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03-14-1992 - Public Meeting .. .... ""'" CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER PUBLIC MEETING MARCH 14, 1992 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Wessler called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m. in the Community Center to receive public input on the proposed City Charter. ROLL CALL Mayor Tanya Wessler Councilman Kirk Jones Councilperson Louise Martin councilperson NoraJane Gillespie Councilman Michael Hays City Attorney Krista storey city Manager George McMahon City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Lt. Bucky McEver Present Present Present Present Arrived Later Present Arrived Later Present Present Mayor Wessler asked for a recess to wait the arrival of Mr. Jones and Mr. McMahon. Reconvene 1:07 p.m. Councilman Hays and Mr. McMahon present. CITIZENS COMMENTS Georqe Naill, 1604 Royal Palm, gave his concerns regarding the time of the election and the costs involved in having two elections. Public needs to be informed and this will take time. Georqe Ewinq,2923 Royal Palm, commented regarding F.S.409i his concern is that limitations should be put on the bonding for the protection of the tax payers. He informed the Council that the people attending these meeting would like the opportunity to give their rebuttal to some of the comments made by the Council before the meetings are closed. Norm Billups, 1868 pine Tree Drive, asked if we are going to have a Charter for the people and by the people, or are we going to have a dictatorship by the council? He emphasized that the City Attorney's job is to interpret the law and to remember the citizens of the city. councilperson Martin appealed to the citizens to realize this is not a staff's Charter. The reason we are having these meetings is to get the citizen's input and come up with a Charter that everyone will be happy with. Mayor Wessler explained that the Council is trying to put together a Charter for all of the citizens to select. The decisions are not being made solely by the Council members or the people who attend these meetings. options are going to be given for the community to vote on. Doris Hill, Lincoln Road, made the observation that the same people are attending these meetings and we are not the majority of the citizens. The choices need to be made clear so everyone will be able to understand what they will be voting on. Marv Martin, 12 Woodlake Drive, Port Orange, a property owner in the city of Edgewater, explained that the current Charter is an obsolete document and totally unworkable. The main things we are hearing complaints about are the issues we are giving options on. The people, when they vote, will make the choice of which will be put in the Charter. ~ ..... ...., .. Domonick Fazzone, 302 Paradise Lane, expressed hurt feelings over the comments that the Council is dictating anything about the Charter. He has worked on the Charter Review Committee all along and none of the Council members have tried to influence them in any way. He stated that two different City Attorneys gave the same advice about 409. He went over some of the citizens input that was received by the committee. Andv Anderson, 730 pine Tree Drive, feels there are too many things going on at this time to be dealing with the entire Charter. He suggested taking one item at a time and deal with it. Councilman Hays explained the Charter can not be amended one section at a time. The Charter has to be changed by a referendum. Councilperson Gillespie explained that by the advice of the Attorney General we need to update our Charter now. Mr. Anderson continued his comments on the residency requirement,the election time. It was his suggestion that March would be a good time for the election. Domonick Capria , 606 Topside Circle, suggested showing the current section of the Charter and the proposed change to make it easier for the public to understand. He pointed out that educationg the public is very important. Ken Millard, 238 North Riverside Drive, gave credit to the Charter Review Committee for the work they have done on this Charter. He spoke on the continuity of government and election of the Council members. He expressed his opinion that the terms of office should stay as they are. He commented that one of the major reasons the previous Councilpeople are not in office now was their attitude on the Charter. Mayor Wessler explained the Council is not making a decision regarding the terms of office, they are giving the public an option. councilperson Gillespie stated the public has not asked for this option, until ten percent of the registered voters ask for an option, we don't have the right to offer this option. There was much confusion and conversation at this point. Mayor Wessler controlled order to the meeting and emphasized that everyone in attendance at these meetings has expressed their opinions, now they should go out and educate the general public so the entire public can vote on what they want. city Attorney storey explained the process for allowing an option. Councilperson Gillespie suggested the current language should remain as it is and the options should be made clear for the public to vote on. Mr. Fazzone read from the Charter draft referring to terms of office. Mr. Millard had a rebuttal. Councilperson Martin made the point that these changes will not affect the present Council, it will be the next Council that will gain by any of these changes. Georqe Ewinq, spoke on the different options presented and a few subjects he feels should be changed. There was a discussion re- garding the consent agenda. -2- Council Meeting March 14, 1992 'W'" ....., Councilperson Martin made a point that there are 76 cities in the state of Florida that vote in March, 16 vote in November. Jake Lodico, 302 North Riverside Drive, spoke to the Council regarding the history of staggered terms. The election was held in November with the other elections. It was a disaster having the staggared terms. He expressed his opposition to nepotism within the City of Edgewater. Doris Hill commented that the group in attendance at this meeting is not representative of the entire City, everyone should have a right to vote on these changes. Domonick Capria spoke of the participation from Edgewater Landing residents. Norm BilluPs, 1868 pine Tree Drive, told Council he had submitted four tapes to the City Attorney from the Council Review Committee and she has not had time to listen to them. He suggested the Mayor get these tapes and listen to them. Mayor Wessler asked the Council members to give their input at this time. Councilman Hays thanked the people in attendance. Changes to our current Charter are needed. One option was to hold the election on the Charter changes in March and there were comments regarding this not being fair to the part-time residents. Our main concern is to be fair to all registered voters and we should get this referendum as soon as possible; he suggested May. He feels staggared terms should also be an option; we have heard mixed comments regarding this and everyone should have a right to vote on this. He does not believe a March election should be an option. citizen comments should be part of the Charter. The residency requirement should be voted on. He stated there are state Bills that address ethics. He specifically mentioned 217 House Bill. The subject of L.D.R.A. and Board of Adjustments might be something to review. Taking oath of office the first Wednesday after election should be reviewed. There are Florida state statutes that specifically address the subject of a cap on bonds. City Manager McMahon clarified that both he and the City Attorney agree that in section 409 this be a matter of reference. Even though it is in state law, there are certain things that should be referenced. The law is spelled out specifically in F.S. 166.211, the law is not an option, procedures can be. He read from the law. The Mayor called a recess 2:45. Reconvene 2:50. Councilperson Gillespie was given the floor. She stated she is in total agreement with the comments brought to them by the Charter Review Committee and discussed Monday. One change she would like to see is the time limit change for the people speaking to the Council. She favors Mr. McMahon's suggestion of contracts for the department heads, wherein the residency requirement could be made a part of the contract; November election; two-year terms and not staggared. She is not in favor of sending anything to the citizens to vote on unless they have asked for it; of background checks for candidates running for election. She suggested a statement in the ethics section defining what the Council is bound to. She would like to see something conclusive in Section 2.29, 2.30 and 2.31 of the Charter. -3- Council Meeting March 14, 1992 ... .... councilperson Martin spoke on the background information submitted by the candidates, this should be sufficient. She does not wish to state what she wants in the Charter, she feels every- thing should be voted on by the citizens. References to the State law covering certain sections should be made in the charter so people will know where to research the subjects. Councilman Jones thanked everyone for attending. Judging from the attendance at these meetings there is not much interest among the community about the changes in the Charter. He feels the following items should be options for the public: terms of office, residency requirement,time of the election. He feels the comments made regarding ethics are well taken, however, we have to be careful not to enfringe on someone's rights. Mayor Wessler stated she feels the following issues should be options to the public: residency requirement, terms of office, time of election. She read into the record a written comment from the citizens Council Advisory Committee regarding the time of election. At this time the Council members went over the options for the city Attorney to draft up. City Attorney Storey explained there is a limit to the language allowed on the ballot. There are arrangements to be made with the Director of Elections; the structure of the questions will also be discussed with her. councilperson Martin pointed out to the City Attorney there is some wording missing in section 15. This was reviewed and dis- cussed with the City Attorney. The Mayor took a poll among the Council members regarding the wording in this section. It was agreed to add the wording as it was previously. Jake Lodico spoke of the change made which kept the old Council in office a period of time after the election was held. It was explained to him a change was made to eliminate this. Councilperson Gillespie moved to adjourn. Councilman Jones seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned 3:27 P.M. Minutes submitted by: Debbie Sigler -4- Council Meeting March 14, 1992