Marianna City Commission

Legislating With An Anti-Business Approach?

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.


The ongoing problems with the Marianna Sign Ordinance, and the repeated denials for any latitude of reasonable leniency or consideration of unusual circumstances which might alter the intent and application of all standing codes, has prompted repeated accusations that the Marianna City Commission is “anti-business”. It is also claimed that this history of refusing to recognize any degree of cooperation with businesses when construction, safety, or sign codes are at issue has over time caused many businesses to locate or relocate outside of the city’s boundaries. At best, this history of rigidity has created many hostile attitudes toward the City among many of the Marianna businesses.

In my opinion, this situation has been created, and is perpetuated by, three long time City Commissioners, Paul Donofro, Jr., Howard Milton, and Roger Clay. These three individuals have been in office without interruption for over fourteen years, and through their votes acting in concert, they have effectively denied almost all requests for variances on any code issues, when the request was generated by a private business or a private citizen. The only variances which they have historically viewed favorably are those which are needed by the City itself as projects are conducted, or by other government and government related entities. Requests from the private sector have been denied in every instance I can recall.

The reason repeatedly given by this “trio of negative votes” on the Commission is that since they have previously denied requests for variances from private individuals or businesses, so they must now deny all requests in order to not appear to be engaged in any degree of favoritism. Thus, by this logic, all variance requests must be denied…regardless of any extenuating circumstances.

This approach thus leads to the following question…Why have a variance request procedure if all requests are to be denied? It becomes a waste of time if this “trio of negative votes” will surly vote as a majority bloc on the decision making panel. They have been engaging in this approach for many, many years….and in my opinion through this process they have hurt the city of Marianna. The appeal process was created because it was realized that no code is ever written so perfectly that it meets the requirement of fairness and justice in every possible instance. Thus, a provision for intervention of human judgment is an essential ingredient in the process. That ingredient is missing in Marianna.

Another result realized by these Commissioners always voting ‘No”, is that this approach enables them to avoid the uncomfortable role of making a decision. The Southern Building Codes and the Life and Safety Codes, which are used by the City, have a preamble which states that these codes are to be used as “guidelines” and should be administered with common sense and good judgment. Apparently that portion of the code books was never read by our “trio of negative votes”.

My criticism of these Commissioners only relates to their approach to handling requests from private citizens and businesses for consideration on code matters. The Marianna City Commission is to be commended for their ability to create a new waste water treatment system for the city at no cost to the taxpayers. This step forward has removed pollution from the Chipola River, and has provided the city with a state of the art waste system. Also, the aggressive approach the Commissioners are taking to replace and repair the aging infrastructure systems of city water and sewage denotes good management on their part. I also applaud their efforts to increase the land area of the city through an ongoing annexation program.

One reason this situation on variance requests has been perpetuated for over a decade is the general lack of interest and or participation from other eligible citizens. I can only say this to any residents who feel we have problems in Marianna’s leadership….. “ If you are unhappy with the way codes, ordinances, and interpretations of law are being administered, or if you disagree with decisions such as the Commission granting the Florida Public Utilities franchise renewal…then you need to run for a seat on the Commission, or you need to encourage some other qualified citizen to run.” If you only stand back and complain….you are not solving the problem. You are not “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –
● The Marianna City Commission has scheduled a workshop for hearing recommendations for changes in codes related to the City Sign Ordinance. The meeting is at 3:30 PM on Thursday, May 27, in the Commission Meeting Room. You are encouraged to take part.
● (Always Saying Something Nice) I want to commend Richard Hinson and his family for their magnanimous role in creating the ‘Hinson Conservation and Environmental Park”. This treasure will be enjoyed by many future generations of Jackson County residents.
● In the same breath I want to commend Creshull Harrison, Jr. and his family for donating the funding for the beautiful new chapel on the Chipola College campus. Both of these families deserve a big “Thank You” from the residents of Jackson County.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.