OLDEST CITY | Role of mayor started off contentious
Oct 19, 2019 at 11:51 AM
The issue of how to select a mayor for the City of St. Augustine has been raised again. This topic comes around every so often, sorta like Halley's Comet or a 17-year locust, but with less predictable timing.
The issue of how to select a mayor for the City of St. Augustine has been raised again. This topic comes around every so often, sorta like Halley's Comet or a 17-year locust, but with less predictable timing.
St. Augustinians elected their very first mayor, Geronimo Alvarez, in the fall of 1812. St. Augustine is known for its many firsts in the history of the United States, but not for being anywhere near first with an elected municipal government. St. Augustine had been a Spanish city for 226 years as well as for 21 years as a British city before the creation of a city council and the office of mayor.
In March of 1812, delegates in Spain passed a constitution for the Spanish empire, which the document states included "the two Floridas." In August, printed copies of the constitution, sent from Havana, arrived in St. Augustine. The Constitution of Cadiz, so called for the location of the constitutional meeting, was formally declared in our city on Oct. 17 with a religious service, a parade that included gun salutes, and a party hosted at the governor's house.
The Spanish Constitution of 1812 was a lengthy document with 384 articles.
Articles 309 through 323 of the Constitution set forth how city government was to be organized, including the members of the city council. Within three weeks after the festivities, the election for the first St, Augustine City Council took place. There was no prolonged campaign period. The new councilmen, mayor and city attorney took office on Nov. 7, immediately after the election.
Like the current method in St. Augustine, the voters chose the mayor. In addition to the mayor, voters elected four councilmen and the city attorney.
A majority was not required to win; a plurality (most votes) was sufficient.
Like the United States at that time, only men could vote in Spanish Florida.
All the elected municipal officials served one-year terms. The Constitution stated "mayors shall change every year, the councilmen by one-half every year six months." The city attorney also served a one-year term. Ideally these short terms of office should mean that dissatisfied voters could quickly replace council members.
And, there was one more member of the St. Augustine City Council, and he did not have to stand for election. The military governor of the Spanish colony of East Florida was automatically a member of the Council. Gov. Sebastian Kindelan and St. Augustine's first mayor Geronimo Alvarez clashed frequently.
Kindelan was a colonel in the Spanish Army and was accustomed to giving orders that were to be obeyed. When Kindelan arrived in St. Augustine, there had been no city council.
Alvarez was a civilian and a merchant, not a soldier, and loved being mayor.
Alvarez's fervor for the role of mayor equaled the governor's obstinacy about authority. Alvarez pushed for the mayorship to acquire as much influence and authority as possible, usually subtracting from the governor's role.
Early on there was contention with Kindelan over the use of a meeting room in Government House for the Council's weekly 8 a.m. meetings. The same building held the offices of government as well as being the official home of the governor.
It is interesting that nine years later the wrangle was repeated. In 1821, soon after Florida became part of the United States, the U.S. commander of troops in St. Augustine refused to permit the City Council to meet in Government House. The commander wanted the council room space for soldiers' living quarters.
Alvarez demonstrated that civil authorities did not answer to the military executive on May 4, 1813. Gov. Kindelan was absent from St. Augustine that day, when the City Council was scheduled to meet. The Council was locked out of its meeting room in the governor's absence.
Alvarez would not cancel or reschedule the meeting. Alvarez relocated the meeting to his own residence, citing "chapter and verse" of the Laws of the Indies, that permitted a meeting without the governor in attendance. The Council met that day in the house now known as the Gonzalez-Alvarez House National Historic Landmark (the Oldest House) at 14 St. Francis St.
Susan R. Parker holds a doctorate in colonial history.
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