Panama City's incoming mayor wants unity
Panama City's new mayor wants to bring everyone into government decisions, even the 2,100 people who voted against him.

"I realize a lot of people didn't vote for me," Scott Clemons said in an interview Thursday. "But I'm asking for their support now as mayor because it's important to work together as a community."

Clemons defeated incumbent Lauren DeGeorge in a runoff last Tuesday. Clemons received 3,371 votes, or 61 percent, to DeGeorge's 2,182, or 39 percent. He will be sworn in Wednesday. His first order of business will be to deal with "the tension on the commission and the tension between the commission and many people in the community."

In order to relieve some of that tension, Clemons proposes holding roundtable meetings on various topics to give people a chance to participate in government. He said it is his hope that people on both sides of an issue will show up and talk through their differences.

The meetings will give "people a real opportunity to communicate with policymakers." However, Clemons said he would spend his time at these meetings listening.

"If I go to a two-hour meeting and I have talked more than three minutes during the event, then I've done something wrong," Clemons said.

One of the first issues at the community meeting likely will be affordable housing, Clemons said.

"This is both a long-term and urgent issue," he added.