Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC 10/01/2008 City of Ocoee Minutes of the Charter Review Commission Meeting Held October 1, 2008 Call to Order Chairperson Grafton called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m., in the Commission Chambers of City Hall, located at 150 N. Lakeshore Drive. Member Howell gave the invocation. Chairperson Grafton led the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Recording Clerk Moseley called roll and declared a quorum to be present. Roll Call Present: Chairperson Grafton, Vice-Chair McKey (arrived at 6:47 p.m.), Members Arney and Howell. Also present were City Clerk Eikenberry, City Attorney Palmer, and Recording Clerk Moseley. Absent: Member Barnes (excused). Approval of Minutes of September 3. 2008. Vice-Chair McKev. seconded bv Member Amev. moved to avvrove the Charter Review Commission minutes of September 3. 2008. Motion carried unanimouslv. Approval of Minutes of September 15. 2008. Chairperson Grafton reported that she had emailed 2 minor grammatical corrections discovered on the minutes and those changes were made. Vice-Chair McKev. seconded bv Member Amev. moved to avvrove the Charter Review Commission minutes of September 15. 2008. Motion carried unanimouslv. Discussion of Items Broue:ht Back from City Attornev City Attorney Palmer handed out a packet of representative examples of initiative and referendum charter provisions of different jurisdictions. He said that Winter Garden and Winter Park are similar to Ocoee's current charter; he provided examples of the simplest/shortest to the most lengthy/complicated. He thought their prior discussion was to leave provisions in as they are, but brought some examples for their review and consideration. Chairperson Grafton asked members to review this information to discuss at the October 15th meeting. City Attorney Palmer also had a handout of the Orange County 2008 Charter Review Commission Final Report. He asked the board to review that handout as well to discuss later. He said that Orange County had the authority under their charter to move amendments straight to the ballot without going by County Commission. Chairperson Grafton said reviewing this document and the other was the homework assignment for the board members. Charter Review Commission October 1, 2008 Continue review of the Charter Article VII Nominations and Elections Item #54- Section C-45 (B). Topic: Election dates and terms of office. City Attorney Palmer said he had not yet been able to meet with the attorney for the Supervisor of Elections; however, would follow up with that. He has looked at the recent revisions of other jurisdictions and will address each issue as discussed by the board. He said that Bill Cowles, SOE, had mentioned he was comfortable with changing the time frame of swearing in new officers to two (2) weeks; however, he has noticed other charters that state "within two (2) weeks of next regular scheduled commission meeting". City Clerk Eikenberry said that Mr. Cowles told them the two (2) week time frame was sufficient because it allowed for enough time to approve the provisional ballots. City Attorney Palmer said an option to cover all angles would be to say "two (2) weeks after the election, unless otherwise required by law". Consensus of the board was to have the Citv Attornev draft a new varaflravh reflecting swearing in two (2) weeks after the election. unless otherwise required bv law. Chairperson Grafton asked if they should suggest doing away with the runoff election. Discussion ensued regarding the pros and cons of holding a runoff election and their seemed to be more benefits for deleting that item from the charter. The board discussed changing the wording of Section C-46, whereas majority of votes cast should be changed to the most votes. City Attorney Palmer said he would bring back some alternatives when he brings back the entire packet of proposals. Vice-Chair McKey inquired if doing away with a runoff election was supported by the State Statutes. City Attorney Palmer said it was supported. Consensus of the board was to delete varaflravh C of Section C-46 to do awav with a runoff election. and to reword varaflraphs A and B of the same section to cover "most votes". rather than maioritv. Resident Lester Dabbs, 619 Caborca Ct., commented that the Charter Review Commission is a board appointed by the City Commission to do a job and wondered why they need City Commission approval before going to voters. Chairperson Grafton said the charter requires that the City Commission have the power to approve; however, this board wishes to change that. Item #58. Section C-45 (A.i, 2, and 3). Topic: Terms of office. City Clerk Eikenberry reminded members that Mr. Cowles, SOE, was in favor of changing to four-year terms in order to piggy-back on the County elections every other one. Vice-Chair McKey stated there were many advantages to changing to four-year terms, financially and to get more voters out because it would be in-line with the County election. 2 Charter Review Commission October 1, 2008 Consensus of the board was to cham!e Section C-45. varaflravhs A.1. 2. and 3 in that the term limits are four (4) years. Consensus of the board was to leave as is without term limits. City Attorney Palmer asked if they want the same 2 Commissioners and the Mayor for one election, and the other 2 Commissioners for the following election. He said the change would take affect for the first election after the updated charter was approved. The board agreed and City Attorney Palmer would revise the wording as necessary. Items #59-61. Topic: Commissioner comments regarding term limits. This item was already addressed. Item #62. Section C-46. Topic: Adding two districts upon reaching a certain population. Discussion ensued regarding the option of adding wording that states "once Ocoee reaches a population of 40,000 citizens, then two (2) more districts/commissioners would be added". City Attorney Palmer said wording such as that in the charter might cause complications and confusion. City Clerk Eikenberry suggested stating that when the population reaches 40,000 that the Charter Review Commission would meet to review a change of the charter. City Attorney Palmer said they could word it as "the Charter Review Commission meets every ten years, unless the population reaches a certain number. . . " The Charter Review Commission is permitted to meet more often than ten years. Member Amey was concerned of the cost involved with adding two more commissioners. Resident Lester Dabbs said expense should not be a reason to turn the idea away because they have to look at what is best for the citizens. A commissioner representing over 8,000 citizens may not be reasonable. Member Amey said the only problem is that raising more fees of the citizens to cover that additional cost would not be fair to all the citizens who are currently struggling financially, not to mention those without jobs. She thought they should ask the current commissioners to see if they feel overworked with the amount of citizens they are currently representing. Vice-Chair McKey suggested bringing it up for discussion at the joint meeting with Commission. Item #63. Section C-46. Topic: Runoff Elections. This item had already been addressed. Item #64. Section C-47. Topic: Qualifications of Electors. City Attorney Palmer clarified that this section referred to qualified voters, not qualifications of candidates. The Sections C-9, C-lO, and C-ll were specific to the 3 Charter Review Commission October 1, 2008 qualifications of candidates. City Attorney Palmer asked if an editor footnote could be placed on the bottom of the page to reference the Sections C-9 through C-ll. City Clerk Eikenberry said she could do that. Vice-Chair McKey suggested adding the word 'voters' in parentheses beside 'electors' to spare readers of any confusion. He also thought that marking a reference to Section C-ll at the end of C-47 would also be helpful. City Attorney Palmer recommended reversing that reference to Section C-ll with a reference to Section C-47. Consensus of the board was to (1) leave Sections C-47 and C-48 as is. (2) add a notation to the end of Section C-ll referring readers to Section C-47. and (3) add the word (ref!istered voters) after "qualified electors" in Section C-ll. Item #65. Section C-48. Topic: Registration of Electors. City Attorney Palmer will meet with the attorney of Supervisor of Elections and will bring back his findings at the same time he brings his list of amendments for the board's reVIew. Item #66. Section C-50. Topic: Certification of results; canvass of returns; notification of successful candidate. City Clerk Eikenberry stated that Bill Cowles, SOE, had suggested the Canvassing Board meets the night of the election at his office, since their staff is already there. She said the cost is high for them to come to Ocoee the next day with all of their equipment and will probably cost more next time, due to the economy and travel costs. She said we are the only ones in the county who do not meet at SOE on the night of the election. Vice-Chair McKey said his notes mentioned changing the composition of the Canvassing Board to three citizens. Chairperson Grafton said that Mr. Cowles suggested changing the board to three citizens, rather than the elected officials who currently make up the board. Consensus of the board was to have the Citv Attornev rewrite Section C-50 whereas the Canvassing Board is composed of three citizens appointed bv the City Commission. guided bv the Citv Clerk and City Attornev. Furthermore. he would add that the Canvassinf! Board would meet at 7 p.m. on Election Dav at the office of the Supervisor of Elections. Item #68. Topic: Recalled Elections. This item had already been addressed. City Clerk Eikenberry said that Mr. Cowles, SOE, had suggested adding language to the City Charter regarding recall and had mentioned paying attention to the Senate Bill 866. She would like the SOE attorney to clarify that as well. City Attorney Palmer thought that Mr. Cowles suggested only adding provisions that are unique to Ocoee, but not in conflict with the State Statute. So if they want to follow the State Statute, then they would not need to add anything into the Charter. Discussion ensued and the board thought a Section regarding Recall should be 4 Charter Review Commission October 1, 2008 added as a reference to the State Statute. City Attorney Palmer would discuss the subject with the SOE attorney and bring something back. Item #69. Topic: Term Limit. This item has already been addressed. Item #70. Topic: Four-Year Termsfor Commission. This item has already been addressed. Set Next Meetine: Date Chairperson Grafton stated that the next meeting will be October 15th. She then stated that a tentative joint meeting with the City Commission will be October 29th. City Clerk Eikenberry said she would ask Commission about the date at their next meeting. She stated that the next meeting will begin with Item 71. Topic: C-59 Appointment of Members. City Attorney Palmer inquired if he should come back with the election amendments to the next meeting, or wait until they are done reviewing their list and bring all amendments to them at one time. Consensus was to have him bring them all at once, after they are done reviewing their list. Chairperson Grafton assigned homework to the board of reading the handouts from the attorney to discuss at the next meeting. Comments Vice-Chair McKey shared his appreciation of everyone's hard work and apologized for being late. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:31 p.m. 5