through Mid Town, frolic around Gains Street, mull around College Town, take in a concert or walk around Cascades Park or view the thousands of new student housing units on Tennessee Street, look at all the new condos and hotels being constructed!

    Tallahassee is not a quaint little southern town that it used to be. It has grown and will continue to grow just like the traffic congestion. LOL

    What also needs to grow is the demand to have full time Mayor and commission.

    -Edith Crow

    1. So, Edith… if a candidate for mayor does not have time do carry out this part time job, and put the citizens of Tallahassee first it’s really simple…They have no business throwing their hat in the ring in the first place. Holding public office should be viewed as a public service, similar to jury duty…not as a career. We should go back to mayor in rotation, one year at a time, with term limits on every office.

  5. Excellent historical information Jon!!!
    Bringing it back to the future I would opine that our current crop of elected officials are so lucky to be living in these modern times.
    I am sure if the elected officials of 100+ years ago engaged in the theft kickbacks and corruption our current crop is involved in and got caught they would have a whole lot more to fear than pending Federal indictments and cushy prison time.
    Back in the day if the public used that tar and feather run out on a rail process it often resulted in painful death or a severe handicapped existence for the rest of the wayward politicians days. And that’s if they liked you. If not you would find yourself swinging as strange fruit from a tree.

  6. Jon…Brilliant! I have questioned the purpose of the Mayor’s office in its current construct for years. I would have never framed it as you. Tallahassee has no need for a Mayor and the additional babysitting it has required. I will add, ethical questions and inquiries of each Mayor (and don’t think for one second John Marks is out of the woods…Harold Knowles has many skeletons in the closet and is in the midst of his own federal case in Georgia) have been a giant distraction. Additionally, Gillum has been an absentee Mayor for nearly his entire term. He has worked for the State Party, the Clinton Campaign, and People for the American Way…Foundation all while being the alleged Mayor. Time to go back to the rotation.

  7. The current Mayor’s office has four (4) full time positions. In 2017 the funding for the Mayor’s Office was $476,736. This is nearly $100,000 less than it was in 2014.

  8. I think too much emphasis is being put on mayor. Unlike other cities, the mayor is nothing more than a single vote on the Commission. The coming departures should shake things up substantially. New Mayor, two new commissioners, new city manager, new attorney, new auditor. That’s an awful lot of high level city positions for nothing to change.

  9. IMHO an elected mayor is any better or more preferable than a rotating mayor. Having said that, I realize that serving as a rotating mayor probably involves more time and effort than serving as commissioner only. Why not a rotating mayor who is additionally compensated during their term?

  10. The elected mayor was Scott Maddox’s doing. What it has done is create much greater expenses for that position. (Is it true our current mayor has 9 aides, whereas previous mayors had 1?) Has the elected mayor worked harder for Tallahassee or worked harder promoting himself? How in the heck can anyone think we are better off now?

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