Charter08-10-10Min City of Longwood
2010 Charter Advisory Committee
Longwood City Commission Chambers
175 West Warren Avenue
Longwood, Florida
MINUTES
August 10, 2010
7:00 P.M.
Present: Chair Bruce Kubec
Vice Chair JoAnne Rebello
Member Steve Debole
Member Doug Damerst
Dan Langley, City Attorney
J. Giffen Chumley, Fishback, Dominick, et al.
Katrina Powell, City Administrator
Jon Williams, Director of Financial Services
Patrice C. Murphy, Recording Secretary
Absent: Member Greg Cetera
1. Call to Order.
Chair Kubec called the meeting to order at 7 :00 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes — July 13, 2010.
Member Damerst moved to approve the Minutes of July 13, 2010.
Seconded by Chair Kubec and carried by a unanimous voice vote
with Member Cetera absent.
3. Public Participation. None.
4. Old Business.
A. Discussion of Articles with City Administrator, Katrina Powell
and Director of Financial Services, Jon Williams.
Vice Chair Rebello discussed the need to add a mid -year budget review in
Section XI of the City Charter.
Mr. Williams discussed the revenues and projections.
Ms. Powell discussed the revenues and revenue projections, and how the
revenues are received.
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Vice Chair Rebello discussed unfunded mandates from the State
Legislature and passed onto the counties and cities for funding.
Ms. Powell said the one cent (1) sales tax was guaranteed to come to the
County and cities until December 2011. She said after December 2011,
the Seminole County Commission would need to send it back for
referendum and the voters would have to approve the continuation of the
one cent (1) sales tax. She said the City was guaranteed those monies
regardless of what was done at the State level.
Chair Kubec stated he did not understand how forcing a mid -year budget
review would assist with unfunded mandates.
Vice Chair Rebello stated everyone would know the unfunded mandates
were forthcoming.
Mr. Williams stated in Section 2.182 of the City Code, it requires the City
Administrator to provide monthly financial reports to the City
Commission at the second meeting of each month. He said essentially this
provides on a monthly basis a budget review or a budget comparison.
Vice Chair Rebello stated the monthly financial report was not as in- depth.
Mr. Williams said the City Commission was advised on a monthly basis ,
what the revenues and expenditures were. He stated this year, they
conducted a mid -year budget review and if there was a desire or need to
have a mid -year budget review, then the Code would be the most
applicable place rather than the Charter.
Member Damerst asked in preparation of the annual budget, if an estimate
was prepared for the current fiscal year of where that year would end and
was the information provided to the Commission.
Mr. Williams responded in the affirmative. He stated that was articulated
in the Charter.
Member Damerst asked if this was completed at the six (6) month point.
Ms. Powell stated although April 1 was the six (6) month point, they
cannot predict what happened in the past six (6) months until the middle
of May, due to the City receiving invoices, revenues, and other items that
would have an impact.
Member Damerst said with the budget being a detailed budget, would the
estimate for the current fiscal year be as detailed.
Mr. Williams responded in the affirmative. He said that it was in the same
format as the budget.
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Vice Chair Rebello stated the information was not provided in the monthly
financial reports. She said up until August 1 they did not have detail.
Mr. Williams stated they have the ability to produce detailed reports upon
being requested by the public.
Vice Chair Rebello stated the point she was trying to make was as a
citizen she does not have access to the software that produces the line item
detail of the budget.
Chair Kubec stated if one of the Commissioners requested the detailed
reports, then there would not be a charge for that information. •
Ms. Powell responded in the affirmative.
Member Damerst inquired if they close the fiscal year pretty close to
Christmas time.
Mr. Williams stated they strive to do that and the budget for Fiscal Year
2009 wasn't closed until March 2010. H.e said it's not closed until the
annual audit has been certified and presented to the Commission.
Member Damerst inquired about the cost and how onerous of a task that
would be for the City.
Mr. Williams stated that he did not track his time, the printing was
completed internally, and other members of staff's time would have to be
incorporated.
Discussion continued regarding the activity estimates that were done for
the last six (6) months of the fiscal year.
Chair Lubec asked if a Commissioner requests a line item detail of the
budget that there are no restrictions.
Ms. Powell stated that it depends if they were requesting the information
for themselves or for a member of the public.
Vice Chair Rebello said that it was stated that during the mid -year, the
City's revenues were up and the City's expenditures were down. She
asked what projects were supposed to be completed this year, but have not
been started.
Ms. Powell responded stating there was quite a few.
Vice Chair Rebello said it's a false picture stating the revenues are over
and the expenditures have been kept low. She said in looking at the
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monthlies, the expenditures would be down since nothing has been
completed.
Mr. Williams said that is an inaccurate statement. He said when the
budget information was presented; they presented the actual revenues, the
cash -in -hand, what had been received, and the actual expenditures. He
said they base their estimate on that activity. He reviewed the budgeted
expenditures for fiscal year 2009/2010 versus the estimated expenditures
for fiscal year 2009/2010.
Vice Chair Rebello said her request for a mid -year budget review would
identify projects that would need to be addressed.
. Ms. Powell said the Commission was kept abreast constantly of what was
going on in the City with regards to the finances, projects, and anything
that happens. She said having a mid -year budget review was good to give
a snap -shot of what had happened the last six (6) months and does not
necessarily give a snap -shot of what's to come.
Mr. Williams explained restricted funds that roll over as encumbered
funds and said this was an annual function.
Ms. Powell stated they do not amend the budget based on the mid -year
budget review.
Chair Kubec stated he wanted input from the rest of the Committee as to
whether or not they wanted to add language to the Charter requiring the
City to have a mid -year budget review.
Vice Chair Rebello stated she would like to see language added to Charter
requiring a mid -year budget review.
It was a consensus of the Charter Advisory Committee to not make a
recommendation that would add language to the Charter requiring a mid-
year budget review.
Vice Chair Rebello asked how many staff members are in the Police and
Fire Departments based on Section 12.03 of the City Charter. She asked
for a breakdown of the personnel from the Police and Fire Departments.
Ms. Powell stated there were forty -one (41) sworn - officers from the Police
Department for a total of forty -eight (48) personnel, which includes Codes
Enforcement. She said the Fire Department had thirty-nine (39)
firefighters for a total of forty (40) personnel.
Vice Chair Rebello inquired about the population for the City.
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Ms. Powell said the population was 13,849 as of April 1, 2009 and that
information was from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Chair Kubec inquired about the recent annexations.
Ms. Powell stated the annexations were commercial property.
Ms. Powell stated the daytime population in the City was around 85,000.
Member Damerst asked the City Administrator to submit any suggestions
she had to the Charter Advisory Committee.
Ms. Powell stated she would have City staff review the Charter and make
their recommendations.
B. Discussion of Election Laws, J. Giffen Chumley, Esquire.
Mr. Chumley provided a Memorandum dated July 13, 2010 to the Charter
Advisory Committee regarding Section 8.02 of the City Charter. He said
the Charter was not clear on how the qualifying fee is applied. He said
there were .Florida Statues that addressed how the qualifying fee was
applied. He said Florida Statutes defined a qualifying fee as a fling fee of
three percent (3 %), plus an election assessment fee that is paid directly to
the State of one percent (1 %). He said both those fees are not necessarily
applicable to municipalities unless they choose to make those provisions
applicable. He said the Charter states a qualifying fee of five percent
(5 %). He said he was trying to see how the City applied the election
assessment in the past.
Chair Kubec inquired if there was a recommendation as to how it should
be changed.
Mr. Chumley said that it's more of a snapshot of the situation as it is now
and an explanation of the legislative math.
Chair Kubec would like the opportunity to review the information that was
provided before discussing the matter and said to have the matter placed
on the next Agenda under Old Business for further discussion.
Member Damerst said it appeared they have satisfied the requirements of
District representation and inquired aboutthe decisions that were made at
the prior meetings.
Chair Kubec said they've extended the same option to review the Charter,
what had been completed, and any questions he may have to bring those to
the Committee for discussion.
Member Damerst inquired if their prior votes still stand.
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Mr. Chumley said if the Committee wanted to make sure everything was
legal and there were no questions going forward and after Member Debole
had an opportunity to review everything, then a vote could be taken on
whether or not to ratify the previous actions of the Committee. He said it
would bring everything in the fold and provide some peace of mind when
moving forward.
Chair Kubec asked wouldn't the Committee complete this at the end,
when they decide what recommendations they would want to move
forward with or not.
Mr. Chumley recommended ratifying the minutes. He said other than that
the Committee had not taken any official action.
Chair Kubec said as stated by Member Darnerst, the Chair and Vice Chair
were the only two things the Committee voted on.
Member Darnerst moved to ratify the election of the Chair and
Vice Chair, and the approval of the minutes from prior meetings.
Seconded by Vice Chair Rebello and carried by a voice vote with
Member Cetera absent.
It was the consensus of the Committee to discuss Articles IX through XII
at their next meeting.
5. Review of Charter.
A. Article IX. Initiative and Referendum.
Section 9.01. Initiative.
Section 9.02. Referendum .
Section 9.03. Commencement of proceedings.
Section 9.04. Petitions.
Section 9.05. Procedures for filing.
Section 9.06. Referendum petitions; suspension of effect of
ordinance.
Section 9.07. Action on petitions.
Section 9.08. Results of elections.
Section 9.09. Fee for validation.
Section 9.10. Recall.
B. Article X. Miscellaneous Provisions.
Section 10.01. Charter of Amendments.
Section 10.02. Standard of ethics.
Section 10.03. Prohibitions.
Section 10.04. Separability.
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C. Article XI. Transition Schedule.
Section 11.01. Continuation of former Charter provisions.
Section 11.02. Ordinances preserved.
Section 11.03. Rights of officers and employees.
Section 11.04. Pending matters.
Section 11.05. Schedule.
l Article XII. Public Safety.
Section 12.01. Created.
Section 12.02. Department heads.
Section 12.03. Members.
Section 12.04. Responsibilities.
Section 12.05. Support.
Section 12.06. Accountability.
6. New Business. None.
7. Agenda Items for Next Meeting.
Chair Kubec said he would like to meet with the Recording Secretary and
review the minutes and bring forward all of the Committee's
recommendations to the next meeting and place those items under New
Business for discussion at the next meeting.
8. Adjourn.
Chair Kubec adjourned the meeting at 8:26 p.m.
/� Bruce Kubec, Chair
AT I EST:
/Petrite C. Murphy, ', Rev:, i g Secretary
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