06/26/2018 - Strong Mayor Task Force JOINT MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND STRONG MAYOR TASK FORCE
CITY OF CLEARWATER
June 26, 2018
CLEARWATER MAIN LIBRARY
Present: Bud Elias, Chair (Arrived 5:43 p.m.) Committee Member
David Loyd, Vice Chair Committee Member
Nino Accetta (Arrived 5:38 p.m.) Committee Member
Norma Carlough Committee Member
Jack Geller Committee Member
Karen Graham Cunningham Committee Member
Rosemarie Kibitlewski Committee Member
George Mantzaris Committee Member
William Sturtevant Committee Member
Stan Vittetoe Committee Member
Howard Warshauer, Vice Chair Committee Member
Absent:
Cyndie Goudeau Committee Member
Keith Protonentis Committee Member
Also Present: George Cretekos Mayor
Doreen Caudell Vice Mayor
Hoyt Hamilton Councilmember
Bob Cundiff Councilmember
David Allbritton Councilmember
William B. Horne II City Manager
Pamela Akin City Attorney
Rosemarie Call City Clerk
Nicole Sprague ORLS Coordinator
To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily
discussed in that order.
Item #1 - Call to Order
Mayor Cretekos called the City Council meeting to order at 5:32 p.m.
Chair Elias called the Joint Task Force meeting to order at 5:34 p.m.
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Item #2 -Approval of Minutes
Councilmember Allbritton moved to approve the minutes of the June 19,
2018 Joint City Council and Strong Mayor Task Force meeting as submitted
in written summation by the City Clerk. The motion was duly seconded and
carried unanimously.
Item #3 - New Business
3.1 -Task Force Chair Comments
Vice Chair Loyd thanked all for attending and reminded all to speak clearly into
the mics.
3.2 Review Article IV- City Attorney.
Former St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe reviewed his experience with re-
writing St. Petersburg's city charter for a strong mayor form of government which
was brought on by a petition process. He said the provision to require the mayor
to attend council meetings was included after a citizen complained that the mayor
was not attending meetings. The assistant city attorneys were recommended for
hire by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, only the city attorney was
able to fire an assistant city attorney. Mr. Wolfe said the city council was not
consulted regarding potential assistant city attorneys, the city attorney provided
the mayor with a list of candidates. The city attorney's salary is based on a pay
scale that is set by council. Since there were 15 assistant city attorneys on staff,
St. Petersburg rarely hired outside counsel.
In response to questions, the City Attorney said the salaries for the city
administrator and city attorney in Clearwater are based on pay ranges. It would
not be reasonable to hire a city attorney for$300,000 annually. As proposed,
council controls the budget for each department, the mayor operates within the
budget council provides. She said council does not regulate salaries. The Legal
Department currently has 6 assistant city attorneys; outside staff is hired when
needed.
Vice Chair Warshauer moved to include Section 3.06 - City Attorney and
assistants, St. Petersburg City Charter, as presented by the City Attorney
(See Exhibit B). The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
In response to questions, Mr. Wolfe said the salary of the mayor was set by
resolution after the election. He said the city attorney could be making more than
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the mayor. When considering the mayor's salary, he suggested looking at cities
of similar size and form of government. Term limits were not in place when St.
Petersburg changed to a strong mayor form of government, the charter has been
amended since to establish term limits.
3.3 Review and approve amendments to Article I — Corporate Existence, Powers, and
Boundaries and Article 11 — Legislative Power.
The City Attorney reviewed the proposed changes to Articles 1 and // (See Exhibit
A).
In response to a question, the City Attorney said the Internal Auditor will be
addressed in Article IX, Fiscal Management.
Staff was directed to provide a chart listing the positions being eliminated from
the current form of government and added to the new form of government.
Committee Member Mantzaris moved to approve Articles I and II as
presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
3.4 Review and approve amendments to Article III —Administration.
The City Attorney reviewed the proposed changes for Article 111—Administration
(See Exhibit 8).
In response to questions, the City Attorney said the language requiring the mayor
to "maintain an office in a city facility and shall devote full time to the duties of
that office"is to prevent the mayor from having a city office in his own private
space. The language also clarifies that the mayor's office is not in city hall since
Council has recently directed staff to move out of the current city hall site and
lease office space in Downtown until a new city hall is constructed.
A concern was expressed that the proposed baseline salary for the mayor is too
low. Discussion ensued with comments made that the baseline salary was
established so that it could not be lowered by council, the strong mayor for the
City of Miami makes $155,000 annually, and that salary is not always the only
reason one chooses to run for public office. A concern was expressed regarding
the optics if the salary is too high.
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Vice Mayor Caudell moved to reconsider the baseline salary for the mayor.
The motion was duly seconded and failed with the following vote:
Ayes 7: Chair Elias, Committee Members Loyd, Mantzaris and
Sturtevant, and Vice Mayor Caudell and
Councilmembers Hamilton and Cundiff.
Nays 9: Vice Chair Warshauer, Committee Members Accetta,
Carlough, Geller, Cunningham, Kibitlewski, Vittetoe,
Mayor Cretekos, and Councilmember Allbritton.
The Joint City Council and Strong Mayor Task Force group recessed from 7:14
p.m. to 7.25 p.m.
In response to a question, the City Attorney said it is not necessary to include
language clarifying that city facilities could be city-owned or city-leased.
Vice Mayor Caudell moved to amend Section 3.01 to include leased or
owned city facility. The motion was duly seconded and carried with the
following vote:
Ayes 14: Chair Elias, Vice Chair Warshauer, Committee Members
Accetta, Carlough, Cunningham, Geller, Kibitlewski,
Loyd, Mantzaris, Sturtevant, Vittettoe, Mayor Cretekos,
Vice Mayor Caudell, and Councilmember Allbritton.
Nays 2: Councilmembers Hamilton and Cundiff.
Committee Member Geller moved to approve Section 3.02, Election and
terms; absence; compensation, as presented by the City Attorney. The
motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
Committee Member Geller moved to approve Section 3.03, Powers and
duties of the mayor, as presented by the City Attorney. The motion was
duly seconded and carried unanimously.
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Committee Member Geller moved to approve Section 3.04, Veto power, as
presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
A concern was expressed that Section 3.06 does not include any qualifications
for the city administrator.
Committee Member Accetta moved to approve Section 3.06, City
Administrator, as presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly
seconded and carried with the following vote:
Ayes 14: Chair Elias, Vice Chair Warshauer, Committee Members
Accetta, Carlough, Cunningham, Geller, Kibitlewski,
Loyd, Sturtevant, Vittettoe, Mayor Cretekos, Vice Mayor
Caudell, and Councilmembers Cundiff and Allbritton.
Nays 2: Committee Member Mantzaris and Councilmember
Hamilton.
Committee Member Geller moved to approve Section 3.05, City Clerk, as
presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
Vice Chair Warshauer moved to approve Section 3.07, Council
confirmation, as presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly
seconded and carried unanimously.
3.5 Review Articles V-X.
The City Attorney reviewed the proposed changes to Articles V through X(See
Exhibit C).
In response to questions, the City Attorney said the internal auditor can only be
removed with cause and explained the reason why (s)he is contracted for a 4-
year term. The term provides enough security without fear of retaliation for their
recommendations. The Audit Committee includes a mayor's representative and a
mayoral appointee. She said all higher level city employees are at-will employees
and have contracts that include a severance provision. The city council will
determine the auditor's salary, which is based on a defined salary range. A
majority of council could vote to eliminate the auditor.
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Vice Chair Warshauer moved to require a supermajority of council to
remove the auditor. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
Committee Member Geller moved to approve Articles V through X as
presented by the City Attorney. The motion was duly seconded and carried
unanimously.
3.6 Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition (CNC) Letter
The City Attorney reviewed CNC's letter(See Exhibit D) and said she discussed
with Deputy City Manager Jill Silverboard the current budget process, which is
similar to CNC's proposal. The strategic priorities are linked to the budget by
department.
In response to a suggestion, the City Attorney said project milestones, such as
the demolition of the Harborview Center, are considered capital programs and
not strategic priorities. The mayor would set and define the strategic priorities.
The budget would identify the projects.
The City Attorney reviewed the budget report timeline: May, July, April (report on
the existing budget year) and May (new budget). The State of the City is
presented in September and is tied back to the budget and priorities. The CAFR
is presented in April. She suggested moving CNC's recommended report on the
progress and implementation status of the mayor's identified strategic priorities to
December as a summary of the previous fiscal year, it was suggested to modify
Section 3.03(f) to include the strategic priority reporting.
Committee Member Cunningham moved to accept paragraphs 1 and 2 as
presented and paragraph 3, to be inserted in Section 3.03(f). The motion
was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
3.7 San Diego Strong Mayor Article
Vice Chair Warshauer distributed copies of an article regarding San Diego's six-
year pilot experiment under the strong mayor form of government (See Exhibit
E).
Vice Chair Warshauer moved to consider approving similar language.
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The City Attorney expressed concems with cost associated with changing the
City's Code of Ordinances to implement a new temporary system.
The motion failed for lack of a second.
Item #4 — Public Comment
David Lillesand said he was impressed with the Committee's accomplishments.
Item #5 — Adiourn
The City Council meeting adjoumed at 8:16 p.m.
The Strong Mayor Task Force meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m.
Chair
Attest:
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