City Council Strengthens Inspector General Proposal

Tampa City Council voted unanimously last Thursday to advance an inspector general for city government, strengthening a proposal from the charter review commission. Council will vote on the language to be presented to the voters on October 1st.

Chair Alan Clendenin supplied the modified proposal for the council’s consideration at Thursday’s workshop meeting. His version strikes elected officials from the IG selection committee and eliminates the mayor from the IG removal process. It also equips the IG with greater authority by granting subpoena power for records and allowing the office to investigate on its own initiative. Clendenin’s proposal gives the IG a broader scope, extending beyond city employees to reach “contractors, subcontractors, vendors, consultants and grantees receiving or administering city funds.” The amendment explicitly forbids interference with or retaliation against the IG.

These changes bring the proposed framework for Tampa’s IG closer in line with other IGs codified in local government charters around the state and gives the IG much greater leeway to conduct inquiries compared to the version recommended by the charter review commission.

The move comes amid recent tensions between the council and the mayor’s office. In August, Clendenin called for an investigation into the administration, citing delays in receiving the budget over multiple years and alleging “malicious compliance” when the paper copy the council received was too small to read. During Thursday’s discussion of the IG amendment, Council Member Bill Carlson, a frequent critic of the administration, decried how complaints have been handled. “I filed multiple complaints, some with HR, some with chief of staff, some with the mayor’s office and some with the legal department and there’s no recourse whatsoever,” Carlson said. “It doesn’t matter how bad these folks act, they do things that are unethical and some of them may be illegal. The problem is that there’s no mechanism to punish them for doing it, and so we need an inspector general.”

Independence and access

Melinda Miguel is the Chief Inspector General for the State of Florida, a role she has been appointed to by three governors. She is a past president of the Association of Inspectors General. In an interview with the Tampa Monitor about her time in state agencies and IGs in Florida governments, she said independence and access are essential to the position.

“We added subpoena power in 2015 to allow the Chief Inspector General to subpoena records, and the reason for that is that public records requests may not give the IG certain timely access to information that’s needed for a particular investigation or inquiry,” Miguel said. She also underscored the importance of having access to any and all information needed to conduct an inquiry and the freedom to pursue an investigation without relying on complaints. “Ultimately, I believe at the end of the day it’s important to have that unfettered access.”

She pointed to the benefit of separating government officials from the complaint investigation process in state agencies, describing the IG’s role as providing apolitical and independent oversight. “We are housed where the inspector general can be independent from the management, independent from operations. Provide a little bit of a check and balance for management and operations,” she said.

Being wrapped up in an IG inquiry can be uncomfortable, and Miguel acknowledged that interpersonal challenges are part of the job. “You might not get invited to the backyard barbecue,” she said. Florida statute has embedded IGs in state agencies since 1994, but for establishing IGs at the local level “the Association recommends that the creation of an IG be codified in a way that would prohibit or limit the ability to abolish the function for political reasons or in response to negative findings,” she said of the Association of Inspectors General.

IGs also face a prevention paradox. It can be hard to convey the effectiveness of the role, especially when success means the government works the way it should. How can the public know it is getting its tax dollars’ worth? According to Miguel, IGs can demonstrate their value through an account of their labor, including complaints addressed, inquiries opened, documents accessed, statements taken, and many other performance metrics. IGs have a responsibility to report their work to the public.

IGs have proliferated in local government charters in recent years and have been passed with overwhelming voter support. In 2024 IGs were established in Tallahassee with around 65% of the vote, and in Doral and Miami it was close to 80%. Miguel suggested public sentiment may be a factor.

“Oftentimes it’s created at a time when the public trust is relatively low in their government and they need to reset or maybe some even fraud, waste or abuse was detected and the community is calling for greater accountability within government.”

Open questions

Despite unanimous support for the position, council members identified several issues to address. Councilman Charlie Miranda questioned who would oversee the IG. Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak voiced concern about an IG’s office falling within the purview of city’s human resources department. How an IG would mesh in a city bureaucracy that already has an internal audit department and an ethics commission remains an open question.

Once the final language for the IG charter amendment is agreed upon and passed by the council, the amendment will appear on the March 2027 ballot. If voters approve the charter change, the newly elected city council will have the duty to further refine the role through ordinance.