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A former Summerfield town councilman hopes to collect enough signatures to revisit the town’s form of government.

“There is nothing wrong with revisiting this issue, especially when you consider the 2007 referendum only passed by seven votes,” said former town councilman Dewayne Crawford in a letter to the editor dated July 28.

Those seven votes, he said, do not represent a majority of the town’s population of more than 7,000.

Crawford had not responded to a phone message or e-mail regarding his letter Thursday evening.

Crawford hopes to collect the signatures from 10 percent of the town’s registered voters on a petition for a referendum on the town’s form of government.

The town has a council-manager form of government, which allows the town manager to appoint and dismiss all town employees not elected or appointed by the council. The manager is also responsible for the direct supervision of the administration of the town’s departments.

In his letter, Crawford said it’s time the town goes back to mayor-council form of government.

“(It) is more consistent with our founding principles of having less bureaucracy, less government, and low/no taxes,” he said in the letter.

The mayor-council form of government allows the mayor to preside over governing board meetings, vote to break a tie, sign official documents on behalf of the town and call special meetings of the council.

Summerfield Mayor Mark Brown disagrees. He said the current form of government has “helped to take the politics out of town business.”
“The manager is able to do things without the micromanagement of the council,” he said.

It is also the manager’s responsibility to make recommendations to the council and to make sure all city and state laws are carried out.

In 2007, residents voted to change the town’s form of government by a small majority.

“It was almost an even split,” Brown said. “It has to be 50 percent plus one. We had 50 percent plus seven.”

Brown said he’s not sure why a push to revert back to mayor-council government has come about, but he has his speculations.

He believes that the petition stems from a small-cluster group’s personal “vendetta” against Town Manager Michael Brandt and Parks and Recreation supervisor George Holub.

“Summerfield residents, myself included, received a very strongly worded letter with the petition, just vilifying the town manager and Parks and Rec supervisor,” Brown said.

Brown wants voters to do their research before signing a petition.

“They should make sure there’s a valid reason and this is not some vendetta,” Brown said.

The letter sent to residents and the letter to the editor are not the same.

Brown said, according to the state statute, a referendum such as this one cannot be revisited for two years. November marks two years. During those two years, the format has worked well, Brown said.

“We’ve got a man with us who has been with us for a long time in several capacities,” he said. “He knows this government inside and out.”

Crawford disagrees. The petition is the result of hearing only silence from the council after asking repeatedly for a referendum on the form of government, he wrote.

“Fortunately, state law affords us the opportunity to compel our council to call for the referendum we should have,” Crawford wrote.

“Collection of signatures from 10 percent of all registered Summerfield voters is our only hurdle.”

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com