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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-04-11 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCity Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1994 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to order on Monday, April 11, 1994 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of City Hall. PRFF.NT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Irving Katz Councilman Larry Mishkin Councilman Joseph Schreiber Councilwoman Sharon Machek ALSO PRESENT: Robert S. Noe, Jr., City Manager Dina M. McDermott, Assistant City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary ************************************************************* Mayor Abramowitz said he received information that the Charter Board has been working on some items to be considered for referendum and Council had previously worked on various items. He said he would like to get an Expression of Interest from Council as to what they are interested in to be considered for referendum. He said there is a time constraint for referendum items. Mayor Abramowitz asked Morton Winter, Chairman of the Charter Board, if one of the items that the Charter Board is considering refers to the rights of the Charter Board to place items on the ballot for referendum and Mr. Winter said that item was dropped from consideration. Mayor Abramowitz said there is a new Council with new thoughts and would like their recommendations for consideration. He asked what the timeframe is for placing referendums on the ballots for the upcoming elections. Mr. Kraft said the next election will be held on September 8, 1994 and the ballot information is required by July 22, 1994 and the ballot information for the General Election in November is due by September 8, 1994. Mayor Abramowitz asked if it is possible to hold a Special Election by mail and Mr. Kraft said, yes, the Florida Statute #101.6102 provides for election by mail ballots. Mr. Kraft said there would be an expense incurred, but it is an alternative to a regular -type election. Ms. Evans said there will be a cost of $100 for the layout of the mail ballot, $1.75 plus postage of 47.8 cents for each ballot. She said Parkland, Cooper City and Hillsboro Beach are currently doing this. Mayor Abramowitz referred to the memo dated May 26, 1993 where the previous Council had held discussions and made an Expression of Interest on certain items. Mayor Abramowitz said there are time constraints and costs involved with the referendums. He said the Council, by voter referendum, had their terms extended from two to three years. He said the Charter Board still labors under a two-year term limitation, which means that Special Elections will have to be held, unless the terms are changed. City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 2 Mayor Abramowitz said there has been a large amount of money spent on one of the referendum items which is currently in litigation. He said it is necessary to eliminate the legal expenses that are occurring. Mr. Kraft suggested various items that the Charter Board initiated during their February 10, 1994 meeting and referred to the minutes of that meeting and the proposed amending ordinances attached. Mr. Kraft said the first item discussed was 2.a.- Revisions to Section 6.04, regarding City Council candidates running city-wide. He said the Charter Board currently runs city- wide, where the Council runs by district. Mayor Abramowitz asked if this would require different elections at different times. Mr. Kraft said if the Charter Board terms of office are changed to be in sync with the Council terms of office, additional elections would not have to be held. C/M Schreiber said it would not make a difference if the Charter Board ran city-wide or At -Large and the Council members ran by district, providing the terms were similar in length. Mayor Abramowitz said every precinct needs to be opened due to the At -Large position. He suggested that the terms of the Charter Board be changed to match the terms of the Council. C/W Machek said the item being discussed is all offices being run city-wide. Mayor Abramowitz said Tamarac is the only city in the State of Florida which has an elected Charter Board. C/M Schreiber said one article needs to be addressed before the other. C/M Mishkin recommended that Item 2.b. should be addressed first, which involves changing the Charter Board's term from two years to three. He said once this is done, the Council can discuss electing the Charter Board district versus At - Large. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that Council discuss the changing of the Charter Board terms. C/W Machek referred to Carla Coleman's recommendations from 1990, and said possibly what needs to go on referendum is whether or not the City wants an elected Charter Board. She said she is having problems discussing length of terms, when it has not been clarified as to whether or not an elected Charter Board is wanted. Mayor Abramowitz said past performance has indicated that 14 items should not be placed on the ballot for referendum at once. He said there should be no more than five at one time. He said past Councils had decided not to abolish the Charter Board. C/W Machek said Council needs to look at the Charter and bring the City of Tamarac into the Year 2000. She said the trend is for a non -elected Charter Board. She said Item #2.a. is ping-ponging back to what the City had in the past. She said it is confusing to the community. She said she is not recommending abolishment of the Charter Board, but to make provisions. She said the Coleman report recommends City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 3 "grandfathering" the Charter Board members in to make them an appointed board. C/M Schreiber agreed with C/W Machek. He said this matter was discussed a number of times and in view of the fact that this is the only city in the State with an elected Charter Board, it is apparent that Tamarac is out of step with the rest of the State. He said there is no reason why the City cannot have an appointed Charter Board and have them do their job and then dismiss them. He said the current Charter Board has no authority and must come before Council with their recommendations anyway. C/M Schreiber said a referendum was placed on the ballot requesting a $100 per month salary for each of the Charter Board members and the public refused it. He said based on this, it seems that the public holds the Charter Board in very little regard. He suggested a question asking whether or not the public wants a Charter Board and for how long. Mayor Abramowitz said he is going to strongly recommend that the City bring aboard Sam Goren, an attorney, to help with the language for this item. V/M Katz said he initiated the removal of the powers of the Charter Board and for the final approval going to Council on their items, which passed. He said the Chairperson of the Charter Board sued the City due to this. He said he agrees with C/W Machek that the Charter Board should be a Charter Review Board. He said the main thing that the Charter Board did over the last ten years was take an adversarial position against the Council and they could not even get along with themselves. C/M Mishkin said he agrees with C/W Machek in that Council should consider and discuss Carla Coleman's recommendations. Mayor Abramowitz said the Coleman report has been discussed and nothing was ever done. He recommended that Council read it at home for information. He said there are some members on the Charter Board who are up for election, and they must serve out their terms. He said he would like to see the Charter Board mass resign and then have Council appoint them to their positions. He requested that Mr. Kraft research this for legalities. C/W Machek said the Coleman report contains a recommendation of "grandfathering in" and if the City has someone who can properly word the referendum, there is a way to "grandfather in" those members who were coming up for election to be appointed and the persons serving an active term can finish their terms. Mr. Kraft said this has been addressed before and he had developed a proposed amendment with the grandfathering effect and he did not foresee a problem. He said he would research it further. C/M Mishkin said if by some chance that sometime in the future that the Charter Board chooses to resign and consider appointments, then all of the discussions about amending the items involving length of terms and how they are elected become moot. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that these items are taken off the table and asked for a consensus as to what Council would like to do about abolishing an elected Charter Board and have it as an appointed board. City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 4 C/W Machek said she prefers this to be called a rejuvenation of the Charter Board. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: C/M Schreiber - YES C/M Mishkin - YES V/M Katz - YES C/W Machek - YES Mayor Abramowitz - NO Mayor Abramowitz said the terms of the Charter Board will be removed from consideration at this time based on this. He said if the conversion does not take place, the terms will then be considered. Mayor Abramowitz said Mr. Kraft will bring his legal opinion to the next Council Workshop regarding this as to whether or not there can be a shared Charter Board consisting of elected and appointed members. Mr. Kraft said Items 2.b.1., 2.b.2., and 2.b.3. will be removed from discussion at this time. V/M Katz read Temp. Ord. #1652 regarding City-wide elections for Council members. He said during the time he ran for election, there were a number of people who resented the fact that they could not vote for other candidates in other districts. He said when he voted for single -member districts, it was something that he felt needed to be tried, and it was tried. He said many have complained about the limited power of the electorate to vote strictly by districts. C/W Machek said she has a problem with readdressing something that 59% of the community said yes to. She said only five polling places out of 25 said no during the 1992 election which gave the City single -member districts. She said two of those polling places represent 80% of the vote, which is Kings Point, and they voted no. She said there has been a large per cent of the community who have already addressed this and have already said yes to single -member district voting. C/W Machek said single -member district voting has already benefitted the City this year. She said it gave a minority person in age classification within the City of Tamarac the ability to be elected to the Council. She said the community has spoken and does not see why it has to be addressed again. C/M Schreiber said the most democratic way for any City to function is to have single -member districts because it gives the disadvantaged the opportunity to run and not run City- wide and not have to compete with an incumbent who has far greater funds than another could ever raise. C/M Schreiber said it is easier to run single --member district and it encourages more people to run. He said one of the concerns is to prevent a large area from dominating the City. He said when Kings Point is built out, it could very well dominate the City and elect whoever they want. He said single -member districts is equitable and the way to go. Mayor Abramowitz said easier does not make it correct. He said single -member districts were originally put it because there were disadvantages. TAPE 2 Mayor Abramowitz said he does not consider C/W Machek as a minority. He said he does not consider a female to be a minority or her age group as a minority. He said if a person is good, they will get elected. LJ City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 5 Mayor Abramowitz said the problem that is present is that most of the voters in the City have been disenfranchised. He said there are items that come up in discussion at Council meetings that each Council person will respond to as to what their constituents want. He said if they are not his constituents, the Council person will be less apt to be concerned about it. Mayor Abramowitz said he has run for Mayor three times and has won three times. He said he ran for Council once because he was not permitted to run for Mayor. He said there is a difference when running city-wide and by district. He said if a person is good, that person will be elected. He said every person who pays taxes in the City has the right to vote for whomever they want city-wide. He said Council has done a terrible disservice to the City by not allowing the voters to vote city-wide. C/M Schreiber said Mayor Abramowitz ran city-wide in 1992 for Council. Mayor Abramowitz said people are very upset. He suggested that this be placed on the ballot again and let the people decide if Council is so sure that city-wide elections is the way to go. C/M Mishkin said too many changes have a ping-pong effect. He said city-wide elections has not been given a fair, long-term chance. He said he is not convinced that the City made a mistake. He said he does not believe that the integrity of the candidates can be compromised because they represent a single district. He said most of his activity in the last few weeks has from constituents from outside his district. He said he has given them as much cooperation and time as any member of his district. C/M Mishkin said it is easier for candidates to consider running for any political office if they have a limited area due to the financial restrictions and the physical strain of running city-wide. He said he would not have run city-wide due to financial and physical constraints. C/M Mishkin recommended that the City provide the opportunity for a few more elections by district before considering change. He said the electorate is intelligent enough to make the proper decisions. C/W Machek said during the last Council Workshop, Advanced Life Support, cable television and recycling were discussed, which are city-wide issues. She said she has also responded to residents who are outside her district. She recommended that the City give single -member district voting some time. She said this is the trend throughout the United States and the State of Florida. C/W Machek said her district is where the majority of Afro- Americans and Hispanics live. V/M Katz said the five members on Council control the destinies of 48,000 people. He said if Council is going to vote for something that is going to affect all of the residents in Tamarac, then those residents should have the right to vote for the people who are going to decide the outcome of issues which will concern them. V/M Katz referred to the fact that the Charter states that anywhere between 22.5% to 27.5% of the population is permitted in a district and when it gets above the 27.5%, then a redistricting takes place. He explained a previous case where Kings Point had to place some of the residents City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 6 into another district. Discussion was held regarding redistricting. Mayor Abramowitz referred to a previous situation where the installation of a sidewalk was discussed for a particular area and the Council people who represented residents in another district did not vote in favor of the sidewalk. He said this was an issue of the health, safety and welfare of those living in that area. He explained the occurrences which followed in various meetings regarding this. Mayor Abramowitz said most political figures speak for those voting for them. C/M Schreiber said the public voted on a referendum for street lighting and voted against sidewalks. He asked why a particular area should be provided sidewalks when the electorate voted down the sidewalks. Mayor Abramowitz said the Sign Ordinance was voted down also, but every day there are variances provided. C/M Schreiber said that does not make it right either. Further discussion was held regarding the sidewalk issue. Mayor Abramowitz asked for Council as to consideration elections. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: an Expression of Interest from for changing to city-wide C/W Machek - NO C/M Schreiber - NO C/M Mishkin - NO V/M Katz - YES Mayor Abramowitz - YES Mayor Abramowitz said the biggest thing needed is a clarification of the ability of a person, after serving their two terms, to run for another term. Mr. Kraft said there are two issues, one is term limitation, in which any member of any one office can serve two terms, and the other issue regards seeking a different office after serving two terms, subject to the two term limitation. Mr. Kraft said Judge Fleet's decision in the current litigation was that the succession in subsequent offices is not proper in the City of Tamarac. He said this is an issue which may merit some attention regarding Section 4.02 without an intervening term. Mayor Abramowitz said there is a current term limitation existing in the Charter, which states that they cannot succeed themselves for more than one term. He recommended that term limitations be left in the Charter. V/M Katz said he will be completing his second term in office and if he decided to run for Mayor, he cannot run for Mayor or the Charter Board as the Charter currently exists. He said he cannot run for another elected office without an intervening term. He said there are few enough people who are willing to take the political pressure without limiting them from running for a different office. V/M Katz said he should not have to wait two or three years before running for another office. He said he would lose all name recognition and possibly all interest in serving in an office. He said it is not in the best interest of the City to limit such people from running for office. He said if the electorate is unhappy, the candidate will not be elected. Further discussion was held regarding this. Cl City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 7 C/M Schreiber asked why term limitation is being discussed. He said throughout the United States there has been a great demand for limitations because people get entrenched in office and the incumbents become very powerful. He said he has no need to change the term limitations and if anyone has political ambitions, then run for a County office. Mayor Abramowitz said this Ordinance may be more of a disservice to the City than the single -member districts. He said serving as an elected official runs in an order of progression. He said the City just lost a person who was in office for two terms and because of term limitations, he could not run again. Mayor Abramowitz said based on the term limitations, someone with experience is disregarded. He said this person should have had every right to run for Mayor. He said the Mayor and Council offices are separate offices and are completely different. He said if a person serves as Mayor for two terms, he should have the opportunity to run for Council. He said the City should not want to lose that person's experience. Mayor Abramowitz said term limitations take away the ability for the City to have experienced political leaders. He said it took him a year to understand the functions of the City. He said he sees little confidence in the electorate. He said Tamarac has a wonderful record, percentagewise, of educated voters. C/M Mishkin said the best term limitations is the ballot. He said there was a voter percentage of approximately 24% or 26% at the election previous to this past election. Mayor Abramowitz said the rest of the County had a 13 or 14% turnout. C/M Schreiber suggested that the City let the courts clarify the situation currently under litigation. Mr. Kraft said there were three different proposed ordinances addressed to the Charter Board, two of which included: 2.c.1. Clarification regarding running for alternative offices with no limitations as to the number of terms that may be served; 2.c.2. Clarification subject to the two -term limitations for each office. V/M Katz said he proposed Temp. Ord. #1651, which was proposed on May 26 and Mr. Kraft said this has since been revised. V/M Katz said Temp. Ord. #1651 is similar to 2.c.2 and Mr. Kraft agreed. Mayor Abramowitz requested clarification of these proposals. Mr. Kraft said under 2.c.1., anyone can run for anything as much as they want. He said 2.c.2. indicates that persons can run for other offices, each office, for two terms. Mr. Kraft said this means a different elected office subject to the two term limitation. V/M Katz said this would mean that he would have to stay out of office for up to five years and Mayor Abramowitz said it would be one year. City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 8 V/M Katz said if the City did not go with this proposal, he would have to sit out an intervening term, which is three years, plus the time lapsed between. Mayor Abramowitz asked for an Expression of interest as to placing on the ballot the ability to run for a different office (2.c.2.) EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: C/W Machek - Yes C/M Schreiber -- No C/M Mishkin - Yes V/M Katz - Yes Mayor Abramowitz - Yes Mr. Kraft said as 2.c.2. is currently written, it affects Charter Board members. He said there may be some interplay at a later time. Mayor Abramowitz said the City needs to be extremely careful as to the language used on this. Mayor Abramowitz asked that each Council member place on the table what they consider to be priority items. C/W Machek said at the previous election, there was a question as to who swears in the newly elected officials. She said she understands that it is to be the City Manager, but she got the feeling from Mr. Noe that the oath should be administered by the City Clerk. She suggested that this be readdressed. Mr. Kraft said Charter Section 5.05 states that the oath of office is to be administered and maintained by the City Manager. Further discussion was held regarding this. C/M Schreiber and C/M Mishkin said they had no priorities at this time. V/M Katz said the Charter dictates that Council have four consecutive weeks of vacation. He said historically, it has always been at the worst time of the year --the time of budget review. He said it has always put the City Manager in a terrible position based on sending the trim notice and other information to the County by a deadline. V/M Katz said he does not feel that Council has to be dictated to four consecutive weeks. He suggested that this be broken down or possibly remove it completely and allow Council to take off whenever they want, as long as a quorum is present for the meetings. V/M Katz said it states in the Charter that Council must hold two meetings per month. He suggested that if this point were not in the Charter, the Council could hold only one meeting if the month was a slow one. He said as the Charter reads currently, Council must make an alternate date to hold their two meetings. V/M Katz said these are the types of items that the Charter Board should have been addressing, but were remiss in doing SO. TAPE 3 V/M Katz also suggested that the pay setup for Council be removed from the Charter. He said the elected official do not break even at the end of the year. He said in 1993, he subsidized his expenses $8,300.00 out--of--pocket to the $3,600.00 pay for office. He said he did it because he wanted to and that there is no alternative. City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 9 Mayor Abramowitz asked for Council's feelings on the four consecutive week issue. C/W Machek said it has always seemed strange to have Council away on vacation at the most important time of the year. C/M Schreiber said the Charter states that Council take four consecutive weeks, it does not specify the time. He said he believes that it was put into place so that the entire Council be present while in session. V/M Katz suggested that Council take their vacations whenever, as long as a quorum exists. He said there have been times where one member of Council or the other has been absent from meetings, but the City did not stop. Mayor Abramowitz said he was told in the past that the reason for this timeframe was to not have the elected officials in the office in order for Staff to properly prepare their budget. C/W Machek said if Council is going to look at changing the Charter Board from an elected Charter Board to an appointed Charter Board. She recommended that Council also look at the rest of the items in the Charter that are needed to be changed to bring it into the Year 2000. Mayor Abramowitz said there are only two ways to put a Charter amendment before the public, one being an established election and the other is to call a Special Election, which is expensive. Mayor .Abramowitz said now that there are three-year terms, the situation in Tamarac has drastically changed. He said the upcoming year will be the first year that there will not be an election in Tamarac. He said every year, six months prior to an election, the Staff and the City is traumatized by election preparations. C/W Machek said if Council members are acting as Legislators, the Staff should be able to do their work without being interfered with. She said if the expense equals a working document that will bring the City into the future, and that information would not have to be discussed every other year, then the expense would be justified. V/M Katz said historically, the people have resented any referendum items on the September ballots due to the "Snowbirds" already being gone and diminishing the right for them to vote. C/M Mishkin said his objection for a Special Election for referendum for changes in the Charter is that these ballots have traditionally proven to draw a very poor turnout to the polls, except for those activists who are against any proposals of the elected officials. Discussion was held as to the percentage of voters in the City. Mayor Abramowitz RECESSED the meeting at 11:39 a.m, and RECONVENED at 11:50 a.m. with ALL PRESENT. Mayor Abramowitz asked if V/M Katz is asking to change four consecutive weeks and V/M Katz said that is what he wants to change. V/M Katz said he wants to eliminate the four consecutive weeks language as mandated. He said Council can do this as City Council workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 10 four one week schedules or any other combination as long as a quorum is present. C/M Mishkin said it is very easy to observe the four consecutive weeks because it only eliminates one Council meeting. Mr. Kraft said the Charter mandates that Council meet two times per month. He recommended that Council look at these two items simultaneously. Mayor Abramowitz said there are certain times when Council should be present. He said Council has the authority to waive a meeting if it is necessary and it has been done in the past. Mayor Abramowitz said he has always made his vacation plans according to the July schedule, beginning on July 5th. He said he is against leaving it to the discretion of each individual Council member. He said the City has a particular time of the year when it is very important that all of Council is present. V/M Katz suggested that two weeks be taken in the Spring and two weeks in the Fall, April and November. Mayor Abramowitz requested that each Council member think about the timeframe they would be interested in having off, and bring it back for another workshop for discussion. Mr. Noe said the Charter requires that Council receive the budget by July 31st. He said he would like to present the budget to Council during a Regular meeting. He said the budget is the single, most important item during the course of the year. He said it is helpful to have Council away for a month at a time. He said if July is the time for Council's vacation, the budget would be delivered to the members anyway. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mr. Kraft suggested that Council consider giving themselves authority to cancel set meetings in such a change. Mayor Abramowitz said he would be against canceling a meeting unless there is a specific reason for canceling the meeting. V/M Katz said he does not feel that the City will get young professionals to sit on Council unless the City will have a pay scale that will allow them to take time away from their business or employment. He said it should not be necessary to subsidize the job. He recommended that Council take into consideration the option of an increase in salary. C/W Machek said this complies with the recommendations in the Coleman report which states that Council should consider a change to adopting the National Civic League Model Charter language. She said an increase of salary should be considered. V/M Katz said the Broward County Commission's salary is based on a population formula and another formula is what is mandated through the State. He said the State Legislature tells the County whether or not they can increase their salaries and by how much. V/M Katz said he had proposed an increase of salary for Council to $4,800.00 and the Mayor, an increase to $6,000.00. He said he also had suggested that the expense accounts be increased and add those onto their pay schedules. Further discussion was held regarding his subsidizing his salary. City Council Workshop Meeting 4/11/94/KJ Page 11 VIM Katz said Cooper City successfully increased their salaries. He recommended that Council consider taking this out of the Charter and bring before the public at public hearings. Mr. Kraft said he had drafted Temp. Ord. #1654, which was a proposal to amend Section 4.04 and to make it in accordance to General State Law pertaining to non -Charter counties, using a formula based on population. C/M Schreiber said this would be taking away the right of the voters to control how much money Council should get paid. He said it is true that in other areas the Council is paid more but no one asked the candidates to run for office. He said he feels it is an honor to serve in this position and if he did not earn a dime, he would still serve. VIM Katz said the referendum that he is proposing is to take the subject out of the Charter. He said if the electorate decides that they do not want to take it out of the Charter, then it will not be removed. Mayor Abramowitz asked for an Expression of Interest on removing this from the Charter. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: C/W Machek said she would like to discuss this further. C/M Schreiber said there should be no change. C/M Mishkin said he has no opinion on this at this time and would like more information. V/M Katz said he would like to discuss further. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to discuss further. VIM Katz said he would like Council to address annexation on the next referendum and consider this for discussion at a future workshop Mayor Abramowitz said there are at least 25 or 30 items in the Charter which need to be revised. He said history has proven that more than 4 or 5 items on the ballot at one time should be avoided. He said it confuses the electorate and the are not going to read a long list of items. He said his priority are those items which are costing the City money and should be handled immediately. Mayor Abramowitz asked Council to make a list of priorities for further discussion at a future workshop. VIM Katz said the third Monday of the month, he is not available for a workshop unless it is held in the afternoon. He said he has County meetings every third Monday of the month at 11:00 a.m. C/M Mishkin asked what the status was on changing the Councilman/Councilwoman name to Commissioner. VIM Katz said this needs to be addressed in the future. Mr. Noe asked that Council provide him with a date for the Council orientation and all agreed to provide him with a mutually convenient date. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 12:15 p.m. CAROL A. EVANS, CMC CITY CLERK