Shannon Snyder’s first year as City Commissioner was less than smooth. From the get-go he caused a ruckus by suggesting we tear down the G.WIZ museum and sell the land. Turned out we couldn’t. Another idea had the City using eminent domain to lay claim to the Quay property though it didn’t qualify as such, nor could we afford it. The best use for our $650,000 worth of parking meters—target practice. And though Shannon has since improved—as mayor he ran a well-paced, civil meeting—his approach to public policy has remained all over the place.

It’s no wonder then Shannon’s last minute decision to enter the County Commission race against fellow City Commissioner Paul Caragiulo left a lot of people scratching their heads as to why.  I’ve heard it all, from the cynical (its about money and power) to the diabolical (he wants to sabotage the City Commission thus forcing his dream of consolidation closer to fruition).  I don’t believe it has to do with any of that, or for that matter with any bias “against” Paul.  I think that after co-chairing three joint meetings of the City and the County, Shannon looked around at the folks on either side of him and simply liked how it felt to be working with grown-ups. 

And who could blame him? The difficulty would lie in how to differentiate himself from Paul Caragiulo, not an easy task given how often they have voted in sync, many times with Paul taking the lead—especially on complex questions of public policy and budget. However, if the proliferation of Snyder/Lourdes Ramirez signs popping up around town tells us anything, Shannon appears to have fallen, almost by accident, into an uneasy alignment with the very same anti-growth, grindingly argumentative and distrustful of government in general County cohort of those in the City from whom he wishes so fervently to escape.

And then there is this. City Commissioner Shannon Snyder, despite it being in his job description to do so, will tell you himself with some pride that he has not spoken or met with his own employee, City Manager Tom Barwin, in over a year. He doesn’t allow City staff to manage his schedule, nor does he use his City phone.  How does this behavior bode for his potential as a County Commissioner? If he is dissatisfied with the County Administrator, will he just stop speaking to him? And hasn’t he already begun to set the stage for a bad beginning there as well by parroting his supporters insistence—based on pure speculation—that there is something amiss with County Administrator Tom Harmer’s dismissal of ethics director Uebelacker?

It begs the question, what does Shannon bring to the grown-ups table?  Although he has always treated me with respect and I consider him to be a good person, I have to ask, did it not occur to Commissioner Snyder that by refusing to meet with City Manager Barwin to work through issues and challenge him to do better, he might have contributed to the awful dysfunction of our City Commission? His campaign signs claim his is “proven leadership.” I respectfully disagree.

SRQ Daily Columnist Diana Hamilton, after living 35 years in Sarasota, labels herself a pragmatic optimist with radical humorist tendencies and a new found resistance to ice cream