Additional Roles
In addition to sitting on the City Commission, all members have supplementary commitments to various intergovernmental organizations in our community. Members provide direction to these groups whether they sit on an agency’s board, provide direction to a consolidated department, or appoint citizens to an advisory board.
Assignments to Board
Blueprint is governed by a twelve-member board comprised of the Mayor, four City Commissioners and seven County Commissioners. Blueprint was created to administer projects funded by the one cent sales tax collected in Leon County. Blueprint implements projects that preserve, protect, and enhance the community’s quality of life through holistic and coordinated planning, transportation, water quality, environmental and green space projects. Of the total funding received from sales tax, an allocation is distributed to Blueprint, the City of Tallahassee, and Leon County each year.
Blueprint commits to keeping both citizens and organizations informed and engaged by participating in the transportation and greenway planning process. In 2014, citizens overwhelmingly supported the extension of the penny sales tax beginning in 2020. A group of 18 citizens, appointed by the City and County Commissions, held dozens of public meetings – seeking input and counsel from thousands of citizens – to present a forward looking consensus plan. Projects funded will improve and expand local roads, reduce traffic congestion, build new sidewalks in neighborhoods, to local schools, commercial areas and recreational amenities, reduce neighborhood flooding, expand green spaces, parks and natural areas, and create and promote jobs in our community. Projects are funded throughout all parts of the City and Leon County.
More information for each of these specific projects can be found at http://www.leonpenny.org/
More information about Blueprint can be found at: https://blueprintia.org/
The Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA) is the organization serving as the region’s metropolitan transportation planning organization. In doing so, it facilitates policy discussions with the goal of developing a long range regional transportation plan that supports sustainable development and supports economic growth. It is responsible for coordinating transportation planning within Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla counties. CRTPA’s Board is comprised of representatives from each county, totally 11 voting members. CRTPA also has three committees: The Citizens Multimodal Advisory Committee, the Technical Advisory Committee, and Leon County Transportation Disadvantaged Coordinating Board.
The CRTPA is responsible for a Regional Mobility Plan which is a long-range (20+year) vision, strategy, and capital improvement program that guides the investment of public funds in transportation facilities. The plan is developed by an MPO (CRTPA) and contains a financial plan. It is updated every five years and may be amended as a result of changes in available funding and findings from local studies. The plan inc
CRTPA gathers citizens, local and State engineers, and regional organizations together to prioritize projects covering a five-year period that is consistent with the metropolitan transportation plan, that ensures eligibility for Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration funding. Through public involvement and unified planning, CRTPA maximizes local, state, and federal resources which guide the implementation of several projects throughout the region annually.
Eleven (11) voting members serve on the CRTPA board.
More information can be found at: http://crtpa.org/
The Community Redevelopment Agency five-member board is comprised of the Mayor and four City Commissioners. Established in 1998 by the Tallahassee City Commission, Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) assists with various enhancement projects to help strengthen the local economy, reduce blight, enhance property values, improve infrastructure, and much more in the two redevelopment districts. The CRA consists of nearly 2,300 combined acres and works in two redevelopment areas: The Greater Frenchtown-Southside District and The Downtown District.
By combining private and public resources, the CRA is able to strengthen Tallahassee’s urban core while serving each district and its businesses and citizens. Since its inception City of Tallahassee CRA has financially supported 250 projects totaling approximately $29.2 million. Tax increment financing (TIF) is available for redevelopment activities and used to leverage public funds to promote private sector activity in the targeted area. CRA TIF can be spent only within the CRA district in which it is generated. New property taxes generated by large CRA projects helps pay for community and small, local business projects, which in turn enhances the built
More information can be found at: http://www.talgov.com/cra/craHome.aspx
Consolidated Agencies
TLCCDA.org
The CDA is responsible for taking calls for both emergency and non-emergency situations, gaining accurate information about the situation, and communicating with public safety organizations, such as the Tallahassee Police or Fire Department, to get people the help they need and save lives.
Planning, Land Management, and Community Enhancement (PLACE) was created as a joint department by the City of Tallahassee and Leon County. The consolidated department improves the integration of implementation, administration, and executive oversight of three interrelated programs: the myriad of Planning functions, the Office of Economic Vitality economic development programs, and Blueprint infrastructure projects.
More information can be found at: http://www.talgov.com/place/place.aspx
The Tallahassee Fire Department (TFD) provides consolidated services to both City and County residents. The Mayor and City Commission provide direction to the TFD as they do for all City departments.
TFD has 16 stations serving and protecting about 702 square miles of incorporated and unincorporated land in Tallahassee and Leon County and over 284,000 people. The department is comprised of 284 full-time certified firefighters, 261 of whom respond to over 24,000 incidents annually and 23 whom are on staff. In addition, 15 general support employees provide a variety of administrative support.
In Tallahassee's recent past, the majority of calls were for fires, predominantly resulting from kitchen accidents, chimney sparks and arson. Now thirty-two percent of current emergency calls are for emergency medical services (EMS). To field approximately 7,000 EMS calls annually, TFD provides the largest non-hospital-based medical response force from Jacksonville to Pensacola. In the face of a major medical emergency in the community, TFD will be the first responder. TFD has trained its staff to respond to such specialized needs as arson investigation, structure collapse, high-angle rescue, extrication, search and rescue, and hazardous materials. Additionally, working with the county and state agencies, TFD assumes the lead role for the city in planning for and responding to man-made and natural disasters.
More information can be found at: http://www.talgov.com/publicsafety/tfd.aspx
Other Organizations & Boards
The Leon County Tourist Development Council works to promote the Tallahassee-Leon County area as a year-round destination for tourists as a coordinated effort between the hospitality industry and local governments and businesses through advertising, public relations, direct sales, visitor service functions, and marketing research. It aims for the region to be recognized by potential tourists as a place to visit for its historic, natural and cultural attractions and as a hub for conferences, events, film, sports and more.
Council Members include:
- Priester, Sharon - Hotelier
- Schmitz, T. Bo - Hotelier
- Patel, Satish R. - Hotelier
- Personette, Michelle - Person involved in tourist industry
- Thompson, Matt J. - Person involved in tourist industry
- Stringer, Amanda - Person involved in tourist industry
- Desloge, Bryan - BOCC Chairman or designee
- Williams-Cox, Dianne - City of Tallahassee Commissioner
- Bryant, Elaine - City of Tallahassee Commissioner
- Spehar, Kathleen - Council on Culture and Arts Director (Ad Hoc, Non-voting Member)
- Bryant, Elaine - City of Tallahassee Commissioner
- Collins, Michael - Tallahassee Sports Council Rep (Ad Hoc, Non-voting Member)
More information can be found at: VisitTallahassee.com
In addition to serving both on the City Commission and intergovernmental agency boards, the City Commission is responsible for appointing citizens to advisory boards that encourage participation in the daily program and policy development of the City of Tallahassee to provide public services to the community:
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