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HomeMy WebLinkAbout626 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES OF WORKSHOP MEETING DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2004 - 6:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order Vice-Mayor Mikes called the meeting to order at 6:08 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: Vice-Mayor: Bob Mikes Commissioners: Bob Anton Robert Chunn Patricia Flury City Manager: Ivan Pato City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro City Clerk: Louise Stilson . Absent: Mayor: C.K. McElyea Charter Review Board Members: John Bertino Jay Field Gary Luedtke Al Jones 3. Overview of Charter Review Committee Recommendations—City Attorney Ansbro City Attorney Ansbro advised the 10 member Charter Review Board began meeting in June 2003 and ended in June 2004. They held 17 meetings during their tenure. The Board received a model Charter from the National Civic League, as well as Charters from newly established cities. He gave the history of how Home Rule was established in 1973 by the Florida Legislature. He advised an Ordinance was drafted as the result of actions taken by the Charter Review Board that showed what the ballot questions would look like. He cautioned that question #4 provided that all future changes to the Charter would require a referendum vote. He advised the City Commission had 6 weeks to review and make revisions to the Charter in order to place them on the March 2005 ballot. He remarked the most critical matters deal with the election and the Commission may want to review these sections first. Commissioner Anton asked if it was required by law that all the referendum questions be placed on the ballot. City Attorney Ansbro responded some are, but some were requested by the Charter Review Board. He noted they were listed on page 2, but that questions 1, 2, and 3 had to go to referendum. Vice-Mayor Mikes clarified that anything that affects methods of election and terms of office need to go to referendum; almost everything else can be handled by the Commission. Once it goes to referendum, the Commission can't change it again without going to referendum for all future changes. City Attorney Ansbro suggested some sections which the Commission may want to change without going to referendum be moved into the Code of Ordinances. Commissioner Flury questioned the ability to review the entire document in two meetings. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked the Charter sets the basis of government; it is critical to the future functioning of the City; and provides protection to the public. He remarked elections are held every two years, and occasionally we get Commissions that are not responsible and we could lose every piece of property. This should be the protection that keeps everyone in proper line for efficiency and integrity. It should discourage improper behavior and encourage proper behavior ® and proper operation of the City. He commented we should review it page by page, and if we need an extra meeting we should do it. John Bertino was Chairman of the Charter Review Board, and he thanked everyone who worked on the Charter. He believes the Charter should be thoroughly reviewed by the City Commission before any action is taken. He wanted to clarify that it was not their understanding that if the recommendations went to referendum, that it would chisel the entire Charter in its entirety. He thought only the issues they indicated should go to referendum would be chiseled in stone. City Attorney Ansbro responded that is not how it works. He remarked Question #4, once approved by the electorate, changes it so that it is locked in stone. If Question #4 were taken out, then you would still be able to make changes. He commented this would be the safer way, especially with the limited amount of time we have. Al Jones commented the Charter Review Board put a lot of hours in reviewing the Charter. He heard the comments made by Mr. Bertino, but he thought the changes would be etched in stone. He asked the City Attorney how the Charter was amended in the past. City Attorney Ansbro responded before 1973 it needed a special act from the Legislature, and the last big rewrite of the Charter was in 1967. He advised some sections were changed by referendum after that time, and some by Ordinance. Mr. Jones remarked he would like the Commission to review it for as long as it takes because this is serious business. He asked the Commission to take this seriously. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 2 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Vice-Mayor Mikes agreed with Mr. Jones, but commented that he did not think they understood some things very well, or it wasn't presented well by staff. He believes the public should have some minimal levels of protection so that an irresponsible Commission cannot make changes with only three votes. Mr. Bertino commented if the recommended changes are bad, they can go out to another referendum for vote. Commissioner Flury wanted to begin the review. She remarked she is concerned about the January 17, 2005 deadline, and commented the Mayor and Commission need to be committed to meeting that deadline. She thought the referendum questions were most critical and should be done first; then they could work on the other items. Commissioner Anton thought it was a great idea to work on the referendum questions first, but he would like to review the Charter page by page. He commented the Charter Review Committee did a good job. He remarked we could prepare what needs to be on the ballot for the March 2005 election, then, we could move on with the rest of it in as many workshops as needed. Vice-Mayor Mikes asked if he was saying that he didn't want some of the protections put in by referendum. Commissioner Anton responded we need to look at those issues because he is concerned about locking some of the issues in stone. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he will totally object if you intend to deal only with the elections and not put in the citizen protections that currently are in the Charter. Commissioner Flury wanted to get started. Vice-Mayor Mikes wanted to begin with the staff s comments. City Manager Pato advised some staff members were asked to address the Charter Review Committee, but he was not. Staff focused on administrative type issues that would have a direct effect on the ability of government to function. He commented the ICMA conference he recently attended thoroughly discussed the subject of Charter Review. He agreed with the Vice-Mayor that it is an important document and if you don't take the appropriate time to do it correctly, you could wind up with a bad document. He stressed it was critical to have a proper public education program that explains to people what they are voting on and the importance of the issue. He suggested sending out sample ballots or questionnaires. City Manager Pato explained there was a typographical error on page 2 of his memo. He read the memo at the request of Vice-Mayor Mikes. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 3 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Part I. The Municipality of the City of Dania Beach Article 1. General Provisions Section 7. Boundaries City Manager Pato commented staff feels the Charter should specify who prepared the boundary survey. Mr. Bertino remarked the Committee asked the City Attorney if all the nonsense on metes and bounds could be taken out and done professionally with a map. City Attorney Ansbro responded he proposed taking out the 40 pages of legal descriptions and inserting a map instead. He did not recommend specifying who prepared the survey; it is not a matter of law; it might be nice to say, but we don't need it. We have a legal description; the Legislature knows where we are; the map shows where we are; and our engineers have that so we don't need to put that in the Charter. This does not belong there. Section 9. Jurisdiction City Attorney Ansbro commented somebody wanted clarification that we do not have power over County things, and South Florida Water Management. He remarked we do not need to say that; the City has jurisdiction to the extent it's got it. Other layers of government, from federal, state, county on down, are on top of us and we don't have to sit here and identify each one. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked the City could gain jurisdiction but, if there is something in the Charter that says we don't have jurisdiction then we will have a problem. Article 3. Powers of the City Section 2. Special Powers of the City City Attorney Ansbro commented this addressed the Civil Service Board. City Manager Pato explained there was a typographical error on this page. The second sentence should read The Board's authority; not the Commission's authority. He advised a memo had been sent with the correction. He commented we are suggesting that if any of it goes in the Charter, it should be consistent with the changes we just made to the Civil Service Rules. City Attorney Ansbro responded he would prefer we leave alone the provision that talks about Civil Service under the City's powers. The current Charter has a list of about 90 different powers that were conferred upon the City by the Legislature. The Code Service, after 1973, knew because of the Home Rule we'd delete all that stuff. What was preserved was this thing called Civil Service that confers power on the Commission to create, amend and enact all these different things having to do with those kinds of rights. In his admonition to the Board, as well as to the Commission, is to leave that alone because it comes from the special act and still has value and it still give you a Constitutional provision to deal with things in the future that are broad enough to do by Ordinance, which is precisely what we did when Ms. McDonald and the Board came to you with a new Civil Service Administrative Rules created by an Ordinance. So we are able to do that within the framework of how it is written now. He remarked someone said Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 4 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. it was outdated; it sound outdated, but some things that are old you do not have to discard them just because they are old. They are worthy of preservation like a building, and he likes the powers that are in here for future Commissions. It eminates from the Legislature and you can always go back and track that you had the power to do these various things for your employees with a lot of scope and you weren't tied to something. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked it needs better language. City Manager Pato advised we have some serious concerns about this section and asked Mary McDonald to address the Commission. Mary McDonald, Director of Human Resource and Risk Management, commented she is concerned with the content as stated because it is contrary to the new Civil Service Code. Her personal opinion is that the whole concept of Civil Service is very outdated, most cities do not have it anymore. Ideally, she would like to see the whole concept of Civil Service taken out. If that is not going to go over well, we should at least have, if this is something that is going to be in stone, it should be consistent with the Code we just published and a lot of things that are in here relating to the powers of the board. When we went through and did the redesign and the Commission voted on the new powers of the Civil Service Board it was restricted only to an appeals process. They were not considered an administrative body anymore; they were strictly an appeals board. Vice-Mayor Mikes suggested Ms. McDonald, the City Attorney and the City Manager meet to . see if they can get consensus and come up with something that will serve your needs. Mr. Bertino remarked the Committee did not talk about anybody who was in a position at this given time; the City Manager, City Attorney, anybody; they are not talking personality, they are talking about how they tried to craft a document that would be a workable document and give protections and balances wherever necessary and not look at personalities because that is crazy. He remarked they were worried about, and what was mentioned by almost everybody, was the fact to make sure that the workers of our City have ample protection from an administrator who possibly would deal incorrectly with them, and to give them some teeth in a law or in something to help them out. When they took in the City of Dania Beach and made it so the City Manager hires and fires Department Heads, what that did in effect, was to say that every Department Head, everybody in here is at the whim of one person and that being a City Manager, and they have very little recourse in the eventuality that they are being wronged. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he understood Mr. Bertino's position, but we have to have administrative functionality. He has been here almost 16 years and agrees that compared to the private sector there are more protections here than you will ever see, but maybe it isn't as good as some other city, but he thinks staff can come up with something before the next meeting. He does not want to sit here for an hour and a half on just this item because we have so much to go through. Mr. Bertino remarked as long as some protections are given, because it is vitally important if you want to hire good people for the City that you have those protections. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop $ Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. • Commissioner Flury asked if he was referring to protection for all employees, or for Department Heads. Mr. Bertino responded all employees and Department Heads. Commissioner Flury did not agree with Department Heads because they get benefits that rank and file employees don't receive. In any organization, the leadership performs at the will of the boss. To have Department Heads with rights that are granted to rank and file employees is really inappropriate. She suggested contacting a labor attorney on this entire section. Vice-Mayor Mikes flagged this area for staff to work on. Part II. Legislative Branch and Legislation Article 1. City Commission Section 8. Limitations on Powers City Manager Pato remarked staff doesn't have any real concerns except that if the City Commission does not have the power to dictate appointments, it should not have the power to dictate removal either. The City Commission gave consensus to make the recommended change. Article 2. Elections Section 1. Regular Primary Election Section 2. When Primary Election Unnecessary City Manager Pato read the recommendation that the Primary Election be eliminated. If the candidates run for "seats", a primary election would not be needed because each "seat" would be won by a majority vote during the General Election. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked that is true and not true, depending on how you interpret it. Jay Field commented doing away with primary elections was one of the more contentious discussions the Committee had. He wants to keep the primary for the simple reason that this builds up a majority, not just a majority but a polarity where we have just as we had in the last election for County Commissioner with John Rodstrom and there was game playing going on in that election with no primary and he won with about 300 votes and there was game playing going on with that. He said if we go to having an elected Mayor every 2 years, that when you have a Mayor, or anybody in there, and they see a strong opponent coming on and they put a stooge out to split the anti-incumbent vote. If you do away with the primary then you will have somebody that could win with 33% of the vote. How can you say that you represent the people? Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked particularly someone in the Mayor's position. He commented when you are in the Mayor's position, you are going to say that you have; somebody could be Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 6 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. . Mayor with 28% of the vote if you have enough candidates. In other words, three out of four people almost voted against them, and this person goes charge and says I'm going to now lead the City because I'm the high vote getter. That person, three people voted against them, only one voted for him. He remarked he understands there is a cost savings, but in terms of good government, he would like to see everyone have 51% of the vote. Al Jones remarked he sees it differently. He knows the history of this City; he was born and reared here. He understands there were times that primaries were needed because it did come to some clarity as to the number of people that were voted upon. But, he has seen elections where 90% of the people voted for Commissioners that did not get elected. To him, this does not wash and he said that primaries brought about a lot of innuendoes, mudslinging, and nastiness in this City. He commented maybe others have forgotten, but he has not and he can bring other people who will not forget either. He thinks that doing away with the primary is in the best interest of the City. One reason is definitely dealing with money. We are not a big taxing, or big City with a lot of dollars, so when we throw in the primary, which will run around $35,000 this year. This is an opportunity for us to rid the electoral process of the primary. He thinks it would be a benefit, but when you say you might have people up there with 28% of the vote, they still were elected; they still got there with the percentage that was needed for them to be elected and therefore they are going to represent the entire City. Just because I got 28% of the vote, doesn't mean I'm going to represent 28% of the City. Vice-Mayor Mikes understands that Mr. Jones was personally effected, but he also thinks this Charter should not, and a lot of cities do not have too many Commissioners like him that will say you should not give the advantage to the incumbent. The incumbent already has a lot of advantages. A single election in terms of fundraising, shoe leather, and informing the public; we have people get elected on a shoestring in this City and that is not easily done with one election because they have the opportunity to walk the neighborhoods between the primary and general election and get more people interested in the issues and more people to turn out. He does not think there is anything undemocratic about having more people take part in the election process, which is what two elections does. It also doesn't give so much of an advantage to the incumbent and just blow away someone in just one election because the challenger just doesn't have the time to work the neighborhoods and go through the people.. Anything that makes it more competitive, makes the incumbent account for their position, account for their votes, a good healthy challenge is good for government; it is good for the democratic process. Having more people turn out to make that decision, and he does not think $30,000 should say that is too much to have additional people take part in the election process, because he personally, thinks it is better for the democratic process. He understands Mr. Jones' position. City Manager Pato clarified the cost of the primary election is much higher than $30,000 because in the primary election, the City has to bear the entire cost. Commissioner Flury agrees with Vice-Mayor Mikes on this, but needed some clarification because the examples used are assuming that we do not have seats. She asked if they would feel the same way if we had seats. Vice-Mayor Mikes, Mr. Bertino, and Mr. Fields responded yes. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 7 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. ® Mr. Jones remarked it also puts in a sleeping dog at the last stage of time you could enter someone. That sleeping dog came in and made a lot of noise, then, she went away. To him, primaries is not the best way, because it allows so many others to have the emptiness of an empty wagon to come in and make a lot of noise and then go away. Commissioner Chunn would like more time to think about it. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he has seen some cities, particularly when there is only one election, set up stooges left and right. He has seen people that raise the money for them and set them up to split the opposition vote. The opposition never really has time to go around and work the neighborhoods; they don't have a lot of money, and they usually don't have the experience of running a campaign. So you don't really get a serious challenge to the incumbent. He thinks it is a good challenge to the incumbent if it is not the last minute negative that is B.S. He thinks it is good to challenge somebody's record; it is good for the City. It might not feel good to you, but it is good for the City. Commissioner Anton remarked he originally was for the idea of eliminating the primary, especially after the last election. But, there are a lot of issues that come into play and it is very easy without the primary to play some games. He does not think a primary would totally eliminate that, but what it does do is give residents a chance where you might have a situation where there is a first, second and third choice, and your first choice is eliminated in the primary. . It gives you the opportunity to choose who your second and third person would be. Yes, it is an expensive proposition, but based upon the comments of etching the Charter in stone, there are a lot of things that a Commission can do to severely hamper and damage this City. It is very important that we provide every avenue for our electorate to put the right person in that job. He does not think this is something we should fool with. He agrees with the Clerk and would like to research it a little bit further. He does agree we should look to the Supervisor of Elections to handle a lot of these issues, but he certainly thinks the money would be well spent regardless of what it is. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented to put it in perspective a little bit. He does not know how large a lot of the corporations in Broward County are, but the cities are some of the biggest corporations in terms of spending. You have to select someone for a term of four years that is going to control the direct spending of well over $100M and affect maybe a Billion Dollars of tax base and new development. So when you start thinking thousands, you need to think millions because this is how much these people are going to be responsible for, to say nothing of your public safety and welfare. He's not dealing with that issue, just the direct sitting down in the Budget hearings and making the decisions on how they spend these monies. So it needs to be in perspective because there are very few corporations in this County as big as the City, in terms of spending money. Section 6. Elections; how arranged for; inspectors and Clerk City Manager Pato questioned if the Supervisor of Elections should be responsible for the recruitment of poll workers. This was brought up at the Tuesday night Commission meeting. He commented that staff feels this is the way to go, but it is the call of the City Commission. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 8 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. • Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he is responsible for this because he did not want to go with the County because he had a poll watcher during an election and they found some irregularities where one precinct had family members assigned to a precinct and he asked the County to fix it so that related people don't work at the same precinct at the same time and if we could rotate the people. He got the Charter changed for rotation. He remarked he has no problem with it, but he does have a problem with relatives working in the same precinct at the same time based on past experience. He thinks it would be good practice of the County that they don't ask for people from the same family to sit and control a precinct. Commissioner Anton suggested the City Clerk find out what controls we would have and what input we would have if we farmed this out to the Supervisor of Elections office. Section 8. Nomination and election City Manager Pato commented this section would be eliminated only if no primary was held. Article 5. Initiative and Referendum Section 2. Referendum City Attorney Ansbro remarked this is an entirely new section for initiative and referendum. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked it is a rewrite of what is in there. City Attorney Ansbro responded that is correct. It is already in the Charter, but this is an updated version on how you would process the two powers for the people. He and his office borrowed this from the model Charters of cities that Weiss Serota has represented. Vice-Mayor Mikes asked how they got way off on the intent of initiative and referendum. Intent is to place an Ordinance. He guessed he is the only one in the City, along with one other person, who has been involved in one. He remarked we were going way off in left field with this thing. City Attorney Ansbro remarked this is Larry Leeds' concern that what if you have a referendum in the initiative process; ten people start a committee and say they want a height limitation in this town for no more than six stories; and these folks are under way with site plan approval and variances; they have spent money on lawyers, engineers and architects. Mr. Leeds is concerned about what happens if this is passed; would it stop that project? It does not. What happens is it would stop the project for the time it takes the court to decide you can't do that under these circumstances. The person would have vested rights; what did the person obtain and spend money on; what did the person rely upon; and if the corporation is so far down the road with their project, which is always on a case by case basis; a court is going to say you cannot stop this one, this is going through and it will get a C.O. If it is in the very early stages; you just hired a lawyer, but you just came in and you didn't spend much money; if you are not going to be out of pocket; you lose. This is a case by case basis and it is a lawyer's phrase they call equitable estoppel; which is another way of saying it is fair play; you can't jerk somebody around even if the people change their mind. He gave a story of what happened in Key Biscayne. He stated he is not concerned about this, but Larry Leeds is. He also spoke with the land-use lawyers in his Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 9 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. • firm just to confirm that his understanding of it is correct. He has confirmed that with Nancy Stroud and Susan. Commissioner Flury requested the City Attorney explain it in relatively simple terms. City Attorney Ansbro responded it was a clarification and an update. It is not a generic wholesale rapid change from what is already there. It pretty much tracks what goes on in the United States Constitution or the State Constitution. There are no substantive changes. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked there were substantive changes. He wrote the one that is currently in the Charter. He explained how before he ran for Commission somebody wanted to put a 40 story Diamond Exchange in the location of the current Publix. People did not want a 40 story building, so they did the initiative; he wrote the item and took it to Frank Adler and Tony Stevens; gathered a group of people and went and collected signatures and got the total number of signatures and came before the Commission. They had a choice to either put it on a referendum or pass it. All it did was say if they were going to approve a building over five stories, you need to have a 4/5`h vote. He remarked the intent is for this to be prospective, not to deal with something that has already happened. It is meant to be the ultimate check and balance on the Commission. To his understanding, his is the only one that was ever done in this City. But, if the Commission ever gets so out of touch with the community, for whatever reason, there is a recourse to the community called the initiative. This thing is talking about somebody tearing down a building after it is built. • Larry Leeds, Director of Community Development, withdrew his objections. Vice-Mayor Mikes would like to change the percentage to reflect percentage of people who voted in the last election, as opposed to percentage of registered voters. City Attorney Ansbro would like to do more research on this subject. He commented there is a State Law that says if you are going to do it you need to do it with 10%. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked no, the State Law is an alternative. City Attorney Ansbro remarked State Law is supplemental. He wants to research what we can do. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he can research it because our problem is that State Laws are subject to change by a body other than us. Mr. Leeds remarked he does not consider the public a nuisance; they are the people we are responsible to. He cares very much about the public because the way this City looks is a reflection of him. He talks to people every day who live in this community and they are not happy with the appearance of the City. He has no objection to this because we already have the provision in the Charter. He does not want the public to think this is for the convenience of staff, because it is part of our egos for the success and quality of the community. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 10 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Vice-Mayor Mikes thinks sometimes we forget who is really running the City; it really should be• the public. Yes, they have an election, but there seems to be an attitude that once the election is over we don't need to deal with them for two years. They do need protections; they do need the ultimate check and balance. Al. Jones commented that Mr. Leeds is looking at it from the Growth Management prospective, and Vice-Mayor Mikes is seeing it from the electorate perspective. He thinks Mr. Leeds is on the right page to come up because if he didn't, he is not worth his salt. Vice-Mayor Mikes responded the City Manager is also staff and he should review all this and look at these things and analyze it in the governance aspect of the City. Mr. Jones disagreed. He agrees with Vice-Mayor Mikes, but he is saying the City Manager still should come and present it. However, it should have been checked out before coming here. City Manager Pato remarked he just felt a couple of arrows going by him. He reviewed this, but he is not a censor, he is an administrator. He is not here to muzzle his Department Heads; you need to hear their concerns. To him, it was really about giving the Commission the opportunity to hear our concerns. He will always encourage our Department Heads to be open and honest, even when we disagree about their feelings. They deal with people every day; you need to hear their concerns. He also has a very strong feeling about how important it is to not only inform the public, but to make sure that our citizens are involved in what is happening in their government. This City wouldn't be what it is, or have the reputation it has, if we had done a better job in the past. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented your attorney already told you it was a non-issue because of State Law, and he thinks it never should have been in here. City Manager Pato responded the City Attorney just told him that tonight. He did not hear that before. Jay Field remarked this is open-ended, and questioned if it should have a time limit. He thought there should be a cut-off period as to when the initiative could begin. He remarked we are having a lot of Charter amendments, or Constitutional amendments, and he thought the City Clerk should put out the provisions and say what kind of change this would make. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he did not read it all; so he read it out loud. City Attorney Ansbro remarked he will look at it again because he wants to make sure we are up on what the law means and he has not looked at this for two years. Amendments to Charter City Manager Pato remarked this is a general statement about any time we do Charter amendments we need to have in place a method for educating the citizens prior to voting on any amendments. It is just part of the process. To have an effective one you should have at least an informational campaign in place that tells the voters what this is about. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 11 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Article 7. Meetings of the Commission Section 5. Special Meetings; how called. City Manager Pato commented our concern is that except in the event of an emergency, six hours written notice to each member, even today with cell phones and other methods of communicating, it is difficult to track people down and give proper notice. We just want the Commission to look at it and see if non-emergency City Commission meetings could be a little easier to facilitate. Mr. Bertino commented the Committee put it in as emergency meetings only. City Manager Pato responded we do not have a problem with an emergency meeting in six hours. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented that in the past, he asked for a special meeting and he couldn't get the Mayor to call it, but he finally got the City Manager to call it. He remarked we do need occasionally to respond to a threat, but he has seen abuse of it. He has seen people call Special Meetings dealing with real estate and there was no ability for the media or anybody to give coverage for the general public to know about it. What he has tried to do is say that at Special Meetings you can't do certain things without a super-majority vote. He asked the City Attorney if the Commission needed to do a Zoning-in-Progress, or something they deemed an emergency, but a land-use attorney would say that is not an emergency and whatever you did at that meeting doesn't count, would the Commission have a problem? City Attorney Ansbro responded because we already codified how we would do it; either it goes to the P&Z Board and the notice starts the clock ticking; or it came to the Commission. He would have to look it up. Vice-Mayor Mikes wanted to make sure they did not get a legal challenge to the legitimate things they do at a Special Emergency Meeting. Mr. Bertino commented their thoughts were for the 911 type of situation. Mr. Luedtke remarked they also considered where one member may want to hold a Special Meeting for a special reason knowing that the opposition is out of town. Mr. Bertino commented something that was not addressed by the Committee, nor is it in the Charter, and possibly it does not need to be in the Charter and could be handled by Ordinance, but the City needs to make an official stance on accepting City Commissioners' votes by teleconferencing. He thinks this would be a positive thing for when someone goes out of town. City Attorney Ansbro advised this has been addressed in an Attorney General Opinion about Sunshine Law. It is only allowed in cases where the person really is sick and has a full opportunity to hear all the dialogue of everybody else, then, participate in it. But, just because you are out of town is not sufficient in the Attorney General's opinion. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 12 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Commissioner Flury wanted to clarify certain actions at a Special Meeting. She commented there is nothing that defines what can be done at a Special Meeting. City Attorney Ansbro pointed out the Charter Board dreamed it up; it is in Section 7; any action taken to sell, lease, grant concession rights to City property, or to purchase or contract in excess of $15,000 requires a 4/5th vote of the Commission for approval if placed on an agenda for a Special Meeting. So, if you only have four people at the meeting, it is not going to happen, you need 4/5th at a Special Meeting. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented that he has tried to make sure that a Public Notice provision, whether advertised or whatever, on items that impact people in certain ways. Commissioner Flury questioned how much Public Notice could be given in six hours. Vice-Mayor Mikes responded if there is a requirement that it needs to be advertised, you obviously can't do it. Mr. Bertino asked if this would supercede that requirement. City Attorney Ansbro responded under the Sunshine Law, there is no requirement to even have an agenda, much less notice. The only notice you have to publish are the ones by State Law which is for rezoning property, or any ones that you self-impose, such as we do for street vacations. Mr. Bertino commented the Committee would be happy to do away with the words Special Meeting, and say Emergency Meetings. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked staff can work on it some more because they understand our concerns. Part III. Administrative Officers and Departments Article 1. Executive and Administrative Section 1. How Constituted Vice-Mayor Mikes commented the City Manager wants to abolish the City Commission and be King. City Manager Pato commented he has researched this area and these are his personal concerns, it is not intended to take any powers away from the elected officials. He believes very strongly that a City Manager ought to be accountable and responsible to the elected officials; and the elected officials ought to have the power to hire and fire the City Manager with no more protection than anyone else gets. He also strongly believes that as elected officials, they have to evaluate the performance of the City Manager on a regular basis to make sure he or she is doing the job the Commission wants him to do. It is his opinion that the City Manager should have the Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 13 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. authority to administratively create, change, and abolish departments, subject to approvals. He said that any administrator should have the authority to do this with the approval and consensus of the elected officials. City Attorney Ansbro advised he found a Statute that says a municipality may, by unanimous vote of the governing body, abolish municipal departments. So, if five of you say it's gone; it's gone. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked this section could be taken out. Section 2. Compensation of Officers and Employees City Manager Pato asked the City Attorney to explain why this is different from what we have now. But, the City Clerk's office should be treated as it is today. He knows that some propose to change it, which we strongly oppose. It should be treated as a department,just like it is now, with the City Clerk being a Department Head reporting to the City Manager, just like all other Department Heads. City Attorney Ansbro gave some history on this subject. When he first started with the City in 1998, two referendum questions that were submitted to the voters; one was to change the City's name to add the word Beach; the other was to change the Charter to take away from the Commission and give to the City Manager the power to appoint all Department Heads, including the City Clerk. It has been that way for the last six years. Cities throughout Broward County, as he has told the Charter Review Board, this is a very contentious issue at times. It is a matter of preference, but there are people that feel very strongly about to whom the Clerk reports. Some feel the Clerk is accountable directly to the Commission; the keeper of the records; and the Commission should have the control to retain and dismiss. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented maybe we should cut it in half with compensation determined by the City Commission through the Budget. The City Clerk should be treated as a Department Head hired by the City Manager with compensation determined by the City Commission through the Budget. Mr. Bertino remarked let's cut through all the present people who are in office. He has heard it said that this is the Charlene Act, and that is absolutely ludicrous. The concept here was the fact that the five seated Commissioners must, at all times, have 100% knowledge of what is going on in the City and have every single bit of information in this City at his or her fingertips upon request as quickly as possible. In the past, and in this City, and not the present administration, it had happened where City Clerks were told not to give certain pieces of information to certain City Commissioners and they never received it. The City Clerk's office is the depository of the actions of our City Commission of our laws of everything that we have and everything that we do. That is his or her job. That job, to him, should have a direct relationship to the City Commissioners because the Commissioners need every bit of information in order to make good decisions. He doesn't want to see a situation where that line of authority between the City Clerk being able to provide information to City Commissioners could be diverted by any other administrator. The best way to make sure that is not subverted is that that person is hired by the City Commission. That's the reason why this City Commission hires the City Attorney; because Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 14 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday,October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. they depend on the City Attorney; they depend on the information from the City Attorney; and you better darn straight have five people wanting that City Attorney and not somebody else hiring he or she to give you information and having control over the legal information you get. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he understands, but questioned if we split the authority by letting the Commission control the salary. You don't really want the City Commission by three votes to get ticked off at a meeting and fire them. He suggested putting this off. Commissioner Flury remarked that Mr. Bertino makes a good point about having access to the City Clerk. There is another section in here that deals with Commissioners not dealing directly with employees. She likes that, she thinks it should stay that way, but you could put in parentheses excepting the City Clerk, and that would solve the problem of access. She thinks to have the City Clerk report to five different people is a terrible thing to do to any City Clerk. It will result in a significant turnover in that position because someone is going to like her and someone will not; someone will get mad, someone will be happy. It is a terrible position to put a person in; an attorney is a different breed, if we don't like him we can toss him out. You don't want to do that to employees. She does not think it is the right thing to do. She suggested an easier way was to change the other section. City Manager Pato remarked he recognizes some of the merits of the arguments by Mr. Bertino. Frankly, if you find a City Manager withholding information from any Commissioner, you need to fire him. He thinks the City Manager ought to be ultimately accountable and responsible for ® things like that. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked he agreed with Commissioner Flury. One of the problems is there tends to be Commission cliques every two years. He agrees that Commissioners need a source of information constantly, and they need to be able to do the business they were elected to do. He still thinks if the Commission controls the salary, and the City Manager has the direct control administratively, it would be out in the open. Mr. Luedtke suggested the Commission hires the individual, but the City Manager be in charge of the salary. City Manager Pato responded the problem with that is that it is very difficult to report to five masters. He would rather have five masters controlling his salary, than five masters telling him which way to turn every day. If you are going to have a City Manager form of government, then you need the City Manager to be responsible. The Commission always controls the Budget. Mr. Bertino commented their interest was accessibility to information you must have as Commissioners. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked we have had some ideas thrown out and at the next meeting we can come up with a finding. Article 3. City Manager Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 15 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. City Manager Pato commented he has been looking at other City Charters and in most cases there is a clear division between Charter items and establishing an Administrative Code that has authority over everything else. He knows that some lean toward putting things in the Charter so they cannot be messed with, and that is fine, so long as you put the right things in there. If this City plans to attract qualified City Administrators in the future, there are several things that need to be fixed. He commented this is not about him or any one person, it is about the future. He remarked most of Article 3 is comprised of policy, and that should be separate from the Charter in his opinion, and in the opinion of people who do this for a living. He suggested the Commission establish an Administrative Code, like Broward County and other cities, that would deal with the issues presently included under Article 3. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented he has been here under several City Managers and one of the problems we have had is our reputation for not having professional managers. We often had Commissioners that had agendas other than that of the City's business and the Managers were rated by these Commissioners by how they implemented policy and facilitated some of the involvements. This resulted in people who were evaluated not for their performance, but for their performance in helping to improve the financial situation of individuals on the Commission. He remarked we do not have the right image of professionalism. He tried to write a contract for the current City Manager that was very strong in terms of setting requirements. He questioned how to set standards for a City Manager. He thinks we need to work on this some more. Al Jones remarked he knows what the Board tried to do, but it seems to him that most cities have ® embraced the City Manager as having the right to hire and fire Department Heads, and to enter into contracts. He said they tried to make sure that when there was a valid candidate this was the direction it would go, not to the whim of special interests. If we are trying to go into the future, what the Charter Review Board has done is adequate, and you really need to look at it. He remarked you can let staff and others look at it to fine tune it. But, we need to move out of the small town politics and move into the big league. He remarked we have to put trust in the people who bring the information that makes us great as a City. Commissioner Anton commented he agrees with Mr. Jones, with the exception of term limits on the contract. He does not think term limits need to be in the Charter; and having terms limits end at the time of an election forces politics into the City Manager's office if it is not extended beyond the elections. He would like to have something in place so that we can attract the best qualified candidate when the time comes, because a good candidate will not work under the circumstances that the current City Manager has. He stated the City Manager needs to have the best interest of the City as his total focus, not the political interests. He will not support this item being in the Charter. Commissioner Flury remarked she does not have a problem with the education requirements, but the matter of the contract expiring every time we have elections will never work. She remarked we would have a difficult time attracting a candidate, especially with the chance they may need to be relocated. She does not support this provision. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 16 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday,October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Mr. Bertino remarked he understands what people are saying, but the City Manager is similar to a School Principal, and they do not have contracts. He has a problem with a contract because there is no loss of highly qualified people wanting to be a School Principal. He remarked the protection that somebody has in a job is doing a good job. Commissioner Flury commented that is not the point. The question is if a contract is offered, should it expire at the time of election. Mr. Bertino totally disagrees with a contract. But, given the opportunity to give a contract, the City Manager should be up for review whenever there is a change in election. Commissioner Chunn commented he understands what everyone is saying. A professional City Manager should not have to worry about his contract every two years because it makes it hard to concentrate on the daily problems of the City. He would not feel comfortable if he were in that position. Mr. Bertino remarked the problem usually is if the contract isn't terminated, there is the golden parachute that will get worked in. Once that golden parachute is worked in, if you get a Commission that wants to terminate the City Manager you are looking at big dollars to get rid of him. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked we are a political environment; we have no guarantee who the ® voters will elect at each election. He does not want to see what he sees now where candidates who are running for election make promises to employees for their support. In his opinion, this is unethical. The City Manager needs some kind of system tied into an evaluation process where he cannot be immediately be terminated without a 4/51" vote. Mr. Jones remarked it is about who is right, but it is about what is right. He suggested the Commission have criteria to evaluate the City Manager. City Manager Pato remarked Mr. Jones couldn't be more right on the money. He thinks the Commission will confirm how hard he pressed to have a formal performance evaluation system in place for the City Manager and everyone else, in fact they just did one. It is usually done at Budget Workshop times. They did the first performance on a City Manager this City has ever known, and the process worked very well. It is a form used by many cities, we were not reinventing the wheel. We are trying to professionalize the way we do things, and the professionals you will want to attract when it is his time to go, and he has heard the same things the Vice-Mayor heard that his job has been promised to some people in return for whatever. When the time comes for this City to seek a professional replacement for this City Manager, and he knows how he got here, and he thanked John Bertino for voting for the contract he got the first time. That was a strong signal finally sent out that the City of Dania Beach for the first time, gave a City Manager a contract. But then it stopped and it has just reverted back for whatever reason. He thinks we are making progress; he just wants to leave this place better than he found it, and if the Commission makes the changes he is recommending, which are strongly supported by the ICMA, which would put the ICMA in a position to recommend this City, he • thinks we would be taking a tremendous step forward. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 17 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked the ICMA is basically the City Manager's Union. City Manger Pato responded that is not fair; it is far more than that. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked it is like asking the Bar Association about attorneys. He agrees with where the City Manager is going, but stated that he thinks City Managers work best under a certain amount of pressure. He does not think the City Manager should get a contract, or kind of situation, where he feels so laid back. He thinks it is a tough job and he expects somebody in the City Manager job to put in an exemplary amount of time to set a good example for all the employees and serve all five Commissioners. He thinks a certain amount of pressure is involved in this, but he thinks by using the evaluation process and the 4/5`h vote, maybe we can come up with something where someone isn't shot out the door after every election. He wants to be able to terminate people who do not produce. City Manager Pato remarked we all agree we need more forward thinking. The question is do you want this in the Charter or is it something you want in an Administrative Code. Vice-Mayor Mikes responded if we have confidence; if it adds something for the City and not just give somebody a big suitcase of money when they leave here; he wants something that says they would give a good performing City Manager a little more confidence after the election process that he would have a period of time to prove himself. He suggested the Commission ® have something ready for the next meeting that is good for the City. Commissioner Anton remarked the key is to be able to attract the most qualified candidate. It provides a security blanket for a qualified candidate to come here and be willing to relocate and move forward. As far as compensation and terms of a contract, those are things that would have to be negotiated between the individual and the Commission. City Manager Pato responded that is a good step forward. He commented model charters recommend the City Manager should be appointed solely on the basis of his executive and administrative qualifications. However, the Commission can specify further qualifications. Section 4(b) Powers and duties City Manager Pato advised staff is opposed to Department Heads appealing to the Civil Service Board. He explained that it would be unique to government to have this protection for Department Heads. Vice-Mayor Mikes confirmed consensus of the Commission to remove this section. (k) City Manager Pato recommended changing 30 days to 60 days after the close of the fiscal year to prepare and submit to the City Commission because the information needed for the report is not available in 30 days. Commission consensus to change 30 days to 60 days. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 18 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. (1) City Manager Pato asked if we could be allowed to sign all checks by facsimile signature. He currently signs all checks over $1,500. Paychecks are currently signed by one live signature and one facsimile signature. Patricia Varney, Finance Director, advised before any checks are issued, any request for more than $1,500 needs the approval of the City Manager and Finance Director. Before the check is issued, it is also scrutinized by the Assistant Finance Director. Then the Finance Director needs to approve the request again. Vice-Mayor Mikes felt it should be for checks under $5,000. The Commission gave consensus that all checks over the amount of$5,000 would require two live signatures; anything below that amount would require one live signature and a facsimile signature. Article 5. City Clerk City Manager Pato remarked we already addressed this issue. Article 6. Advisory Boards Commissioner Anton questioned if these things really needed to be in the Charter. City Attorney Ansbro responded this is left over from years ago, but we need a referendum to get rid of these things. He remarked he did not think we needed any of these Boards in the Charter and we could move it to the Code. He commented the educational requirement was a question raised by staff. Jay Field favors upgrading the people who serve on the Boards, but let's be realistic. These are political appointments. It is wishful thinking because we quite often do not have a quorum for the meetings. You cannot set qualifications on political appointments. It's hard enough to get them to come to the meetings. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked some have legal requirements, but the biggest problem is getting qualified people interested and to show up for the meetings. We do not have a lot to choose from. Mr. Field suggested we have a City newsletter that goes out to the citizenry to keep them informed. Vice-Mayor Mikes agreed. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 19 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. City Manager Pato responded we have a City newsletter. He advised funds were budgeted this ® year to begin mailing a quarterly newsletter. The current newsletter is available to the associations. Commissioner Flury commented educational requirements for Advisory Boards would be too difficult in recruitment. We, as a City, should provide a yearly review of the purpose of the Board; or we should pay for the members to attend an educational meeting. Commissioner Chunn commented it may be the attitude about it. Because they should feel like they are doing it for themselves, not for the City. City Manager Pato suggested the document the Commission is about to rewrite will be in place for another ten years. The demographics in this City will be totally different than they are today. Commission consensus that educational requirements for Advisory Boards are not a good idea. Article 7. Internal Management Patricia Varney, Finance Director, commented that our City does not have internal auditors; usually they are found in bigger cities. However, the Commission does appoint an external auditor. She commented that it would be costly for us to do an annual internal audit every year. If the Commission agrees with the Charter Review Board recommendation of having an internal ® audit, she recommends it be performed biannually. She did a survey of cities our size, and there are not that many that have internal auditors. Mr. Bertino remarked this was brought up by Mr. Malone, who is a CPA, and he is very knowledgeable. Maybe he will be at the next meeting and it can be brought back at the next meeting. Vice-Mayor Mikes would like to see a copy of the survey and a cost estimate. Part IV. Finances and Taxation City Manager Pato suggested in order to save time, the Commission should just ask questions on this section. Vice-Mayor Mikes wants to add that a 4/5t" vote is required for contracts and something over $1M, and something to do with taxation and costs. Mr. Bertino remarked the Committee felt strongly about Article 4, Transfer of Funds. This was not intended to inhibit the City Manager from running appropriate day to day operations. It was intended to provide information to the Commission on every single dollar transfer because they are the people who need to know where every single dollar is. This only asks for a written report. Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 20 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. ® City Manager Pato advised we do that now. Vice-Mayor Mikes suggested the Finance Director think about a dollar amount and bring it forward. Part VI. Miscellaneous Provisions Article 2. Leases Section 1. Power City Manager Pato remarked this is an important issue. Staff feels that a referendum election should not be needed to lease IT Parker for more than 30 days. Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked it has been in the Charter for a number of reasons. The City Commission has been approached on a number of occasions to give away that Community Center for numerous items. He finally sponsored a Charter change that says the Center is serving the purpose it was intended for, such as weddings and functions that are daily events. The easiest way to prevent somebody from taking over that Center is to say you have to go to referendum if you want to use the Center for other than the intended purpose. He remarked it needs to stay in the Charter. (c) • City Manager Pato remarked the language that caught our attention is the lessee agrees to make a substantial capital investment within 2 Y years beginning date of the lease. It doesn't address a situation where capital assets are in good shape at the beginning of the lease, there is no space for additional capital investment, but capital investment may be needed ten years later. We are locking ourselves out. Vice-Mayor Mikes said we should do what Ft. Lauderdale does and say any lease of public property should take 4/5 vote, and anything that is twenty years, be a unanimous vote. Article 5. General Clause Section 7. Charter Review Board Vice-Mayor Mikes remarked the Charter should only have to be tuned over the years. 4. Public Input Anne Castro, commented the Charter Review Board did a phenomenal job and are to be commended. On the election issue, she does not know what kind of majority you are trying to get to, but maybe to determine whether or not you will have a primary, you do similar to today. If more than three people vie for one seat you have a primary; if they don't and you are happy with a 34% win in a general election, then you don't have a primary for that seat. The other Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 21 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday, October 28,2004—6:00 p.m. issue is what happens if a Commissioner who is in the middle of their four-year term decides to • run for Mayor. Do they have to relinquish their seat; and if not, then are you going to have a special election should they be the eventual winner of the Mayoral race. She remarked she is for a primary race. As to the City Clerk issue, her concern is that the Clerk would work for five people and she has seen enough of these meetings that she feels bad for anyone who has to work for five people. She is concerned if a candidate for City Commission has a bad experience during the election process, the Clerk's job may be in jeopardy. You need to have a separation of powers and you want to make sure that the City Clerk can do her job and because they run the election for the people whom they might be working for if elected, that puts the Clerk at a real disadvantage. Regarding the education for Advisory Board members, she agrees with the Commission to let citizens serve because sometimes we learn from these Boards. If the citizen is really interested and they want to do the work and the time, they should be allowed to serve. Vice-Mayor Mikes commented we have not covered everything but we have come to some consensus. 5. Adjournment Vice-Mayor Mikes adjourned the workshop at 9:05 p.m. CITY OF DANIA BEACH - ATTEST: C. K. MCELYEA / MAYOR-COMMISSIONER J&J�- 6r') _'LOUISE STILSON --CITY CLERK APPROVED: November 23, 2004 • Minutes of Charter Review Workshop 22 Dania Beach City Commission Thursday,October 28,2004—6:00 p.m.