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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-06-17 Workshop Meeting City Commission Meeting Minutes MINUTES DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING JUNE 17, 2003 1. Call to order Mayor Anton called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call: Present: Mayor: Bob Anton Commissioners: Robert H. Chunn, Jr. Bob Mikes City Attorney: Tom Ansbro City Manager: Ivan Pato City Clerk: Charlene Johnson Absent: Vice-Mayor: C.K. McElyea Commissioner: Pat Flury 3. Discussion of precinct boundary lines within the City. Mayor Anton mentioned that this workshop meeting was scheduled as a result of some voter complaints and problems encountered during the past two elections due the way the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office redrew the precinct boundary lines last year. He explained that precinct clerks and Bruce Eldridge from the Supervisor of Elections Office were invited to present their concerns and suggestions for resolving some of the issues. Helen Udell, Precinct Clerk at 63V, mentioned that a meeting was held in April with other precinct clerks and the representative of the Supervisor of Elections Office and that she did not feel that her questions were clearly answered with regards to why the boundary lines were redrawn or why small precincts like 63V were necessary when she only had two or three voters the entire election day.. Peggy Breeschoten, Precinct Clerk 9S, advised that there were many problems with people who lived across the street from CW Thomas Park or in close proximity who were required to vote at IGFA. She was concerned because this reduced the ability for some of these people to vote because they did not have transportation to go to IGFA. MINUTES 1 JUNE 17, 2003 WORKSHOP MEETING George Jason, Assistant Precinct Clerk 4S, mentioned that he began this process when he scheduled the meeting in April as part of the Neighborhoods United Association and that he sent a letter outlining some of his concerns. He recommended that split precincts with Hollywood be eliminated to reduce confusion with ballot preparations and voting for the electors. In addition, he felt that some precincts could be combined with other precincts to reduce the need for staffing and equipment for a minimal amount of voters. Mr. Jason also mentioned that he encountered many problems with people who wanted to vote at CW Thomas who were turned away because they had to go to IGFA. Mr. Jason recommended that 11S be combined ,with 10S since they both vote at Oak Hills Condominium, which would reduce costs and the need for duplicating the pollworkers and equipment at the precincts. In addition, he felt that 108R and 12S, which only have 2 registered Dania Beach voters in each of them, be combined with other precincts. Bobbie Grace was hopeful that the voter problems could be worked out with Miriam Oliphant's office and that it is very important to provide all opportunities for voters to vote even though the voting turn out is only around 15% for Dania Beach. She mentioned that some of the elderly people who live in the CW Thomas Park area do not have transportation to go to the IGFA to vote. In addition, she presented voting registration cards from last year showing that one card was received 8/12/02 advising voters to vote at IGFA and on 8/24/02 another card arrived telling them to vote at CW Thomas Park, however, when the voters went to the park to vote, they were denied from voting because the voting books were located at the IGFA precinct. Mrs. Grace advised that these problems were reported to Miriam Oliphant's office. Charlene Johnson, City Clerk, asked Bruce Eldridge, representative from the Supervisor of Elections Office, if it would be possible to remove the Dania Beach voters from 10S and move • them to 11 S since the precincts are both located at Oak Hill Condominium. This way, the Hollywood voters would be located in 10S and Dania Beach voters would be in 11S, which would remove 10S as a split precinct. Bruce Eldridge, Supervisor of Elections Office, explained that the precinct lines are drawn based on the County Commission, School Board, State House, State Senate, and Congressional districts. Precincts 12S, 11 S, 3S and 1 S have different collections of the five districts than the rest of the City. Most of the rest of the City is located in Congressional District 20, State House 100, State Senate 31, School Board 1 and County Commission 7. He thought it would be possible to realign the other 9 precincts to meet some of the neighborhood dynamics. Mr. Eldridge advised that Precinct 9S was a new precinct that was created out of a portion of 4S and that he is willing to work with the City on realigning the lines as long as the precincts can remain with a minimum amount of voters. With regards to 63V, the precinct was created in 1995 when trying to align the cities with the incorporated areas and there are pockets along Stirling Road that include incorporated citizens from Hollywood and Dania Beach. City Clerk Johnson recommended that Dania voters from 63V (71) be moved to 8S, which is located at Patrick J. Meli Park so that the voters would not have to change voting locations. She inquired as to whether or not the voters from 10S (split precinct with Hollywood) could be moved to 11 S, which only has 33 voters. Discussion followed on the boundary lines for Precinct 10S going west of 441. Mr. Eldridge thought that there were only a few Hollywood residents in 10S and he suggested the possibility of moving Hollywood voters from 10S to 63V and Dania voters from 63V to 10S. Mayor Anton thought that the Dania Beach voters from 63V would be better suited to go into 13S, which is at Estates of Fort Lauderdale. • MINUTES 2 JUNE 17, 2003 WORKSHOP MEETING Mr. Eldridge advised that his department does not like split precincts or small precincts like 11 S and 12S, but that they are areas of unique districts that need to be designated in case an election has to be conducted at one time, which provides SOE the ability to easily transport or combine them with another precinct. He advised that the precinct limit of 25 or more voters does not allow SOE to combine those precincts and they have to stand alone. He agreed that the limit should be increased as each Ivotronic machine is designed to support 200 voters and anything less is taking capacity away from some other precinct. During the redistricting in July of last year, the Supervisor of Elections Office went from 618 to 809 precincts and they only had 140 of the 200 polling locations secured. He mentioned that this is the time during the odd election years where the precinct locations and lines can be addressed. Mr. Eldridge explained that the office also dealt with delays in completing boundary lines in July when the Vice Mayor of Southwest Ranches died and no changes could be made to the boundary lines until after that election was completed. Then, the office was inundated with qualifying at the same time. There just wasn't enough time to work out the neighborhood issues and the office has learned quite a bit from the September and November elections in 2002 with regards to the equipment. Mr. Eldridge was willing to work with City Clerk Johnson to see what can be changed. Commissioner Mikes mentioned that he attended the April 18 meeting and that there was some concern that political reasons were behind some of the suggested changes, but that does not appear to be the issue. He agreed that the mixed precincts are a problem and that the residents in the western portion of the City have mail problems and knowing what City they live in as a result of annexations. There is no perfect way to draw the lines and someone will probably not be happy but there should be better ways to resolve the problems. He recommended that Ocean Waterways mobile home park be moved to 9S at IGFA instead of 4S. • Mr. Eldrdige advised that under the election reforms passed in congress last year, the Supervisor of Elections are required to make sure that all polling places meet ADA compliance and these are factors that also have to be taken into consideration when trying to decide on precinct locations and lines. Mr. Eldridge advised that he expected to take the proposed changes to the County Commission one time in August or September and that redrawing house districts in Broward County would not have to be considered until next year. In March 2004 there will be a Presidential Preference and possible county issues and the SOE office is in the planning stages at this time. The County Commission has the final say on any precinct lines that are redrawn and they have to approve all combinations of precincts as part of the election laws. City Manager Pato advised Mr. Eldridge that 400 new homes are in the process of being built near Ravenswood Road and Griffin Road and that he would like that growth to be considered as part of the review and that it would make sense for those voters to go to IGFA as they could walk across the street. Mr. Eldridge advised that 1250 voters should be in the average precinct and that they try to keep it at 1000 per precinct and cut it off at 2000. Currently, a survey on ADA accessibility is being conducted on all precincts and he agreed to consider Mr. Pato's suggestion. Commissioner Mikes mentioned that he is on the Broward League of Cities and that the league would be watching these issues very closely and that there are major elections coming up. Commissioner Mikes suggested that City Clerk Johnson contact the clerk at Hollywood to make sure that moving the voters from 10S to 63V would not be a problem. MINUTES 3 JUNE 17, 2003 WORKSHOP MEETING • Mr. Jason pointed out that there is an explosion of growth in Precincts 7S, 8S, 5S and that 1S may have some growth as a result of the downtown and that these precincts must also be considered in the boundary line review. Mayor Anton pointed out that with the renovations anticipated at the Recreation Building at CW Thomas Park, Precinct 4S should be moved to the Dr. Wrice Community Center/BSO Substation, 803 NW 1 Street. City Clerk Johnson agreed to work with Mr. Eldridge to firm up some of the suggested changes to the precincts, to contact the City Clerk at Hollywood, and to bring the proposed changes to the City Commission for approval before they are submitted to the County Commission for final action. 4. Adjournment. This meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. gob AntorivMayjff Atte t: • Charlene Johnson ity Clerk Approved: July 8, 2003 MINUTES 4 JUNE 17, 2003 WORKSHOP MEETING