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Charter07-12-07Min ~ City of Longwood 2007- Charter Advisory Cornrrgittee Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida MINUTES July 12, 2007 7:00 P.M. Present: Chair Joe Durso Vice Chair Jack Caldwell Member Tamara Cooper 1Vlember Douglas Damerst Linda F. Goff, Recording Secretary Absent: Member Susan McMahon 1. CALL TO ORDER. Chair Durso called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: June 14, :007 Organizational Meeting. ~ Vice Chair Caldwell moved to approve the minutes of June 14, 2007 as presented. Seconded by Member Damerst and carried by a unanimous voice vote. 3. PUPLIC INPUT. None. 4. REVIEW OF CHARTER. Chair Durso said the next Charter Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for September 13th and this is Rosh Hashanah. He said if this conflicts with anyone now would be the time to reschedule that: meeting. A memorandum from Member Damerst regarding questions for the City Attorney was distributed to the nieinbers. Article I Member Damerst said he would like to propose an amendment. He stated he was thinking about the process and it would seem they should offer amendment language to the Committee for discussion. He said they have talked about having input from Department Heads and others, so he would not want anymore than discussion. CAC 07-1.2-07/1 Chair Durso said the whole purpose of the discussions over the next few meetings would be to come up with a final product towards the end. He suggested sending a letter to the Department Heads following; this meeting expressing the Committee's interest in their ideas and, after receiving. their input in writing, provide them the opportuiuty to appear before the Committee. He stated if they amend one section, chances are they will need to amend several articles throughout the document to make it congruent. He suggested making this a procedure and combine them as they go through, then at the end put together a final product to vote on and recommend to the City Commission. Member Damerst passed out a memorandwn recommending a proposed amendment to Article I. He said Article was about the Creation and Power oil the City. He stated governments in Florida were making great efforts to cooperate with each other. He declared it is so important for cities to work with other goverrunent entities. He stated this power he is suggesting for the Charter broadens and encourages the City to work proactively in growth management, emergency management,. and opens options for the City to make agreements . where they see fit. He said for the proposed language he went to the Model Charter by the Florida League of Cities. He recommended adding the following: Section 1.02, bztergovernment Relations. The city may participate by contract o~° otherwise with any governmental entity of this state or any other state or states of the United States in the performance of any activity which one or more of such entities has the authority to undertake. Vice Chair Caldwell said 11e also tried to read the Model Charter. He questioned if this type of activity was denied the City. Member Damerst said he could not fmd where the City was receiving authority to make an agreement with another state. F[e found State Statute that empowered muiucipalities to make agreements within their regions and with the State. However, the scope did not go broader than that. _ Chair Durso said there were very specific rules_with regards to how municipalities interact with the State, counties, and the Federal governments. He stated he was curious whether the City would need to ~3eal with or enter into any agreements with other states. He said he was not so ;pure we needed to put something in law that says they are allowed to deal with another state as there is nothing in the Charter that prohibits dealing with anotrAer state. The City had to go through a process to be .granted a Charter by the Si:ate of Florida. He suggested asking th.e City Administrator to provide his feedb~:ck. Vice Chair Caldwell said it was a viable point and the Charter is for operational ~ procedures not just for today, but, for tomorrow. CAC 07-12-07/2 Chair Durso said for the most part less ean be more in a lot of ways. If there is not a problem, why create an issue. He stated it was a valid point and suggested they discuss the matter after receiving feedback. Member Damerst said he was serious about proposing this amendment, but would be willing and open to withdrawing the proposed amendment as they learn whether it has value or not. It was the consensus of the Cormnittee to provide this proposed amendment. to the City Administrator and the City Attorney for comments. Article II Reviewed with no reconunendations. Article III -City Commission Chair Durso said Member Damerst had ;some questions for the Acting City Attorney that were distributed at the beginning of the meeting. Section 3.01- Compensation, Qualifications of Members, Commission Districts, Election,. ~'erm of office, Oath and Forfeiture Member Damerst said his question for the Acting City Attorney regarding Section 3.01 (g) Election at Large was whether the Election at Large had raised any is;~ues and he was asking in a way to have a yes or no answer. He stated one of the pitfalls of an Election at Large was that. districts of the City do not take full ownership of that representative on the (commission. Vice Chair Caldwell said he was not clear on the Composition in Article III. F[e said he understands they are elected at huge and not by district. He questioned. if they 17ad to live in their district. Chair Durso responded in the affirmative. He said they had to reside in their district. He stated this assured the residents had equal representation. Member Damerst said his question was 'to see if there were any issues to make; a case for change. Chair Durso said if this Committee was not comfortable with at large elections, then they can make a reconunendation t~~ the Commission for an amendment. Vice Chair Caldwell asked if there were any thoughts as to what the benefits were one way or the other. CAC 07-12-07/3 ~ Member Damerst said the model city charter did a good job of explaining elections at large or by district. Vice Chair Caldwell said this was a small conununity and he would question whether the City was large enough to ga that way. Chair Durso said it might be helpful to compare to other cities. He stated Altamonte Springs has a strong Mayor and they run district wide. He said for the purposes of a compromise they could look at the Mayor and Deputy Mayor positions. He stated there were a nlunber of things that. could be considered with regards to election laws. Vice Chair Caldwell said they need to look at how it could benefit the City today and in the near future. Chair Durso said the answer given most often was that the benefit is that you ~~re voting for your neighbor. It is government closest to the people. He suggested he could send a letter to the Supervisor of Elections to ask if there would be any cost savings to running citywide as opposed 'to running by districts. He said they should be asking for information from a~ many sources as they can. Section 3.02 -Compensation Member Damerst said his question to the Acting City Attorney was regarding whether the Commission could provide additional compensation to the Mayor for additional duties. He said 3.02 does not allow the City to pay incurred expenses to Commissioners and the City may be doing this. He is questioning if this section is adequate for the practices. Vice Chair Caldwell said going back to 3.01, did any member of the Committee . desire to bring up anything about term limits. He said paragraph (c) Geographical Districts, paragraph (2) states they shall be amended from time to time. He questioned if this should be more specific in regards to who was responsible. Chair Durso asked the Recording Secretary to provide the Ordinance that defines the districts. Vice Chair Caldwell said he was not aii advocate of term limits in office, but it begs to be asked whether the Committee .had any interest in pursuing this matter. Chair Durso said they may fall under Federal and State Laws with regards to germ limits. He stated he would do some research into whether it could be changed. Member Damerst said he would not be interested in changing to term limits. Member Cooper said she also would not be interested in. changing to term limits. CAC 07-12'.-07/4 ~ Member Damerst reiterated lus question regarding the language for compensation was adequate to cover whether expenses were being paid to the Commissioners and if the Mayor received additional compensation. Vice Chair Caldwell said his questions were what the Commission was currently being paid, was there a range and what the last increase was. Section 3.03 -Mayor and Deputy 1VIa;~or Chair Durso said if they change anythin; having to do with districts or anything to do with the Mayor being directly elected, the first sentence would need to be changed. Vice Chair Caldwell said he did not understand. the. Mayor and Deputy Mayor whether they were elected or rotated. Chair Durso explained the Mayor was ellected by the Commissioners.. The Recording Secretary stated the Mayor was elected by the Commissioners the first meeting in May and the Deputy Mayor rotates by District in November. Section 3.04 -General Powers and Ditties Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.05 -Prohibitions Member Damerst said Section 3.05 has paragraph (b), Interference with Administration, which he likes. He stated the professionals, Department Heads and the City Administrator need to be allowed to do their job. He said one of t;he things that should go further than that was regarding appointments and removal of Department Heads: He stated what was absent here was a prohibition by the Conunssion from directing the City Administrator to remove someone from a position. He said it seems that type of prohibition would make sense, but probably only if there was also concurrently a revision in the Commission's role in the approval of Department Head hiring. In the Charter the City Administrator chooses and appoints Department Head:, but it is subject to approval by the City Commission. He declared he was not quite comfortable with the Commission having, their hand on who he selects as leis team. He said. this does not separate well. He distributed some suggested language for a paragraph (c) as follows: (c) ~pointments and Removal. The City Commission and its members individually shall not in any manner control or dema~zd the appointment or removal of any City Administrative Department Head or employee whom the City Administrator or any subordinate of the City Administrator is en2powered by this Charter or City Ordinance to appoint. The City CAC 07-12.-07/5 ~ Commission and its members indivia.'ually nzay express its views and fully and freely discuss with the City Administrator anything pertaining to appointment and ~ ei~zoval of such Department Heads and employees. Vice Chair Caldwell said he had a bracket around the last sentence of the last paragraph in this section. He stated this changed it around to a positive. Chair Durso said he would ask the members to consider the Commission approval as a check and balance. He stated ultimately the City Commission is responsible for service to the public and they appoint the City Administrator. Member Damerst said it comes up again under Section 5.01 (b). Chair Durso said this was status quo government appointment. Member Damerst said he still believes this helps to assure the public the City Conullission doesn't have a heavy hand :in the appointments or removal of Department Heads and employees under the City Administration. He suggested it would be interesting to explore this with the Department Heads and the City Administrator. Chair Durso suggested they run this by the Acting City Attorney to check the legalities. He said this could set a legal precedence in motion. He stated after hearing from the Acting City Attorney an these issues, they will spend time at the next meeting reviewing this information Section 3.06 -Vacancies, Forfeiture oi' Office, Filling of Vacancies Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.07 -Judge of Qualification Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.0$ -Independent Audit Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.09 -Procedure Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.10 -Action Requiring an Ordinance Reviewed with no recommendations. CAC 07-12-07/6 Section 3.11- Ordinances and Resoluitions Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.12 -Emergency Ordinances Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.13 -Codes of'B'echnical Regulations Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 3.14 -Authentication and Recording: Codification; Printing Member Damerst inquired if every ten (a0) years was often enough for codification. Chair Durso pointed out it states "at least" and it could be done in a shorter period of time. The Recording Secretary explained there; were supplements to the Code on a regular basis as Ordinances were adopted and codified. ~ ~ Chair Durso said this seems to be a good place to stop. He said for the next meeting they would go back to the questions for Article III then continue the review with Article IV and Article V. 5. ADJOURN. Chair Durso adjourned the: meeting at 8:13 p.m. hair ATTEST: Linda F. Goff, Recor g Secretary s CAC 07-12~~07/7