By John Pacenti
Seeking to trade shouting matches for center-court composure, Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney opened the Feb. 24 City Commission meeting with a plea for decorum, urging his colleagues to swap months of bickering — even screaming at each other — for the professional sportsmanship he witnessed at the Delray Beach Open tennis tournament.
Carney told the commission he was struck by the way tennis players handled tense moments — disagreeing quietly without bickering, and shaking hands at the end — and said that same etiquette should apply to local government meetings. “I thought to myself, that’s what I would like to have here,” he told Commissioners Juli Casale, Angela Burns and Tom Markert. “I’m hearing it from a lot of people that there’s a lack of decorum, a lack of etiquette. I am guilty of this as well.”
The tennis tournament ran from Feb. 13 to Feb. 22.
The mayor proposed getting back to Robert’s Rules of Order in running the meetings, designed to move the agenda along by eliminating crosstalk, bantering and arguing.
Commissioners must raise their hands and be formally recognized by the mayor before speaking; interruptions will be discouraged; and officials should address one another by formal titles if possible while on the dais. He framed the effort as respect not only among elected officials but toward the public, noting many residents leave meetings dissatisfied with the tone of debate.
Carney stressed the pledge was personal as well as procedural. “We have a tendency to talk over each other, and I’m just as guilty as everybody else here,” he acknowledged, adding that a more orderly process would benefit both the commission and constituents who attend meetings.
Commissioners have yelled at each other over the Downtown Development Authority, proposed budget cuts and perceived insults in the bevy of newsletters that float around Delray Beach’s email inboxes.
After his speech, the mayor’s argumentative and defensive tenor of the last month returned to his more measured approach. It certainly lowered the temperature.
Carney described the change as a “pivot” toward better governance: “Follow the rules, no interruptions, no bickering,” he said.
After the meeting, Casale — who has chastised Carney during meetings on several issues — said when asked about the mayor’s olive leaf: “The tenor of the meeting rests squarely on the person with the gavel in his hand. I look forward to respectful and civil discussions on the dais.”
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