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HomeMy WebLinkAbout_2001 02 22 City Commission Workshop Minutes CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 22, 2001 I. CALL TO ORDER The Workshop of February 22, 2001 of the City Commission was called to order by Mayor Paul p, Partyka at 5:26 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of the Municipal Building (City Hall, 1126 East State Road 434, Winter Springs, Florida 32708). Roll Call: Mayor Paul P. Partyka, present Deputy Mayor David W. McLeod, present Commissioner Robert S. Miller, present Commissioner Michael S. Blake, present Commissioner Edward Martinez, Jr., present Commissioner Cindy Gennell, arrived at 5:30 p.m. City Manager Ronald W. McLemore, present City Attorney Anthony A. Garganese, present II. WORKSHOP AGENDA A. Requests The City Commission Consider The Presentation And Report From The Charter Review Committee. Mayor Partyka turned the meeting over to Consultant, Mr, James V. Burgess. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Cindy Gennell arrived at 5:30 p.m. ARTICLE II CITY COUNCIL Section 2.09. Investigations. Section 2.10. Independent audit. Section 2.13. Ordinance in general. Section 2.14. Emergency Ordinances. Mr. Burgess stated, "Section 2.09., on Investigations is the same as the present Charter. That is the same as Section 4.11. of the present City Charter." He spoke of Section 2.1 0., being the same as Section 4.12.; Sections 2.12. being the same as Section 4.14.; Section CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 2 OF 12 4.13. remammg as is; Section 2.13. being the same as Section 4.15. of the present Charter; and Section 2.14. indicating the same as Section 4.16. Mr. Burgess suggested, "With that, that would complete this Article. I would presume that you would retain the Charter revisions, in lieu of these provisions." Mayor Partyka asked, "Are "There other areas where when you talk about fines, that it is done by other people, rather than the Commission?" "Do you mean where a fine or a penalty is imposed?" asked Mr. Burgess. Mayor Partyka stated to the affirmative. Mr. Burgess answered, "I think you would have to keep that in a Commission. I believe if you delegate it to an administrative officer it would be an unlawful delegation of authority." ARTICLE III CITY MANAGER Section 3.01. Appointment; Qualifications, Compensation. Section 3.02. Removal. Section 3.03. Acting City Manager. Section 3.04. Powers and Duties of the City Manager. Mr. Burgess stated, "The paragraph in Section 3.01., under current qualifications and compensation, has substantially changed. It also changed, by virtue of the decision you made last night, to have the City Manager appointed by four (4) votes, of the Membership of Council, and also removed by four (4) affirmative votes. The language of 3.01. is not consistent with the decision you made last night. The other difference in 3.01. is, under the present Charter, appointment of the City Manager is permissive, and here it is mandatory. The other difference is, we struck out a sentence in the present Charter which says, 'In the event that the Commission does not appoint a Manager, the administrative duties of the Manager shall be responsible of the Mayor, unless otherwise provided by the Charter', that has been eliminated." Commissioner Gennell spoke of the fact that the Charter does not have a provision for a contract for the City Manager. She asked, "If it is not covered here, is it covered elsewhere in this document?" Mr. Burgess responded, "I don't think with any question, that you have the authority to contract, or to enter into a contract with the Manager. You don't have to have it in the Charter. You can put it in the Charter, but I don't think you need it." Mr. Ronald W. McLemore, City Manager added, "I think the way that was cleaned up was by taking another sentence out." Mr. Burgess agreed with Manager McLemore. Commissioner Gennell stated, "My other question goes to taking out the revision of the City Managers position, to be the Mayor in the event of the absence of the City Manager. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 3 OF 12 Do we need to put something in, or is there something in here elsewhere about an interim - acting City Manager?" Mr. Burgess stated, "Yes, you do have a provision on an acting City Manager in 3.03. That is Section 5.04. in the present Charter." Commissioner Michael S. Blake asked City Attorney, Anthony A. Garganese, "Would we be able to accomplish these items as well in that single question, that the City Commission shall appoint a City Manager, a City Clerk, and a City Attorney. If you recall last night that the question of combining those three (3) in one (1) question." Attorney Garganese added, "With respect to Charter offices, appointment, and termination?" Commissioner Blake added, "Exactly. To accomplish Sections 3.01. and 3.02. as it states right here." Attorney Garganese stated, "I think what we would end up doing on the issue of appointment and termination regarding Charter offices, is to craft one question to address that issue, which will change various sections in the Charter." Discussion. Mr. Burgess stated, "You may just want to be silent. What you really want to do is establish the principal of appointment and removal. That is the checkpoint. How it gets initiated, it could be initiated by a group of you, or by one of you. You don't have to put it in the Charter. Do you agree with that Mr. City Attorney?" Attorney Garganese stated to the affirmative. Mr. Burgess suggested revisiting just that part of the decision, then not put it in the words, Mayor, Commission, or Commissioners can nominate. Mayor Partyka asked what Mr. Burgess's suggestion would be. Mr. Burgess stated, "I would just say that the Manager, the Clerk, and Attorney would be appointed by a vote of four (4) Members of the Commission, and would be removed by a vote of four (4) Members of the Commission." Deputy Mayor David W. McLeod stated, "I would not agree doing that with the Manager. The Manager is brought here by the Commission and to work for the Commission. I think that when it is the Commission making that appointment to the Manager, and the Manager is hired, the Manager then realizes he works for the Commission. When the Mayor is inteIjected as being part of the process, during that selection process, the Mayor can bring anybody's name forward. But that the Commission needs to go ahead and be the ones to do the research, just as we did last time, and it did not involve the Mayor in determining who the Manager was going to be. I really think that that process should be gone through by the Commission, strictly on the Manager. My other point, the reason I pointed out that I felt that it should be mentioned as the Mayor and Commission, so that there is no doubt, the words are there. When you spell it out and say either the Mayor or the Commissioner, or Commissioners may appoint. That means you may have a Mayor enter a name, you may have two (2) Commissioners enter two (2) other names, they would all be on the table for nomination. Then by a vote, the Commissioners then would end up appointing that individual." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 4 OF 12 Mr. Burgess stated, "You are making a distinction between the Clerk and Attorney but not the Manager. The Manager would be strictly by the Commission?" Deputy Mayor McLeod stated to the affirmative and said "That the Manager works for this Commission. That Manager does not work for the Mayor, he works with the Mayor." Commissioner Edward Martinez, Jr. read the last sentence in Section 3.01. and spoke of the old Charter. Mayor Partyka asked, "Are we making it more complicated? Ultimately the City Commission fires all three (3) positions. I don't think there is any distinction from that standpoint. They serve at the pleasure of the Commission. Basically, anyone person here has no termination powers. It is the group of five (5) Commissioners that have the termination powers." Mayor Partyka asked for the thoughts of the Commission. Deputy Mayor McLeod suggested keeping the offices separate that way there is no doubt. Commissioner Martinez and Commissioner Gennell both agreed. Commissioner Robert S. Miller stated, "If the new terminology is that we, by a vote of four (4) out of five (5), hire and terminate, I don't think the need for a clarification on who the City Manager works for is relevant. You can bring the same argument up to the City Clerk. We have to be sure that she knows that she works for the Commission and not the Mayor. We have to make certain that the Attorney realizes that he works for the City Council and not the Mayor. I don't see any difference with the City Manager. I think we should treat them all the same." Discussion. Commissioner Blake stressed his concerns with eliminating the Mayor from having input in the selection process of those offices. He stated, "I think by separating it out, you increase the complexity, and you don't gain anything for it, and it will be part of implement. There is that chance you end up with a requirement of four (4) votes to hire a City Clerk or Attorney, but only three (3) votes to hire a City Manager if that provision were not to pass." Deputy Mayor McLeod asked, "The Commissioner is under the assumption that we are going to put each of these out as a line item?" Commissioner Blake stated, "That is correct. " Deputy Mayor McLeod stated, "My base opinion at what I have seen us do so far with this Charter, I do not believe we have made significant changes that would not allow this thing to go forward as one. It is not like it was drafted and it came to us. I feel much better for it to go forward as a Charter one (1) item deal, all or none." Mayor Partyka stated the consensus is for it to be specified. The Mayor, Commissioner, and Commissioners. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 5 OF ]2 Commissioner Gennell spoke of the acting City Manager and asked, "In the absence of the City Manager, to do that appointment by letter, do we have a provision in here that a Commission shall appoint an acting City Manager in the absence of a City Manager?" Mr. Burgess stated, "The Commission will always have the power to appoint. If you wanted to appoint an acting Manager until you found a Manager, I think you have that power now." Mr. Burgess then read Section 3.03. and stated, "The language of 5.04., if you go back to that Commissioner, it would cover all of your concerns." Mr. Burgess stated the present Charter is more complete and Commissioner Gennell agreed, and he suggested retaining Section 5.04. Manager McLemore stated his concerns with leaving for two (2) to three (3) days and the Commission appointing an Interim. Discussion. Mr. Burgess read Section 5.04. to the Commission. Discussion ensued regarding the City Manager writing a letter to recommend an Interim City Manager. Attorney Garganese stated, "It is a grant of authority to the City Manager. It does not affect the City Commissions ability to appoint an acting City Manager. If you look at it from that context, I think the current Charter would work. It does not affect your authority. It just gives the Manager the ability to appoint an acting Manager. Your ability is clearly spelled out in the Charter, to revoke the act of the City Manager had just taken by submitting a letter. It does not affect your inherent power to appoint an acting." Commissioner Blake asked, "Does it require three (3) or four (4) votes for the Commission to replace the acting City Manager?" Mr. Burgess stated, "I think it takes three (3) of you because it says you may revoke it. The fact that you specify it in one place as a specific item, but you did not specify here, you can go back to your normal rules of procedure. So it would be three (3)." The Commission agreed by consensus. Discussion. Mr. Burgess stated, "If you want to put a structured language in, you could just say when necessary, the Council shall appoint an acting City Manager. Just to clarify that point." Mayor Partyka asked Attorney Garganese, "Is it there already or not, or do we have to specify?" Attorney Garganese answered, "The power is inherent, you have that authority under General Law. You do not have to expressly state it, but if you want to be instructive in the Charter you can certainly do that just as Mr. Burgess said." Mayor Partyka asked the Commission, "Do we need to clarify this or not?" Consensus of the Commission was not to clarify. Mr. Burgess spoke of the language change in Section 3.04. compared to Section 5.03., regarding the City Managers title and duties. Discussion. Tape 1/Side B CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE60F 12 The consensus of the Commission was to leave Section 3.04. "As is". ARTICLE IV DEPARTMENTS, OFFICES AND AGENCIES Section 4.01. General Provisions. Section 4.02. Personnel System. Section 4.03. Legal Officer. Mr. Burgess stated that Section 4.01. is the same as Section 6.02., except for a slight change in wording. He suggested retaining Section 6.01 instead of Section 4.01., and then spoke of Section 4.02. Discussion. Mr. Burgess advised those in attendance that Section 4.03. is a new provision and was included to clarify the authority to appoint various Boards. The consensus of the Commission was to leave Section 4.03. the same as it is in the Charter and not to strike it. ARTICLE V FINANCIAL PROCEDURES Section 5.01. Fiscal Year. Section 5.02. Submission of Budget and Budget Message. Section 5.03. Budget Message. Section 5.04. Budget. Section 5.03. Budget Message Mr. Burgess said that Section 5.01. is the same as Section 7.01., then asked to retain Section 7.01. He further explained that Section 5.02. compares to 7.03. and suggested retaining Section 7.03. Mr. Burgess spoke of Sections 5.03. and 5.04. He also stated, "The language of the present Charter is not consistent with what you do now. Nor is it consistent with General Law. So the Advisory Committee felt that this short 5.04. was all you needed in lieu of the present, more lengthy provision, in 7.04. the present Charter." He also stated that Section 5.03. takes the place of Section 7.03. in the present Charter. The consensus of the Commission was to spell out the budget statement. Deputy Mayor McLeod asked the Mayor to ask the Commission to make a decision on whether to make a total vote ballot or by line amendments. Commissioner Gennell agreed with one document; Commissioner Martinez stated that they should wait until the completion of this document; Commissioner Blake stated he wanted to wait; and Commissioner Miller reserved his response. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 7 OF 12 Manager McLemore stated his opinion regarding the budget statement and suggested adding the section if it adds to the sell of the Charter. Attorney Garganese stated, "Commissioner Blake is concerned about changes in State Law that may conflict with this provision. I would simply move a portion of a sentence where it says 'Except as required by law of this Charter' and put that in front of the second sentence, 'So all of these provisions will apply except as required by law of this Charter'. I think you have the best of both worlds. This sets the framework unless State Law dictates something else." Mr. Burgess asked, "Where would that go, at the beginning of the second sentence?" Attorney Garganese stated, "Right, at the beginning of the second sentence. And I would just make the sentence begin 'Except as required by law or this Charter this budget shall begin....' and that addresses everybody's concerns." The Commission agreed. Discussion ensued regarding the Capital Program. Tape 2/Side A The consensus of the Commission was to add the Capitol Program to the Charter. Mr. Burgess suggested, "I would suggest you put 5.04. in, as the proposed document because your existing provision is not consistent with General Law." Commissioner Gennell asked, "Put it in where?" Mr. Burgess explained, the "Contents of the budget would include what is in 5.03. plus the Capital. Then 5.04. would be just how the Council acts on the budget which is what you do right now." The Board discussed and chose a present and five (5) year plan. Mayor Partyka asked the Commission, "Is 5.04., the way it is here with three (3) lines, is that agreeable at least submitting this on from everybody here." The consensus of the Commission was to retain Section 5.04. Attorney Garganese suggested, "Even though it is somewhat redundant to the term law, add some language that says that the budget is adopted after a Public Hearing. I would suggest that would be important language to the public." The consensus of the Commission agreed. Deputy Mayor McLeod stated he wanted to change his vote. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 8 OF 12 ARTICLE VI ELECTIONS Section 6.01. (a) City Elections. Section 6.01. (b) Registered Voter Defined. Section 6.01. (c) Conduct of Elections. Section 6.02. Council Districts; Adjustment of Districts. Section 6.03. Initiative and Referendum. Section 6.04. Council Districts; Adjustment of Districts. Mr. Burgess spoke of Article VI Elections. He stated section 6.01.. (a) is the same as Section 8.01. of the present Charter, which he read. Deputy Mayor McLeod suggested adding language into Section 6.01. (a) stating "Will be held with the general election." Consensus of the Commission agreed. Mr. Burgess spoke of Sections 8.02. and 8.03. of the present Charter, which would be Sections 6.01. (b) and (c) on the Model Charter. He addressed the changes in Section 6.02, which originally was an Ordinance that the Committee decided should be incorporated into the Charter. Commissioner Miller spoke of the residential qualifications of candidates. Mayor Partyka asked the Commission, "Do you wish to add 'domicile' to this as requested by Commissioner Miller." Discussion. The Commission agreed to leave Section 6.02. as an ordinance. Mr. Burgess spoke of Section 6.03. referencing vacancy of office. Discussion. Commissioner Blake suggested to change the wording from two (2) years to one (1) year and to change the language to suggest that the appointment is only good until the next regularly scheduled election. Tape 2/Side B Discussion ensued regarding the clarity of the original Charter. The consensus of the Commission was to retain the original Charter. Mr. Burgess stated that there is a slight variation with regards to the Mayor's vacancy. He stated, "If you look at 4.05., you have got some language that may do it, 'if the municipal election is held prior to the expiration of the Mayor's current office, the electors of the City shall elect a new Mayor to fulfill the remaining unexpired term of office' which keeps it in the same sequence. You may want to just use the language from the existing Charter to cover the Mayor's situation." Discussion. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 9 OF 12 Mayor Partyka asked the Commission for a consensus regarding the Mayor's vacancy. The Commission agreed to an unexpired term. Mr. Burgess stated that Section 6.04. is new and was put in "Just as instructive", and the State Law requires nonpartisan elections. Mayor Partyka asked, "Do we have to bring this up as a Charter Amendment?" Mr. Burgess stated, "No, it does not have to be in the Charter, it is in the General Law now." Mayor Partyka asked, "So by you adding this in, don't we have to vote on it?" Mr. Burgess stated, "You don't have to put this in, it is in the General Law. If you want to strike it from the Charter. . ." Mayor Partyka asked, "Do we want this in here because it is General Law?" Mr. Burgess stated, "The feeling from the Committee was that you should put it in the Charter because a lot of residents don't realize that the elections are nonpartisan. It might help the voters reading through the Charter, it is a more usable friendly document." Mayor Partyka asked, "Is everyone in agreement that this clause should be in this document?" The consensus ofthe Commission was affirmative. Mr. Burgess spoke of Section 6.05. and suggested retaining Section 4.02., because of the present form of government. Mr. Burgess stated, "6.06. is the same as your present Charter, there is no change in that. That is Section 9.01. of your present Charter. There is no point in adopting it here since it is in your present Charter." Commissioner Gennell asked the Commission if they were comfortable with the number, ten percent (10%), of the signatures of registered voters to be elected. She also asked to revisit the issue later. Attorney Garganese stated, "For Charter Amendments, statutorily Florida Law says it has to be ten percent (10%) of the registered electors as of the last proceeding municipal General Election. That is for. a proposed Charter Amendment. This provision in the Charter also allows the citizens to initiate Ordinances. It also allows them to try and repeal or request the Commission reconsider an Ordinance that the Commission adopted. There is nothing in the Florida Statues that address that aspect. This provision gives the citizens of Winter Springs some control over Ordinances that are adopted by the Commission, it also gives them some control where they can propose general Ordinances." Commissioner Gennell stated, 'Or Charter Amendments." Attorney Garganese answered, "Technically." CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 10 OF 12 ARTICLE VII GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 7.01 Conflict of Interest; Board of Ethics. Section 7.02. Prohibitions. Mr. Burgess spoke of the interim provisions of the Charter, Section 7.01. He stated Section 7.01. is comparable to Section 13.03. He asked, "Do you want to retain 13.03.?" The Commission agreed. Mr. Burgess said that Section 7.02. is comparable to 13.01. and asked to retain 13.01. Again, the Commission agreed. The Commission discussed Sections 7.03. and 7.04., also Section 7.05. on Charter Amendments, which compares to Section 10.01. of the present Charter. Mr. Burgess spoke of Section 7.06. and stated, "Paragraph A would have to be amended or revised to say 'Persons to fill the offices of the Mayor and the two (2) Commission Members' we have to look at that very closely." Discussion ensued. Mr. Burgess handed out a summary regarding the Commission's consensus from February 21,2001 Meeting. Deputy Mayor McLeod stated, "I would like to suggest that before we take this to the public, I would like to see it put back into print, as we have pointed out. Then have another Workshop to walk through one (1) more time, only to make sure we are all in agreement when it is in print. In that document it would be very nice that if in Section, for instance, 1.01. corporate name, if you could put in parentheses beside that, you could put in there 'Brought forward from old Charter." Mr. Burgess stated, "Or just do it as an editorial note." Deputy Mayor McLeod stated, "What I found, when I did this myself, that made it easier, is I went back and put whether it came from the Model Charter or the old Charter, and under the Section number and page number. It made a very quick reference." Mr. Burgess suggested doing it both ways. In regards to Mr. Burgess's handout, Commissioner Gennell suggested to delete the word "year" from Page 2, first paragraph, last line. Mr. Burgess read from his handout, Prohibitions, paragraph C. The consensus of the Commission agreed with the wording. Tape 3/Side A CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 2001 PAGE 11 OF 12 Commissioner Gennell suggested, "At one point in time, that we go on record, we Agenda this, here during one of these Meetings." Commissioner Miller supported Commissioner Gennell' s suggestion. Discussion ensued regarding whether to address the Charter as one (1) document or a series of Referendums. Mayor Partyka asked, "Do we want to take an opinion at this point, or do we want to wait until we get all of the pieces together." The consensus of the Commission was to wait. Discussion. Attorney Garganese stated, "I would suggest doing a red line version of your existing Charter, because when you propose the amendments to the public you are going to have to do that anyway. It would be helpful to see how the existing Charter is changing because you are not doing a wholesale change, here is a new Charter. You are saying we are only making certain amendments. That goes along with what Commissioner McLeod was talking about, that he wants to see what is being carried forward. If you do a red line version of your existing Charter, you will no exactly what is being changed." Further discussion. Manager McLemore raised the issue of additional payment for Mr. Burgess. Commissioner Miller suggested for the City Manager to work out the particulars with Mr. Burgess and bring it back to the Commission at the next Meeting. Commissioner Blake addressed to the City Manager, "I would like you to negotiate with Mr. Burgess to bring us back the two (2) products. One would be our current Charter red line. The second thing would be the Charter Committees submittal to us revised, not red lined, revised." Commissioner Gennell expressed her appreciation to Mr. Burgess. Mayor Partyka asked, "Do we need to have a separate list of items that have been changed, or is the red line Charter document sufficient at this point?" Commissioner Martinez stated, "As long as I can take the old Charter and new Charter, go through it and pick out the ones that are going to be submitted as amendments, so I know the number - I will be satisfied." Commissioner Gennell suggested to the Mayor, "I would suggest that we pass these all down to Debbie [Deputy City Clerk] to keep until we schedule another workshop, so the Staff does not have to go through copying these again for us." The Mayor thanked Mr. Burgess on behalf of the Commission, the Charter Review Commission, and the citizens. Deputy Mayor McLeod asked Manager McLemore, "Have you and Mr. Burgess already talked about this with a dollar number between the two of you? Do you have an idea CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MINUTES CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP - FEBRUARY 22, 200 I PAGE 12 OF 12 where this thing is at?" Manager McLemore stated, "Jim certainly can speak for himself." Mr. Burgess stated, "I would be glad to." Discussion ensued regarding putting the Charter on disc. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER MILLER, "MR. MAYOR, I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION THAT WE ADJOURN." MOTION DIED FOR A LACK OF A SECOND. Mr. Burgess stated in regards to his monetary payment, "I think we are creating basically another Charter. I think this work effort would be roughly equivalent to the work effort that I expended with the Charter Review Committee. I would say not even worry about the per diem, but just a lump sum contract, pretty much along the same lines that we had with the Charter Review Committee." COMMISSIONER MILLER STATED, "MOTION TO ADJOURN." SECONDED. DISCUSSION. WITH CONSENSUS OF THE BOARD THE MOTION WAS APPROVED. MOTION CARRIED. III. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Partyka adjourned the Workshop at 8:58 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: ~ DEPUTY CITY CLERK