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Charter10-12-10Min City of Longwood 2010 Charter Advisory Committee Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Lo;',gwood, Florida MINUTES October 12, 2010 7 :00 P.M. Present: Chair Bruce Kubec Vice Chair JoAnne Rebello (arrived at 7:02 p.m.) Member Steve Debole Member Doug Damerst (left the meeting at 7:25 p.m.) Member Greg Cetera J. Giffen Chumley, Fishback, Dominick, et al. (arrived at 7:06 p.m.) Sarah M. Mirus, Recording Secretary 1. Call to Order. Chair Kubec called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes — August 10, 2010 Regular Meeting and September 14, 2010 Regular Meeting. Member Damerst moved to approve the Minutes of the August 10, 2010 Regular Meeting. Seconded by Member Cetera and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Vice Chair Rebello absent. Member Damerst moved to approve the Minutes of the September 14, 2010 Regular Meeting. Seconded by Member Debole and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Vice Chair Rebello absent. 3. Public Participation. None. 4. Old Business. A. Section 8.02. Candidate Qualifying Procedures. Vice Chair Rebello arrived at this point of the meeting. Member Debole said this was an item the Attorney provided a memorandum on. It was the consensus of the Committee to defer this Section of the Charter until the Attorney arrived. Charter 10- 12 -10 /1 B. Section 9.09. Fee for validation. Member Debole said this was brought to the Committee because it was not very clear and it stated in the Charter, "...by resolution establish a reasonable fee..." Vice Chair Rebello said it never stated what the fee was. Ms. Mirus said she had the Records Clerk research the matter and the only thing she was able to find was from the. Commission Minutes dated August 11, 1986. She then distributed the Minutes of the August 11, 1986 Commission Meeting to the Committee. She said the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections charges ten cents (10¢) for each signature submitted to his Office to verify the signature on the petitions. Vice Chair Rebello inquired if this was something that should be written what the fee was or referred to the fee that was charged by the Supervisor of Elections. She said that it was very vague and it had not been addressed since 1986. Chair Kubec said it seemed to be working and doesn't know why the Committee would want to modify or change it. He said he was open to any ideas or suggestions. Vice Chair Rebello said it was very ambiguous. Ms. Mirus stated there wasn't a resolution adopted that established a reasonable fee. Member Debole said he agreed that it was vague and inquired how would you clarify the fees that can be incurred. Vice Chair Rebello asked why couldn't they put something in there that referred to the cost of the Supervisor of Elections. Chair Kubec suggested having the Commission adopt a resolution by 2011. Mr. Chumley arrived at this point of the meeting. Vice Chair Rebello said the Commission had been in violation of the Charter since a resolution had not been adopted. Chair Kubec said it does not state when the resolution had to be established and would not necessarily say the Commission was in violation. He inquired if a date was inserted if that would address the concern. Charter 10 -12 -10/2 Member Debol.e inquired if this Section of the expense would apply on a case -by -case basis. Member Damerst said he saw this as a non - issue. He doesn't know or was aware of where this was an issue or a problem. Vice Chair Rebello said that she did not see it as an issue or a problem and needed clarification. She suggested the following language, "as established by the Supervisor of Elections of Seminole County." She then asked the Recording Secretary if there would be any other expense incurred by the City besides the validation of signatures on the petitions. Ms. Mirus responded in the negative. . Vice Chair Rebello suggested referring to State Law. Member Cetera said the task was described of what's required in the Charter and it states, "...resolution established a reasonable fee..." He said the mechanism would need to be set -up for the Commission to create a resolution that would establish the fee. Vice Chair Rebello suggested having the Charter Advisory Committee make the Commission aware that there was no resolution for Section 9.09. Member Damerst said when the Committee makes their recommendations for changes to the Charter; they could include a notation and it would be an observation and recommendation noted in their recommendations. Chair Kubec said this would need to be added in the list of recommendations and add a copy of the Minutes from August 11, 1986 City Commission Meeting. C. Section 10.02. Standard of ethics. Chair Kubec said he had some homework to do and talked with different people. He said that everyone he had spoken with stated the State Statutes already govern the ethics of the City Commission and government employees. He said that anything they do would be trumped by the State Law and it seems to be working. Member Damerst said he had a similar opinion and was covered by State Laws. He stated it was brought under the Charter and was adequate. He said the only thing they may want to consider was a Board of Ethics. He said this would be duplicated efforts and Charter 10 -12 -10/3 creates an extra burden for elected officials. He stated he liked Section 10.03 of the City Charter. Member Debole said he agreed and stated the documentation the Committee received regarding the discussion on a Code of Ethics stated the same thing concerning the Florida Ethics Commission and the Ethics Commission was very stringent. Vice Chair Rebello said Members of the Ethics Commission were political appointments and did not know what the solution was. She said it did not appear they were very adequate. She said she was surprised the City of Sanford had a Code of Ethics besides what the State had. She said she understands the problem if they wrote a Code of Ethics, who would enforce it. Member Cetera said the State governs it well and goes back to enforcement. He said the documentation that was forwarded was pretty clear and encompassed a lot of information. Reviewed with no recommendations. Member Damerst left the meeting at this point of the meeting. D. Section 12.03. Members. Member Cetera said the two (2) websites that were provided was a letter from a retired Fire Chief from California and the second website was a national database of information for cities to report their information on their fire department. He said Chief Stravino was unable to attend tonight's meeting due to being out on sick leave and offered to come to the next Charter meeting. He stated Chief Stravino did agree what was in the Charter had room for improvement. Discussion ensued regarding first response and tying the number of firefighters to the population of the City. Member Cetera moved to table Section 12.03 of the City Charter to their next meeting. Seconded by Vice Chair Rebello and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Damerst absent. E. Section 12.06. Accountability. Vice Chair Rebello said there seems to be a conflict with Section 12.04 and Section 12.06. Charter 10 -12 -10/4 Member Debole said he saw the difference between Section 12.04 and Section 12.06 of the City Charter. He said Section 12.04 was the responsibilities and duties as opposed to Section 12.06 evolved around the personnel. He then referred to Section 5.01 of the City Charter and said the Commission did have the right to approve the appointments of Department Heads and the Commission would not be involved in the termination of Department Heads. He suggested additional language be added stating the Administrator could not terminate the Department Heads unless approved by the Commission. Chair Kubec said the Commission was not managing the Fire Chief or the Police Chief. He said the Commission was prescribing what the duties and responsibilities would be for those perspective Departments. - He read Section 12.06 of the City Charter and said he did not see a conflict with Section 12.04 and Section 12.06. Vice Chair Rebello said in the case of the new Fire Chief and Police Chief, it was after they were already hired and then it went to the Commission for approval. She said it was a done deal and then went to the Commission. She said as far as terminating, she would like to see a little more protection for the Fire Chief and Police Chief since they were important positions. Member Debole read Section 5.01 of the City Charter and suggested adding language that would state the Commission approves the termination of the Department Heads. Vice Chair Rebello suggested the following language to Section 5.01 of the City Charter, "All such terminations shall be subject to approval by the City Commission." Chair Kubec inquired if that would be included in the Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual. Vice Chair Rebello said the previous City Administrator would bring the matter forward for approval by the Commission and the Department Head would not know if they had the job until they were confirmed. Chair Kubec said that based on his experience an employee would not be hired unless the outlined contingencies were met. Discussion ensued regarding the termination of the Department Heads. Charter 10-12-10/5 Mr. Chumley said if the Charter does state they "serve at the pleasure of' and that generally was considered at -will employment. He said if the Charter was the law the City operates under, then nothing in the Charter can protect the officer from getting fired at -will, even if the Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual says to the contrary. He said theoretically, the Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual would be in conflict with the Charter. Vice Chair Rebello asked if there was any protection for the Police Chief and Fire Chief. Mr. Chumley said there may be protection for the Fire Chief. He said the Fire Chief had certain rights under State Statutes and there was a specific chapter that pertained to firefighters and their rights if they were being investigated for wrong doing. He said there was a similar protection for police officers but police chiefs were specifically exempted from that. Vice Chair Rebello said the Commission did not want any more at- will because at one point there were several at -will contracts. She said they wanted those done away with and what Mr. Chumley was stating was at -will employment. Mr. Chumley said that's generally how it was interpreted when it goes to court. He noted that he had not completed detailed research but that was what he was gathering this evening. Vice Chair Rebello noted Section 12.06 of the Charter was changed in 2003 and inquired why it was changed. Ms. Mirus stated it was changed due to the Department of Public Safety was disbanded, and the Fire Department and Police Department were created. Member Debole said the additional verbiage would be helpful to prevent a mistake or rush to judgment that was overseen by others. He said in working for government, he realized that's where the union comes into action. Vice Chair Rebello said she would like Mr. Chumley to research the matter. Chair Kubec said Mr. Chumley was going to research State Law and Ms. Mirus would research the Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual. Charter 10 -12 -10/6 It was the consensus of the Committee to table Section 12.06 of the City Charter to their next meeting. Chair Kubec said earlier in the meeting, they tabled Section 8.02. of the City Charter and inquired if Mr. Chumley wanted add anything. Mr. Chumley said he did not want to add anything further. He reviewed the charges for the qualifying fee for candidates. Ms. Mirus reviewed the charges of the qualifying fee for candidates. Mr. Chumley said it was working and it was unclear when he was reading that Section. F. Review previous recommendations made by Members of the Charter Advisory Committee and discuss any new recommendations made by Members of the Charter Advisory Committee. It was the consensus of the Committee to table 4 F to the next meeting. 6. New Business. None. 7. Agenda Items for Next Meeting. Chair Kubec asked that an Item be placed on the next Agenda for input from Members Damerst and Debole for any comments or questions prior to joining the Committee. S. Adjourn. Chair Kubec adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m. I Bruce Kubec, hh 'r ATTEST,: .:-TO � c Ch c.;w � Sarah M. Mirus, MMC, MBA, Recording Secretary Charter 10 -12 -10/7 This Page Left Blank Intentionally. Charter 10 -12 -10/8