You can visit Max Herrle’s campaign website HERE. On his website you will find an “about” page, a “podcast” and “blog” tab where Herrle is discusses multiple topics and issues in Tallahassee. We encourage all our neighbors to view his website to learn more about him.
Where are you from and how do you feel that impacts or influences your decision to run?
I was born in Tallahassee Community Hospital and raised on Buck Lake Road. I attended Creative Preschool, Buck Lake Elementary, Swift Creek Middle School, Lincoln High School, TCC, and Florida State. I grew up going through the trails on the banks of Lake Lafayette, the Cadillac trails. When I have dreams, I’m in those woods. I believe Tallahassee is a special place with a magnetism worth protecting. I believe a better city is possible. One that works for everyday people.
I’ve spent the past ten years working with a group of people to elect a progressive majority to city hall. Together with your help, we’ve won two seats on the city commission and more races in the county and more. But to really make the change we know our community needs: municipal fiber, walkability, affordability, stopping suburban sprawl, and building our small businesses back, we have to finally secure a majority at the city commission. But I need your help to do that.
I’m running to build that strong new majority that works for everyday people in city hall, and I hope to have your support on August 18th.
Will you raise property taxes? Should an issue arise where an increase in property taxes is suggested by staff, how would you insulate the taxpaying neighbors from excessive tax burden as a result? What measures would you take to independently understand the proposition, versus policy alternatives?
We’re going to remove the fire services fee from the utility bill, and in doing so, we will need to make relatively large cuts in city services unless it’s off-set to the millage. It’s frustrating watching the city government go through these decisions over the years because you’re watching it thinking, “can any of these three show an interest in finding a single cut?” It seems like the current majority is entirely uninterested in scrutinizing the budget. The new majority won’t be like that anymore. We’re going to roll up our sleeves, scrutinize the city budget, and make cuts where we need to.
There has been much public question about the city’s response to the county wanting to see the fire fund spending. How transparent do you feel that should be and given the questions remaining about whether station 17 has already been funded in previous years or why the city said the fund is short, would you call for an independent audit of the department and the fire fee funds?
We need to go back to the table with the county and make this all work. I have a good working relationship with the county leaders. I do support eliminating the fire services fee. It is unclear if the current millage rate could contain that change. I want to see what the public thinks of removing the fire services fee and then we will go from there.
We’ve wasted years and millions of dollars on not building Fire Station 17. I’ve worked with Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor and Joey Davis to raise awareness of this issue over the years. I join City Commissioner Curtis Richardson in my disappointment that this issue has become a political pawn in the current city-county fire dispute and still, the southside suffers by not having 17 built.
What is something your opponent(s) have suggested that you don’t agree with but if you were elected into office you would be willing to make a good faith effort to explore feasibility and possible outcomes?
I’m not aware of the public policy proposals from the other candidates running for this seat.
Will you do a public audit of all tax dollars? If not, why? If so, will you open the books for public oversight?
Yes, and I support auditing the utility reserve fund as well
Is part of your spending strategy to sell more city property and assets? Or do you plan to make our city assets profitable for the taxpayers rather than individual pockets?
No. City property sales can’t support the general revenue anyway. They go to the affordable housing trust fund or the deficiencies fund. Which is a whole other problem because the City Manager diverts the money into the deficiencies fund, since he sets the criteria for when the rate is deficient or not, and then we wonder why we don’t have money for affordable housing.
I want to expand public enterprise to create a municipal broadband network. I have been working with stakeholders for nearly ten years on this vision, and I believe it is critical to the long-term strength of the utilities and to their profitability.
The city will make significant revenue, we will be a more well-known utility and city than we already are, and it will be $20/month cheaper than what you pay for Comcast or Metronet right now. Chattanooga does it and absolutely crushes it, and it helped put them on the map. The City of Palm Coast in Florida does it. We can do it.
Do you feel the FSU purchase of TMH has been a transparent process? If not, how would you remedy that moving forward?
Of course it hasn’t been. I want the city to take over the certificate of need for ambulatory transport, roll them into the fire stations/TFD, and then make them union.
Where do you think the weak part in communication with other commissioners is when discussing public business in the sunshine? What do you suggest to fix it?
Everything is agreed upon in private by the city manager and 3 city commissioners, and then they don’t seem to listen to any real public feedback, even when it’s overwhelmingly opposed to what they’re doing, and that opposition comes from diverse segments of the community.
The TMH thing was an example of this. When it’s not just one part of the community saying, “Slow down and do the process in public,” clearly something is wrong. While the concept of an academic medical center makes sense and the direction of the city long-term, this process was not, and I ultimately feel the City of Tallahassee was poorly represented. I would have changed the board structure to be more like USF, with additional community stakeholders, such as the County, FAMU, and labor unions, at the table. The best projects in our city’s history were projects that took their time and received community feedback.
Welaunee, while pretty bad overall, improved significantly through the work of the Killearn Homes Association (where I was hired to work on the deal at the time) and neighborhood advocates like Pam Hall and CeRNA.
We need a complete shift in our institutional and staff understanding that our projects are better and more successful when we listen to the public.
What is your vision for Tallahassee and the future of it?
I want to build a new majority that works for everyday people.
I want to build new walking corridors called “Canopy Lines” that meet in the middle at Cascades Park connecting Cascades Park to the Canopy Roads, on new walking corridors which have new and well-known iconic Tallahassee businesses and brands, filled with public arts, music and more, all under a Canopy walkway on a safe street for all, with all pedestrian, bicycle and e-bike traffic, and no automobile lanes or traffic. And I want to make these the main transportation systems of the city for walking, etc. And we would build residential density around these lines to maximize foot traffic in these areas.
I want to shift the spending of the OEV to realign with a clearer picture of what “economic development” in Leon County means. For example, if you look at the lifetime spending of OEV, you have $27 million to Doak, $10 million to Bragg, $1 million to TSC stadium, $10 million dollars to renovate a county building, $1 million dollar “loan” to SoMo walls, and $2 million dollars to Amazon. Is this really what we want for our economic development money? I want to hear from you and the community and see how we can do this better in the future.
Should a vacancy occur in the post of city manager, would you prioritize hiring someone who has experience and insight from within Tallahassee’s government, or do a more prolonged recruitment process to bring in someone who might offer a clean slate?
We will appoint an interim city manager immediately from the outside and then engage on an external city manager search.
My three-part management transition plan for the city manager:
PAUSE, UNDERSTAND, HIRE
Step 1: Pause (Day One): At the first meeting of the new city commission, we will relieve city manager Reese Goad of his duties without cause and then appoint a trusted, older member of the community who is uniformly respected to serve as interim city manager for a period of one year.
Step 2: Understand (1-6 months): Hire a firm to conduct an executive study of the city and its current practices. Study and review this information to make better-informed decisions for step 3.
Step 3: Hire(12 months) – Use that information gained from step 2 to inform our hiring, recruiting, and interview and selection process for the next city manager. I commit to looking for an external candidate for the next city manager.
What will your mandate be if voters choose you? What do you want voters to see accomplished before the 2028 elections?
Building a new majority at city hall that works for everyday people.
New focus on walkability with a downtown connectivity and economic development projects for Frenchtown and a new huge walking corridor on Gadsden Street connecting Tallahassee’s two crown jewels: Cascades and Lake Ella.
New focus on affordability, specifically by reducing the utility bills
Strong Public Ownership
Strong Utilties
Investment in Arts, Music & More and Make our Downtown Awesome.
Do you plan to expand constituents’ ability to provide feedback to city projects and services? How will you collect this data and what will you use it for?
Yes. It starts with the agenda itself.
Say one good thing about your opponents.
Norm Roche is a gentlemen and he has worked to make the vibes good in this race, and I respect and appreciate that.
What is something that your neighbors can’t find about you through a simple Google search but that you would like them to know about you?
I’m on the ballot this August 18th, I’m running for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 to build a new majority away from the 3-2 of the present, and finally address our community’s most pressing issues with a united canopy. I hope you’ll join us. You can learn more at MaxForTallahassee.com
