Charter12-13-07Min City of Longwood
2007- Charter Advi:gory Committee
Longwood City Commission Chambers
175 West Warren Avenue
Longwood, :Florida
MINUTES
December 13, 2007 7:00 P.M.
Present: Chair Joe Durso
Vice Chair Jack Caldwell
Member Tamara Cooper
Member Douglas Damerst
Member Susan McMahon
Linda F. Goff, Recording Secretary
1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Durso called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November 8, 2007
Member Cooper moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Seconded
by Member Damerst and carried by a unanimous voice vote.
3. PUBLIC INPUT. None.
4. OLD BUSINESS.
Chair Durso said Ms. Minus submitted a. memorandum regarding language she
will submit at the next meeting for City Elections and "run-off elections".
Chair Durso said the plan was to use the: last few meetings to formulate the final
recommendations the Committee would like to make to the City Commission.
5. CBIARTER ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS.
Member Damerst said Section 1.02 had to do with his concern regarding
Intergovernmental Relations and the City contracting outside the State. He stated
Mr. Drago's response was that Home Rule Authority granted this. He stated he
looked at the Statutes concerning Home Rule and did not see this. He would like
to know if Mr. Drago was correct in stating the Home Rule granted by the State
gave the City permission to make contr~~cts outside of the State. He said he would
like to labor on this and ask the City Attorney if she concurs that the Home Rule
Authority allows the City to make out-of-state contracts. He stated if the City
Attorney says the authority is granted then he is good with this section.
CAC 12-13-07/1
Chair Durso inquired if the City Attorney says it is not clear, what language
Member Damerst would like to see.
Member Damerst said the language he proposed for adding Section 1.02 as in the
excerpt.
Chair Durso said they would contact the City Attorney to ask if Home Rule
allows the City to create contracts out-o:f-state.
Member Damerst said Section 3.05 -Prohibitions regarding Interference and
paragraph (c) was an addition. being proposed. I=Ie said Mr. Drago's response was
comments about the existing Sections ar~d did. not address the addition of
paragraph (c). He stated the excerpt from the minutes makes it clear he was
looking for a Prohibition so the City Commission could not direct the
Administrator to hire or fire someone in particular. He declared that subsequent to
that, they have held other discussions ar~~und this topic and Chair Durso had made
some excellent points to counter his concerns. He said he would be comfortable
withdrawing his recommendation. He stated it was clear there were checks and
balances in place.
Vice Chair Caldwell declared he was gl<<d to hear that and said he has changed his
opinion after discussing this further and reviewing the matter.
It was the consensus of the Committee to withdraw this recommendation for the
addition of Section 3.05 (c).
Member Damerst said the next Section vas 4.04 and this was regarding a change
to require an affirmative vote of a majority of all of the City Commission
Members for the appointment. of a City ~~dministrator. He suggested adding the
language, "By a~,~firmative vote o a majority of all of its members.... " at the
beginning of the first paragraph. He stated the same thing comes up later in the
Charter regarding the dismissal. He said in Section 4.03 a majority vote is
required for the appointment of the City Clerk and City Attorney. He declared this
was parallel with the language from Section 4.03.
Chair Durso said this was a valid pont.:EIowever, what if there was a 2/2 split and
the Commissioner in the middle decided to use the vote for a power play or by not
showing up for the meeting.
Member Damerst affirmed he felt the Administrator should have a majority in
agreement supporting the appointment.
Chair Durso said you would also accomplish this stating by a majority vote.
It was the consensus of the Committee to recommend it state by a three-fifths
(3/5) majority vote of the City Commission.
CAC 12-13•-07/2
Member Damerst said Section 5.01 goes; back to the Department Heads and he
withdrew his recommendation.
Member Cooper pointed out a grammar or typographical error in Section 5.01 (a)
where the word "assign" should be "assigned".
Chair Durso said after they have made the recommended changes he would create
a version of the paragraphs with strikethrough and the new language so everyone
can review this prior to the next meeting:.
Member Damerst said Mr. Drago's response satisfied his concerns regarding the
emergency appropriations in Section 6.08.
Chair Durso said Section 8.01 was City :Elections and they were recommending
adding under paragraph (a) "...each election year." He inquired if the City Clerk
had indicated when she would have the proposed language available. He said
they would like to have the language to review prior to the next meeting.
Chair Durso said there were some discu~;sions regarding districts and at large
elections previously. They also had disc~~ssed whether the Mayor should be
elected at large or by the Commission. E[e inquired if any of the members had any
recommendations or comments.
Vice Chair Caldwell said they had discussed districts and at large elections and he
agreed that due to the size of the City it :>eems appropriate for holding the
elections at large. He stated the way the Mayor is selected with the type of
government in Longwood seems to be appropriate.
Chair Durso said the next area of concern was Section 9.04, Petitions. He was
recommending raising the number of required signatures for a petition to 30%.
Member Cooper said they all had agreed that 20% was appropriate due to the size
of the City.
Chair Durso said the Home Town Democracy being proposed was a perfect
example of why it should be made more difficult.
It was the consensus of the Committee to recommend 20% of required signatures
for both Section 9.04 and Section 10.01.
Discussion was held regarding the number of required firefighters and whether
there was an appropriate number.
CAC 12-13-07/3
Chair Durso said Member Cooper had .pointed out the Charter references the date
of November 4, 1997 and states there wall be no fewer firefighters than what
existed on that date.
Member Cooper said she has not heard any comments or concerns that the City
did not have enough firefighters. She stated they were going to try and find out.
how this was worded at other cities.
Vice Chair Caldwell said it was a valid point that the number of firefighters was
glossed over and the Police Department was very specific. .
Member Damerst said the City of Longwood did provide fire protection services
to some unincorporated areas.
Chair Durso said he would find out how many firefighters there were in 1997 and
he would research other cities.
Member McMahan inquired if it was appropriate to get to that level of detail in
the Charter.
Chair Durso said he would think so and it would not hurt. to check into the matter.
Member Damerst pointed out that the note from Mr. Drago references the •
reinstating of the Fire and Police Departments by Charter Amendment. Mr. Drago
states in this memorandum that the Commission uses the Charter for governance
purposes and he used the abolishing of t:he Public Safety Department and
reinstating the Fire and Police Departments as an example. In his memorandum,
he said that they use the State Statutes acid City Ordinances for implementation. of
operational guidelines. Member Damerst declared the number of firefighters and
police officers seems like an operational guideline and would be outside the
Charter Amendments role.
Member Damerst inquired if Section 10.01 needed to say voters of the City may
propose amendments, except to Section 2.01 where it is describing boundaries.
Chair Durso said it was not in there now and there was no need to add it. He
discussed annexations into the City. He reviewed the Committee's proposed
recommendations.
Member McMahon said at the next meeting they would have the language from
the City Clerk to be considered and revi:;wed.
Chair Durso said hopefully he can obtain the language from the City Clerk to
include in the add/delete document.
CAC 12-13••07/4
Member Damerst advised he may not be: able to attend the next meeting due to a
funerah He said he would try to make comments in writing if unable to attend.
6. ADJ®iTRN. Chair Durso adjourned the: meeting at 8:07 p.m.
~1~,`_~
s , hair
ATTEST:
.Linda F. Goff, Itecordi Secretary
CAC 12-13••07/5