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Charter10-11-07Min City of Longwood 2007- Charter Advisory Committee Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida MINUTES October 11, 2007 7:00 P.M. Present: Chair Joe Durso Vice Chair Jack Caldwell Member Douglas Damerst Member Tamara Cooper Linda Jacobs, Recording Secretary Absent: Member Sansan McMahon 1. CALL TO ORDER. Chair Durso called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Septem6~er 13, 2007 Member Damerst moved to approve the minutes as presented. Seconded by Member Cooper and carried by a unanimous voice vote. Vice Chair Caldwell inquired if any que:~tions were submitted for the Supervisor of Elections. Chair Durso advised he spoke to the Supervisor of Elections and he was more than willing to come to a meeting. However, there were. no questions submitted.. 3. PUIBLIC INPUT. None. OLD BUSINESS Vice Chair Caldwell inquired if there was a response from the City Administrator regarding a plan for Emergency Appropriations as discussed under Section 6.Of3 at the last meeting. Chair Durso said there was no written response. He suggested this be postponed to the next meeting. Member Damerst said at the last meetin€; it was decided Department Heads would be asked to submit any changes to the Charter that would be helpful to their ~ department. CAC 10-11-07/1 Chair Durso advised that a memorandum was sent to the Department Heads and the City Administrator. The City Administrator had indicated that any- requests to the Department Heads should be coordinated through him. 5. REVIEW OF CHARTER. A. Article VIII. Nominations & Elections. Section 8.01- City. Elections Vice Chair Caldwell inquired if paragraph (a) should state "each election year". Chair Durso said it would make sense that this should be changed if the elections were not held every year: Member Damerst pointed out that Section 3.01 (d) establishes a pattern so that every third year there would not be an election. It was the consensus of the Committee that paragraph (a) read: (a) Regular Elections. The regular City election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the fast Monday in November o• f each election year. • Section 8.02 -Candidate Qualifying Procedures -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section. 8.03 -Form of Ballots -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section. 8.04 -Elections -Reviewed with no recommendations. B. Article IX. Initiative and Referendum. Section 9.01- Initiative -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 9.02 -Referendum -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 9.03 -Commencement of Proceedings Chair Durso suggested the number of qualified voters be increased with the growth of the City. He said with only twenty-five (25) qualified voters required, it would be very easy to completely bypass the elected officials. He stated it should be more difficult to commence a petitior? and suggested the number of qualified voters be doubled. Member Damerst said the petition was only the beginning of the procedure. He stated those twenty-five (25) people were required to obtain the signatures of at CAC 10-11.-07/2 least fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of qualified registered voters. He said the number in the model charter was five (5). Chair Durso said a small number of people could control a big issue. He stated before starting a process that can circumvent the elected government, they should be required to go outside their one block radius. Member Damerst said to make it more difficult to get the item on the ballot they should discuss the number required in S~:etion 9.04 (a). Section 9.04 -Petitions Member Damerst said the model charter stated the number of signatures should be ten to twenty percent (10-20%) and the City Charter requires fifteen percent (15%). Chair Durso said he would rather double: the percentage to thirty percent (30%). He stated there were a number of different things that play into these types of decisions. He certainly thinks this number may be artificially too low. He said fifteen percent (15%) was an easy goal to achieve. He stated his argument was that if you desire to change the law without the elected officials, then you should have to do more than just the minimum. ~ Member Damerst said if twelve percent (12%) turns out to vote and you are required to obtain fifteen percent (15%) of the people on the petition to get the item on the ballot, and then you have wc?n the issue. Chair Durso reiterated they have an elected body for a reason and it should not be so easy to circumvent them. Member Damerst said doubling the number of registered voters seemed pretty strenuous. Chair Durso said he would at least like t~o see the number increased to twenty percent {20%) or twenty-five percent (2'>%). Member Cooper said it was not unreasonable to require that one out of five registered voters would have to agree to have something on the ballot. Member Damerst said he would support raising the number from fifteen percent (15%) to twenty percent (20%). Section 9.05 -Procedure for Filing - l.teviewed with no recommendations. Section 9.06 -Referendum Petitions: Suspension of Effect of Ordinance - ~ Reviewed with no recommendations. CAC 10-11.-07/3 Section 9.07 -Action on Petitions - Rf;viewed with no recommendations. Section 9.08 -Results of Election -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 9.09 Fee for Validation -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section. 9.10 -Recall -Reviewed with :no recommendations. C. Article X. Miscellaneous Provisions. Section 10.01- Charter Amendments Chair Durso said he would recommend paragraph (b) Initiation by Petition, als~~ be increased to twenty percent (20%) of the total number of qualified voters. He stated it should be incredibly difficult for citizens to change the Charter. Member Cooper said she did not have a problem, with changing this to twenty percent (20%). Section 10.02 -Standard of Ethics -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 10.03 -Prohibitions -Reviewed with no recommendations. Section 10.04 -Separability - Reviewed with no recommendations. Member Damerst said some cities have Board of Ethics. Chair Durso suggested the Recording Secretary check to see if there were any ordinances on ethics. Chair Durso said at the next meeting they would cover Articles XI and XII. He stressed if there were any questions to submit these to the Recording Secretary prior to the meeting. Member Damerst suggested since they were nearing the end of their review that through the City Administrator the Department Heads be made aware to let the Committee know of any concerns within the next two meetings. He said if they complete their section review at the November meeting then they would start looking back to pull together items they have considered changing at the December meeting. Chair Durso requested the Recording Secretary notify the City Administrator that the Committee would request any respo~ise by December 4t''. CAC 10-11.-07/4 6. ADJOURlel. Chair Durso adjourned the. meeting at 8:15 p.m. Chair ATTEST: Linda Jaco ,Recording Secretary CAC 10-11-07/5