The mayor also holds live Facebook events for citizens. He said, "We meet with the public and try to answer as much as we can." He has changed how he introduces initiatives to the city council. Under the old system, an item was presented at a meeting and the vote was expected immediately. Robinson explained, "We're taking one meeting before to kind of set the whole parameter, tell the council, tell the public what it is we're doing and then coming back the next week and actually doing it." Public records have been moved back under the city clerk. The Public Records Center homepage allows citizens to submit requests anonymously, and every department has someone designated to handle requests made of their area.
CHALLENGES
The city's growth has created challenges and shifts in processes. The inspection services department has been swamped. Wilkins said, "(New construction) went up to a record peak, and it stayed at that peak even through COVID." In addition to hiring more people, Robinson is reviewing the new CRA overlay district that appears to be one reason for the bottleneck. "A lot of people want to come into the CRA," he said. "We knew the overlay would say the big things we wanted to do, but the nitty-gritty, you can't anticipate that sometimes when you're building legislation. So the problem is we've gotten down to the nittygritty, and it's bogging a lot of things down."
March 11, 2021
His administration is looking at creating an implementation policy "based off the things we've learned, because we've got to come in and amend what we have." Robinson said, "The CRA overlay is problematic right now, and we're trying to work through that." Wilkins injected, "People also are adjusting some responsibilities around to help try to relieve some of that bottleneck. Because I think part of the builder's complaints was turnaround time, and yeah, things are getting hung up, no denying that. So we're looking at changing the review process a little bit." "I try to remind everybody that part of the problem is just volume," said Robinson. "It's a great problem to have. I love the fact building is happening everywhere in Pensacola. That's great, but it has created problems for us." In June 2009, Robinson hired Mike Ziarnek to be his transportation planner for Complete Streets, another transition recommendation. However, he and Wilkins realized that placing him in the engineering department wasn't working. Ziarnek now works under David Forte, the capital improvements project manager—a new department created by Robinson. "Part of that thing was to get the (Complete Streets) ordinance passed that we're in the process of doing and then really begin to look at some of these initiatives so we can begin to implement some of these things better," said the mayor. Wilkins explained, "David is more a project manager, and Mike is more of the concept consultant kind of guy, internally."
Robinson added, "The ideas would originate, and then they'd go to die in engineering. So we told David, 'Your job is not to let these die; it's to actually implement them and get something done.'" Forte's position is unique for the city. In the past, outside engineers and contractors would be hired to the city's contractor representative on projects. "All our projects were typically over budget and over schedule," said Wilkins. "It'd take too long to get them done. They were just languishing, and there wasn't anybody that would wake up that morning, and their job was to see that these projects progressed." Robinson added, "It's a little bit different way to do it, but I think we've improved our efficiency in some ways that are helping us get these things done.
THE ELEPHANT
The transition report recommended Robinson create a committee to address panhandling with a solution by June 15, 2019. Panhandling remains the "elephant in the room" for the city and county. Robinson credits Wilkins and his neighborhood services director, Lawrence Powell, for putting together the team to work on homelessness. He said, "It was their discussions first with those individual providers that led people like John Johnson (Opening Doors NWFL) and Connie Bookman (Pathways for Change) to come together for a homeless reduction task force." "We have to figure out some things to
do and help people that are truly homeless," Robinson said. "I think the city is going to have to have the county's assistance, and it's going to have to be a team approach to this process." He admitted that he has been frustrated with the panhandling in the city, and he understands there are several sides to the homelessness and panhandling issues. "I don't have a silver bullet for panhandling, but I do believe if we're going to get over those issues, we've got to, at least as a community, provide some service to the homeless in what we're going to do, and we got to do a better job at how we're integrating." Also, he appreciates that people may not get everything they want in the solutions developed.
"I think too often we want things that everybody likes. Everybody's not going to get what they want." Grover Robinson "I think too often we want things that everybody likes," said Robinson, "Everybody's not going to get what they want. You can't get 100% your way. You've got to compromise somewhere. I tell people all the time, I can get you probably 75% of what you want, but I can't get you 100% percent of what you want." The 2019 transition report can be found on the City of Pensacola website, cityofpensacola.com. {in}
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