Larry Williges steps down from council ... for now

Life in Destin isn’t what it should be, former City Councilor Larry Williges says.

“The quality of life is down the tubes, it really is,” said Williges, who stepped down from the council before Monday’s meeting. “The reason I initially ran eight years ago was the thought I could do something to slow down the rush to overdevelopment ... and I thought I could do something about preventing additional traffic from being put on U.S. 98. Through the years, I’ve found it’s a losing battle.”

Even so, Williges said he intends to run again in two years. He initially won election in 2000, then re-election in 2004, and the city charter bans councilors serving more than two consecutive terms.

In the interim, Williges said, he expects to attend council meetings, and relishes the fact that now that he’s out of office, he can discuss city issues with the council at any time without violating Florida’s Sunshine Laws.

During his eight years in office, Williges said, the council’s control over development, growth and traffic has eroded, with more and more of the decision-making power belonging to the city staff. He said that while it’s claimed Florida law ties the council’s hands in imposing tighter controls, other cities have managed it.

Changes to the development review process, Williges added, have consistently been to the benefit of developers:

•The city’s Planning Commission — now the Local Planning Agency — no longer has the job of reviewing major development before the council does. The council decided several years ago that since the commission’s recommendations weren’t binding, it would make the review process faster and more cost-efficient to cut the LPA hearing, but Williges said that speeding up the review hasn’t benefited residents.
•The council can no longer reject development based on its compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.

•Under the city’s new three-tier system, council review is only necessary for major Tier Three projects — all others are approved by staff.
•A proposal to limit building height along the Destin harbor faded away after months of review and revision, instead being replaced by the tiering system, which allows height above the city’s regular limits if the developer provides a “significant public benefit.”

•Development hearings are “quasi-judicial,” courtroom-style procedures which Williges said have a “chilling effect” on residents who want to speak up, but feel nervous about being grilled and cross-examined by a developer’s lawyer. “It’s alien to them.”

•Recent changes to the city’s impact fees on new development hiked the fees for single-family homes while cutting fees for most forms of commercial development.

Williges also said that while he realizes tourism drives the Destin economy, “I think at times the tourists are catered to at the expense of the local population ... I think a little more consideration needs to be given to the locals.”

Williges said that during his eight years, he tried to be “the people’s representative” rather than siding with business, the fishing fleet or tourism, even though all of those are important to the city.

“Sometimes you’ve got to weigh what you’re doing, how it will affect the people you represent. It wasn’t any particular special interest group that put me into office, it was the people. Once we forget that we represent the people, strange things can happen.”

Williges said moving council meetings to the new City Hall Annex had driven that home because the audience is spread out over a much larger chamber: “The first time I sat up on the new dais, it was a very humbling experience ... Their future is in your hands, basically.”

Building the City Hall Annex is one of several projects that Williges said make the past eight years the most productive in the city’s history. Other accomplishments include building the Morgan Sports Complex, the new Destin Library on Sibert Avenue, the new public works building, the expansion of Joe’s Bayou and Destin Cemetery and the added parking at the Destin Community Center.

“All this was accomplished by a city with a 2-mil property tax limit,” Williges said, “We’ve accomplished so much in just a short span of eight years... I was honored to be a part of it.”

He said his proudest individual achievement over his two terms is that so many residents have shown confidence in him — enough, he jokes, that without his wife Sandy, “my ego would be out to here.”

Aside from growth management, Williges said his biggest disappointment is the firing of City Clerk Dana Williams in 2006 in a dispute over how she’d spent her leave time. He said as a former negotiator for the postal workers’ union, he was particularly disturbed to see a qualified, hardworking employee fired for what he considered insufficient reason.

Williges said that although the idea of paying council members a salary had been floated and rejected twice while he was on council, he still thought it a good idea that would encourage a wider array of Destin residents to run.

He said he’s grateful to the residents who’ve supported him, and also grateful to Sandy for putting up with the endless piles of paper he’s had to take home to work on, and with the phone calls at all hours.

“A supportive spouse really helps,” Williges said. “She kept me on track in a lot of things and didn’t let my ego get to the point I’m tripping over it.”
In the end, Williges said, he’s glad to have served eight years: “City council is a part-time job with full-time hours. Do I resent having to do it? No, I loved it, it’s a labor of love. I look forward to being able to do it again in two years.”

ADVICE FOR NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS:
•“Do your homework. Read everything in the agenda packet, everything, before the meeting. Be aware of the importance of what you’re voting on — the criteria, I would say, are ‘is it good for the people of Destin? Is it legal? Is it good for the city of Destin?’ And I think in that order.”
•“Read, read, read, and don’t act in haste. Discuss with your colleagues — (meetings) are the only opportunity you get to discuss the issues, so if it means delaying the vote until a decision can be made, so be it. There’s no ‘maybe’ button, it’s yes or no, red or green and quite often ‘maybe’ is also a valid answer — let’s discuss this some more.”
•“Being fair, being honest.”
•Avoid being drawn into disputes between citizens that shouldn’t become city business.