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Charter04-30-13MinCity of Longwood 2013 Charter Advisory Committee Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida 32750 MINUTES ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING April 30, 2013 Present: Member Logan Cody Member Becky Huse Member Ben Paris Member Alesia Carringer Dan Langley, City Attorney Jon Williams, City Administrator Sarah M. Mirus, Recording Secretary Absent: Member Malcom Cooper 7:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mr. Langley called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. and introduced himself, Mr. Williams and Ms. Mirus to the Committee. Mr. Langley briefly reviewed a Memorandum in regards to the Sunshine Law and its application to the City of Longwood Charter Review Committee. He said it was important to know the purpose of the City Charter. He noted every City in the State of Florida has certain authority under the Constitution of the State of Florida. He said what they have was what they call "Home Rule Power" that each city was vested with certain powers to make laws to govern the citizens of that particular city, and each city also has a Charter, which was essentially like the Constitution of the City. He said they have the State Constitution and each county has its own. Some do and some do not have Charters, but every City has a Charter. He said the Charter was a way for the citizens to restrict the power of the local jurisdiction even further than the Constitution or the general laws of the State of Florida. It also describes the boundaries of the City and sets forth the powers and duties of the Charter officers and restricts the power of the City. He said from time -to -time there was a process for the review of the Charter. As time goes on, laws change or circumstances change, and the government of this very old and well established City who's Charter has been around for a long time, and some of the newer cities, use the model Charter in the adoption and incorporation of their city's Charter. Longwood's Charter has been around for a long while and it has provisions that may not be in other Charter 04-30-13/1 Charters for other cities. He said during this process, they may want to reach out and look at what other cities were doing in their Charters, but the Charter was not meant to be a very detailed document. The laws of the City were done through an ordinance adoption process, and it was essentially a document that was meant to be like the Constitution. He noted the Constitution does not describe every law that governs them. It was a very over -reaching, overall statement of the rights of citizens, so the Charter was similar in that regard. He said the process was that they, as a committee, will review the Charter provisions; and they will come up with recommendations as to whether they want to make or suggest changes to the Charter. He noted they were not required to make any changes or to suggest any changes, but typically, Charter Review Committees will find something they think needs to be tweaked. The Committee will vote at the end as a group, and a majority of them who supported a particular recommendation, would be the recommendation of the whole Committee, to the Commission. He said their recommendations were just that, to the Commission. The Commission considers them, but they were not binding. If the Commission likes their recommendations, the next step was a referendum before the citizens of the City of Longwood. The Commission does not have the authority to change the Charter based on their recommendations through ordinances. He said there was an ordinance that was adopted, but that would provide for a process where an election was called later in the year with a ballot question and the language for the Charter change. He said that was the process, and the Commission may choose to accept, reject, or take their proposed changes and modify them slightly if they like the idea; but they want to change the wording. Mr. Langley said he now wants to talk about the Sunshine Law. He said this was important to know because there were penalties that were not pleasant that were associated with violations of the Sunshine Law. Those could range from sixty days (60) in jail to a $500 fine. He said it was important to know what the Sunshine Law requires. A lot of these requirements were taken care of by the City Clerk. They do not have to worry about this, but it was important to know that the Sunshine Law requires that all meetings of the Charter Review Committee, and other Boards of the City, be open to the public. That was why they have these meetings and the public was welcome to attend. At any point, anybody can come in and see what they were doing. This was all open government. He noted they were required to give reasonable notice to the public of their meetings, and Ms. Mirus takes care of that. Also, minutes have to be taken of this meeting, and Ms. Mirus takes care of that as well. He said that sounds pretty simple, but unfortunately through time, the Courts and the Attorney General have taken this, what appears to be a straight forward law, and stated that a meeting constitutes any communication between two (2) or more of the Members of this Committee or any committee of the city or board, whether it was here or outside of here. If Charter 04-30-13/2 you do that and they do not have a notice to the public or not at a public meeting, and do not have minutes being taken, they were violating the law. He said it was important to know the key of what constitutes a meeting. Under the Sunshine Law, when two (2) or more of them communicate in any way information that relates to the business of this Committee, if it was outside of this setting. This was where they were supposed to communicate and exchange their ideas — at an open and public meeting. He noted that the Commissioners have to deal with this law as well. It was difficult and constraining. The Legislature likes the law so much that they exempted themselves from the requirements. Mr. Langley said when they were exchanging electronic mails between each other regarding business that may be coming before them, that would be a violation. He suggested not talking to each other outside this meeting, either in written form, over the telephone or any form on the website regarding anything that would come before them. He said they can talk about the weather or your family or go to dinner and talk about other things because there was no restriction on that. They were not supposed to talk about the business that may come before you. That was a foreseeability test. It may not ever come before them, but there could be a circumstance that it was possible it would come before you. Mr. Langley said because the Charter was like the Constitution, he would not talk about anything that relates to this City Government when they were serving on this Committee. He said when their service was finished, they do not have to deal with this Law anymore, so when they were done and they have their recommendations and they were excused, they can talk about everything that they wanted to talk about since they began this process. This only applies to discussions and communications between members of the same Board. He said they can also talk to individual Commissioners one-on-one, and they can talk to him or to Mr. Williams or Ms. Mirus. They can talk to anybody except for any other member of the Committee about business that was likely to come before them. Mr. Langley said any mechanism to try to frustrate the intent and purpose of the Law was also not permitted, which would be like a go-between. Do not try to use someone else to get their point across to someone else, so it was any form of communication they cannot do. Mr. Langley said another thing the Sunshine Law requires, which was kind of odd, was that when they were here and they have a motion pending and a second, and there was a vote; if they were here they have to vote. They cannot abstain. He said it was not likely they will ever have a conflict of interest on this Committee because the nature of the subject matter of what they were dealing with was a Charter. It would never be a personal gain or loss that they would deal with in this circumstance, unless if there was a Charter provision that says that they would individually Charter 04-30-13/3 receive X amount of dollars a year from the City of Longwood. That would never happen, and they will never have that situation; so if they were here, they will have to vote. He said it was also important to note that even though they were in this room and the mikes were on, they were not permitted to whisper to each other or pass notes or do things off the record, even though they have a notice meeting that relates to their business. They,can pass notes that say "how was your child doing", but he said he would not even recommend doing that. It was not a good thing to be seen passing notes around by citizens or anyone else who might attend these meetings or to send text messages either. Member Huse asked Mr. Langley if he knew what the City of Orlando was in trouble about. Mr. Langley stated it was Orange County Government. He said they have the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigating the County Commissioners right now. He said even if they were not violating the law and know you were not, he said do not do anything that appears that they may be because it was so uncomfortable to go through an investigation. At the end of the day, they may be cleared, but the headache and hassle that comes with that and the embarrassment was just not worth it. He asked if they had any questions and said he thinks the Memo was good because it goes through all the different penalties that can be imposed. He said that attorney's fees can be assessed against them also for the State's role in prosecuting these violations, so that was even worse. They not only fine them $500, but they send them an attorney bill. Ms. Mirus said she wanted to add that the City Commission had scheduled a Seminar on Thursday, May 23, 2013 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Commission Chambers. She said it was being presented by Pat Gleason, Special Counsel for Open Government for the Attorney General Pam Bondi's Office. She will be coming to speak on Florida Government in the Sunshine Law, and Ms. Mirus said she sent that information to the Board by mail. 2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS- CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR. Mr. Langley said the next thing on the Agenda was the election of the Chair and the Vice Chair. He said he has gone through this process before representing numerous Boards, and he always encounters situations where the Board members do not know each other and they were being asked to vote on who runs their meetings. He said it was a little unusual and uncomfortable because it was hard to vote for someone they do not know. He said he thinks it would be helpful, unless they all know each other already, to introduce themselves to the Committee and to them and say Charter 04-30-13/4 their name with a little background if they want to do that. He inquired if they knew who was missing. Ms. Mirus said Member Cooper was missing. The Committee Members then introduced themselves and provided a brief biography about them. Mr. Langley thanked all of them. He explained the roll of the Chair was essentially that they conduct the meeting. He said he was running the meeting today, but does not typically do that. He said when the Chair was elected, he or she will then keep people and things in order. He asked for any questions before the process begins. He said anyone can nominate any person on the Committee, and there was not a requirement for a second. It only requires a member of the Committee to nominate. You can nominate yourself, or anyone else. He said when someone makes a nomination, he will ask if there were any further nominations. If there was more than one, they will have a vote. If there was only one, then the person nominated will be the Chair. Member Cody asked if there were any additional responsibilities for the Chair besides covering and conducting the meetings. Mr. Langley responded not unless this Committee assigns an additional role. He said sometimes the Committee will have the Chair attend the Commission Meeting where the Commission was hearing the recommendations of the Committee, and the Chair will actually make the presentation to the Commission. This Committee may want to assign the Chair that responsibility. He said that was the only other responsibility or duty that he can think of. Ms. Mirus said upon approval by the Board, signing the minutes. Mr. Langley asked for nominations for the Chair of the Charter Advisory Committee. Member Huse nominated Member Cody. Mr. Langley asked Member Cody if he accepts the nomination. Member Cody responded in the affirmative. Mr. Langley asked for any further nominations for Chair. Member Carringer nominated Member Paris. Charter 04-30-13/5 Member Paris said he accepts the nomination. Mr. Langley asked for any further nominations and closed the floor for any further nominations. He said he would ask all of them for the name of who they were voting for, and whoever has the most votes will be Chair. Member Cody said he appreciates the nomination, but would like to withdraw his name because it was his first time at this, but he would do Vice Chair. Nomination for Member Paris as Chair carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Cooper absent. Nomination for Member Cody as Vice Chair carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Cooper absent. Mr. Langley congratulated them and said to Chair Paris, it was his show, and they were on to the next item of establishing the dates of meetings and procedures. 3. ESTABLISH DATES OF MEETINGS AND PROCEDURE(S). Chair Paris said he has a few questions that were organizational, such as how long this lasts and how many meetings there were. Mr. Langley said it lasts for up to a year. He said they can decide how often they want to have their meetings. He suggested one (1) a month, but they would have to coordinate that with Ms. Mirus, along with the availability of this facility. You will want to talk about how long they want the meetings to go on. The starting time was usually 7:00 p.m., and they might want to decide they want to cut it off at a certain hour, maybe 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. Member Carringer said trying to set many meetings in advance can be hard. Mr. Langley said they definitely want to set the date of the next meeting at this meeting, and they will go from there. They can go meeting -to - meeting and set dates, or they can establish a day within the month where these meetings were routinely scheduled. Today was the last Tuesday of the month, so they can stay with the last Tuesday of the month. Mr. Williams asked if it was in the Charter that they start at 7:00 p.m. Ms. Mirus said it was in the City Code that all Boards and Committees start at 7:00 p.m. Charter 04-30-13/6 Mr. Langley asked if the Committee wants to stay with the last Tuesday of the month. It was the consensus of the Committee to meet on the last Tuesday of the month. Chair Paris asked if Mr. Williams goes to all the meetings. Mr. Williams said if his schedule allows it, he plans to be here for every meeting. Chair Paris asked if the last Tuesday in May was good for everyone and the Committee Members responded stating it was. Chair Paris asked if they want to do six (6) meetings and try to cover two (2) amendments each meeting. It was the consensus of the Committee to review two (2) Articles of the City Charter each meeting. Chair Paris said on the seventh meeting do the wrap up, and put it together and get it ready for the presentation and present it to the Commission. Mr. Langley said this Committee was a little more informal than the Commission was because of the advisory capacity of it, and they were going to want a free flow of ideas on this Committee because they were kind of starting from the existing language. They do not have a staff recommendation or an ordinance sitting before them where they have read it in advance, so they want this free flow of ideas, so they can be very informal if you would like. Chair Paris said they were going to go with six (6) meetings, with a possible seventh (7 ) meeting for a wrap-up. He said they will do two (2) amendments per meeting, and they will have their homework ahead of time and what to be reading on. He said they will start at 7:00 p.m. and under no circumstances, go beyond 8:30 p.m. Mr. Langley said on the first two (2) Articles, they were probably not going to have any changes on those because they just talk about the creation of the City and the corporate one, and the annexation of the City by statutory process, so in the first meeting you may want to do the first three (3) Articles instead of just the first two (2). That will be a very short meeting if they just do one (1) and two (2). Chair Paris said at the next meeting they would look at the first three (3) Articles. Charter 04-30-13/7 Mr. Langley said they might want to talk about how they might want to formulate and adopt the recommendations of the Committee. He said he thinks it was good to have a free flow of ideas, but when they reach a recommendation, they probably want to formalize it with a motion and a second. That way they would know they were all on the same page. Whether they wait until the end to do that or at each meeting, it was probably better to do a little bit at each meeting on their recommendations. If they have a recommendation at the next Meeting, they probably would want to formalize it in some regard so it was in the minutes and so they would not forget about it at the end. He said keep in mind the Committee can always revisit what had been talked about at a previous meeting, and change its recommendation before the final recommendation goes before the Commission. If they come up with an idea that they want to recommend, they may want him to draft the language and then come back to the next meeting and say this was his understanding of what they would like to do and here was the language. At that following meeting, they would say they like it, or they do not, and they will go from there. He said it was probably good to see it in writing. It was the consensus of the Committee that they liked the idea of Mr. Langley drafting the language of their recommendation and coming back to them for approval. Member Huse asked if they do have citizens that show up for a meeting, can they get up and speak and ask us questions. Mr. Langley said that was a decision they could make. It might be helpful, and they can listen to any particular issues they want them to think about, and they can fill out a form. They may want to put a time restriction on it, so they were not taking up much of their allotted time. They can allow it or not allow it. It was up to them to decide that. Chair Paris said that was a good idea, and he thinks they should appoint Vice Chair Cody as Sargent -at -Arms in case they go over the time, they can just send him out to talk to them. Ms. Mirus said she can add onto the agenda a section where it says Public Participation if they would like. Chair Paris said he thought that would be good in case somebody does want to speak. Discussion ensued regarding the weather the City was experiencing during the Meeting. Charter 04-30-13/8 4. ADJOURN. Chair Paris adjourned the meeting at 7:39 p.m. aris, Chair WE Sarah M. Mirus, MMC, MBA, Recording Secretary Charter 04-30-13/9 This Page Left Blank Intentionally. Charter 04-30-13/10