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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-04-26 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1990 CALL TO ORDER_ Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to er ordon T'huroday, April 26, 1990 at 10:00 A M in Conference Room #1, City Hall PRESENT- Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Dr H Larry Bender Councilman Henry Rohr ALSO PRESENTi John P Kelly, City Manager Carol A Evans, City Clerk Pauline Walaszek, Secretary The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the Independent Charter Review ------------------------------------------------- Mayor Abramowitz said there would be a workshop meeting held on Monday, April 30, 1990 at 10 00 A M and Thursday, May 3, 1990 at 10:30 A M both in Conference Room #1 Mayor Abramowitz said during the previous meeting the City Council discussed several issues and they were advised by Interim City Attorney Ruf that within the confines of the Independent Charter Review, there were articles that constituted housekeeping versus priority items Mayor Abramowitz suggested the City Council review the Charter sections and decide which items were priority and which could be handled at a later time He said there should be three categories with category 1 being the most important, category 2, being the next important and category 3 as housekeeping Mayor Abramowitz said when the City Council determined what they would like addressed, a meeting with the Charter Board could be held Mayor Abramowitz said when the City was considering a merger with the Broward Sheriff's Office, it would cost approximately $29,000 00 for a special election He said there were 25 precincts in the City City Manager Kelly said he and the City Clerk reviewed this matter this morning and the cost would be $26,000 00 for a stand alone election He said it would cost approximately $5,000 00 for the City's portion of the election costs, and approximately $2,000 00 for the ballots, $800 00 for advertising and $4,000 00 for the mail out, which was approximately $11,000 00 Mayor Abramowitz said because it would cost less, he would like the Charter amendments to be placed on the September, 1990 ballot He asked how long the City had to inform the County about placing things on the ballot and City Manager Kelly said the County had to be informed 60 days for a stand alone election Page 1 / 4/26/90-pw t j Carol Evans, City Clerk, said it would be the same amount of time because the information had to be sent to the printer, proofread by the County and City with approval of the Einal copy to be printed Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City had to inform the County what was to be on the ballot and Ms Evans said the City had to provide the County with ballot information 60 days before the election V/M Hoffman asked if the County had to be informed in July, 1990 to be on the September, 1990 ballot and Ms Evans replied, yes C/M Schumann asked if the price included the general and primary election and Mayor Abramowitz said the City would he placing another item for the September, 1990 ballot C/M Schumann asked why the election had to be in September, 1990 as opposed to November or December, 1990 V/M Hoffman said there was an election in September and October, 1990 and the General election was in November, 1990 C/M Schumann said the City could place the amendments on lt�ie November, 1990 ballot Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council stated to the people that they would be going to a referendum to borrow the money necessary to do the street lighting and sidewalks He said before the budget was done, the City Manager had to know what the City Council wanted to do He said if this information was not available, he did not want to see the Charter amendments on the ballot without the street lighting and sidewalk proposals Mayor Abramowitz said the City could put as much as they wanted on one ballot for the same amount of money and Ws Evans agreed Mayor Abramowitz said there would be no speeding the process on this matter He said the City Council would take the steps as needed to get the information on the ballot properly He said he would like to see the City use the ballot of the County as opposed to having a special election He said he did not know what the Charter Board wanted to do; however, the City may know what to do in July, 1990 He said the joint workshops with the Charter Boardiand the public hearings on this matter had to be scheduled C/M Rohr said the first priorities would be specific items He asked if the first priorities would be placed on the ballot in September, 1990 He said he agreed with this because too many items would confuse the voters as well as tire them out He said the City Council should concentrate on the first category He said the City Council should review the sections as 1, 2 and 3 and then, the City Counc_1 could discuss the items determined to be category 1 1 Mayor Abramowitz asked City Manager Kelly if he was ab-e ito contact the Charter Board and inform them of how the City Council was handling this matter and City Manager Kelly so-d this would not be a violation of the Sunshine Law Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City Council objected to working on the Charter amendments to try to meet the deadline V/M Hoffman said the City could meet the September, 1990 deadline if the City Council could determine what items wore needed for that election Page 2 4/26/90-pw Mayor Abramowitz had concerns about the residents objecting to the Public Hearings being held in June, 1990,when a lot of the residents were not present to express their feelings He said the City Council had to do what was needed in order to get the matter resolved C/M Rohr suggested that the City Council schedule the Public Hearings on the items that would be placed on the September, 1990 ballot Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted to meet with the Charter Board to discuss this matter before the Public Hearings He said he felt it was proper to meeting with the Charter Board before continuing with this matter After some discussion, the City Council decided that Article VI: Qualifications and Elections was a priority 2 item V/M Hoffman said there were several things in Article VIIs Financial Procedures He said this Article may need a special election City Manager Kelly said he felt purchasing limitations was a priority item, which was Section 7 11 Requirements for public bidding He said the limitation of $2,000 00 should be increased to $5,000 00 and most of the Cities made this amendment Mayor Abramowitz said he felt Section 7 13 Requirements for referendum, was important as well He said several of the Cities were increasing their cap of spending up to $10,000 00 V/M Hoffman said Sections 7 11 and 7 13 should be considered as priority 1 items Mayor Abramowitz asked if City Manager Kelly had documentation to support his position on Section 7 11 and City Manager Kelly replied, yes The City Council AGREED that Section 7 11 was a priority 1 item and Mayor Abramowitz asked the City Manager to submit documentation concerning this Section The City Council AGREED that Section 7 13 was a priority 1 item City Manager Kelly said this Section may require more consideration and work before it could be presented to the voters He said this Section was very importantt however, he felt that the matter should be discussed thoroughly Mayor Abramowitz said the City has spent a lot of money in litigation concerning Section 7 13 and he said the City could cover 1/4 of the budget with this matter He said he felt the matter had to be addressed and the Code was extremely vague He said he wanted this Section reviewed C/M Bender said the City Council could determine 10 items to be important and decide at later meetings which items could be addressed The City Council AGREED that Section 7 18 Utilities and other special services should be considered as a high priority 2 The City Council AGREED that Article VIII Charter Board, was a priority 1 C/M Rohr said he felt that this Section should be con idered as a priority 2 because of the limitation of items that should be on the ballot Mayor Abramowitz said he did not agree with the recommendationp however, he felt it was the first or second concern in the entire Charter Page 3 4/26/90--pw \J V/M Hoffman said this Section had to be reviewed item byitem because there were several things to be addressed C/M Rohr said the final sentence on Page 19 indicated 'chart the City Council should be the only political leaders He said if this matter was given to the public to vote on, there would be problems Mayor Abramowitz said he felt this item was a very important item; however, the City Council should consider this item providing they could come to a meeting of the minds on this matter V/M Hoffman said he spent a lot of time on this Section and he found three items that should be addressed He said one item was the Charter Board's subpoena powers, which was meaningless because the Charter Board did not have the right to subpoena because they could not grant immunity He said the City Council had to address the Charter Board's power to put amendments directly on the ballot He said this should be considered because of the Attorney General's opinion �He said the Charter Board had the right to determine compensation for an attorney but they did not have the right to levy taxes to pay for the compensation He said he felt these matters should be addressed C/M Rohr said V/M Hoffman recently mentioned three items that would require a lot of space in a referendum and he felt this matter should be reviewed and presented carefully to the voters Mayor Abramowitz said he would never agree to the eliminaitton of the Charter Board He said there were other items he would like to address; however, V/M Hoffman's concerns were very important He said if the City Council did not care to get the amendments ready for the September, 1990 ballot, he felt Article VIII Charter Board, should be included He said he felt the Charter Board did not have any more power than the residents of the City C/M Rohr said from reading the recommendations he felt there was no need for the City of Tamarac to have a Charter 3oalyd as it existed today He said the Charter Board should be an Advisory Board and the Charter Board has not accomplished anything since he was a Councilman He said he felt it wdas a waste of money to the City Mayor Abramowitz said this was C/M Rohr's opinion; however, he did not know if this opinion was shared by anyone else C/M Rohr said he felt more work was required for this item before the City Council could ask the public to make a decision on this matter City Manager Kelly said the City Council discussed that they would be setting the priority of the items He said the' timing of this item and where it would go was not important at this time He said the City Council has agreed that this item was a priority 1 and should be revisited at a later meeting V/M Hoffman said he did not feel the City could make a determination until after the City Council and Charter Board met He said he felt it was a priority 1 The City Council AGREED that Article X City Clerk, was a priority 3 item The City Council AGREED that Article XI City Attorney was a priority 1 item Mayor Abramowitz said he felt it may be a savings to the City if the mandate of having an in --house City Attorney was eliminated u 1 1 Page 4 4/26/90-pw 'ji C/M Rohr said he felt this was a priority 1 because it was a simple question to pose for the people to make a selection Be said the word "mandates", should be eliminated The City Council AGREED that Article XII Miscellaneous Provisions, was a priority 3 item Mayor Abramowitz said the bottom paragraph of Page 23 should be discussed He said he wanted to review this matter very carefully The City Council AGREED that Page 23 should be discussed in the future Mayor Abramowitz said there may be things that were not addressed by Carla Colman, Consultant V/M Hoffman suggested the City Council review their priorities and discuss them Mayor Abramowitz asked if there were things that were not addressed which required discussion on voter approval V/M Hoffman said in reviewing the recommendations and comparing them with the existing Charter, he felt Ms Coleman covered everything C/M Bender asked if the City Council reviewed the Summary submitted by Ms Coleman Mayor Abramowitz suggested the City Council discuss any items that were not addressed by Ms Coleman at the next meeting Mayor Abramowitz said he felt that the City Council would be able to agree on matters; however, the matters could change after discussions with the Charter Hoard and the public City Manager Kelly said the recommendations made by Ms Coleman throughout the Charter indicated that she did not offer all the options available He said he gave his opinion on certain matters and the City Council could look at the matters several ways Referring to Page 3, City Manager Kelly said he felt the City Council should serve three year staggered terms with a three term limit Mayor Abramowitz said Ms Coleman did not recommend the Charter Hoard continue; however, he felt differently He said if the Charter Board remained or was changed, he felt the Charter Board was entitled to expense money He said this matter could be addressed at a later date Mayor Abramowitz said he had a format in mind and he discussed this matter with several people He said he felt that there should be several things done; however, he was informed that several items on the ballot were not proper Referring to Section 4 02 City Council: election, terms and qualifications, Mayor Abramowitz said he would like the City Councilmembers to express their concerns C/M Schumann said he favored unlimited terms because nothing was being taken away from the electorate He said the electorate could vote out a Councilmember now as they could if the terms were unlimited He said since nothing was being taken away from the electorate, he favored two or three terms C/M Rohr said he agreed= however, the present setup created a problem when a person was reelected to a second term He said it did not enhance the desire of a voter to reelect the person that they wanted He said presently, the City Page 5 4/26/90--pw Councilmembers were not able to run again if they already served two 2 year terms C/M Bender said he agreed that there should be a three year term He said the election costs were large and the City Councilmembers should be able to serve longer so they became familiar with their position as opposed to having to worry about campaigning for the next term TAPE 2 VM Bender said he felt that it took a Councilmember several years to make the contacts needed within the State and County and, by the time a Councilmember became familiar with the House of Representatives and Senators, that Councilmemberi could no longer serve the City He said he felt the Councilmembers should be able to serve three year terms V/M Hoffman said he agreed with C/M Bender He said C/M Rohr may not believe in what he stated because C/M Rohr would do his best regardless of whether he could be reelected He agreed that it was preferable to have an unlimited number of terms and allow the voters to decide who should serve ,asla Councilmember He said he knew of no legislative limitations in the United States, except the Executive Branches He said he felt the legislature should be given this opportunity Mayor Abramowitz said there were two successful Cities in Broward County with the least amount of turmoil, one w,asithe City of Plantation, where the Mayor has served for 18 years and the other City was Coral Springs, which recently was having problems because the Mayor, who served for several years has not served for the past three months V/M Hoffman said the City of Lauderdale Lakes was another example Mayor Abramowitz said the limitation was placed in the Charter by politicians for a political purpose He saidlthis provision was not in the Charter for 25 years; however, it was enacted to get someone out of power He said he had to look at the matter from two points of view Mayor Abramowitz said once the electorate understood the purpose they would approve unlimited terms because there would be no changes made He said he felt that the Councilmembers should be elected for an unlimited term if the person was appropriate for the position Mayor Abramowitz said the voters of Tamarac have never been shy about not reelecting public officials He said by having the provision, the electorate would be asked to vote every year He said this provision affected the City Manager, staff and the residents He said the first time he ran for office was much easier than the second time He said the first time he was not aware of the pressure; however, the second time was high pressure Mayor Abramowitz said when he was first elected, he realized that the surrounding Cities were receiving grants; however, Tamarac was not receiving grants He said he received calls from the State Representatives and Senator and he asked each one independently why Tamarac was not receiving grant funds Mayor Abramowitz said each person informed him that Tamara: did not have continuity in their legislators and the Councilmembers were so busy fighting each other, there was not enough time to apply for the grants He said he has not made up his mind if the provision should be for two year or three year unlimited terms Mayor Abramowitz said he spoke to several people regarding this matter and he was informed why this recent addition of the Charter existed 1 1 Page 6 4/26/90-pw City Manager Kelly said Ms Coleman stated prior to her recommendations that with the constant change of officials, the City Manager was the only high ranking official that was not mandated to change every two or four years He said he had a lot of power and influence which was a lot of pressure that he did not need He said having the continuity of the Councilmembers would allow him back up when he made requests to the County or State He said there were concerns about appointing Tamarac Councilmembers to State or County Boards because the members were not in office long enough to assist the Boards and Committees in making decisions Mayor Abramowitz said during the previous election there was a large upset in one of the surrounding Cities He said he had dinner with the City Manager of that City and he thought that the elected official would be destroyed He said he agreed with City Manager Kelly because the power of the City should not be with the City Manager V/M Hoffman said the City Council agreed on unlimited terms and the amount of years could be discussed at another meeting The City Council AGREED that the City Council should be elected for unlimited terms V/M Hoffman said at the previous workshop, C/M Rohr made a suggestion which he did not agree with at that time He said he thought about the suggestion and he felt there may be a way to allow the voters to decide on a two or three year term He said this matter should be reviewed to see if it was feasible to ask the voters to decide what the amount of terms should be Mayor Abramowitz said when the City Council met with the Charter Board and held the public hearings, a statement of the results should be put on the ballot for the voters to decide V/M Hoffman said he would like to discuss this matter with the Interim City Attorney to see how it should be handled He said the City Council could discuss this matter at another meeting C/M Bender said he did not agree with V/M Hoffman because he felt that the general public was very knowledgablet however, they were not aware of the problems at City Hall He said he felt that 5% of the people in the City never came to City Hall He said he would like to see more residents participating during the City Council meetings C/M Bender said this City Council may never benefit from the amendments of the Charters however, he would like future plans to bring the City into the 21st Century and allow the future Councilmembers to have the opportunity to do Jobs equal to or better than the existing City Council by providing time for the Councilmembers to do things C/M Bender said the City held elections every year and the amendment had to be made simple for the general public He said the amendment on the ballot should be refined by the City Council, Charter Board and the administration He said the item being placed on the ballot should be thought about often C/M Rohr said the Charter Board should not be making the decision regarding the City Council terms of office He asked what would occur if the Charter Board did not agree with the City Council Mayor Abramowitz asked if C/M Rohr would like the opportunity to discuss matters with the Charter Board before the amendments were made Page 7 4/26/90-pw C/M Rohr said he felt there were certain things that the Charter Board should be involved in He said the Charter Board had no business being involved with the responsibility of the City Manager He said the Charter Board had no responsibility in determining the length of terms for the City Council Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter Board should be involved in the Charter amendments regardless of whether the two bodies agreed or disagreed He said the City Council was not asking the Charter Board what should be put on the ballot He said this was a very important matter i C/M Bender said the City Council should discuss their concerns as opposed to what the Charter Board should be concerned about V/M Hoffman said if the City had an appointed advisory ' Charter Board, the City Council would have to consult with them before changes were recommended He said the City had an elected Charter Board and the City Council should discuss the Charter amendments with them Mayor Abramowitz said at the next meeting, the City Council would be discussing the determination of the terms of office C/M Rohr asked that a legal opinion be given regarding this matter Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted to put several things 4n the ballot and he was informed that this would not be appropriate because it would be very confusing to the public He said he was willing to make the ballot simple and allow the residents to make a decision on questions they understood Mayor Abramowitz said he was informed to make a determination of what the City Council wanted and place the item on the ballot for the voters to decide i V/M Hoffman said the important determination was the unlimited terms and the number of years should be considered at a later time He said he would like to discuss this matter with the interim City Attorney and he would report to the City Council at their next meeting The City Council reviewed Section 4 04 Compensation and Expenses of Mayor and Council Mayor Abramowitz suggested that the City Council discuss the compensation and expenses separately He said compensation was the salary for the elected officials V/M Hoffman said he felt that having a limited salary for the City Council in the Charter was ridiculousf however, he did not feel the City Council should be able to raise their salary He said he approved of Ms Coleman's recommendation that the City Council may set the salary level for the succeeding Council Mayor Abramowitz said this may affect the person making he determination and voting on the item and V/M Hoffman sai d he would like the City Council to consider this matter whan'they decide what the terms of office would be V/M Hoffman said this was something that needed more thought because the City Council had to decide when the changes wfould be He said he felt this should be taken out of Charter and put in the Legislative hands in such a way that the City Council could not raise their own salary unreasonably Mayor Abramowitz said if they would raise the salaries at this time, he would find this offensive He said he felt e salaries were offensive now and he felt it would be r Page 8 4/26/90-pw 11 1 detrimental for the City Council to make the changes He said he felt this matter should not be placed on the ballot and be considered as priority 2 V/M Hoffman said he agreed with the priority of the matter C/M Bender said he would like to explore other ways the compensation could be distributed He said the County had the State select the amount for them He asked if the County could assist the Cities in regulating their compensation C/M Schumann said the younger people would not run for political positions in the City because they could not handle the financial difficulties He said at this time, a person who was retired ran for the positions because they had separate incomes He said the existing compensation was below the poverty level and it was offensive V/M Hoffman said the compensation was not intended to be offensive and C/M Schumann said the City has changed in the last 25 years The City Council AGREED to list this Section as priority 2 Mayor Abramowitz said the expenses were not feasible He said the combination of the expenses was $11,000 00 and it cost approximately $3 00 to $4 00 to monitor the expenses He said there was a lot of paper he received and the procedure was to go through the City Council's Secretary, to the Legislative Aide, to the City Manager, to the Finance Director, etc Mayor Abramowitz said this may be a problem that the City Council did not want to address as a priority one item C/M Bender said he reviewed this matter and he estimated approximately what it would cost He said $11,000 00 cost approximately $50,000 00 to maintain and control He said the City was obligated to keep the records for several years He said this was not feasible for $11,000 00 and it was not fair for the staff of the City spending time on the matter when there were larger accounts to be maintained in the City C/M Bender said the way the money was being maintained was not a good business practice He said the provision should be eliminated or changed because it was not practical to continue the process City Manager Kelly said he discussed this matter with the Finance Director He said the Finance Director said if the intent was to eliminate the paperwork and procedures it would be easier to submit the money to the City Council in advance He said the money for six months could be submitted to the City Council He said $1,000 00 could be submitted to the City Council for six months with all of the reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) He said this eliminated the bureaucratic cycle and the challenges the City received for spending the money He said doing it this way would allow the City Council to be responsible for their own taxes City Manager Kelly said this process eliminated the need for the City Manager to approve the type of seminars, etc to go to V/M Hoffman said this would eliminate the City Manager from managing the City Council's actions pertaining to their expenses City Manager Kelly said he was not comfortable in telling the City Council how to spend the money Mayor Abramowitz said this matter was offensive in the world of business He said this matter was a political football in the past He said during the previous campaign there was Page 9 4/26/90-pw discussion regarding the $1,000 00 dinner He said this matter was City business and the services was very expensive; however, the dinner resulted in the City receiving landscaping at no cost He said he felt that this matter should be discussed in the future because it had to be resolved V/M Hoffman suggested the City Council consider this mattler as priority 1 and, if there were too many items as priority 1, this matter could be readdressed The City Council AGREED with this suggestion 4 05--Vacanciest forfeiture of officer filling of vacancies V/M Hoffman said he felt this Item was a housekeeping matter, priority 3, and City Manager Kelly said Ms Coleman identified this matter as housekeeping The City Council AGREED this was a priority 3 item 4_06 Procedures 4_,08_,Hoards apd_ A4vtpgry QrpulDe The City Council AGREED these items would be priority 3 items Article V City Manager Mayor Abramowitz said he did not consider this Article as housekeeping and City Manager Kelly said there were several important items in this Articlef however, he did not feel, they were priority 1 Mayor Abramowitz said he would place this item as priority 2 5 05 oath of Office The City Council AGREED this was a priority 3 item Mayor Abramowitz asked if the redistricting was based onithe voting population and City Manager Kelly said the ' redistricting was based on the current number of residents Mayor Abramowitz said he did not disagree with this and, if there was a problem, it should be indicated City Manager Kelly said Ms Coleman indicated concern with the City Council being subject to challenges Mayor Abramowitz said the language should be redefined axed C/M Schumann said the Courts were in conflict with the language Mayor Abramowitz said the voting power turned the wheels in every municipality He said he did not like single -member districts because a person only had to be responsive to his particular district and not care about other districts 1 Mayor Abramowitz said presently the City Council had to be responsive to the City and all the people He said he would recommend the language being refined by removing the challenges He said the language should indicate that t2e voters would determine who they wanted to represent thaiI districts C/M Bender said Page 11 of the Independent Charter Review explained the procedures that were presently being followed by the City He said he felt the present procedure provided a good balance in the voting population of the City C/M Schumann said the City could redistrict and get more population but not get more registered voters He said the registered voter population could remain the same Page 10 4/26/90--pw Mayor Abramowitz said the City could get all of the voters in a particular district and this would provide a group of specific people running the City V/M Hoffman said it became very important that everybody had equal representation He said the City Council members run at -large at this time; therefore, all of the districts could vote against a person running for office He said he felt it would be okay for the City Council to leave this language as it stood in the Charter Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter did not have to be changedi however, if there were challenges, the language should be refined so there were no legal problems in the future V/M Hoffman asked how the language should read in the Charter and Mayor Abramowitz said he would like the Charter to read that the assigned districts were based on voter registration V/M Hoffman asked if this was presently in the Charter and Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to keep the language in the Charter At this time, V/M Hoffman read the redistricting provision of the existing Charter into the record Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter presently stated the proper procedures; therefore, he did not see why it should be changed Mayor Abramowitz asked why the City was being challenged and V/M Hoffman said there were challenges in other Cities based on the fact that certain segments of the population were not represented V/M Hoffman said there were certain areas of other Cities that had non -citizens He said the non -citizens of the State had to be represented like the citizens were because the Congress had to take these people into consideration The City Council AGREED to leave this provision as it was in the existing Charter Section 6n09 Initiative, Referendum Mayor Abramowitz said he agreed with Ms Coleman's recommendation to consider adding a signature gathering timeframe He said this was not a priority l; however, it should be addressed V/M Hoffman suggested this Section be classified as a priority 2 item The City Council AGREED with this suggestion ARTICLE VXI - Financial Procedures Mayor Abramowitz asked C/M Bender to review this Article and report to the City Council regarding the important portions C/M Bender said he would like to discuss this matter with the Finance Director before he reported to the City Council He said the City Council should get the Finance Director's input on this matter City Manager Kelly said the Finance Director submitted the information to Ms Coleman so she could make her recommendations Page 11 4/26/9Q-pw City Manager Kelly said before Ms Coleman made her recommendations, she spoke to the Department Heads on the Articles He said Ms Coleman refused to discuss the matters with him because she felt she knew how the City Manager felt about the Charter and did not want to prejudice the Charter Board Mayor Abramowitz said he was pleased that the City Council did not give Ms Coleman recommendations because the City Council felt Ms Coleman was the professional and she should submit her recommendations to the City Council and Charter Board The City Council AGREED with C/M Bender reviewing this matter and reporting back to the City Council with his findings) City Manager Kelly said there had to be an announced badger by October 1 He said each year there was always indication that money was found and this was a big concern He said the Finance Director suggested that there be a provision indicating that the contingent funds of the previous year be automatically transferred into the new Fiscal Year budget TAPE 3 Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council was informed of the moneys in specific accounts that were not considered and itbey worked very hard to understand the budgets however, they was a vast change in the accounts He said he was pleased thhot he was able to understand the accounts V/M Hoffman said he felt the Charter should be as simple as possible He said he did not feel the Charter should be set up to tell everyone what they must do but it should inform the people what they could not do He said the Constitution of the United States was created this way and he did not i believe the Charter should be a legislative codes however, it should be a restrictive code He said he would keep everything out of the Charter that did not have to be there V/M Hoffman said he would like to see the provisions covered by State law eliminated from the Charter He said these was no reason to put things in the Charter when the State hasia provision for it C/M Bender said the City Clerk was required to follow thei State Statutes, City Code and Charter He said this procedure should be eliminated because of the unnecessary monitoring the City Clerk had to do Mayor Abramowitz said there were several people affected by this matter He said the State law changed; however, the Charter remained the same unless the voters approved an amendment V/M Hoffman said the State law took precedence and Mayor Abramowitz agreed Mayor Abramowitz said there were people who did not want the amendments to be implemented C/M Bender said this was a good example of why the Chaster Board should continue He said the Charter Board should implement amendments to the Charter when the State and City laws changed Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter Board did not take this initiative He said the City Council initiated the Independent Charter Review C/M Bender said he would review Article VII and report back to the City Council with his findings V/M Hoffman said there were several attempts to revise th{e Charters however, the Charter Board always became invoAved in personal concerns 1 n 1 Page 12 4/26/90-pw SECTION 7�11� Requirements for public bidding Mayor Abramowitz suggested that the limit be amended to $10,000 00 as opposed to $5,000 00 He said the City Manager should report to the City Council how often the problems occurred City Manager Kelly said these problems occurred every day Mayor Abramowitz asked if any Department could go out to bid on a specific item with the City Manager's approval City Manager Kelly said the Departments had to go out to bid �- -on items He said the amendment was to change the existing $2,040 00 to $5,000 00 ranges to $5,000 00 and $10,000 00 ranges V/M Hoffman asked if the amendment would allow the Departments to spend up to $9,999 99 and C/M Schumann said anything over $5,000 00 would need the City Council's approval C/M Schumann said presently the City Council had to approve anything over $2,000 00 Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted the City Manager to approve every expenditure and the City Council should be informed of the transaction V/M Hoffman asked if the amendment would allow the City Manager to approve anything up to $5,000 00 and the approval by the City Council was needed for anything over $5,000 00 up to $10,000 00 C/M Schumann said the existing amounts of $2,000 00 and $5,000 00 were being changed to $5,000 00 and $10,000 00 Mayor Abramowitz said if he owned the City, he would change a lot of existing practices He said he understood more now than he did when he first became Mayor C/M Bender asked if the City could solicit a bidders list for specific items and City Manager Kelly said this was presently being done Mayor Abramowitz said he was concerned with the present amount paid by the City for business cards He asked if he could order and pay for his own business cards and submit a bill to the City for reimbursement City Manager Kelly said he would suggest that Mayor Abramowitz get his private price for business cards so it could be compared to the present price paid by the City He said if the private price was lower than the existing costs, it would be considered City Manager Kelly said it would not be appropriate for the City Council to buy something with their expenses at a cost more than what the City was presently paying He said if the personal costs were lower than the costs the City was paying, it may be appropriate to approve the lower cost City Manager Kelly said the costs were usually based on the City's experience with payments, businesses, etc He said the costs were more because of the public bidding requirements, etc He said most governments had these problems Mayor Abramowitz said there were vendors who worked real hard to get the City's business and City Manager Kelly said these bids were referred to as courtesy bids He said some vendors would bid on a project to inform the City that they were interested in the City's business V/M Hoffman said the City may do better by negotiating the costsy however, public bidding was necessary for some projects Page 13 4 /26 /90--pw ---------------------------------------------- City Manager Kelly informed the City Council that Zeke Feldman, Charter Board member, was in a car accident on 97th Street and Pine Island Road He said Mr Feldman was taken to University Hospital With no further business Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 12 00 P M . � r CA OL A EVA CITY CUB K "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $88 9$ or $11 12 per copy to inform the general public, public off�cers and employees of recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of Tamarac " 1 Page 14 4/26/90-pw