Council looks at revoking mayor’s power in emergencies

 

Two city councilmembers often at odds joined forces Tuesday to propose a change to the city code, and the results were fireworks.

Vincent Manfredi and Julia Gusse sought to remove the ability of the mayor’s office to unilaterally declare a state of emergency. Two other councilmembers interpreted that as a personal attack on current Mayor Christian Price.

Instead, the council will look at creating a less extreme shift of power. But that was only after a spat among the councilmembers.

Manfredi said he saw the City of Surprise make a decision similar to his proposal, at the behest of its mayor, to have the council shoulder some of the responsibility for decisions with possible financial consequences. Gusse said she had seen decisions made at the city manager level that she was not told about and did not want to have repeated by a mayor.

Gusse said she had utmost respect for Price, and Manfredi said he loves the mayor.

Councilmembers Henry Wade and Rich Vitiello came at Manfredi, demanding to know what Price had done wrong in his eyes to warrant such a change. Vitiello particularly took umbrage that a power would be taken away from a mayor “who’s done an unbelievable job.”

“This has nothing to do with Mayor Price. Get that out of the way,” Manfredi said. “It has to do with the authority we have as council. We are elected representatives of the people. We abdicate that authority when we then say one person can take that authority and then run with it.”

He compared it to the Arizona Legislature having no involvement in Gov. Doug Ducey’s series of executive orders regarding COVID-19.

Wade said it was an insult to be having the conversation because Price has been doing a good job. He called Manfredi’s claim of friendship with the mayor “disingenuous,” which Manfredi said was “ridiculous.” That turned into verbal fencing between the two.

“Are you willing to risk one life that we can’t put enough people together?” Vitiello asked Manfredi and Gusse.

Manfredi said the hypothetical scenario was an “idiotic game.” He said public safety personnel would be taking care of that kind of situation without the mayor making a declaration. The emergency declaration by mayor and council, he said, would come afterward to approve overtime and equipment that may be needed.

Former Vice Mayor Peg Chapados said the council has a chain of command already.

“What is the problem we’re trying to fix?” she asked.

But Councilmember Marvin Brown agreed with the idea. He complimented Price, too, but said the next mayor would probably not be “nearly as competent or as caring or as cognizant as this man is. I don’t want to give future mayors that power.” He said the idea of lives being on the line was “rather extreme.”

In the middle, Councilmember Nancy Smith proposed a compromise that would keep the mayor’s authority in the emergency but give the council the ability to revoke a mayor’s decision afterward.

For his part, Price waited until the end of the debate to state his opinion on the proposal. He reminded the council of the first time he had to declare a state of emergency. That was shortly after being elected in 2012 when a channel overflowed and threatened homes in Tortosa.

The mayor was called in for an emergency declaration to circumvent procurement rules in order to acquire a bulldozer within 30 minutes. Without the unilateral authority, those actions would not have been possible in as timely a fashion.

His second emergency declaration was this year for the COVID-19 situation. He had time to consult with council. At Tuesday’s meeting he displayed a photo taken during the declaration, a photo of him and four councilmembers.

Ultimately, the council voted 5-2 to table the issue and create a committee to wordsmith a proposal that would include Smith’s idea of giving council the authority to revoke emergency declarations made by a mayor if deemed inappropriate.

Vincent Manfredi is minority owner of InMaricopa.