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02/11/2003 (2) . , , , , , . CHARTER .. ... · ' , , .....' . REVIEW. , , . ..... .....COMMITTEE........... · . , MINUTES ' ' . ' , ' . , , , , , . . . . .,' , ',' ","" , , . ". ' , , . . <.' . <, . . , '. ' . . , , ' . . . ... ... . Date .'., ......... 'O.;l..Ln 103 ,.. .'. .. . ..... .. .. . " 1 . . , " " . . t' , . , . , , . .,> .. " , . .. I . J' . , '. . , . ~ , , . . j . , . .' 'j. ' .' . , . ' 't , <> ," . , ' , , . . . l' , '. , . . ~ I '. . "'. . '.. ' :., j.c ' , , , . . " . .'. . .. >. c, , , , .' , '. , . '. . . . ',' I . , , " , , . , " . " . . . Chair Vice Chair - departed 5:00 p.m. Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member - arrived 4:46 p.m. Committee Member - arrived 4:46 p.m. Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING CITY OF CLEARWATER February 11,2003 Present: Daniel Dennehy Melody W. Figurski Thomas D. Calhoun Katherine Elliott Cole John Doran William Joe Fisher Isay M. Gulley Timothy A. Jcihnsont Jr. Jay F. Keyes Jay Edwin Polglaze Lawrence (Duke) Tieman Absent: Nicholas C. Fritsch Also Present: Pamela Akin Cynthia E. Goudeau Rosemarie Alfaro Brenda Moses Committee Member City Attorney City Clerk, Administrative Analyst Board Reporter The meeting was called to order af-:t:33 p.m. at City Hall. To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although ,not necessarily discussed in that order. ITEM #2 - Approval of Januarv 28. 2003 minutes Member Keyes moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 28, 2003, as submitted in written summation to each committee member. The motion was duly seconded. It was noted the third sentence in the second paragraph under Item #7 on page 2 should end u.. .approached for inpuf' and the remainder of the sentence deleted. .' . Member Keyes amended hi,s motion to approve the minutes with the above amendment: The seconder agreed to the amended motion. Upon the vote being taken the motion carried unanimously. " , ITEM #3 - Rules of Procedure , Oity Clerk Cyndie Goudeau provided the committee with proposed Rules of Procedure. Discussion ensued and consensus was the following changes be made: Rule 3 - if both the Chair and Vice-Chair are absent the members present will choose a . member to preside. Charter Review 2003.0211 1 02/1103 : , . I, j' ,.' \ < "." 1 I . ' ,. !'" '. .' , ~. '.' '. ,~. .' . . , I " '. I L, . ' ".' . , . ,,' . . . Rule 4 - Delete the sentence regarding the Chair not closing debate until all members exhausted their right to debate and replace with a provision stating a majority vote being able to close debate. Rule 5 - require a majority vote of the committee members to take a recommendation forward ' Add - a rule to allow action to be rescinded by majority vote at a subsequent meeting. The City Clerk will incorporate these changes and place the Rules of Procedures on the next agenda for approval. ' ITEM #4 - Process Ms. Goudeau said previously, the committee recommended the Charter be reviewed section by section. City Attorney Pam Akin noted some sections may need to be taken out of order they are related to other sections. She said the property issues section, Article II, would probably take more than one meeting to discuss. Staff will meet with the Chair prior to each meeting to review the upcoming agenda. It was suggested items for discussion at the next meeting be reviewed at the end of each meeting. Consensus was to review the Charter section by section, ,except that related sections should be reviewed together. , ITEM #5 - Charter Overview - Pam Akin a. Issues from Members , Ms. Akin said Art,icle I deals with the general powers ~nd corporate boundaries. Article II deals with the legislative powers of the Commission and the form of government. Review of this section will begin at the next meeting. That discussion will overlap with several other ,sections. It is expected discussion will take place over several meeting regarding this s~ction. A concern was raised that Article lI(d)3 allowing non.budgeted expenditure~ in excess of 55 million to be approved by the Commission should reflect a requirement for a referendum. Ms. Akin said the provision requiring a referendum related to bond issues and is in Article IXt Fiscal Management Procedure". Ms. Akin said she was unsure why a 55 million cap was selected for unbudgeted expenditures. The basis for changing external auditors every five years was questioned. ' It was suggested Article lI(d)5t UReal Property'. allow 99-year lease of real property. It, was also suggested that consideration be given to removing the property provisions from the Charter and require the Commission to adopt an ordinance dealing with the purchase and sale of real property. Howevert it was .felt that there are some "sacred cows" in this section. Ms. Akin said page six of the Charter, Article II, Section 2.02 deals with qualifications. , Section 2.03 deals with elections and terms of the Commission. It was suggested that clarification of Section 2.06(b), which deals with prohibitions and the process involving the City Manager is needed. Ms. Akin said consideration also should be given to that section in conjunction with the powers of the City Manger, assuming that form of government remains. The remainder of the section deals with authentication and disposal of records, etc. Article III deals with the administration and Article IV regarding the City Attorney and Legal Department Charter Review 2003-0211 2 02/1103 I,.., . ".'Of ,.,., ,',' ,." ,.tj.. .,:'~.'1 ~.'" I' ~ " :.,:~ '.il., ".' .jf ',:'., ..'....~.: ,,:', .' ' :, . . , . '.,1 ..".. . / "" .~. . . "'.' ~ ,r. " '.' .) I . ',!' , 'll " ",' ,~r '.' .: 'r .', " ~,I, ;.. ~ ' . . . key off on what is decided regarding the form of government. Article VI deals with Initiative, Referendum and Recall. Article VII deals with the Charter amendment by petition and by ordinance. She said this committee already has mentioned they may wish to recommend that referendum be made mandatory for revision proposed by the Charter Review Committee. Article IX regarding fiscal management procedure includes the City's limited ability to bond. Those are the major sections with which there may be issues. The Chair requested committee members review the entire Chartert not just the upcoming section for review. In response to a question, information will be provided regarding whether the Commission has always has been five members elected at-large. b. Set March 4 meeting and review of what Dr. McManus will cover Ms. Goudeau confirmed that Dr. McManus will attend the March 4 Charter Review meeting at 4:30 p.m. She will present an overview of municipal forms of governmentt district versus at large, and other issues. Dr. McManus is a political science professor at USF (University of South Florida) and has appeared on many commentary shows. It was requested that Dr. McManus provide information regarding: 1) the form of government, number of commission memberst and district vs. at-large , seats related to the size of a city, both in Florida and nationally 2) the most common form of Government in Florida? 3) forms of government of the cities that have undergone major redevelopment (such as West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale). 4) If going from at-large to district seats or changing form of government has been used to circumvent term limits? . 5) the most common length of term 6) relative cost of Council-Manager vs. Strong Mayor 7) information on the cost of shifting from one form of government to another 8) a list of suggested readings you could provide ahead of time? Ms. Goudeau said the committee was provided with historical information regarding Charter questions that have been on the ballot and whether or not they passed referendum. Also provided is basic information on the forms of government as provided by the League of Cities. Ms. Goudeau said committee members should contact herwith any other requests for Dr. McManus. ' c. Cancel February 25 meeting '. , Cancellation of the February 25, 2003t' meeting was confirmed. The standard schedule of the second and fourth Tuesdays will be followed for subsequent meetings. ITEM #6 - Article 1 , , , It was suggested changes to clarify and make,the language more concise be made. Ms. Akin said Article I is a declaration of powers. Ms. Goudeau said committee members could Charter Review 2003-0211 3 02/1103 , I ~ ,I"~.' . I I . : ,; .. ,,'. ~ L . t.' " '. t ',:; l I '.. ';,. . '. I . J ~, 'r 0 " r:,. . I , . . . '. " '. , . ' ,." ' I. . . .' . e-mail suggested wording changes to her for distribution to other committee members. Action regarding Article I will be taken at the next meeting. ITEM #7 - Questions/Comments It was suggested that a minimum of two public meetings be held to soli~it public input. It also was suggested that major issues being discussed be advertised. It was remarked that during the previous Charter review, one public meeting was held and only three people attended. It was felt that attendance was low because there were no major controversial issues being discussed. In response to a question, Ms. Goudeau said only one item on the 1999 referendum failed - Item #13, removing the referendum requirement for revenue bonds, not for the purpose of public health, safetyt or industrial development and revenue bonds for refunding, in excess of $1 million. ' , It was requested that a section entitled "correspondencetl be added to the committee's binders. . Staff was commended for providing historical information, etc. to committee members. ITEM #8 . Adiourn Attest: , The meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m. '.-9-1.-"- Charter Review 2003-921 1 4 '-" " ~~, ~~ ~_.. . Chair _ Charter Review Committee l~... 02/1 103