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Home My WebLink About02-24-97 MINUTES OF THE CITY OF OCOEE CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING HELD FEBRUARY 24, 1997 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Beatty called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. in the commission chambers, and then led in the prayer and the pledge of allegiance. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. PRESENT: Chairman Beatty, Vice Chairman Combs, Members Anderson, Dabbs, and Poplin. Also present were City Attorney Rosenthal and City Clerk Grafton. ABSENT: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 10, 1997 MEETING Chairman Beatty raised a question regarding the proposal to place a strong mayor form of government on the ballot which was made by Mayor Vandergrift. He did not recall that Mayor Vandergrift had proposed taking away the Mayor's vote as it was stated in the minutes and asked that this issue be clarified. City Attorney Rosenthal stated that one of Mayor Vandergrift's proposals was to have no vote and a veto in lieu thereof. Member Poplin confirmed this. Member Dabbs noted that Candidate Griffin at the bottom of page 2 should be changed to Mr. Griffin. Chairman Beatty, seconded by Member Combs, moved to sv - i, I - - ' .,. $ 19'7 11" ' I • .s .11 I •.- o I sr Vander. rift clay' ing his remarks regarding the ma or vote /veto and the deletion of the word candidate in front of Ben Griffin. Motion carried 5 -0, (Clerk's note: Mayor Vandergrift confirmed that his proposal included the mayor having no vote and a veto in lieu thereof, as it was his belief that would enable the mayor to converse with the Council on matters that would come before them for a vote.) VIDEO: "THE COUNCIL - MANAGER FORM OF GOVERNMENT" This video showing the history of the council - manager form of government was provided by Mr. Richard Simmons (former city manager and now a Range Rider), at the previous meeting and is on file in the City Clerk's office.(CR022497) SPEAKERS: "THE STRONG MAYOR FORM OF GOVERNMENT" HOWARD TIPTON, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER OF THE CITY OF ORLANDO. CAO Howard Tipton expressed his appreciation at being invited to address this Commission and he began his dissertation by saying a successful government depended very much on the individuals involved. He said he has been in government for 30 years (27 years in a Council- Manager Plan and in Strong Mayor Plan as Chief Administrative Officer for 21/2 years). Mr. Tipton reviewed the points on the handout he distributed to the Commission and summarized as follows: "If you'll think of the Chief Executive Officer in a corporation in private business, and think about how it works well where there is a chairman and a board of directors elected by the stockholders, just like the people elect the city council, and then you pick a chief 'r executive power through a competitive process to get the very best person you can with training, education, and experience, to run the government and be accountable for the day to Slow day operations, given the policy determination by the elected officials...That's what the Council - Manager form of government is all about. Just one final word: If you don't get along with the manager, you can get rid of him. The strong mayor will be here for 4 years." Mr. John Linebarier asked what type of requirements would be put in place for a person to run for mayor in a strong mayor form of government. City Attorney Rosenthal responded that the requirements would be the same as those required to register to vote. JOHN LAND, MAYOR, CITY OF APOPKA. Mayor Land distributed some material to the Commission and stated that his philosophy is to have the elected officials work as closely as possible with the people. He said he preferred to use the term Mayor /Administrator form of government to the term Strong Mayor. He reviewed city government from the 1800s forward to the present time and said that currently the Council- Manager form of government is used in the majority of mid -sized cities, while many cities under 5,000 have an elected administrator. He talked about the importance of the people choosing the right person to hold the office of mayor in a strong mayor form of government, and then reviewed the material he had distributed. He concluded his remarks saying that what a community wants is what is best for that community. Chairman Beatty expressed appreciation to CAO Tipton and Mayor Land for the information they provided this commission. 41610, PUBLIC HEARING The public hearing was opened. Mr. Frank Carlsson, 408 Orlando Avenue, said that he was in favor of Council -City Manager form of government because of the expertise and training required for a professional city manager, and also because of the time involved in unseating an elected official. He asked if this review was happening because a minority or a majority had requested it. Chairman Beatty responded that the Charter Review Commission of 1988 had provided for regular review of the Charter in order to keep it fresh. A group of citizens had requested that certain items be placed before the citizens for a vote this year and this Commission was appointed to review the entire Charter to determine if other items should be put before the people as well. Mr. R.P. Mohnacky, 1820 Prairie Lake Blvd., said he prefers the following form of city government: Council - Manager, non partisan, odd number of members, no districts, with the mayor appointed by the commission or council. Member Dabbs asked that the record show that this was the briefest comment ever made by Mr. Mohnacky. Former Commissioner Jim Gleason, 856 Hammocks Drive, said he prefers the Council -City Manager form of government. Former Commissioner Betty Hager, 511 Orange Avenue, said that the citizens were not fir. aware of what they were voting for when they voted for districts and stressed the importance of the ballot clearly reflecting the issue. Sow The public hearing was closed. DISCUSSION /ACTION RE: INPUT FROM CITIZENS There was no action taken at this time. DIRECTION TO ATTORNEY /STAFF Chairman Beatty asked that current city administrators prepare a list of any Charter items that need to be addressed for the next meeting, and directed that the same advertisements be placed in the newspaper for a public hearing. SET NEXT MEETING DATE The next meeting was set for March 10, 1997 at 7:15 p.m. Member Poplin advised that he will be out of town on that date. ADJOURNMENT M• _t o • Ili) _ - . • - • b i D. ,v ,s•• , :•4 , m s is carried 5 -0. APPROVED: Charter Review Commission ► ha n Grafton, City erk Bru e Beatty, Chairman OFFICIAL 1994 POPULATION ESTIMATES BY MUNICIPALITY RANKED IN DESCENDING ORDER This information was provided by Ken Small, Florida League of Cities, and he said that he had compiled this information for a report he made earlier. The 1996 figures will be available in April. The last 5 cities are included in the calculations for percentages, but those cities were new at the time he did his calculations and he did not include those population figures on the worksheet he sent me. I found some of the figures in the Florida League of Cities Membership Directory. However, they are 1995 figures so somewhat out of line with the 1994 figures. The list shows only the first 132 ranked cities according to population, while the calculations include the first 178 cities. Mr. Small reviewed the city charters of the cities and used those cities showing a population of from 5,000 up to the largest city with 669,695. He found that 22 are non -city manager and 87% of the 178 cities are council -city manager. Using those cities from 5,000 to 150,000 (172 cities) 17 are non -city manager and 155 are council -city manager ( 90 %). Strong Mayor Jacksonville 669,695 Miami 365,557 Strong Mayor Tampa 283,802 Strong Mayor St. Petersburg 240,902 Strong Mayor Hialeah 202,904 Strong Mayor Orlando 170,780 Ft. Lauderdale 149,232 Tallahassee 133,731 Hollywood 124,316 Clearwater 100,604 Gainesville 93,969 Miami Beach 93,681 Coral Springs 90,586 Cape Coral 83,909 Pembroke Pines 81,374 Lakeland 73,794 Pompano Beach 73,722 Strong Mayor Plantation 73,441 Sunrise 73,017 Palm Bay 71,492 Strong Mayor W. Palm Beach 68,703 Port St. Lucie 68,223 Largo 66,869 Boca Raton 65,901 Melbourne 65,144 Daytona Beach 62,855 Pensacola 60,160 Davie 53,400 Sarasota 51,031 North Miami 50,405 Lauderhill 49,626 Delray Beach 49,298 Boynton Beach 48,848 Deerfield Beach 47,771 Tamarac 47,646 Weak Mayor- Council Bradenton 47,129 Margate 46,463 Strong Mayor Ft. Myers 46,016 Pinellas 44,111 Miramar 43,576 Ocala 42,920 Titusville 40,865 Coral Gables 40,813 Port Orange 39,072 Altamonte Springs 37,105 Ft. Pierce 36,945 Panama City 36,315 North Miami Beach 35,596 Kissimmee 35,314 Dunedin 34,857 Sanford 34,542 Coconut Grove 32,812 Hallandale 31,302 Ormond Beach 31,122 Palm Beach Gardens 30,046 Lake Worth 29,125 Oakland Park 28,083 SIAr Jupiter 27,809 Lauderdale -by- the -Sea 27,761 Riviera Beach 27,259 North Lauderdale 26,934 Cooper City 26,723 Key West 26,417 Winter Haven 25,126 Plant City 24,944 Winter Springs 24,772 Winter Park 24,363 Casselberry 23,750 Greenacres 22,742 Homestead 22,067 Ft. Walton Bch 21,980 Naples 20,425 Jacksonville 19,483 Tarpon Springs 18,839 Venice 18,093 Cocoa 18,028 N11r• New Smyrna 17,853 Rockledge 17,656 DeLand 17,652 Temple Terrace 17,516 Ocoee 17,489 Vero Beach 17,442 Strong Mayor Apopka 17,424 Belle Glade 17,139 Edgewater 17,096 Dania 17,056 Oviedo 16,788 Royal Palm Bch 16,720 Opa -locka 16,339 Safety Harbor 15,855 St. Cloud 15,333 Leesburg 15,005 Bartow 14,901 New Port Richie 14,355 North Port 14,282 Strong Mayor Sweetwater 14,067 Callaway 13,848 Eustis 13,781 Longwood 13,476 Miami Springs 13,343 Stuart 13,040 Sebastian 12,800 South Daytona 12,796 Cocoa Beach 12,596 Atlantic Beach 12,561 Haines City 12,280 St. Augustine 11,933 Weak Mayor - Council Crestview 11,903 Punta Gorda 11,873 Winter Garden 11,851 Wilton Manors 11,841 North Palm Bch 11,836 Gulfport 11,819 Lady Lake 11,557 Niceville 11,480 r► Holy Hill 11,455 Strong Mayor Hialeah Gardens 10,772 Palatka 10,700 South Miami 10,518 Strong Mayor Lighthouse Point 10,423 Lynn Haven 10,276 Miami Shores 10,123 Satellite Beach 10,048 Lake City 9,873 Palm Beach 9,855 Lake Wales 9,798 Palm Springs 9,798 Strong Mayor Palmetto 9,572 Orange Park 9,505 Fernandina Beach 9,482 Seminole 9,437 DeBary 9,421 City Manager Wellington N11rf City Manager Ft Meyers Bch 6,700 �rr City Manager Deltona 56,000 City Manager Pinecrest City Manager 41161/