08/09/2023 Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes August 9, 2023
City of Clearwater
Main Library- Council Chambers
100 N. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33755
e
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
4:00 PM
Main Library - 2nd Floor Board Room
Charter Review Committee
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City of Clearwater
Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes August 9, 2023
Roll Call
Present:9 - Gladys Andrews, Bill Jonson, Travis Norton, Mike Riordon, Karen
Cunningham, Cory Chase, Jonathan Wade, Ryan Cotton and Kathy
Milam
Absent: 2 - Nathan Hightower and Patricia Rodriguez
Also Present: — David Margolis — City Attorney, Rosemarie Call — City Clerk, and
Nicole Sprague — Deputy City Clerk
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 4:04 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes
2.1 Approve the minutes of the July 12, 2023 Charter Review Committee meeting as
submitted in written summation by the City Clerk.
Committee Member Riordon moved to approve the minutes of the July
12, 2023 Charter Review Committee meeting as submitted in written
summation by the City Clerk. The motion was duly seconded and
carried unanimously.
3. New Business
3.1 Discuss increasing the number of councilmembers.
The City Clerk said this item was on the list of discussion topics
submitted by the Committee. The City Attorney said districting and the
number of councilmembers on a council are related but are independent
issues.
Discussion ensued with comments made that there would be a cost
savings by changing the city's election date to the national election cycle.
It was said that Clearwater has had five councilmembers since the 1970's
and that population has grown from 52,000 residents to 118,000 residents.
A comment was made that at the last meeting, the Committee voted to
recommend Council hire an independent agency to look at districts and that
should be done before more councilmembers are recommended as they
may not be necessary. A concern was expressed that it would be more
difficult to speak with each councilmember if there were more than five. It
was stated that since one only needs support of a majority of council to move
issues along, you would not need to meet with all of them.
Discussion ensued regarding increasing the number of councilmembers to
seven. It was said that there is enough community work and committees to
serve on for seven councilmembers. It was said that this issue was raised
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City of Clearwater
Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes August 9, 2023
during the last Charter Review Committee and Council did not support a
referendum on the issue. A concern was expressed that adding more
councilmembers would slow down progress.
In response to a question, the City Clerk said increasing the number of
councilmembers would have a direct impact on the budget and if
implemented, staff would have to recommend to Council where the funding
would come from. She said there is one administrative assistant for Council.
Committee Member Wade moved to recommend to Council to increase
the council to seven members in an effort to have more inclusion in
decision making. The motion was duly seconded and carried with the
following vote:
Ayes:8 - Gladys Andrews, Bill Jonson, Travis Norton, Mike Riordon, Karen
Cunningham, Cory Chase, Jonathan Wade, and Kathy Milam
Nays:1 - Ryan Cotton
3.2 Discuss Performance Management.
The City Clerk said she has requested information from the Florida
League of Cities regarding what cities include performance measures for
the city manager in their charter. She has not received the information
yet.
Discussion ensued regarding the recent termination of the City Manager
after receiving a decent performance evaluation. It was said there were no
measurable goals to account for which leaves the city vulnerable to criticism.
The 2019 Charter Review Committee raised the issue and recommended
Council establish annual priorities and goals for the city manager. It was also
recommended that Council provide their performance evaluation in writing.
The recommendations were not supported by Council.
Vice Chair Jonson provided the following charter amendment to Section
2.01(c)1 "Each October at a public meeting, present a report on the
evaluation of the performance of the city manager and city attorney. Such
report shall be a permanent public document completed by every council
member which shall include performance comments against a common
Council adopted series of priority annual obiectives."Discussion ensued with
a suggestion made that the charter language be amended to include a
written evaluation be provided by each councilmember. Comments were
made that the City Manager and City Attorney run the city with oversight by
Council, setting expectations protects both the employee and the city, and
that now is a good time to make the recommendation to Council as the issue
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City of Clearwater
Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes August 9, 2023
is still fresh in everyone's mind.
Committee Member Riordon moved to have Vice Chair Jonson tweak
the provided language and specify how performance evaluations are
conducted for the city manager and city attorney. The motion was duly
seconded and carried unanimously.
Discussion ensued with a suggestion made that Council talk on the dais
quarterly about their communication with the city manager and city attorney.
It was said that after the previous City Manager was terminated, it came to
light that not all Councilmembers were receiving the same information in
their one-on-ones and because of Sunshine Law, are not allowed to
compare notes off the dais. A quarterly agenda item would encourage
Council to discuss what is going well and what needs to be changed. It
would be for Councilmembers to talk with each other about how they are
communicating. It was said that this would be more of a council rule than a
charter change. There was consensus to continue this discussion to a future
meeting.
3.3 Discuss Leveling the Playing Field - Recommendations to Reduce Land Use Conflicts in
Clearwater.
Vice Chair Jonson said the 2019 Charter Review Committee made
recommendations to Council in regard to how to reduce land use conflicts.
David Lillesand served on the 2019 Committee and drafted a
recommendation to suggest Council consider an ombudsman to help
neighborhoods and residents through the development process. Council did
not support the idea and the Clearwater Neighborhood Coalition (CNC)
created a committee to research the issue. It was determined by the CNC
committee that an ombudsman was not the correct approach, and they
continued their research and came up with recommendations to present to
City Council to promote a variety of changes to reduce conflict in land use
matters. He said one of the major issues is when citizens speak at the
Community Development Board meeting, either in favor of a project or
against, they are not expert witnesses and therefore their input cannot be
taken into consideration by the Board. He proposed an eight-member
Community Development Board, four members who are professionals in
their fields and four other individuals who are not professionals, and a
passing motion would take five votes.
Committee Member Milam moved to ask Council for an opinion as
suggested in the CNC's report. The motion was duly seconded and
carried with the following vote:
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City of Clearwater
Charter Review Committee
Meeting Minutes August 9, 2023
Ayes:8 - Gladys Andrews, Bill Jonson, Mike Riordon, Cory Chase, Jonathan Wade,
Ryan Cotton, Karen Cunningham, and Kathy Milam
Nays:1 - Travis Norton
4. Citizens to be heard regarding items not on the agenda: None.
5. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.
Chair, Charter Re iew Committee
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City of Clearwater