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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC 06/11/2008 City of Ocoee Minutes of the Charter Review Commission Meeting Held June 11, 2008 Call to Order Chairperson Grafton called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m. in the Commission Chairperson 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: Chairperson Jean Grafton, Members Carol Amey, Danny Howell (arrived at 6:38 p.m.), and Rob McKey. Also present were City Clerk Eikenberry, City Attorney Paul Rosenthal, and Recording Clerk Moseley. Absent: Member Michael Barnes (excused) Guests: Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Keller. Chairperson Grafton welcomed Carol Amey to the board, who had replaced Rosemarie Morganto’s position. Public Comments The advertised Public Hearing was opened at 6:38 p.m. Lester Dabbs (Past Mayor), 619 Caborca Court, said he had questions, comments, and suggestions for the board that were not meant to be critical. He misunderstood a few things and did not think the actions of the board agreed with the charter. Mr. Dabbs Section C-65, page C42. Number of Districts. said the board had discussed adding 2 commissioners, leaving it an odd number. He said there would be about 2,000 voters per district and that seemed good to him. Another idea suggested was having a city-wide election for all commissioners and he thought that was also a good idea. Section C-21, page C22. Regarding the City Manager living or not living in the City. “The City Manager shall be appointed solely on the basis of executive and administrative qualifications and need not be a resident of the City of Ocoee or the State of Florida at the time of appointment. The City Manager may reside outside the city while employed as City Manager, subject to the approval of the City Commission.” Mr. Dabbs felt the City Manager should be required to live within the City; given a 6-9 month grace period do so. He believes there is a different perspective when you live where you work, so recommended changing that to a requirement. Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Mr. Dabbs Four-Year Terms for Commission. said the Supervisor of Elections had recommended changing to four-year terms and he agreed. He would also like to see a return to a November election because more voters show up to major elections than minor. He thought the public could be better served if more people participated. Mr. Dabbs asked how the public would know when the Charter is not being followed. Chairperson Grafton He knew of several instances when the Charter was not followed. gave some history of her experiences as City Clerk and had learned that citizens who care are to report violations, such as Code violations and Election violations, and believed the same rules applied to Charter violations. Lester Dabbs Section C-10, Page C13. Judge of Qualifications. questioned an instance with former Commissioner Danny Howell being out of line and the City Attorney Rosenthal Charter says City Commission could suspend him. said, in the case of former Commissioner Howell, the City Commission did follow the Charter. He explained the Charter states that City Commission is the judge of the qualifications of their members and that was a discretionary decision among them as to whether they wanted to take an action or not; they had decided City Attorney Rosenthal not to take an action.had provided City Commission with a legal opinion that in the absence of any action by the Commission that even a member who was not qualified as elected could hold the office under their title, unless such action is brought to remove them. He added that there was a Mr. Dabbs Florida Supreme Court case on that point as well. stated he was under the impression that City Commission had to police their own membership and suspend him. He said Danny Howell was not suspended, but given 6 months to correct the problem. He said he would find the exact wording of the Charter that he is referring to and bring it back to the board for their review. He stated he realized that political decisions are made and sometimes against the attorney's advice, such as not doing away with the Over-65 Program as the attorney advised. Mr. Dabbs Section C-8B. Page C7. Property Rights. said he recalled a property that went to bid and was granted to Tom West to go to the Baptist Church, although it was not the highest bid. He said he had no problem with who it was Member Howell awarded to, but questioned how the highest bidder did not win. said that he was Commissioner at the time and remembers that the higher bidder had backed out on that deal. Mr. DabbsChairperson inquired about using the same auditor over the years and Grafton explained their discussion with the Finance Director at a prior Charter Review Commission meeting. Section C-21, page C22. The City Commission shall fix the compensation of the City Manager and shall meet annually with the City Manager to review and Mr. Dabbs evaluate the City Manager’s performance. asked if the City City Manager’s evaluation was done annually and if that was open to the public. 2 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Attorney Rosenthal said it was open to the public, but he does not monitor whether they do it annually or not. Mr. Dabbs asked if the City Commission’s pension was covered in the City Charter. City Attorney RosenthalMr. Dabbs said that was a City Ordinance, not the Charter. asked if it was a legal opinion that their pension was not covered under compensation in City Attorney Rosenthal the City Charter. said he had not rendered any legal opinion Mr. Dabbs on that subject. said the pension seems like a benefit to Commission and he Member Howell thinks it should be in the Charter. stated he had received an outside legal opinion on that subject and was told it could be done, but a Commissioner has to run for another election and be re-elected before he could receive it. He found it to be a City Attorney Rosenthal violation of the Charter and the Ethics. said the Charter does not technically address compensation, only the annual salary of Commission. So if the committee wishes to address that issue, they should look at it because the title of the Mr. Dabbs section says compensation, but the paragraph refers to annual salary. asked how that can be undone if the pension had 3 votes. He said many citizens were not pleased with that action and asked if they would have to go through recall for that to Member Howell change. thought that would still have to be approved each year in the Chairperson Grafton budget, even though Commission already approved their pension. said it had nothing to do with the budget because it had to do with the pension. City Attorney Rosenthal stated if the board’s proposal for the Charter was to address the pension for officials, they can propose to address that in the Charter. Then the question Mr. of how that can be applied (i.e., retro-active) can also be addressed at that time. Dabbs asked the board to please address that issue because he has not heard any member of the public to speak positively about that action. He assured that he was not accusing anyone, but it did not seem to compute with him. Mr. Dabbs Section C-28, Page C27. City Clerk.said the Charter requires Commission to approve the City Clerk's salary each year and asked if that has Chairperson Grafton ever been on the agenda. said it was addressed during the budget each year, like everyone else’s salary, but was not separated out. Mr. Dabbs Section C-30, Page C29. Personnel System. inquired if the Personnel Board was currently active. City Clerk Eikenberry said it was. Mr. Dabbs Section C-46, Page C36. General Election Rules. heard that the Supervisor of Elections suggested doing away with run-off elections; however, Chairperson Grafton the Charter says we have to have one. said the Supervisor City Clerk of Elections recommends they change that section in the Charter. Eikenberry said the history of Ocoee has not shown a run-off election ever making a difference; however, that does not mean that it will never happen. Fred Wilsen, 1019 Shady Maple , commented that charter schools were not mention in the City Charter and asked if that was a problem, since that subject is active right now. 3 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 City Attorney Rosenthal said the word charter in charter school has nothing to do with the City Charter; they are two different things and it does not prohibit the charter schools. Mr. Wilsen inquired about emergency powers and the order of succession, and was concerned that it ends after mayor pro tem. He suggested they include other commissioners in the event that the mayor or mayor pro tem was not able to be available Mayor in the emergency. He asked who would run the city if that happened. Vandergrift said it should be understood that it would then go by seniority of those in Mr. Wilsen office. asked that they clarify that subject in the Charter. Fred Wilsen suggested some clean up items of the Charter as follows: Section C-24A, Page C25. The word ‘employees’ should be singular and not plural; he suggested removing the ‘s’ from the word. Section C-27, Page C27. Currently states that “before ‘entering’ the duties of office”; he suggested changing the word from ‘entering’ to ‘commencing’ his duties. Fred Wilsen inquired about Section C-62, Page C42 and asked how the Charter would be amended if the recommendations made by the Charter Review Commission were City Attorney Rosenthal rejected. said the Charter establishes one method of which the Charter amendments may be proposed to the electors, the City Commission can propose Charter amendments on their own initiative, and there is a State Statutory procedure that pertains to that as well. Lester Dabbs asked about Section C-24, Page C25, Duties of the City Manager. He asked if there was any in-service training being done in the City. If not, he asked to add an item K with conjunction with the HR Director, or other appropriate personnel, that he establish an in-service training program to ensure that directors/officers stay current. He stated the City Clerk has a recertification program and police officers have these Chairperson programs, etc., but was not sure if the City Manager had anything like that. Grafton City Clerk Eikenberry thought the directors took consistent training. said that directors maintained their own certifications and they were not mandated by the City Manager; for example, the Clerk’s office attended conferences each year to keep their Lester Dabbs certifications. requested that they add an Item K to read that “In conjunction with the Human Resources Director, or other appropriate personnel, they establish an in-service training requirement to ensure that directors/officers stay current in their field”. Lester Dabbs also suggested adding an Item L “to hold quarterly individual meetings with director(s) to ensure teamwork and leadership development leading to efficient job performances”. His understanding was that these types of meetings did not currently take place, but he thought it was important so that employees be shown the way so they know City Clerk Eikenberry where they may need to improve. said they did hold monthly Mr. Dabbs meetings for the department directors. understood that, but his concern was that directors should also be holding regular meetings with their employees, and he was Chairperson Grafton told that was not happening presently. said the City Manager will be notified and they should receive a report from him that it is already pending. 4 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Commissioner Joel Keller, District 4, suggested that the emergency powers after the mayor pro tem be granted by the length of service. He thought that those with more time Commissioner on the board would probably be better at knowing the insides of the City. Keller referred to Section C-45, Election dates and terms of service and suggested changing the length of terms in Commission to four years, rather than tree. He also thought lining it up with the Orange County elections would be great and going with the primary for the year, instead of regular would be better. Then, if there were a run-off, then they could use the run-off for the general election at the beginning of the year. Commissioner Keller referred to Section C-65, Number of Districts and said that all commissioners live North of Hwy. 50 and the citizens South of Hwy. 50 may feel left Member Howell out. stated that the citizens in that area have the opportunity to run for Commissioner Keller office as well. agreed but suggested there be a couple of districts added for that area since it is growing so much. Commissioner Keller commented that he felt it was unfair that citizens on advisory boards had to resign from the board in order to run for City Commission. He stated he would hate to see a Commissioner resign to run for Mayor, thinking the Mayor was going to retire, and then find that he changed his mind and the Commissioner had resigned their City Attorney Rosenthal seat for no reason. said that requirement was made by State Statutes and could not be overruled by the Charter. Mayor Scott Vandergrift, 2625 Cedar Bluff Lane, commented on the different types of government that exist around the country. He suggested looking at the idea of giving the Mayor the veto power, rather than just the power of one vote. He said the Sunshine Law is written around the collegiate body (meaning you have a vote) and if you are not part of that body (veto means you have no vote), then you can talk to the others one on one. He felt the Mayor should be able to talk to the Commissioners one on one. Mayor Vandergrift responded to Mr. Dabbs’ comments of the City Manager living in Ocoee. He agreed with the concept that they might be more intimate with the City if they lived inside of it; however, if the City Manager is doing a reasonably good job, then they should have their own choice of residence. He has asked that the City Manager remind the Commission that it is their evaluation time, but that does not happen. He would also suggest they create a fundamental evaluation form to assist them. Mayor Vandergrift referred to Section C-12, Page C14, regarding Commission being prohibited from interfering with the day to day operations of the City. He said they have had problems with that from time to time and nothing in the Charter is clear about it, but the City Manager should not be allowing that to happen. He has heard and seen threats to Mayor Vandergrift employees to be fired and that should not be happening. recommended adding a sanction to the Charter for those Commissioners who do not abide by the Charter. 5 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Mayor Vandergrift suggested adding a section to the Charter regarding citizens who wish to run for office and cannot afford to, such as waiving qualifying fees or allowing a City petition in lieu of fees. He said almost every political body has that, but we do not. Clerk Eikenberry said there is a hardship whereas they may waive the State fee, but Mayor Vandergrift there is currently nothing in place to waive the City fee. asked the board to look at what other cities do for that issue and consider adding a section to the Charter. Lester Dabbs stated he had discovered the section of the Charter relating to the earlier Mayor Vandergrift topic of the incident with former Commissioner Danny Howell. said he was there during Commissioner Howell's situation and when Commission makes those decisions, you are innocent until proven guilty. He said that Commissioner Howell had been convicted and the conviction was turned over; however, the Judge omitted Mayor Vandergrift putting the turnover into the records. had encouraged him to have our City Attorney straighten it out and that is why the Commission was not in a rush to City Attorney Rosenthal remove him. suggested, rather than debating on past events, that they focus on possible revisions to the Charter. City Attorney Rosenthal added that the candidate qualifying fee that is paid to the City was part of the City Code. He said they could propose to the City Commission to direct Mayor an amendment to the Election Code (Section 5-4), they would have that power. Vandergrift asked the board to consider adding that to the City Charter. He further suggested that they ask the City Commissioners and the City Manager to attend a meeting to give their point of view, and they review the model charter prior to making any final decisions. Rosemary Wilsen, 1019 Shady Maple Circle , was interested in the city-wide elections and adding two districts/commissioners. She said term limits interest her as well and thought that four-year terms were good. She also agreed with Finance Director Horton who spoke of Section C-37 (budget and advertising) being part of the State Statute and was not necessary to be in the Charter. She asked for clarification on the relevance of Chairperson Grafton Section C-8M, Page C9, Transportation. said there was issue of taxes in the 1980’s that prompted that to be in there and it was more of a formality. Rosemary Wilsen inquired about what happens if the City Commission rejects the Chairperson GraftonMrs. board’s recommendations. replied that it would then die. Wilsen asked why the City would have this board if they were not going to take their recommendations and found it difficult to think the Commission might just reject all of Mayor Vandergrift the board’s efforts. hoped that would not happen, but it was just like the advisory boards bringing recommendations to the City Commission. Commissioner Rusty Johnson, District 3, commented that Charter amendment changes are a major issue of the City. He thought the board should make recommendations to the City Commission for input, but that it should go to referendum to the citizens; that is Chairperson Grafton what they are for. said the last time they brought issues to City Commission they rejected some of them and allowed some to go to the ballot. 6 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Commissioner Johnson said times change and he thinks it is up the citizens to decide. He said they can put alternative things on the referendum for the citizens if they want and let them decide that way. This committee only meets every 10 years and it is important; it behooves them as representatives of the citizens of Ocoee to let the citizens decide that. Rosemary Wilsen agreed with Commissioner Johnson and thought it was very important for the citizens to be involved with it. She thought they should have the opportunity to vote on it and would like to see all recommendations go to referendum. She believed that going to November elections would bring a larger population out to vote. Commissioner Johnson commented that adding two commissioners might make it a little harder for people to control Commission, and puts more emphasis on adding less pressure to two people to get a third vote. He also said people should always mention Commissioners and Mayor, not only speak of Commissioners. He believed there was coercion with a bunch of Commissioners and he has seen it done before. He thought it is a way of leveling out the playing field and puts less pressure on the City Manager, as Commissioner Johnson well. said Commissioners are not authorized to fire any employee, so he did not understand why people would think that happens. He had no problem with term limits, but said the State seems to have a problem getting a consensus to do anything because the members keep changing. Commissioner Johnson commented on the complaints over the pension issue and said it was only $100-200 per person. He said to do away with it if it bothers people so badly, but suggested they look at the free insurance and per diem that is being taken by some Commissioners and was voted for without any uproar from citizens. He talked about the November elections and the equipment provided by SOE and saving money where they can. His final comment was that the citizens should be the major emphasis on what they do with the Charter and if only 15% show up to vote, then only 15% will make the difference. Lester Dabbs said the big question seemed to be how they would get more people out to vote. He said he would like to be a part of any effort to educate the public on the importance of voting. Commissioner Keller preferred single member districts because he had seen in other cities in the past where one district gets over represented and then that district gets too much power over the others. He believes that when you can hold someone more Chairperson Grafton accountable that they will be more responsive. said it had been Commissioner suggested by the Mayor that they have two commissioners run at large. Keller questioned the Mayor’s suggestion of veto power and did not think that would work well for them. He thanked the board for all of their time and effort they are putting into this. Lester Dabbs respectfully disagreed with Commissioner Keller regarding running city wide. He said as long as you must reside in the district you represent then it should work just fine. Every commissioner represents every citizen, not just those in his district. He 7 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 does not support the veto. He agreed with Rosemary Wilsen that what this board’s recommendations should not be able to be vetoed by the Commission and should go to referendum. Commissioner Johnson suggested one way to look at a city-wide election was to make it Chairperson Grafton so the Mayor is elected as a Commissioner city-wide. said they have a model charter to review and that is one model that is addressed in it. She said that is also an option to be considered by City Commission to go to referendum. Commissioner Johnson disagreed with Lester Dabbs on supporting city-wide elections for each district. He definitely voted no on the veto idea; he must have missed that discussion. Commissioner Keller stated his opposition to the term limits because too many good people have to stop just because they have been in office for a certain number of years. He believed that if citizens really did not like the person who is there, then they would vote them out at election time. When someone in office has done a tremendous job, they should not be forced out. He said they just need to get good people in office. He said that once a Mayor or Commissioner starts losing their edge and starts thinking of themselves rather than the City or gets on an ego trip, then they should be voted out by the citizens. The Public Hearing was closed at 8:26 p.m. Comments Chairperson Grafton announced the City Clerk passed out a chart of various cities and their population and how many Commissioners they each have. They had also received a model city charter to review prior to the next meeting on June 25, 2008, and it was posted on the City website for public review. Approval of the Charter Review Commission Minutes of May 28, 2008 . Vice-Chair McKeyMember Amey , seconded by , moved to approve the Charter Review Commission minutes for May 28, 2008. Motion carried unanimously. Direction to City Attorney and Staff To proceed as intended. Vice-Chair McKey asked about their recommendations going to City Commission and if City Attorney their recommendations and comments should go straight to an election. Rosenthal said this particular body is prohibited by Charter to bypass the City Commission, but they can propose an amendment for future bodies. Set Next Meeting Date The next meeting was scheduled for June 25, 2008, when they would continue reviewing the City Charter by section. 8 Charter Review Commission Meeting June 11, 2008 Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:31 p.m. erk 9