Florida often speaks about government being in the open and in the sunshine. Of course when it comes to the legislature, there are so many exceptions that it is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. Our county and municipal commissions operate in sunshine. However, with a strong unelected administrator in charge of the day-to-day operations of government, the public is still too often in the dark. The only time we may be aware of an issue is when the matter is opened for discussion at a commission meeting.

There is something quite undemocratic about an unelected executive. The system was devised to weed out ineptitude and corruption. The rational was that government would be run by professionals, and the oversight of such would be the elected commission. But this seldom works in practice. In our county’s recent past, our administrators and managers have been decent and hardworking individuals who had the interest of their communities in their actions. Without a strong-willed and diligent commission to check the power of the administrator or manager, arrogance, insularity and disregard for the citizens can happen.

Our commissions need to take a more pro-active stance in regard to governance. This will insure the true will of the people will be followed. Professionalism in government is needed. You want a trained water expert in charge of our water plant and a trained policeman to enforce the law. Governance and policy must be left to elected officials. Those officials need to make sure that when their policies are enacted, they are not subverted by the bureaucracy.