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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-05-04 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC U CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1990 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to order on Friday, May 4, 1990 at 10:30 A.M. in the City Manager Conference Room. PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Bruce Hoffman Councilman Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Henry Rohr Councilman Henry Schumann ALSO PRESENT: John P. Kelly, City Manager Pauline Walaszek, Secretary The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the Independent Charter Review submitted by Carla Coleman, Consultant. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like the City Council to indicate which items they would like on the next Referendum. He said the City Council indicated what they felt was priority; however, he would like an idea of how many items should be placed on the next ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said unless there was a change, the joint meeting between the City Council and Charter Board would be held on May 10, 1990. C/M Schumann asked what time the meeting would be called and Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to hold the meeting in the morning. The City Council AGREED to hold the joint meeting at 9:00 A.M. Mayor Abramowitz suggested each Councilmember indicate how many items they would like on the ballot for the next Referendum. C/M Schumann said he felt there should be three items placed on the next ballot. C/M Bender said there should be no more than six items on the next ballot.' V/M Hoffman said he felt five items should be placed on the ballot; however, two of the items were not Charter revisions. He said the two items pertained to bonding issues. Mayor Abramowitz said he felt the bonding issues had to be placed on the next ballot. He asked V/M Hoffman if he was separating the sidewalk and street lighting projects and V/M Hoffman replied, yes. C/M Rohr said he also had two bonding issues and three Charter revisions. Mayor Abramowitz said he felt that the street lighting and sidewalk projects could be combined as one item on the ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said he asked that the Utilities/Engineering Department submit information to the City Council concerning the costs and method in which the projects could be completed. Page 1 5/4/90-pw Jl Mayor Abramowitz said he felt there were four Charter revisions to be placed on the ballot. V/M Hoffman said he felt one of the Charter amendments s be Section 4.02. City Council= election, terms and qualifications. He said Article XI. City Attorney and Section 7.11. Requirements for public bidding should be placed on the next ballot. ild C/M Bender said he would select the three items mentioned by V/M Hoffman and Section 7.13. Requirements for referendum., V/M Hoffman asked if the amendment pertained to the expenditure of monies without going to referendum and C/M Render replied, yes. Mayor Abramowitz said he agreed with this amendment; howe er, the City Council recently had the right to combine both budgets in which the percentage could be determined. Mayor Abramowitz said the City has been challenged on this matter and the cases were dismissed in the Courts. He said he felt Section 7.13 was a priority; however, because the City Council was legally able to combine the budgets, it should not be changed. C/M Bender said the City Council discussed eliminating th cap and Mayor Abramowitz said he did not believe this was! appropriate. V/M Hoffman said he felt this amendment should be on the ballot until the'Interim City Attorney indicated that the City could use the total budget amount to determine the costs. V/M Hoffman said the City Council was authorized to use the Operating and Utility Budgets combined. He said he did not feel this was a priority; however, it was something to be addressed in the near future. Mayor Abramowitz said if the Attorney did not inform the Council that they could use both budgets combined, he wou have wanted to have this item on the next ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not want to put several amendments on the next ballot and he felt that the most important items should be placed on the ballot. "ity ld V/M Hoffman said he was not in favor of eliminating the c�p. C/M Schumann said he would like Sections 4.02, 7.11 and 7�13 of the Charter placed on the next ballot for amendments. He said he may not want Section 7.13 amended providing the City -" was able to use the budgets combined for a figure on the bidding requirements. C/M Rohr said he would like Sections 4.02 and 7.11 placed on the next ballot with revisions. He said he would like t e street lighting and sidewalk projects included. Mayor Abramowitz suggested the City Council discuss what would like amended for Section 4.02, terms of office. Mayor Abramowitz said it was suggested that two options be placed on the ballot concerning the terms of office. He said after discussing this matter with the City Manager and City Clerk, the definition in the State Statutes indicated that the options could not be given. V/M Hoffman said he would like the Interim City Attorneyes opinion on this matter and Mayor Abramowitz said this wo 'ld be done. Page 2 5/4/90--pw �` Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council discussed having two year unlimited terms and three year unlimited terms. He said he felt there should be two year unlimited terms because the voters would vote providing their ability to vote on the people for office was not changed. He said he objected to having the politicians decide who should be in office. Mayor Abramowitz said because there was an election every year, he felt that the terms should be extended. He said he wanted the voters to select the appropriate person for the positions. Mayor Abramowitz asked what the City Councilmembers would like amended on the terms of office based on an opinion from the Interim City Attorney. V/M Hoffman said he would like to see the City Council and Mayor serving three year terms with no limitations. C/M Bender said he would like to see Option 2 of the Independent Charter Review, which indicated unlimited three year terms with staggered elections in the first and second years of the election cycle, allowing a "year off" in the third year of the cycle. C/M Schumann said he would like to see three year unlimited terms for the City Council and Mayor. C/M Rohr said he would like the voters to be given a choice of two year unlimited terms or three year unlimited terms. He said if this was not possible, he would like to see three year unlimited terms. Mayor Abramowitz said he understood that the existing terms of office were placed in the Charter for specific reasons such as removing someone from office. He said it was no secret that he and Jack Stelzer, former Councilmember, disagreed on several things. He said he always felt that Mr. Stelzer was intelligent, dedicated, honest and worked for the best interest of the City at all times. Mayor Abramowitz said disregarding Mr. Stelzer's illness, there came a time that Mr. Stelzer could not run for office again until he took a year recess. He said he felt this was not fair because Mr. Stelzer had the ability and knowledge of the City and could do several things for the City. Mayor Abramowitz said there may be people who will feel that this City Council would be creating a dynasty. He said the voters of the City had a reputation for voting to remove people that were not appropriate for the City. He said one of the newspapers stated that the City of Tamarac played musical chairs. He said if someone was indicating that the President of the United States could only serve two terms, he would inform that person that this term was 8 years. V/M Hoffman said the President was an Administrator and the City Council was Legislators. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not know how anyone could not allow the voters to make the decision about who should hold the public offices. He said when the City Council met with the Charter Board they had to determine what they would like on the next ballot. C/M Schumann said unlimited terms did not take anything away from the voters. He said the voters would be making the decision about who would serve as public officers of the City. Mayor Abramowitz said the history of this City indicated that the voters choose who was best for the City. Page 3 5/4/90-pw C/M Rohr said besides C/M Schumann, the other Councilmemb rs were sitting ducks. Mayor Abramowitz said he felt that there would be two joi t meetings with the Charter Board and he would like to sche tine the Public Hearings as soon as possible. V/M Hoffman said the City Council should set a time frame 'for when the items should be submitted to the County to be pl iced on the ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said he has discussed that the items should be on the September, 1990 ballot. He said it would cost approximately $29,000.00 for a special election; however, it would cost approximately $11,000.00 for the City to have the County place the amendments on the ballot during their elections. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not know what the City Counc 1 and Charter Board would agree to; however, he would like o have the Public Hearings as soon as possible so the resid'nts could be involved. He said the City had to provide a 60 clay notice to the County for the items they want on the ballot for the September, 1990 elections. City Manager Kelly said the information should be submitted to the County by June 3, 1990. V/M Hoffman said the City Council had to work on this matter immediately so the information could be submitted by June13, 1990. ------------------------------------------------ Mayor Abramowitz said he received a letter from Herb Haye , President of the Tamarac President's Council, concerning joint meeting between the City Council and the Tamarac President's Council in the City Council Chambers. He said Mr. Hayes suggested that the City Council, Mayor, City Manager and Department Heads attend this meeting. He sai the Tamarac President's Council would like to discuss iss es with the City Council that were of mutual concern. C/M Bender said he felt that 9:00 A.M. was very early. H said in order to get a good attendance the meeting should be held later. Mayor Abramowitz said he attended several Tamarac Preside is Council and everyone attended. He said 9:00 A.M. was a g od time to hold this meeting. He said he was pleased that t is meeting would take place. The City Council AGREED to have this joint meeting. --------------------------------------------------- City Manager Kelly said last night he spoke to the Board of Directors of Sunflower/Heathgate and they were concerned about the street lighting problems. He said he informed Ithem that this would be considered for the ballot in September, 1990. V/M Hoffman said the City Council should receive information regarding how the costs would be handled such as borrowing from the bank. City Manager Kelly said the Utilities/Engineering Director would be submitting information concerning the costs, etc. City Manager Kelly suggested that a workshop meeting be I with the Utilities/Engineering Director regarding this information. He said the City Council should make a dec; -- as -t-o where the sidewalks and street lighting should be placed. eld sion I Page 4 5/4/90--pw 1 City Manager Kelly said the Referendum should provide the voters with what and how the projects should be done. V/M Hoffman said the Referendum should indicate where the funds were to come from. Mayor Abramowitz said the Referendum would ask the voters if the funds should be borrowed to complete the two projects. V/M Hoffman said he felt the City should specify to the voters that a bond issue would be used. He said the City should know in advance how the projects would be financed. Mayor Abramowitz said he was informed that it was not mandatory for the City to inform the residents where the funds would come from. He said if a bond program was the best thing for the City it should be implemented. V/M Hoffman said he felt it would be cheaper to borrow the money from a bank and Mayor Abramowitz agreed. Mayor Abramowitz said the City was informed about an on -going program called "Ambassador Excellence". He said the program consisted of one year which included all people from different facets of life. He said the only thing this program did not have was an elected official. Mayor Abramowitz said after tremendous pressure Tamarac would have a student spending one day with his peers and one day in City Hall. He said the students were required to spend a week at Nova University at their expense and away from their family. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like a student to sit with the Councilmembers, staff, etc. He said every City had this program and he felt the program was a great concept for the Cities and students. C/M Rohr asked what the students would do after they spent time with the various people and Mayor Abramowitz said it was a good learning experience for the students. He said it gave the students exposure to the world. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:30 A.M. CAROL A. EVANS, CITY CLERK "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $40.49 or $8.10 per copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees of recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of Tamarac." 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