Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC 07/09/2008 City of Ocoee Minutes of the Charter Review Commission Meeting Held July 9, 2008 Call to Order Chairperson Grafton called the meeting to order at 6:40 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 Grafton, Vice-Chair McKey, Members Amey and Barnes. Also present were City Clerk Eikenberry, City Attorney Paul Rosenthal, and Recording Clerk Moseley. Absent: Member Howell (unexcused) Guests: Commissioner Keller and Commissioner Johnson. Approval of Minutes of June 11, 2008 Vice-Chair McKeyMember Amey , seconded by , moved to approve the minutes of the meeting held June 11, 2008. Motion carried unanimously. Review of the Charter The Charter Review Commission continued to review the Ocoee Charter from Section City Clerk Eikenberry 14, while comparing certain sections with the Model Charter. reported that she was compiling a list of items the board decided to review more closely and would disburse the list once they had completed their initial review of the entire City Attorney Rosenthal charter. explained the process to follow to bring the proposed changes to the City Commission in order to satisfy the necessary timeline. He said the City Commission would have to approve the changes by December in order to make it to the Supervisor of Elections by the January 16, 2009 deadline. Theoretically, the Commission can take up to two months to review and approve the changes, which would require the board to present their report to City Commission by October. Commissioner Keller commented that he would rather see the board take their time with their goal and have a special election if necessary, than to rush through this in order to get it on the March election. He wants the board to be comfortable knowing that they have Chairperson done what is best for the City, so encouraged them to take their time. Grafton said she would like to spend some time educating people on what the paragraphs in the charter mean because she remembers why each section was originally inserted. Charter Review Commission Meeting July 9, 2008 Chairperson Grafton stated that she wished Member Howell were present because he had some comments from the last meeting that she would like to hear. The board began to review Charter Section 14 and proposed the following for each section thereafter: Section C-14. Quorum; necessary vote for adoption of ordinances and resolutions; roll call. Chairperson Grafton stated that Lester Dabbs had pointed out a grammar error in this section, whereas the word “Lessor” should be spelled “Lesser”. Section C-15. Absence from meetings. Commissioner Keller asked if a Commissioner were absent from a meeting City should they call ahead to be marked as excused to prevent a problem. Attorney Rosenthal said if someone was absent for almost 4 meetings they would want to call and maybe bring that up at a meeting; however, that has never been an issue in Ocoee. As it is written, 4 consecutive absences will result in a vacant seat and that does not require any action by Commission. Section C-16. Compensation; expenses. Chairperson Grafton said this subject has been active lately and asked if pension City Attorney Rosenthal was considered compensation. said the title says Member compensation, but the wording in the paragraph says annual salary. BarnesVice-Chair said they could change the wording to salary and benefits and McKey suggested changing the title to say salary, rather than compensation. Commissioner Keller said if they change it to include benefits and the City changes providers during their term in office, then it could be hard for them. Member Amey asked how the Commissioners receive the pension and insurance Vice-Chair McKey benefits and Commissioner Keller explained. was concerned with adding the word “benefits” because of the scope and would rather change the word “salary” to “compensation”. He also reminded them to change the spelling of Pro Tem to all lower case letters, as pointed out previously. Chairperson Grafton stated that a citizen had recommended addressing the Vice-Chair pension in this section, although it was handled by ordinance. McKey referred the board to the Model Charter, Section 12.04, whereas the wording was a match to the section of the Ocoee Charter. Consensus of the board was to add Section C-16 to the list of items to revisit at a later date. Section C-17. Vacancies; forfeiture of office; filling of vacancies. City Clerk Eikenberry thought having a special election within the 30 days of the vacancy (required in this section) may cause a problem. The board questioned whether calling a special election within 30 days means announcing one or City Clerk Eikenberry actually holding an election within 30 days. said she would check with Bill Cowles. She asked what would happen if they violated the City Attorney charter and did not get the special election done within 30 days. 2 Charter Review Commission Meeting July 9, 2008 Rosenthal said the only remedy would be to hold the election, since you cannot turn back time to fix it. The board reviewed the section of the Model Charter, which gave a more realistic time frame. Consensus of the board was to change the time frame of thirty (30) days in Section C- 17.C. to ninety (90) days, as it is stated in two places. Section C-18. Independent audit. No changes proposed. Section C-19. Initiative and referendum. Chairperson Grafton said the public had commented on problems with this section because it seemed impossible to meet the requirements of the Charter. Vice-Chair McKey suggested simplifying this section to make it easier for the Member Barnes public to follow. asked if it was covered by State Statute and City Attorney Rosenthal said he would check that. He suggested looking at the language in other city charters to see which language they like the best, or if they Chairperson Grafton are the same as Ocoee. did not recall a citizen’s initiative City Attorney Rosenthal ever taking place in Ocoee. said there had been talk Member Barnes before, but nothing ever became of it. stated that citizens would need to be very serious to take an initiative. Consensus of the board was to review Section C-19 of the Charter in further detail at a later date. City Attorney Rosenthal pointed out a major difference from that section of the Ocoee Charter compared to the Model Charter. The Ocoee Charter states “ten percent (10%) of the total number of qualified electors registered to vote at the last regular election”, whereas, the Model Charter states “at least [5 to 10] percent of the total number of registered voters to vote at last regular election”, which sounds like the number who voted, as opposed to the number registered to vote. In Ocoee, ten percent (10%) of the voters would be an extraordinarily small number. Commissioner Keller said he had another meeting to attend and had to leave, but wanted to make a comment about proposing a change to four (4) year terms before he left. He would like to see them have that in the years 2009 and 2011, because those would be the years when they are not running presidential candidates and the ballot would not be as City Clerk Eikenberry busy. said SOE talked about lining it up with the presidential Commissioner Keller primaries because of the cost savings and better turnout. thought people would pay more attention to the ballot if there was not too much on it. Commissioner Johnson arrived at 7:46 and Commissioner Keller left. Section C-20. Duties and emergency powers of the Mayor. 3 Charter Review Commission Meeting July 9, 2008 City Attorney Rosenthal said there were specific statutory grants of authority to the Mayor of the County during emergencies, rather than the City Mayor. He thought the Mayor had some issues with what he determined as an emergency. City Attorney Rosenthal understood it as the mayor wants to be the one in charge administratively during any emergency in the city; that is the prerogative of the Charter Review Board if they want to do that. However, his legal opinion on this provision as written does not give the Mayor authority over the City Manager or the Chief of Fire or Police. You cannot give the mayor powers that the State gives to the County. Specifically, this is only a conflict between the Vice-Chair McKey Mayor and the City Manager. suggested clarifying this City Attorney Rosenthal section so there is no conflict. said there is a manual required by the State (emergency response team) for the entire County and Vice-Chair McKey suggested they invite the Fire Chief to explain the process. said they should modify it so there is no confusion. He suggested deleting the portion "and by the governor of the state of Florida for the purposes of military law, civil law and service of process..." because it is the City Manager’s job to do Member Barnes that stuff. said the section is titled “Duties and Emergency Powers of the Mayor” and he suggested simplifying it by deleting "Emergency Powers” and changing the title to the “Duties and Powers of the Mayor”. City Clerk Eikenberry stated that page 10 of the Model Charter included a City Attorney Rosenthal section of the “Mayor's Powers and Duties. said that is a much broader power than the Ocoee’s section. Discussion ensued. Consensus of the board was to add this Section C-20 to the list of items to review in further detail, to consider changing the title of Charter Section C-20 to “Mayor’s Powers and Duties”. Section C-21. City Manager. Appointment; qualifications; compensation. Vice-Chair McKey said the citizens seem interested in nailing down some requirements to the City Manager. He feels he should be a citizen of Ocoee and said City Managers should treat themselves like military in that they move where Chairperson Grafton the job takes them. said the life expectancy of city managers used to be about 3 years and to require them to move into another home for something that was not guaranteed, especially for someone who has a wife and children that have to change schools, is not fair. She has mixed emotions about it. Member Barnes said he thinks it is good to have them live in the city, but Member Amey requiring that will limit their candidates. commented that she did not think that someone who is not a resident has the same respect for the city as Commissioner Johnson citizens do. said that having someone local coming in is good because they are close to home; however, he thinks a city manager living in the city would not have a life because everyone would know him and see him in town and would never leave him alone. He said if they change city managers he thinks they should live in Ocoee if they are from far away, but asking them to Member Barnes move from Orlando to 10 miles across town seems silly. 4 Charter Review Commission Meeting July 9, 2008 thought they should leave it alone and let the City Commission determine that requirement, depending on applicants. Member Barnes moved to keeD Section C-21 as it is. Motion failed for lack of a second. Chairperson Grafton said she would like the wording to be changed to match the Model Charter Section 3.01, page 22, in that "the manager need not be a resident of the city or state at the time of appointment, but may reside outside of the city while in office only with the approval of the council. Members Barnes and Amey agreed the wording was different but the idea was the same and it seems like that would be a bad reason to change it. Comments Vice-Chair McKey said he would not be able to attend the July 30,2008 meeting, but would report his thoughts on the next few sections to the board. Chairperson Grafton stated they would put off the review of the initiative and referendum until Vice-Chair McKey returns. Direction to City Attornev and Staff To proceed as intended. Set Next Meetine: Date The next meeting was scheduled for July 30, 2008, when they would continue reviewing the City Charter by section, beginning with Section C-22. Ad10urnment The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. 5