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08-7-14 Agenda Packet In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 286.26, Florida Statutes, persons with disabilities needing special accommodation to participate in this meeting should contact the City Clerk by 5:00 PM, Tuesday, August 5, 2014. CITY OF ATLANTIC BEACH CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING August 7, 2014 – 5:00 PM AGENDA Call to Order 1. Approval of Minutes from the July 24, 2014 Charter Review Committee Meeting. 2. Unfinished Business from Previous Meetings 3. Discussion 4. Miscellaneous Business 5. Next Meeting Date: August 21, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. 6. Courtesy of the Floor to Visitors Adjourn Draft Minutes of the July 24, 2014 Charter Review Committee Meeting Page 1 of 4 Minutes Charter Review Committee Meeting July 24, 2014 City Hall, 800 Seminole Road In Attendance: Committee Members Mike Borno City Manager Nelson Van Liere Joan Carver, Secretary City Clerk Donna Bartle Sally Clemens Tom Goodrich Judith Leroux Mark Tomaski, Vice Chairman David Vincent Donald Wolfson, Chairman Absent Katherine Carithers Call to Order Chairman Wolfson called the sixth meeting of the Charter Review Committee (CRC) to order at 5:00 p.m. on July 24, 2014. Unfinished Business Chairman Wolfson returned to the discussion of Section 8. Presiding Officer: Mayor, which had focused on the ambiguity in the provision relating to the power to appoint committees at the meeting on June 24th. City Attorney Komando had earlier submitted to CRC members three proposed versions of a revision of Sec. 8. There was substantial discussion of this provision and the revisions. Ms. Clemens emphasized the importance of allowing all members of the commission to share in appointing people to committees. Chairman Wolfson stated that when he felt he needed to create a committee, he shared the appointment process with other members of the Commission. Mr. Borno stated that when he was mayor he also followed the practice of letting the commissioners appoint members to a committee. Chairman Wolfson pointed out that sometimes there are citizens who have expressed an interest in serving on a particular committee but sometimes there are no volunteers and the commissioners have to reach out to find persons to serve. With all of the commissioners participating in the appointment process, there is more outreach. In a discussion of the power of appointed committees Mr. Goodrich pointed out that anything recommended by a committee would have to be approved by the commission. Dr. Tomaski stated that other commissioners should also have the power to appoint committees. Mr. Vincent pointed out that the question was who has the right to appoint committees. Mr. Borno stated that when he was mayor as a courtesy he asked for the approval of the commission when he created a committee. Draft Minutes of the July 24, 2014 Charter Review Committee Meeting Page 2 of 4 Chairman Wolfson stated that he wanted to avoid limiting the mayor’s ability to appoint a committee. In response to Ms. Clemens concern about the power of other commissioners to appoint committees, Chairman Wolfson pointed out that a commissioner could appoint a committee with the approval of a majority of the commission. In response to concern about finding persons to serve on committees, Mr. Borno stated that the Charter is a document that provides guidelines and it is the ordinances that spell out the details. Dr. Tomaski cited the example of the appointment of the police building committee in the past as one in which he felt the membership of the committee was stacked and that there was more staff participation than he felt reasonable. This resulted in a recommendation in favor of a new police building. He concluded that the process had worked in the end since the commission did not approve the committee’s recommendation. Ms. Leroux supported providing some flexibility by allowing commissioners to appoint committees and raised the question whether the process now used is broken. Mr. Borno responded that the process works; that there are checks and balances. Chairman Wolfson stated that he tried to share responsibility. He noted that he was supportive if a commissioner from another part of the city wanted to create a committee. Mr. Borno moved that the CRC adopt the third of the alternative wordings proposed by City Attorney Komando for Article II. Sec. 8. Mr. Goodrich seconded the motion that the sentence beginning “The mayor-commissioner shall have no regular administrative…and ending …and affairs of the city” be deleted and replaced by the following two sentences: “The mayor-commissioner shall have no regular administrative duties except as authorized in this Charter but may appoint, from time to time, such special or select committees as in his discretion he deems desirable to expedite the handling of the business and affairs of the city. Other members of the commission may on occasion appoint special or select committees with the approval of a majority of the city commission.” The motion was approved unanimously. Chairman Wolfson called the CRC’s attention to Mr. Mayhew’s written comments mailed to the committee. Chairman Wolfson asked if members of the committee wished to comment. With no comments, he stated that Mr. Mayhew’s recommendations would be considered when those items were under CRC review. Approval of Minutes Chairman Wolfson asked it there were corrections or additions to the minutes of the meeting of July 17. Chairman Wolfson stated that Ms. Clemens name was misspelled and should be Clemens not Clemons. Mr. Borno moved, and Ms. Leroux seconded approval of the minutes as corrected. The motion was approved. Art. II. Sec 9. Powers. Item 8,9/14 Dr. Tomaski had proposed at the July 17 meeting to draft a new Item 14 under powers dealing with parks. He distributed the proposed new item to members of the CRC, noting that he had tried to find the best language to protect the parks. Mr. Vincent recommended the committee’s approval be conditional on its review by City Attorney Komando. Ms. Leroux moved and Dr. Tomaski seconded the motion that the following Item 14 be added to Sec. 9, subject to the approval of the wording by the city attorney: Draft Minutes of the July 24, 2014 Charter Review Committee Meeting Page 3 of 4 And shall provide for the protection and preservation of parks as follows: Any real estate, now or hereafter owned by the City or any agency or instrumentality of the City, which is principally used or held out for use as a public park, passive or active, shall be used only as a public park, and shall not be sold, leased, given away, changed in description or use, or otherwise disposed of, nor shall any structure be built in any such park to accommodate activities not customarily associated with park use or outdoor recreation, unless such sale , lease, disposal, gift or structure is approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting therein. Art. II. Sec.9. Item 9. Ms. Leroux raised the issue of the sale of property and limits on such sale raised at earlier meetings in the discussion of Item 9. Mr. Vincent noted that in earlier discussions the point had been made that protections rested with the city staff and city commission that would have to rule on any decisions to sell. Dr. Tomaski stated that his main concern is not utility plants or golf courses but real property that is a real asset to the city. In his opinion the citizens would not like city officials to sell city property . Mr. Goodrich expressed concern about the city sale of a whole system without voter approval. Mr. Borno noted that many cities shut down utilities to reduce costs although it was often not a good idea because they were revenue generating. Chairman Wolfson observed that when the City of Jacksonville closed one of its generators, it did not seek voter approval. City Manager Van Liere stated that in a sale, for example, of a utility, consultants will evaluate the sale and there are procedures that must be followed. He noted that the city had acquired the Buccaneer system with no referendum but never thought that they would not be able to sell the property the city did not need. Mr. Vincent asked what are we trying to preserve? He suggests if we specified a specific amount of land or value, we were going into too much detail. Would we want to specify that an election be required to sell a very small piece of property? Dr. Tomaski suggested that the CRC might put a dollar limit on what might be sold without a referendum. Mr. Vincent stated that dollar values change. Chairman Wolfson observed that we don’t want to tie the hands of the city officials. The Charter is a document to run the government. We don’t want to create a situation in which the city has to have state approval and a referendum to sell a small piece of property. Mr. Borno pointed out that the City of Atlantic Beach does not have most of the items listed in Section 9, Item 9. After further discussion Mr. Borno moved and Mr. Goodrich seconded the motion that hospitals, airports and parks be deleted from Art. II, Sec. 9. Item 9 and the words “of real property within the city limits” be inserted after terms of sale in that provision. The motion was unanimously approved. II. Sec. 10. Appointment of city manager. Dr. Tomaski, who had moved to table this item at the July 17 meeting, stated that he was withdrawing his earlier suggestion that public participation be a requirement in the Charter in Draft Minutes of the July 24, 2014 Charter Review Committee Meeting Page 4 of 4 the selection of a city manager. He pointed out that Port Orange has public participation in the selection of the manager, but that this requirement does not seem to be in the charter. He noted that this seems to be a new idea that is working well. Mr. Borno stated that many meet and greet events were held when Mr. Hanson was hired as city manager. II. Sec. 11. Appointment of deputy city manager or clerk. Mr. Goodrich stated that he felt the city manager should request the approval of the city commission to hire a deputy. Mr. Vincent stated that the city manager should have a role in appointing his deputy. Chairman Wolfson stated that the commission was generally supportive of the staff, but he also feels that the city manager and/or clerk should get the approval of the commission to hire a deputy. Mr. Borno moved and Chairman Wolfson seconded the motion that the words “may request” be inserted between may, and if; the word appoint be deleted and the words ‘to be hired as approved by the city commission” be inserted after respectively. (The revised sentence would read: The city manager and the city clerk may request, if they deem it necessary, a deputy city manager and deputy city clerk, respectively, to be hired as approved by the city commission and who shall be compensated at a rate set by the city commission.) The motion was approved unanimously. II. Sec. 12. Vacancies in the city commission. Chairman Wolfson raised the question of how a tie vote for a commissioner to fill a vacancy might be resolved. It was suggested voting would have to continue until there were three votes in favor of a person, perhaps a compromise candidate. Chairman Wolfson moved and Ms. Leroux seconded the proposal that in this provision “5 and” be inserted between Sec. and 6. The motion was approved unanimously. Miscellaneous. Chairman Wolfson stated that in the future the first item on the agenda would be approval of the minutes of the prior meeting. Courtesy of the Floor to Visitors. Chris Jorgensen, 92 West Third Street, stated that he enjoyed the discussion of the appointment of committees. He asked the question of how it would be handled if there were no candidate in a district. He expressed the view that a citywide vote should be required for a change in assessment. Mr. Vincent moved for adjournment. Mr. Goodrich seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. _____________________________________________________________ Don Wolfson, Chairman