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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-21-88 CHARTER REVISION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD APRIL 21, 1988 „ The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by Chairman Beatty and he asked for a moment of silent prayer and led in the pledge of allegiance to the flag. PRESENT: Chairman Beatty, Board Members Mitchell, Pounds, and Switzer (arrived at 7:38 p.m.), Attorneys Rosenthal and Mlsna, and City Clerk Catron. ABSENT: Board Member Hendrix was absent due to illness. APPROVALS Rev. Jim Mitchell moved to approve the minutes of the April 7, 1988 Meeting, Ed Pounds seconded and the motion carried unanimously. REVIEW OF ARTICLE III OF THE CHARTER Proposed Revisions and Commentary to Article III Attorney Mlsna proceeded to review Article III and the changes that had been incorporated as recommended by the Board as follows: Section 1 - The deletion was made that the "mayor only voted in case of a tie ", provision was made for a vice -mayor and added that the commissioner would represent the district tier in which they reside. Section 2 - This section remains basically the same except for the addition of the word "city ". Section 3 - The provision that a candidate for office had to be a bonafide resident was added. Mayor was added so it would read "mayor and commissioner ". Section 4 - Clarification was added as far as a member of the Commission being employed by or have a substantial interest in any firm, corp., etc. There was discussion by the board due to the fact that our current Mayor was employed by Southern Bell and the attorneys were to look into this and bring back some other language. The provision that no former member of the Commission could hold any compensated appointive city office or employment by the city for one year after expiration of the member's term was added. The last sentence of Section 4 (a) was deleted as the State Statute covered it under the "Resign to Run" Law. Section 4 (b) was modified to include the provisions for a strong City Manager. Section 4 (c) was modified to clear up the reference to influencing votes. Section 5 - This section was reserved and would be ',,,. deleted. 1 Gage 2 Charter Revision Committee April 21, 1998 igaw Section 6 - No changes were made. Section 7 - The word "elected" and "that the mayor would vote in case of a tie" were deleted and the provision added that "all members of the commission" would vote. There was some discussion on the requirement for a roll call vote on all resolutions and ordinances and it was decided to leave it as written since the Mayor would be a voting member. Section 8 - The word "city" was inserted. Section 9 - This section was just clarified and the provision for the vice -mayor added. Section 10 - (a) - The language was just cleaned up on this section. (b) Several of their recommendations had been included and some minor word changes were made. (c) The provision was made to allow the vice -mayor to serve as mayor if a vacancy occurred in the office of mayor and that the Governor would appoint members of the city commission if they were all removed at the same time. Attorney Rosenthal would check to see if that provision was included in the State Statutes. %iv Section 11 - No change except added "city ". Section 12 and 13 - These were deleted as they were governed by State Statute. Section 14 - The model charter was used for this section. The requirement for filing within a certain time was deleted and the provision added that the city clerk could seek assistance from the supervisor of elections. Under 4 (a), the time for filing the notice of intention to amend the petition was lengthened to 5 days. Under 6 (a), the time was changed from 60 days to 45 days and 30 days to 45 days. Under 6 (b), the time was changed from 120 days to 90 days. Sections 15, 16, 17, 18 - These sections were included in Section 14; therefore, these would be deleted. Section 19 - The provision was added that the mayor would deliver an annual state of the city message in January. Sections 20 and 21 - These were deleted. RECESS: 8:46 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 8:55 p.m. 2 Page 3 Charter Revision Committee April 21, 1988 err DISCUSSION ON SINE MEMBER DISTRICTS The items discussed regarding single member districting were: who established boundaries; what guidelines to use for establishing the boundaries; drawing the boundaries; adoption of the districts; effective date; changing boundaries of the districts, and who would establish the new boundaries. The general consensus of the Charter Committee was to provide for a districting commission that would consist of individuals appointed by the city commission. The members would have to be qualified voters who were not otherwise employed by the city and staff assistance and technical data would be provided by the Planning Department. They agreed not to leave the actual districting in the Charter, but to provide the commission with the vehicle (districting commission) to accomplish the single member districts. They wanted to provide for an orderly transition and to make it effective so it would not affect the current commissioners. They also agreed that new boundaries should be established at least every ten years. Single member districts would be based on population and the next census was scheduled for 1990. Attorney Rosenthal stated that the data would probably not be available until 1992 and the committee agreed to make it effective with the 1992 Election with a report in 1993. N ew Attorney Rosenthal was to look into terms of appointment for the districting committee and report back at the next meeting. There was some discussion on making the single member districting a separate issue on the ballot in case the citizens were opposed to the single member districts but not the other revisions to the Charter. R. P. Mohnacky, 1820 Prairie Lake Blvd., Ocoee, stated that he was not in favor of single member districts and wanted to keep the two year terms. RESIGN TO RUN As stated earlier, the Charter was more restrictive than State Statute; so that sentence in Article II, Section 4 (a) was deleted. MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENTS The committee wanted this left out of the Charter. The committee stopped at Item IV of the Memorandum of 4 -6 -88. COMMENTS The dates set for future meetings were as follows: 5/5, 5/12 3 Page 4 Charter Review Commission April 21, 1988 and 5/26. This would allow several of the members to be able to attend some of the meetings since they were to be out of town during part of May. Harold Switzer moved to adjourn, Rev. Jim Mitchell seconded and the motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.. CHAIRMAN BEATTY ATTEST: CITY CLERK 4