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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC 04/09/2008 City of Ocoee Minutes of the Charter Review Commission Meeting Held April 9, 2008 Call to Order City Clerk Eikenberry called the meeting to order at 6:29 p.m. in the Commission Member Jean Grafton Chambers of City Hall, located at 150 N. Lakeshore Drive. gave Recording Clerk Moseley the invocation and led the pledge of allegiance to the flag. called roll and declared a quorum to be present. Roll Call Present: Members Jean Grafton, Rosemary Morganto, Michael Barnes, and Rob McKey. Also present were City Clerk Eikenberry, City Attorney Rosenthal, and Recording Clerk Moseley. Absent: Member Danny Howell was excused. City Clerk Eikenberry asked the members to give a brief introduction of themselves to the board. Member Rosemarie Morganto said she lives in District 3 and has served on other City boards and has lived here forever. Member Michael Barnes stated he has lived in Ocoee since 2001, but grew up next door in Gotha. He was involved in CACOPD for many years until he went back to school. He just finished his MBA in December and is happy to be back helping Ocoee. Member Rob Mckey said he is a member of many boards and has lived in Ocoee for almost twenty years. Member Jean Grafton stated she is a retired employee of Ocoee after 30 years and was born in Ocoee. She has served on several boards and is currently a Trustee for the General Employee Pension Board. She recalled that when she first became City Clerk they were reforming the charter and it scared the old clerk off! She said it was very tiring, but fun. City Attorney Paul Rosenthal said he was with Ocoee for the first Charter Review Board in 1988, which was torturous because it was a total rewrite of the charter and they started from scratch. Since then, they met in 1997 and the ordinance was adopted in 1999. He explained that the charter calls for the formation of a Charter Review Commission every ten years. Election of Officers Chairperson Member McKeyMember Morganto , seconded by , moved to elect Jean Grafton as the Chairperson since she had so much experience. Motion carried 4-0. Vice-Chairperson Chairperson GraftonMember Barnes , seconded by , moved to elect Rob McKey as the Vice-Chairperson for the board. Motion carried 4-0. Charter Review Commission April 9, 2008 Discussion/Action Re: Purpose and Procedures Chairperson Grafton asked if this board or commission was formed to totally revise what they did in 1988, or to review the charter and determine any areas that need to be City Clerk Eikenberry cleaned up. did not think a total rewrite was necessary and suggested they review the charter by sections to determine if any revisions should be made in their opinion as a board. City Attorney Rosenthal stated that in 1988 they had a total revision, line by line, with a lot of research and that is probably not in order now. He said in 1997, they reviewed and revised some things, such as changing terms from 2 to 3 years, etc. He stated that in terms of process, there is no specific direction from City Commission and it is up to them as to what they'd like to do. He recommended they hold one public hearing to give the public an opportunity to present any issues that they may have. He stated they are an advisory group that will make a recommendation to City Commission and the Commission has power to move forward or not on their recommendation. Furthermore, the board could recommend to change that process if they so choose, which of course the City Commission would have to approve to go on the ballot. Member BarnesCity Attorney inquired if the entire charter would need to be voted on. Rosenthal said that each individual amendment would be voted on separately on the Chairperson Grafton ballot. asked if they still had a copy of the table they used in 1997 City Clerk Eikenberry that helped them keep track of the issues. said she had that and planned to pass it along to the board as they were further along. City Attorney Rosenthal gave some examples of issues that were discussed during the last revision and could come up again, such as changing to a strong Mayor-form of government. He said he would read the charter again to get up to date on it before the Chairperson Grafton next meeting. inquired about the time line they needed to follow City Clerk to coordinate with the Supervisor of Elections office. Discussion ensued and Eikenberry said she would verify the information before the next meeting. City Attorney Rosenthal explained that, according to the charter, the review board would have to meet in 2009 and they are just beginning early. They all looked through the charter to find some revision dates listed that tell when each section was added and by which ordinance number. They discovered that nothing has been amended since 1999. City Attorney Rosenthal point out on page c35 that there were changes in 1996, 1997, and 1999 relating to the March election, which Legislature passed a general legislation allowing city councils to change their election date to March without referendum. Chairperson Grafton reminisced about several instances that almost allowed charter City Attorney Rosenthal changed in order for them to do what they wanted to do. added that many instances he had to interpret the charter in order to give them legal advice as to what was meant in the wording, and said he would think about those and bring those to the board. 2 Charter Review Commission April 9, 2008 City Attorney Rosenthal went over the Florida Sunshine Law with the members and said they could speak to the City Commissioners individually if they chose. Furthermore, they could email to the City Clerk and she would communicate any additional items to add to the agenda for discussion at the next meeting. He stated that each member was appointed individually by a City Commissioner; however, they are not bound by any direction from a City Commissioner or their points of view. He said the Mayor or Commissioners were welcome to attend a meeting and share their views or could be invited by the board to do so. Vice-Chair McKey asked if Commissioners would need to come separately to the City Attorney Rosenthal meetings. said they could all be present at one time at a public meeting; however, they would not be allowed to have discussions with each other during the meeting unless it was a joint meeting, in which they would debate with the Charter Vice-Chair McKey Review Board. said it should not be determined to be a contradiction of the current charter, but maybe clarify it so not as much is subject to interpretation, as the attorney mentioned. Direction to Attorney/Staff City Attorney Rosenthal suggested asking staff if they have run into any obstacles by it Chairperson Grafton that should be reviewed. said they ran into a number of difficult things in the clerk's office and asked if they should send a request to directors or City Clerk Eikenberry employees. said she could email the staff and bring their City Attorney Rosenthal responses back to the board. suggested she ask staff to send a memo of requests to the board and let the board decide if they'd like them to attend a meeting or not. Vice-Chair McKeyCity asked if their changes need to be put on a public ballot. Attorney Rosenthal said the City Commission has to vote to put an item on the ballot; they do not have the authority to amend the charter themselves. Chairperson Grafton assigned the members homework to read the charter and highlight City Attorney Rosenthal any sections they would like to address at the next meeting. asked if they would like to receive copies of charters from other cities to review and City Clerk Eikenberry compare. agreed to retrieve charters from Winter Garden (City Manager-Form of gov’t.) and Apopka (strong Mayor-Form of gov’t.), as well as Orange County, and would supply copies at the next meeting. City Attorney Rosenthal explained that local governments have home rule powers under the Florida Constitution, which means they can do anything the Legislature can do, unless it is specifically addressed or prohibited by the Legislature. He showed an example on page C-6 section C-8, which gave a long list of powers. Member Barnes asked about the charter school district issue and if that should be City Attorney Rosenthal addressed during the charter process. said, currently, our city charter does not address charter schools. Their options are to leave that out completely, 3 Charter Review Commission April 9, 2008 to say the City Commission is expressly authorized to charter a public school, or to say the City Commission is expressly prohibited from chartering a school. He added that City Attorney Rosenthal state law does not prohibit either option. stated if there was something they wished to prohibit City Commission from doing, they could suggest adding it to the charter. He gave an example of something midway in that category, whereas many places in the charter state the City Commission is prohibited from taking an action without an advertised public hearing. He said if that was not in there, then they could take many actions without giving the public sufficient notice, such as the sale and disposition of public property, which is not a state law but a city law. City Attorney Rosenthal said that City Commission has all powers unless you prohibit them (or unless it is prohibited in state law). He said they could not put something in the charter that is contradictory to the county charter, because we are a charter county. He recommended they review that charter, as well as the League of Cities model charter. He said it was all fair game and he would let them know if they do anything that is contradictory to the law. Vice-Chair McKey asked if there were any points that the attorney recommended they City Attorney Rosenthal look at, such as expanding the wording to clarify things. said that fits into the category of key issues, such as a strong Mayor-Form of gov’t. or clean- ups. He remembered that Lester Dabbs was a strong advocate in cleaning up the charter City Attorney the last time, but it did not pass in the referendum for some reason. Rosenthal said if the referendum is too long it is not clear to the public and the natural thing for them to do is vote it down. He said there was a lot of legality involved and each charter question on the ballot must be listed to a single subject; you cannot lump unrelated ideas together into one section. Set Next Meeting Date The next Charter Review Board meeting was scheduled for April 30, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. It was also decided to limit the meetings to two hours; however, they could move to extend the time of a meeting if it were necessary. Thereafter, it was decided that they would meet bi-monthly and tentatively set the following meeting dates: May 14, May 28, June 11, and June 25. City Attorney Rosenthal informed them that when they set a public hearing they would City Clerk Eikenberry need to advertise those meetings two weeks prior. said the City Commission has two months to respond to the recommendation made to them by the board. She will find out what their final deadline is for getting items placed on the ballot in March 2009 so other deadlines can be determined from there. City Clerk Eikenberry said the copies of the other charters would be available by the next meeting, unless she could get them quicker. Consensus of the members was to Chairperson Grafton receive a packet ahead of time to review prior to the meeting. asked all members to review the current charter before the next meeting so that they can 4 get the ball rolling. Then they can go over each chapter by chapter and discuss any changes they feel necessary. She asked for a board list as well, even though they know they cannot communicate with each other. City Clerk Eikenberry suggested marking down and flagging any sections they have questions about, and then she would ask staff about those things or ask someone to attend a meeting to answer their questions. Comments City Clerk Eikenberry said she would advertise those meeting dates on the website and Ocoee TV, and will reserve the Commission chambers for their meetings. Vice-Chair McKey asked if they would be allowing public input at their meetings, or only the public hearing. Chairperson Grafton said they do not usually have public input at workshops, but that is up to the board as a whole. City Attorney Rosenthal recommended they hold one public hearing to allow for the public to give their input. He added that in the past, and according to the charter, they were called the Charter Review Commission, rather than a board. City Clerk Eikenberry thought it would better if they had the public hearing after they decide which changes they'd like to make and before they make a recommendation to the City Commission. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:42 p.m.