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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRC 11/19/2008 City of Ocoee Minutes of the Charter Review Commission Meeting Held November 19,2008 Call to Order Chairperson Grafton called the meeting to order at 6:47 p.m., in the Commission Chambers of City Hall, located at 150 N. Lakeshore Drive. Member Howell gave the invocation and 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, Members Arney, Barnes and Howell. Also present were City Clerk Eikenberry, City Attorney Palmer, and Recording Clerk Moseley. Absent: None. Approval of Minutes of October 13. 2008. Member Amev. seconded bv Member Barnes. moved to approve the Charter Review Commission minutes of October 13. 2008. Motion carried unanimouslv. Approval of Minutes of Joint Session held with Citv Commission on November 4. 2008. Member Amev. seconded bv Member Barnes. moved to approve the minutes of the Charter Review Commission Joint Session with City Commission of November 4. 2008. Motion carried unanimous Iv. Review and Discuss Amended Charter City Attorney Palmer provided a printout of the charter with the incorporated changes that have been requested by the Charter Review Commission, shown with red strike throughs for deleted items and blue underlines for added verbiage. Members of the Charter Review Commission quietly read through the amended charter (attached as Exhibit A of these minutes) and stopped to discuss any discrepancies they came across. Chairman Grafton questioned whether they had wished to add two districts to Ocoee or not; she thought a few City Commissioners were in favor of it but the Mayor was not. She also wondered if that issue would be in Section C-46 of the Charter or C-9. City Attorney Palmer said there would likely be modifications in several sections of the Charter if they decided to change the districts. Discussion ensued regarding adding districts at the trigger of a certain population. City Attorney Palmer gave another Charter Review Commission November 19,2008 alternative that, outside of the Charter changes, they could recommend that City Commission reconvene the Charter Review Commission when Ocoee reaches a certain population, whereas they would amend the Charter at that time. Member Howell. seconded bv Member Barnes. moved that thev leave the number of districts as is in the current Ocoee Charter. Motion carried 4-1. with Vice-Chair McKev opposed. Chairman Grafton inquired about Section C-10, Judge of Qualifications, regarding adding a sentence about censuring. City Attorney Palmer reminded members of what was discussed at the joint meeting that they may want to expressly set that forth in the Charter that City Commission could, by resolution, refer to censuring. He clarified that the City Commission already had the option of doing that by resolution if they wanted to, without requiring it be stated in the Charter. Member Barnes suggested adding a line to the first sentence of Section C-1 0 regarding the powers of City Commission. Consensus of the board was to chanfle the first sentence of Section C-10 as follows: "The City Commission shall be the iudfle of the election and Qualifications of its members and of the grounds for forfeiture of their office and for that purpose shall have, to the extent permitted bv law. power to censure. power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and reQuire the production of evidence. " City Attorney Palmer said he changed Section C-19, Initiative and Referendum, to match that section from the Orlando Charter, only to simplify the issue. Vice-Chair McKey inquired if Rosemary Wilsen, attending citizen, liked the way the section was reworded since it was a previously stated concern of hers. Rosemary Wilsen, 1019 Shady Maple Circle, declared the reworded Section C-19 was harder for citizens now because it changed from getting 10% of voters to 15%. City Attorney Palmer said the change in the percentage was just carried over from Orlando's Charter and was up to the board. Consensus of the board was to accept the chanfles made to Section C-19. with the exception of 15% going back to 10% of total number of Qualified registered voters. Chairperson Grafton pointed out a grammatical error in Section C-20, whereas the word "of' should be after the added blue verbiage "for the purpose"; as well as Section C-22, whereas "manager" is misspelled as "manger". City Attorney Palmer will correct both errors. Member Howell inquired about Section C-20, Duties of the Mayor, and why they removed "emergency powers" from the section. A lengthy discussion ensued regarding the Mayor's place in emergency situations and the City's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (C.E.M.P.), which details the powers and processes during City emergencies and is regularly updated as needed. Member Barnes declared the blue changes made to Section C-24, Powers and Duties of 2 Charter Review Commission November 19,2008 the City Manager, regarding the appointment of department directors was not recommended by the board in his recollection. Member Howell he had originally wanted that to be added, as well as Vice-Chair McKey, but after talking to others changed his mind. The board discussed the prior meeting discussions. Consensus of the board was to remove the blue language that was added as the last sentence of Section C-24.A. Member Barnes noticed they skipped an issue with Section C-20, Duties of the Mayor, regarding the succession of the Mayor if the Mayor pro tern is unavailable. He said they had moved to add that, in the absence of the Mayor pro tern, that succession of the Mayor would go to the next senior commissioner during that time. All agreed that was correct. City Attorney Palmer remembered they had some issues with Section C-50, Certification of Results; canvass of returns; notification of successful candidates. Discussion ensued regarding the current make up of the Canvassing Board and the problem with the Mayor being a member of that board, whether he is running or not. Chairperson Grafton thought they had previously discussed changing the make up to three citizens, rather than the Mayor and two Commissioners not running. Member Barnes asked if the City could use the County's Canvassing Board. City Attorney Palmer said that would work if the City election matches up with the County election. City Clerk Eikenberry thought Bill Cowles said that they could canvass the results at the office of Supervisor of Elections on election night, but you would have to adopt an ordinance stating that. She said she would check with Bill Cowles about that to make sure. Chairperson Grafton announced they had only a few minutes left, unless they wanted to extend their meeting to complete the review of the amended Charter. All were in favor of extending the meeting. Chairperson Grafton said that Section C-50 would need to be revisited at the next meeting, after City Clerk Eikenberry speaks to the Supervisor of Elections. City Attorney Palmer asked about Section C-45.A.1-3 of the Charter and if it was the consensus of the board to change to four year terms to match up with County elections. Consensus of the board aflf'eed that they would like to cham!e to four year terms. to be staggered with the vrimary elections. City Attorney Palmer asked about Section C-59 of the Charter and if it was the consensus of the board to that their recommendations go straight to ballot. Members agreed with that change. Member Howell asked if they should increase the board to more than five members if they make that change. Member Barnes said each member of City Commission appoints one member to the board and they are suggesting that the Mayor appoint two alternate members, which will be able to fill in for any absent member. 3 Charter Review Commission November 19,2008 Discussion ensued regarding Section C-50, specifically the make up of the Canvassing Board and changing it to three citizens. Rosemary Wilsen, resident, asked if they should change that to citizens who are not living within the district up for election, as to prevent any problems. Recording Clerk Moseley stated she recalled that they had discussed keeping the two Commissioners who were not running and replacing the Mayor with one citizen because his position was the only seat that caused a problem. Chairperson Grafton and Vice-Chair McKey liked the idea of it being three citizens. City Attorney Palmer clarified that they would check with Orange County Supervisor of Elections to see if Ocoee can use their Canvassing Board, otherwise, make it three citizens of Ocoee. Vice-Chair McKev. seconded bv Member Howell. moved to cham!e the make UP of the Canvassing Board from elected officials to three citizens. appointed bv the City Commission. Motion carried unanimously. Member Barnes. seconded bv Member Amev. amended the above motion that. if determined that Ocoee may use the County Canvassing Board. that it be an ovtion for the City Commission to utilize that board in lieu of the City Canvassinf! Board. as they deem appropriate. Motion carried unanimous Iv. Chairperson Grafton asked about section C-59 and Member Howell's concern with adding more members to the Charter Review Commission in the future if it is changed to go straight to ballot without City Commission approval. Member Barnes and Member Amey felt the quantity should remain the same with the addition of two alternate members. Chairperson Grafton asked about the City Attorney's handout regarding the Charter Review Commission. City Attorney Palmer said that handout referred to Charter Sections C-61 and C-62. Set Next Meetine: Date The next meeting to review the final draft of the amended Charter was determined to be held Monday, November 24, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m. 4