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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Charter Review 031306CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE March 13, 2006 The Charter Review Committee met on March 13, 2006 at the City of Palm Beach Gardens Municipal Complex, 10500 N. Military Trail. The meeting was called to order at 7:06 PM and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. I. ROLL CALL Members Present: Paul Auerbach, Terry Brady, David Clark, Tim Frohling, Don Kiselewski, Thomas Baird, Warren Freedman. Len Rubin arrived at 7:25. Members Absent: Gary Fields II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Committee approved the minutes from the January 9, 2006 and the February 13, 2006 meetings with the correction of the word candidate on Page 2. The Recording Coordinator will make the change and ask the Committee to sign the minutes at the next meeting. III. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC None IV. DISCUSSION Preliminary Report to City Council The Committee recognized that according to Resolution 124, 2005, the preliminary report to City Council is due on April 1, 2006. The Committee agreed that they will not be able to have the report completed by April 1, 2006 and will ask City Council for an extension. Tim Frohling will attend the City Council meeting on Thursday, March 16, 2006 and request an extension on the report. The Committee will compile the details and produce a report at the May meeting. They suggested a public meeting in June and to advertise it the newspaper, by press release and on the City website. They would like to present their report to City Council at the 2nd Council meeting in June and have the final report completed approximately 30 days after. Cost of City Elections Don Kiselewski requested a breakdown of election costs to be able to compare a March Municipal and November County elections. Charter Article VI — Administration as Council — Manager Government Section 6 -1 City Manager Section 6 -2 City Attorney There was discussion among the Committee regarding Section 6 -2(c) which addresses hiring a special Attorney to handle matters when the City Attorney determines that outside Council is necessary. The consensus of the Committee is that the City Attorney should be the person that makes the recommendation to City Council to hire an outside attorney. A motion was made by Don Kiselewski and seconded by Thomas Baird to strike the wording in 6 -2(c) that says "The City Attorney or City Manager may appoint one or more special counsel." It will be replaced with the wording "The City Attorney may appoint one or more special Counsel.... ". There was further discussion about the motion. The motion passed in a 5 -3 vote. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady No Freedman Yes Clark No Frohling No Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes The Committee continued discussion on Section 6.1 which states that "The City Council, by a majority vote of its membership, shall appoint a city manager who shall serve at the pleasure of the City Council........ " Tim Frohling recommended in Section 6 -1 (a) and (b), that a standard line of succession be established for the absence of the City Manager, especially in case of an emergency. After some discussion, the Committee agreed that the City Manager should create a standard line of succession designating who will take his/her place in case of a temporary leave of absence. Don Kiselewski made a motion and was seconded by Tim Frohling. The motion passed 6 -1. Auerbach - Didn't vote — was out of the room Baird No Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes The Committee continued with discussion of Section 6 -1 (e). Thomas Baird made a motion to delete Section 6 -1 (e) in its entirety. This section states that "The City Council may suspend or remove the City Manager by resolution approved by a majority of the total membership of the City Council." The motion included substituting language that states that "City Council may suspend or remove the City Manager in accordance with the provisions of his contract with a majority vote." The motion was seconded by Paul Auerbach. The motion passed in a 8 -0 vote. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes 2 Thomas Baird made a motion and David Clark seconded the motion to delete Section 6 -1 (f) which states, "By letter or memorandum filed with the City Clerk, the City Manager shall designate a City officer or employee to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the City Manager during the Manager's absence or disability. However, the motion included moving the sentence that reads "The City Council may revoke such designation at any time ......." into Section 6 -1 (e), regarding the line of succession. The vote passed 8 -0. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes Don Kiselewski spoke about Section 6 -1 (c) (2). He does not feel the word "Consideration" is appropriate. He would like to see the word "Approval" David Clark suggested it read "Consideration and Approval ". A motion was made by Don Kiselewski and seconded by Tim Frohling to add "Consideration and Approval to Section 6 -1(c) (2) which reads "Prepare and submit an annual budget to the City Council for it's consideration." The Committee moved on to discuss of other topics in the charter and then came back to vote on this motion. The motion passed 8 -0 Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes There was discussion regarding Section 6 -1(c) (8). A Motion was made by Paul Auerbach to include the phrase "excluding special Counsell" in Section 6 -1(c) (8) which reads, "To retain such specialized professional services as may be necessary to effectively and efficiently conduct the city's affairs in accordance with state and local laws." David Clark seconded the motion and it passed 8 -0 Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes There was discussion regarding Section 6 -1 (c) (4) on whether to delete the last phrase which reads "To keep the City Council fully advised as to the financial condition and needs of the City and to submit for it's consideration an annual budget." This phrase is already covered Section 6 -1 (c) (2). Paul Auerbach made a motion to delete the phrase and Tim Frohling made the second.. The vote passed 8 -0. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes Len Rubin continued discussion on Section 6 -1 (c)(5), which now states "To appoint all department heads subject to confirmation by the city Council, to employ and remove all other employees of the City." There was discussion regarding the fact that the Charter states that the City Manager needs Council's approval to appoint a Department Head, but he can remove a Department head without Council's approval. There discussion continued for clarification purposes, but no changes were recommended. Don Kiselewski discussed Section 6 -1 (c) (6) which states "To make such reports as the City Council may require concerning the operations of the City departments." He asked if there should be a quarterly report due to City Council. There conversation ensued and the Committee did not feel there should be changes made to this article. Stipulating a quarterly report is not necessary because City Council can ask for a report whenever they want, and the City Manager gives a report at every Council meeting. Paul Auerbach asked to discuss Section 6 -2 (b) (2) which states "Appointing such assistant City Attorneys to perform the duties of his office as may be approved by the City Manager." There was discussion about this clause and David Clark suggested deleting this section. Discussion ensued and a motion was made by Paul Auerbach and seconded by Thomas Baird to delete Section 6 -2(b) (2). The motion passed 8 -0. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes 4 SECTION VII. — MERIT SYSTEM Tim Frohling feels that Section 7 -1 Merit principle and Section 7 -2 Personnel system should be reversed on the Charter. Len Rubin discussed Section 7 -2, and suggested the personnel system being established by Resolution instead of by Ordinance. Thomas Baird recommended changing the Charter to say that the City Manager should provide for the creation and regulation of the personnel system. Thomas Baird made a motion, and David Clark seconded Section 7 -2 to read "Consistent with all applicable Federal and State Laws, the City Manager shall provide for the creation, regulation and maintenance of the personnel system......" This will be done by Resolution as opposed to Ordinance. The motion passed 8 -0. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes David Clark also suggested that they reverse Sections 7 -1 and 7 -2 and change the title to Personnel Systems since this really is not a Merit System article at all. Paul Auerbach made a motion to reverse the sections and Thomas Baird seconded the motion. The Motion passed 8 -0. Auerbach Yes Baird Yes Brady Yes Freedman Yes Clark Yes Frohling Yes Rubin Yes Kiselewski Yes Len Rubin announced that he was invited to speak at Frenchman's Creek External Affairs Committee about what the Charter Review Committee does and the process of changing the charter. The meeting is being held on Wednesday March 15, 2006 and he is unable to attend. He asked if someone from the Committee would like to take his place. Since it was such short notice, none of the Committee members were able to attend. Len said it is not a problem and he will reschedule with Frenchman's Creek. V. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Monday April 10, 2006. The Committee will discuss the remainder of the charter which includes: 5 Article VIII: Department Heads Section 8 -1 Salary, duties, powers and complaint Section 8 -2 Compensation of Mayor and Council members Article IX: Appointment, Powers and Duties of City Officers Section 9 -1 Powers and duties of the Mayor Section 9 -2 Powers and duties of the City Clerk Section 9 -3 Powers and duties of the City Treasurer Article X: Removal of Councilmen Section 10 -1 Procedure Section 10 -2 Incumbent officer to turn over records to successor Article XI — Reserved Article XII: Creation of City Offices, Bonds of City Employees Section 12 -1 Creation of offices Section 12 -2 Bonds of employees Article XIII: Annual Audit Section 113 -1 Preparation and publication Article XIV: Reserved Article XV: The Recall Section 15 -1 Mayor any Councilman or any elected official may be recalled. Article XVI: Initiative and Referendum Section 16 -1 Passage of repeal of ordinance, petition procedure Article XVII: Elections Section 17 -1 Regulation by ordinance Section 17 -2 Qualification of electors Article XVII Section 18 -1 Section 18 -2 Section 18 -3 Section 18 -4 Section 18 -5 l: Ordinances and Resolutions Meeting and procedure of City Council Reserved City Council meetings Posting or publication of ordinances Franchises Article XIX: Reserved Article XX: Reserved on Article XXI: Reserved Article XXII: Charter Amendment Section 22 -1 Charter review VI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 P.M. Approval: Leonard Rubin, Chair Person Tim FrohlKa. V Paul Auerbach;' Committee Membe homas Baird, C6nmyMfeeSAtIQber uLM x'-aAe Terry B y, Committee ber 7