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06-21-1999 - Workshop .... ......, CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP JUNE 21, 1999 6:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Workshop to order at 6:04 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Randy Allman Councilman James Gornto Councilman Myron Hammond Councilman Gary Roberts Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Attorney Nikki Clayton City Manager Kenneth Hooper City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Lt. Bucky McEver Present Present Arrived at 6:08 p.m. Present Present Present Present Present Excused Present MEETING PURPOSE The purpose of the workshop is to present an opportunity for the City Council to discuss the recommendations on the Charter Review Committee report. City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. He informed Council they have had a lot of public input. At this point, it is appropriate for Council to decide if they want to have a Charter amendment, a referendum, and what issues they want on the ballot. He informed Council of the procedure they need to follow. Mayor Allman spoke about the good job done by the Charter Review Committee. He asked City Manager Hooper to pin point the items the Committee voted unanimously on. City Attorney Clayton explained she would have to tally up from the minutes when the discussion took place. The reason that isn't quite so easy is because several of the issues were revisited. City Manager Hooper explained when they were going through deliberations they weren't unanimous. When they concluded, the first nine would have been called a unanimous recommendation. They then did a minority report that didn't have a unanimous opinion or had some less than the majority of support. There was a brief discussion regarding a minority issue being listed on Page 12. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they could go over the items. She thinks they have not had an opportunity to discuss the items and ramifications themselves. Councilman Roberts also feels they should go over the items. Councilman Gornto stated no matter what they come up with, will they take the items recommended by the Charter Review Committee or if they put items in that they want, how does this end up on the ballot. City Manager Hooper stated staff is going to recommend they put on there a choice. If you make it so they are all one, that is a guaranteed failure that it will not have enough to get through. He again recommended listed each item individually. ~ ~ There was further discussion regarding how these questions would appear on the ballot and the process they have to follow. Councilwoman Lichter asked if both sides of each item in question will be presented. City Manager Hooper referred the Council to Page 2 listing the issues needing to be discussed. City Attorney Clayton informed Council what information is included in their packets. Councilwoman Lichter stated if we say we are going to limit to 250 acres in any given year, how does that kick into the state statutes and what happens to those referendums that you are required to have. City Attorney Clayton elaborated on involuntary and voluntary annexations. Mr. Heeb elaborated on the position of the Charter Review Committee. In order to annex more, you have to get permission from the voters by referendum. City Attorney Clayton stated during the entire Charter Committee meetings she tried to reserve any personal opinions or recommendations and she still holds that same position. She has no position on any of these one way or the other. City Manager Hooper stated you can still annex more but you are limiting over what you can do without the referendum requirement. It will change the way property is annexed in the future in the quantity. Councilman Roberts explained why he feels it might be a hindrance to have this in place. He feels it could hold up major investments in this community. We don't want to chase people off. City Manager Hooper stated we are working right now on three different parcels that want to annex into the City all larger than 250 acres. Councilman Roberts feels if there is going to be a cap it needs to be bigger than 250 acres. He also feels this is the best opportunity we have right now of getting our tax base broadened and bringing jobs and revenue into the City. Councilman Hammond agreed with Councilman Roberts. City Manager Hooper asked if the Council wanted to address each item individually and get a consensus. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about why doesn't agree with this. She feels they need to be competitive. She feels communities can go in an orderly manner. Councilwoman Lichter fears once something is put on a referendum, the general public who does not come to the meetings, won't understand the significance of this for the growth of the City. Mayor Allman stated whether they have the knowledge or not, they still have the right to vote on it. He feels anything that concerns the well being of the City of Edgewater that the citizens of the City should determine their fate. Councilwoman Lichter asked for more information about the referendum process. She expressed concern with a referendum being put on for the citizens at any time. City Manager Hooper explained the requirement was that it be on a General Election. Councilwoman Lichter stated maybe that part could use some thinking. Then there would be a compromise in the proposal. City Attorney Clayton explained a referendum can be called at any time. She further elaborated on voter turnout depending on when a referendum is called. Page -2- Council Workshop June 21, 1999 '-" ",., Councilman Roberts briefly spoke about limitations on borrowing and needing a referendum if over the maximum amount is to be borrowed. He feels they would constantly be trying to put together local elections. He also feels one of the ideas of electing a Council, is to elect people to make those decisions for you. City Manager Hooper stated if they say the Charter Review Committee did a good job but we are going to put everything out there. That bothers him to a very strong degree. If Council is unhappy with what is being recommended, their role is to make the final decision. Councilman Roberts feels there are a lot of items to thrown on a ballot right now. He thinks they need to be looked at and discussed. Councilman Hammond stated the average person thinks 250 acres is a lot of property. When you look at it from the City's standpoint, 250 acres is nothing. It was the consensus of Council to go over each item individually. Councilwoman Lichter, Councilman Hammond and Councilwoman Lichter were not interested in limiting annexations. City Manager Hooper explained he is going to bring back the questions that Council directs him to bring back at a consensus. Council agreed the qualifications for Mayor and Council should be on the ballot. City Manager Hooper then explained limitation on borrowing. Councilman Roberts likes the idea of having some kind of restriction on this. He feels there needs to be some sort of happy medium. City Manager Hooper spoke about the city's capital budget. Over the next five years, they don't have any projects that will exceed 2 or 2 ~ million dollars. There was further discussion regarding the limitation on borrowing. There was a brief discussion regarding which funds this would apply to. City Manager Hooper thinks the intent of the Charter Committee was it applied to all of the funds. Ferd Heeb stated the Charter Review Committee did not address that issue specifically. Basically, it restricts the ability of the City to borrow from the General Fund. They didn't intend to restrict the enterprise funds. Councilman Roberts wants to see some sort of cap on this. City Manager Hooper explained if you are going to go with a cap, the simplest way is to go with a dollar value instead of a percentage. City Attorney Clayton explained you must be careful when you put absolute in a Charter or constitutional document. City Manager Hooper further spoke about the General Fund and explained the General Fund is probably 1/3 at the best out of tax money and the rest is coming in as revenue fees. City Manager Hooper stated if Council tells him a target today, if they agree on 2 or 3 million, they could work language to get that back to Council. Councilman Hammond would like to keep this as simple as possible. Page -3- Council Workshop June 21, 1999 ~ ~ There was a consensus of Council on the limitation on borrowing putting a limitation on the General Fund in the 2 to 3 million dollar range. City Manager Hooper commented on restrictions on unrestricted general fund reserves. There was a consensus on this item. City Manager Hooper commented on the filling of vacancies of Mayor and City Council. Mayor Allman doesn't agree with this. There was a brief discussion regarding elections being held if there are more than six months left before an election. If there is less than six months, the rest of the Council would appoint that position and it would not automatically be the Vice Mayor. Councilman Roberts feels you would figure the Vice Mayor would be in tune for what is going on and it would be easier for him to step in the position and take over. Councilman Gornto feels the Mayor's position is an elected position and the Councilman's position is elected as a Councilman. The position of Vice Mayor is simply if the Mayor is absent. The Vice Mayor has no authority more than he does. He feels if there is more than six months, they should re-elect the Mayor. If the Vice Mayor wants to run for that position, he can do that. He thinks the position of Mayor is distinct and chosen and each member of the Council is distinct and chosen. It was the consensus of Council to go ahead with the filling of vacancies of Mayor and City Council. It was the consensus of Council to continue next Monday where they left off. They will start their work session at 6:00 p.m. with the Charter for the first hour and then they will discuss garages. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Gornto made a motion to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Minutes submitted by Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -4- Council Workshop June 21, 1999