APOPKA, Fla. — During a meeting Wednesday, member of the Apopka City Council discussed the steps that would need to be taken to change the city's form of government.

What You Need To Know

  • Apopka leaders are considering a change from the city's current "strong mayor" form of government 

  • City commissioners met Wednesday for a review of Apopka's city charter

  • Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson says that if the city's form of government is changed, his position would become ceremonial

Right now, Apopka is under what’s known as a “strong mayor” government, which gives the mayor a large degree of control and responsibility in governing the city. Some members of the City Council are now looking to transition to a city manager-council government arrangement, which would consist of the council that hires a city manager responsible for city administration.

Moving forward, officials say changing the city’s charter in such a way would be a months-long process.

And it would have to be approved by the voters before it could take effect. 

Commissioner Kyle Becker has been a proponent of the change, saying the “strong mayor” form of government puts the council on an uneven playing field. 

“At the end of the day, all the fighting, all of the civil discourse, all of the back and forth politics occur here at the dais,” he said. “Versus after meeting is over not knowing what’s going to happen behind closed doors in the public services department when our strong mayor goes and gives a different instruction that what we potentially agreed too.”

Dennis New, who has been a resident of Apopka all his life, said he was in favor of switching out of a strong mayor form of government.

“If it goes on the ballot for us to change the form of government, yes, I’m going to vote yes,” he said. “It’s not political, is about the constituents of this city. There’s a lot of people that are concerned, and it’s about things that aren’t getting done and kicked down the road.”

Mayor Bryan Nelson said he agrees with the charter review, but noted that its early in the process. He said he’s watching how it plays out with the City Council, and potentially with voters. 

He claimed, though, that the council’s move against his position comes down to politics.

“It comes with the territory,” he said. 

One of the recent concerns is the action taken following Apopka firefighter Austin Duran’s death.

The council voted to remove the fire chief in the wake of the incident, but Nelson backed Chief Sean Wylum.

Becker said he believed a city manager form of government would provide stability for Apopka. 

“The censure resolution, I know it’s not popular, but it was passed,” he said during a meeting on Jan. 10. “And publicly speaking, our mayor was censured for lying to this council. He’s broken the public trust and it’s time to change course.”

Nelson was adamant that he did nothing wrong.

As mayor, Nelson is also the city CEO, but said that under a city manager-city council form of government, the city manager would become the CEO and his position would become ceremonial.

Commissioner Alexander Smith said the pros and cons on whether to change governments should be discussed more in depth, and said he wanted to know what this change would mean in the future.

“What happens if we get another person in this seat?” he asked on Jan. 10. “Are we going to come back and change the charter again so we have a strong form of government? You got to show both sides of the aisle, where there’s benefits and disadvantages as well.”