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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-05-19 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue �� " �P Phone (305) 722-5900 Tamarac, Florida 33321-2401 Fax (305) 722-4509 May 14, 1992 NOTICE OF NORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Workshop Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, May 19, 1992, at 9:30 A.M. in the Conference Room #1, Tamarac City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is for Charter Review. The City Council may consider such other business as may come before it. All meetings are open to the public. Carol A. Evans City Clerk CAE/kj THE CITY OF TAMARAC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMKOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1992 Tape 1 CALL TO ORDER : Mayor Bender called the City Council Workshop Meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room #1, City Hall. PRESENT : Mayor H. L. Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Joseph Schreiber ABSENT AND EXCUSED : Councilman Irving Katz ALSO PRESENT : John P. Kelly, City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Phyllis Polikoff, Secretary Mayor Bender said the purpose of the Workshop was to review the Charter and Council should determine what referendums they wanted to put on the ballot. He said the Council had received a copy of the Charter Board minutes of May 7, 1992 which listed their recommendations. C/M Schreiber asked what the timeframe was and if anything proposals could be deferred until C/M Katz returned. Carol Evans, City Clerk, said there had to be two readings before July 20 in order for referendums to be on the September ballot. John Kelly, City Manager, said language had to be sent before July 20 and Ms. Evans indicated that regular Council meetings would be held on June 10 and June 24. Mr. Kelly said City Attorney Kraft had to have language by June 3 and June 17. Mr. Kelly said no final decision could be made at today's Workshop meeting. Mayor Bender stated that the Charter Board proposed nine items at their meeting of May 7, 1992 (see attachment) which they requested to put on the ballot. He said all nine items would not be placed on the same ballot. Mayor Bender said Terms of Office was a priority item and C/M Abramowitz said he wanted Council to make sure they had the agreed upon language for the proposals at least one week before the regularly scheduled June Council meetings. C/M Abramowitz said it was very costly and detrimental to have elections every year and it was up to the citizens to make this determination. Mr. Kelly said City Attorney Kraft was mandated to provide language to the Council at a meeting before June 3 and Council had to determine that date. He suggested that a meeting should be scheduled for Tuesday or Thursday, May 26 or May 28. C/M Abramowitz said there was a timeframe between both meetings and asked if they could be special meetings and Ms. Evans agreed. She said, however, it could not be a Workshop meeting. C/M Abramowitz asked if there had to be Public Hearings and Ms. Evans responded the second reading had to be a Public Hearing. He said the Public Hearing should be at a regular Council meeting and Mr. Kelly said he agreed. City Council workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 2 C/M Abramowitz suggested scheduling a Special Meeting for the first reading and the second Council Meeting would be the second Public Hearing. Ms. Evans said 10 days was needed between the first and the second reading for advertising. Mr. Kelly said City Attorney Kraft would provide ballot language to the Council by June 3 and June 17. Ms. Evans asked if items would be on the September and November ballots and Mayor Bender said, yes. He said he did not want too many on the September ballot. C/M Schreiber said the November election would generate more voters and V/M Schumann said the voters would come out and it did not matter if elections were held in September or November. C/M Abramowitz said he recommended that the term of office for the Council should be discussed and Mayor Bender said this item was also on top of the Charter Board's list of proposals. Mayor Bender said Charter Board had recommended that Council's term of office be extended from two years to three years. C/M Schreiber said Charter Board also recommended that Council have unlimited terms and Mayor Bender said Charter Board's Counsel recommended unlimited erms as a separate item. C/M Abramowitz said Council's vote at the time went from two gears to three years with an unlimited amount of terms and he also agreed with Charter Board Counsel's recommendation to keep these issues separate. He said a previous Council first voted for a three-year term with a three -term limit and then they voted for three-year unlimited terms. C/M Schreiber said he was opposed to increasing the terms of office for the Council and he said two years was adequate. Mayor Bender said he was unhappy with having an election every year. V/M Schumann'said if there were three-year terms, elections would be held every 18 months and he recommended that every district should run at the same time. C/M Abramowitz said he was opposed to elections where everyone ran at once. V/M Schumann said a problem still existed with the Councilmembers from the First and Third Districts who would have to give up their seats if they ran for Mayor. V/M Schumann said the Mayor would serve for four years with one election being held in an even year and one election being held in an odd year. He said Councilmembers from the four Districts would not have to resign their positions to run for Mayor. C/M Abramowitz said some cities elected their Mayor for a term of office different from their Councilmembers. He asked Mr. Kelly to prepare data indicating the terms of office for Mayors and their Councils. C/M Schumann said this would be very unfair for Councilmembers in the odd -numbered Districts. C/M Abramowitz asked if there was an administrative problem with the Mayor serving four years and Councilmembers serving three years. Mr. Kelly said there was no problem with the Mayor but Councilmembers should only serve two years and C/M Abramowitz said he was opposed to this. C/M Abramowitz said he believed it was wrong for everyone to run at once and for a Councilmember to serve for two years. He asked if it was possible to adjust the terms. V/M Schumann suggested the Mayor should serve four years with one election held in an even -numbered year and the next election held in an odd --numbered year. C/M Abramowitz asked if data could be prepared which might solve this problem. Mayor Bender said he believed the minimum term should be three years. Mr. Kelly said he would review V/M Schumann's suggestions and look at City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 3 the proposals and options submitted by Carla Coleman. Mayor Bender asked Mr. Kelly to prepare data regarding terms of office and term limitations for the Council. Mayor Bender said the original Charter indicated unlimited terms and it was changed in 1984 to limited terms. Mr. Kelly asked about a date for the next meeting and Mayor Bender said a Special meeting would be scheduled for Thursday, May 28 at 9:30 a.m. Mayor Bender said he wanted to discuss expenses and compensation to the Mayor and Council and C/M Schreiber said he did not believe the amount of expenses or compensation should be increased. Mayor Bender said the amount of compensation was established in 1980 and C/M Katz had suggested the amount should be increased from $6,000 to $7,200. Mr. Kelly said one item that Council should consider was their Expense Account and to his knowledge no Councilmember ever used all their monies in that account. He suggested eliminating the Expense Account and transferring the monies to a salary account. Mayor Bender said that the Charter Board recommended that compensation should be increased to $6,000 per year for the Council and $7,200 per year for the Mayor and it should be given once per year. C/M Abramowitz said it was more costly to monitor the Expense Account than what was spent. Tape 2 C/M Schreiber asked why expense vouchers had to be turned in on a monthly basis and V/M Schumann responded that reimbursements were issued each month. Mayor Bender said the Charter Board recommended compensation and expenses should be increased for the Mayor and Council. He asked that Council should consider these items at the next regular Council meeting in order to make a decision b6fore their meeting with the Charter Board. C/M Abramowitz recommended that elected officials should not get a salary and that monies in the Expense Account should be transferred to a separate Salary Account. C/M Abramowitz asked if there was a problem if monies were transferred to an Income Account and V/M Schumann said these funds would not be accountable. V/M Schumann said if the funds were transferred to a Salary or Income Account, Council would not get the entire amount they were eligible for because FICA and Withholding taxes would be deducted. Mr. Kelly reiterated that monies in the Expense Account would be transferred to a Salary Account. V/M Schumann said the Charter Board recommended that Redistricting should be addressed and Mr. Kelly said he agreed with regard to voter registration and population. C/M Abramowitz said Ms. Evans had advised the Redistricting Committee that there was a possibility that Jane Carroll's Office might move some precincts. He suggested that nothing should be done until a decision was made by Ms. Carroll. Mr. Kelly stated that population and registered voters was a problem in the City and he agreed with Charter Board's suggestion that FAU should do a population analysis. He said Council should be responsible for the costs. Mr. Kelly said Redistricting should be based on population and not registered voters. Mayor Bender said if Redistricting was based on population, a census was only done every 10 years. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 4 C/M Abramowitz advised that the City lost 1,700 registered voters since the last election and Ms. Evans said there might have been a purge through Jane Carroll's Office. Mayor Bender said Redistricting would be held in abeyance until the City heard from Jane Carroll's Office. C/M Abramowitz said the Charter Board recommended that they should be compensated $2,000 per year and he believed the other items were housekeeping items. C/M Abramowitz said Council should decide what they wanted to do with regard to compensation for the Charter Board and the length of their terms of office. V/M Schumann said the residents had voted against the Charter Board receiving a lesser amount. Mr. Kelly said the subject of Redistricting was very questionable and it could be challenged in the Courts. He said it had to be changed from registered voters to population and this would have nothing to do with what Jane Carroll did. Mayor Bender said he agreed and said this was a Workshop Meeting and Council could not make any decisions. He said a vote would be taken at the next regular Council meeting to amend the Charter provision on Redistricting and it would be based on population and not registered voters. C/M Abramowitz asked if a study had been done on Total Population versus Registered Voters and Mr. Kelly said, no, because his study was only based on Registered Voters. C/M Abramowitz asked if it would make a difference if the Charter was changed to population from registered voters. Mr. Kelly said he could only refer to Ms. Coleman's recommendations. C/M Schreiber suggested that a study should be done of each district to determine the population and registered voters in each district, Mayor Bender said he had data on the registered voters but he would need data based on population. Mr. Kelly suggested this study should not be a priority for the September ballot but it could be considered for the November, 1992 or March, 1993 ballot. C/M Abramowitz said census figures were divided into blocks and all the blocks in each district could be added up to determine the population in each district. Ms. Evans suggested that Kelly Carpenter should attend the meeting because she had the census figures and the boundaries. Mr. Kelly said he would do this study for the March, 1993 election because it would miss the November deadline. C/M Schreiber asked if Council was hesitating about making a decision on single --member districts because of Redistricting and V/M Schumann said he was in favor of single -member districts. V/M Schumann suggested that the Mayor could run at -large but each Council.member would run from their individual. district. Mayor Bender said the Model City Charter publication had a recom- mendation pertaining to districting and redistricting. V/M Schumann said an extremely large number of votes throughout the City could elect anyone from any district. C/M Abramowitz said he would try to locate the documentation regarding voting in single -member districts. He said there was no accountability unless a city had extremely large districts. V/M Schumann said he was concerned about one District controlling the City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 5 other Districts in the City. He said the City of Parkland had single - member districts and the Mayor was elected at -large. C/M Abramowitz said the City of Parkland intended to change this with the next election. C/M Abramowitz said compensation for Charter Board members should be discussed and voted on and Mayor Bender said a vote would be taken at the next regularly scheduled Council meeting. Sam Garber, resident and member of the Charter Board, said the residents should be made aware of the time and work done by the Charter Board and that Charter Board members should be compensated. C/M Schreiber suggested that the Charter Board should endeavor to educate the residents. C/M Schreiber said the residents voted against the Charter Board receiving any compensation at the last election. He said it was possible they would vote against it again. He said he had no objections to having it placed on the ballot. Mayor Bender said he had no problem with placing compensation on the ballot but he felt it should not be Council's first priority. C/M Schreiber said Mr. Kelly had requested that Council should discuss Section 4.05(b) - Forfeiture of office and Section 8.02 - Duties and Powers. V/M Schumann and Mr. Kelly left Conference Room #1 at 10:46 a.m. C/M Schreiber said he believed there was a conflict between Section 7.10 - Financial Procedures Appropriations Amendments and Section 7.18 - Utilities and other Special Services with regard to the commingling of funds. He said it resulted in a lawsuit, INPAC vs. the City, and Judge Brescher said there was a conflict. C/M Abramowitz said the Lawsuit was dismissed and C/M Schreiber agreed but said it was due to the lawsuit failing to proceed forward in a timely fashion. V/M Schumann and Mr. Kelly returned to Conference Room #1 at 10:48 a.m. Mayor Bender said he found City Council Minutes from 1984 wherein former City Attorney Henning interpreted Section 7.18 to mean that separate funds had to be maintained and they could not be commingled. He said Section 7.18 permitted excess funds from any account to be transferred to another account. C/M Schreiber said that $500,000 in excess funds was transferred from the Utilities West account to the General Fund. He said he believed it was improper and illegal that Utilities West funds were used to provide services to other parts of the City. C/M Abramowitz stated that a question on the previous referendum asked if there were two budgets and the citizens said, no. He said the Charter inferred there were two budgets. He said the General Budget had been short-changed over many years. Mayor Bender said the Charter had to be amended due to the referendums which were passed in March. C/M Abramowitz said the Charter indicated that the Redistricting Committee's Report was final and he disagreed. He said it would become final after it went before the Council. He said the Charter would have to be amended to reflect this change. V/M Schumann stated if the Charter was incorrect, it had to be changed by putting a referendum before the citizens. He said there was no need for a Committee if the Charter was incorrect and the Charter was law until it was changed. C/M Abramowitz said State Law mandated that the City had to have a Redistricting Committee and V/M Schumann said the Redistricting Committee's Report was final unless it was changed. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 6 C/M Abramowitz suggested that, "The report of the committee shall be final" should be corrected to, "The report of the committee shall be submitted to the Council before it becomes final". Mr. Kelly said Council had agreed to his suggestion of waiting until the March, 1993 election before action was taken. He said everything that related to Redistricting should be addressed for the March, 1993 ballot. Mayor Bender said Redistricting would be discussed at the same time the population study was discussed. C/M Schreiber asked if anything would be done with regard to Oath of Office and Mr. Kelly said this was a housekeeping matter. Tape 3 Mr. Kelly said Terms of Office, Limited or Unlimited Terms of Office and Expense Account/Compensation will be discussed at the Special Meeting on Thursday, May 28, at 9:30 a.m. Mayor Bender said for the record, that a Workshop was scheduled for Friday, May 22. He said the problems concerning Continental Cable would be discussed in addition to Broward County's proposal to the City regarding the Fire service in Broward County. C/M Abramowitz said at a prior meeting, he distributed correspondence from a company wanting to sell non -exploding fireworks for July 4. He said other cities in Broward County bought the fireworks which met all the requirements of the Tamarac Code. He said the company generated revenue and they split their profits with several charitable organizations. He asked for Council to discuss this and to decide by the next Council meeting if the company would be allowed to sell their fireworks in the City. C/M Schreiber said discussion had been held with regard to increasing the speaking time for public participation from three minutes to five minutes. He said the Council voted it down. C/M Schreiber said he suggested that Council should answer all the questions presented to them by the public and language on the agenda should be simplified. He asked that the public should be permitted to speak at the beginning of special Council meetings similar to what was done at regular Council meetings. Mayor Bender said any meeting opened to the public could lead to a debate. He said anything that was not on the agenda could be discussed and the person could also contact the Councilmember representing their district. C/M Schreiber said a Special Meeting should be conducted the same way as a Regular Council meeting with regard to Public Participation. Mayor Bender said he agreed. V/M Schumann said the only exception was that Council could not always give an immediate answer to the public. Mayor Bender said a person with several questions or a detailed question should put it in writing and Council would see that the question or questions were answered. Mayor Bender asked Council if they agreed that Public Participation should be agendized at the beginning of any Special Meetings. The consensus of opinion was as follows: C/M Abramowitz AYE C/m Schreiber AYE V/M Schumann AYE Ms. Evans said the public was permitted to participate at any Special Meeting on only agenda items and reiterated that Public Participation should be agendized in the beginning instead of the end. I V` City Council Workshop Meeting 5/19/92/PP Page 7 F1 C/M Abramowitz said the public could only participate with an item that was on the agenda. C/M Schreiber said this was inconsistent with regular meetings in Council Chambers where people could speak on any subject. C/M Abramowitz said the difference was that the meeting was open to the public and they were permitted to speak on any subject. He said a Special Meeting was called for a specific purpose. C/M Schreiber said he was in agreement that a person should only address an item on the agenda. C/M Abramowitz said all Special Meeting notices should indicate that the public could address only items on the agenda. C/M Schreiber suggested that the person should be limited to three minutes. Mr. Kelly said there were disparities between the two towing bids which the City received. He said the City might be given a low rate for the franchise but the public would be charged a high fee and Council will be receiving all the correspondence to review. Mr. Kelly said he directed Mary Blasi, Finance Director, to communicate with Medics Ambulance for payment by June 15. He said City Attorney Kraft will look to the Court if Medics Ambulance has not made payment by that date. City Attorney Kraft said he thought Medics Ambulance was holding up payment because of the Federal Law and Medicare. V/M Schumann said private insurance monies were also involved. Mayor Bender said Mr. Kelly received correspondence regarding permits for Continental Cable and Ms. McDermott was advised by Dan Wood, Chief Building Official, that Building permits were never issued. He said, however, that the Engineering Department issued permits and Mr. Wood should be made aware of this. Mayor Bender said it should be mandatory for Continental Cable to get a permit before they were allowed to lay any cables. He asked Mr. Kelly to check this out. C/M Abramowitz said he received a request from the American Cancer Society to be permitted to walk through Woodmont for funds. He said he will ask the contact person to communicate directly with Mr. Kelly. Mayor Bender ADJOURNED the Workshop at 11:15 a.m. X k CAROL E . EVANS CITY CLERK (I I r. R Iq r T-r� G%©L)1ye-fL- ` llV19 Z n Charter Board Meeting 05/07/92/elo Page 3 �d,pKSr-1°Y personal slurs. Chairwoman Davis asked Mr. Peret.zman to leave the room or be quiet. Mr. Brawer said personal slurs are a criminal act and he will ask the police to eject him if he continues. Mr. Garber said every amendment is to be presented for public hearing. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Chairwoman Davis said the Charter Board has discussed sever$1 amendment proposals. She said they have all been voted on a d other than the length of term of office which will be thr e years from this point on, the Board did not indicate Okn effective date. She said the Board needs to add an effective date of March, 1993. Chairwoman Davis said the amendment proposals are as followO: 1. to extend Councils term of office from two to three. years; 2. succession of terms be changed from two terms to unlimited; 3. compensation for Council to $6,000 a year and $7,200 for the Mayor; 4. expenses for Council tc $2,000 and $3,000 for the Mayor per year with no accountability; 5. vacancies of Council include the reason for absence unless excused by Coun.cil;, 6. Charter Board term of office be changed to throe years; 7. Redistricting - a. change the report from one to three years and b. delete - "residential, rental, condo..." and end the sentence at the word "precinct", c. eliminate "shall be final" in regards to the report; 8. Oath of office delete "administered by the City Manager" and add to be administered by the City Clerk; 9. compensation for the Charter Board of $2,000 annually Mr. Krantz MOVED to to make the applicability for the amend- ments March, 1993, SECONDED by Mr. Garber. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE Mr. Novack asked for the exact date for the effective date and it was decided March 9, 1993 which is election day. 7. NEW BUSINESS: Chairwoman Davis said there was a suggestion made for a