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02-26-1992 - Workshop v """" CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP February 26, 1992 Minutes CALL TO ORDER Mayor Wessler called the workshop to order at 2:00 p.m. in the Community Center. The purpose of this workshop is to review the proposed City Charter. ROLL CALL Mayor Tanya Wessler Present Councilman Kirk Jones (Mayor Wessler stated he will be late) Councilperson Louise Martin Present Councilperson NoraJane Gillespie Present CouncIlman Michael Hays Present City Attornev Krista Storey Present City Manager George McMahon (not present at this time) City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Present Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker ExcuGed Mayor Wessler called a recess to wait for Councilman Jones. Reconvene 2:10 p.m. 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 Citv Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Lieutenant William Britain Pr-esent Present Present Present Present Present Arrived at 2:19 Present E;.(cused Present Mayor Wessler asked the City Attorney to begin going over the suggested agenda the City Manager gave them. Attorney Storey explained the process she and the City Manager followed in preparing this document. The major document they utilized to make the recommended changes was the model city charter that is put out by the National Civic League. They also looked over the city charters for the City of Maitland. the City of Gainesville; trying to get a look at charters that have come about since the Home Rule Powers Act. She explained that Mr. McMahon's suggested calendar from this point be: two public meetings and one final public hearing to take place at a time and date convenient to Council. In order to put this on the ballot an ordinance is required with a first reading and a public hearing. This would mean three publiC sessions before it would go to referendum. It is recognized there are some controversial issues that may be segregated as separate questions to go on the ballot, where there are other provisions that are fairly standard. Attorney Storey explained that because of the Home Rule Powers Act, cities basically have any powers, except those specifically prohibited by statute. The charter now becomes a skeleton Or an outline type document, however, some of the specifics may be addressed in ordinance form. She asked the Council and the community to recognize that today in city government there are two functions, a political body and a business to run. She began going over the specific changes in the document. City Manager McMahon added explanation about the changes when neCEssary. '-r v The Council reserved reviewed all changes their comments until Attorney Storey in the entire document. Mayor Wessler called for a recess 3:07 p.m. Reconvene 3:12 p.m. Mayor Wessler suggested each section be considered and when a Council member has a question they will stop and discuss it. She began at the first section~ General Powers and continued. Section 3.01 - Composition (sinqle member district) Councilman Hays suggested this be a separate option; asking the citizens if they want single member districting7 Councilman Jones agreed~ adding the wording on the referendum should be made clear. Councilperson Martin, Councilperson Gillespie and Mayor Wessler did not want this option presented to the citizens. Section 3.04 ~ Elections and Terms Councilman Jones agreed with staggered terms to maintain cont i nu i ty. He suggested 4-year- staggered and 2-year fOl- the Mayor- . Councilperson Martin does not agree with staggered terms. in favor of the 3-year straight terms. She IS Councilperson Gillespie agreed with the 3-year straight terms. Councilman Hays agreed to give the voters an option. preference would be the 2-year staggered terms, with term of three years for two of the members. His the initIal Mayor Wessler suggested a compromise due to the opInIons stated during this discussion; that we have the 3-year straight terms or the 3-year staggered terms offered as options. This was agreed upon. It was also agreed that the City Attorney prepare the appropriate wording of these options and present it to the Council. At Councilman Hays request Mayor- l..Jes':51er called a recess at 3:38 p.m. Reconvene 3:44 p.m. Section 3.05 - Compensation Councilperson Gillespie suggested this be done by ordinance and not in the charter. Councilman Jones initiated discussion about the consumer index and automatic wording regarding increases in the compensation rather than each Council having to address their own pay. This was not agreed on. Councilperson Martin and Councilman Hays agreed it should be done by ordinance and each Council should deal with it. It was agreed to leave the amounts as thev are now, from hereafter it will be decided bv ordinance. Section 3.09 - Vacancies; Forfeiture of Office; Fillinq of Vacancies It was agreed that the filling of vacancies should be handled by o r-d i nance. Section 3.11 - Procedur~ a. Meetinqs It was the concensus not to specifically spell out what dates meetings would be held. The wording in this entire section is to be left as it is in the draft. -2- Council Worl--:shoo February 26~ 1992 '-P ...." Section 4.01 - Appointment and Qualifications of the City t1anaQel- Mayor Wessler suggested the Council discuss the residency subject at this time. She asked the Council to consider whether they t!lough t Mr. f'1c Mahon wou I d no t be as good a City Manager as he i ~> if he lived a few miles up the road outside the City limits. She does not feel we should tie our hands by having this restriction in the char tel-. Councilman Jones stated he feels this should be negotiated in the contract when considering the individual. He made the point that if the Federal Government had such a requirement the people who work at the Cape would not be able to live in Florida Shores. Councilman Hays agreed this should be negotiable, an important Issue IS we don't have a right to impose on someone's ciVIl rights. We should be concerned about the job they are doing. There was discussion regarding the residency requirement applying to the department heads. Mr. Mc Mahon suggested rather than have the residency requirement a response time be established. Councilperson Martin stated it should be up to the City Manager whether a department head has to live within the city limits. Councilperson Gillespie master charter and pull separately. stated this should be pulled out of the it over to let the citizens vote on it It l.-.Jas to be agreed to pull this out at this time, open for public discussion agaIn. since this IS gOIng Section 4.02 - Removal of the City ManaQer Councilman Jones commented this would be included In the contract and does not need to be in the charter. It was agreed to remove this from the charter draft. Section 4.03 - City Clerk Councilperson Gillespie spoke in favor of keeping Clerk's position on an equal status with the City City Attorney. The City Clerk w~ll be answerable Council and not to a City Manager. It was agreed the charter draft. the City Manager and the to the City to keep this in P'1r. Mc r1ahon pointed out the preference in the quality of the clerk we have compared to what some get with elected clerks. Section 4.08 - Personnel System Councilperson Gillespie was impressed with Mr. presentatIon regarding the personnel system. leave this as drafted. i"lc Mahon's It ItJas agreed to Section 4.09 - Financial and PurchasinQ Procedures and Requlations City Attorney Storey explained this section had a lot of specific language in it. This is not an intention to eliminate proce- dures, but you have a separate finanCIal document that you can adjust without having this in the charter. Mr. Mc Mahon explained the financial, purchasing, budgetary, etc. regulations are all handled through ordinances. Section 4.06 - Screeninq Board It was agreed to eliminate this from the charter. Section 4.08 - Standards of Conduct Councilperson Gillespie pointed out this has to be explained to the public. Mayor Wessler stated it is the Council's job to educate the public on these issues. -3- Council Workshop February 26, 1992 ..... ..., Alternate to Section 5.03 - Qualification City Attorney Storey informed the Council determine whether this needs to be in the or-dinancl:? of Candidates that they should charter or handled by It was agreed to handle this by ordinance. Councilman Hays informed the Council there is a very informative article in the Florida League magazine addressing conduct of people running for office. City Attorney Stor-ey suggested the Council may want to discuss time of elections, referring to the Attachment A submitted by the City Clerk. She explained the election will have to be in November this year and then perhaps a different date next year. Councilperson Gillespie stated she wants this thrown out to the public. Councilman Jones aoreed to make it an option. Councilman Hays pointed out this might be an ideal time to change the election date, depending on how the terms of office are decided. He does not want this to be an option for the citizens. He wants it changed to March. Councilperson Martin agreed to change the election date to March, not be an option. Mayor Wessler agreed. The majority agreed not to pull this out as an option at this time. City Attorney Storey told Council she will prepare the ballot question and have this document ready for the public meeting. Comments were made regarding informing the public of these changes. Mr. Mc Mahon spoke to the Council about publishing the newsletter with this information. Mayor Wessler summarized the three issues needing to be emphasized for the public are: terms, election date, and the residency requirement. The concensus was to try to have this election before the November election and as soon as possible. A special meeting date was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. March 9, 1992, to have public input only regarding reVISIons. f'-1onday, the charter Another special meeting date was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Saturday, March 14, 1992. The first and second readings of the actual ordinance will take place at the regular Council meetings. Mayor Wessler was asked to make the following announcement: Mr. Lou Redmond from the Salvation Army is forming a group to help citizens in the surrounding area. He wants the Council to elect one Council member to belong to this committee. They will meet the third Wednesday of every month at 12:00 noon. Council- person Martin volunteered. ADJOURNMENT Councilman Jones moved to adjourn. the motion. Meeting adjourned 4:50 Councilperson Martin seconded p.m. Minutes Submitted By: Debb ie S ig 1 el- -4- Counc i 1 ~.Jorkshop February 26, 1992