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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-10-07 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue Tamarac, Florida 33321-2401 September 25, 1991 NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA Phone (305) 722-5900 Fax (305) 722-4509 There will be a Workshop Meeting of the City Council on Monday, October 7, 1991, at 9:30 a.m, in Conference Room #1, Tamarac City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. 1. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss possible Charter Amendments. 2. 21MULL PARTICIPATION - Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is not agendized for public hearing at this meeting. Speakers will be limited to three minutes during this item and at public hearings. There will be a thirty (30) minute aggregate time limit for this item, and speakers are encouraged to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation. All meetings are open to the public. In the event this agenda must be revised, such revised copies will be available to the public at the City Council meeting. Carol A. Evans City Clerk CAE/kj THE CITY OF TAMARAC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS City Council Workshop Meeting 10/07/91/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1991 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting Monday, October 7, 1991 at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Roo City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. PRESENT• Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. Larry Bender Councilwoman Diane Glasser Councilman Henry Schumann ABSENJ AND EXCUSED: Councilman Irving Katz ALSO � REA&XT * John P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Alan F. Ruf, City Attorney Karen Jackson, Secretary to order on m #1 of Tamarac 1. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss possible Charter Amendments. Mayor Abramowitz summarized the prioritizing procedure. He said at the last meeting there were some housekeeping and vital items decided on by Council for consideration to place for Referendum. He said the Charter Board and Council had agreed on most of the issues. He asked what Council feels is important to be placed on the ballot for Referendum. City Manager Kelly said one of his greatest concerns is the Council's vacation schedule which needs to be addressed and longer terms of office, which he recommended being for three or four year terms. He said some cities stagger three and four year terms. He said the limitation on the terms should be decided.by the public. City Manager Kelly said City Clerk Evans had expressed her concerns regarding the City being redundant in some areas by adopting some things that are not needed to be done again. City Attorney Ruf said almost the entire financial section of the Charter regarding how a budget is to be submitted, advertising the budget and how to prepare a Capital Plan are all served by the State Statutes. He said there are many things in the Charter which can be brought into conformance with the State Law. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the State Law supercedes the City Law and City Attorney Ruf said the City is required to comply with both based on which Law is more restrictive. City Attorney Ruf said this would solve the duplication issue that the City Clerk's office has. V/M Bender said he had met with the previous Finance Director, Ken Burroughs, on May 4, 1990 to discuss the Financial Procedures on Article 7, Page 13 of the Carla Coleman report. He said he had obtained a lot of information from Mr. Burroughs where the City conflicts with the State and where the State or City should prevail. He said he will supply Council with all of this information. City Manager Kelly said there are three opportunities in 1992 to place Charter amendments. V/M Bender said Council should already have all of the priorities compiled from previous meetings. City Council Workshop Meeting 10/07/91/KJ Page 2 C/W Glasser expressed her concern regarding receiving the Carla Coleman report and the memo from City Clerk Evans immediately prior to the meeting. C/W Glasser said she feels that the Council vacation schedule needs to be addressed due to the budget process. She referred to Section 4.02 of the Charter and said something is written improperly. She said it reads that Council members shall not succeed themselves for more than one term and City Manager Kelly said Council cannot succeed themselves for more than one term. Mayor .Abramowitz said he feels that the method by which each member of Council, including the Mayor, has an expense account is not good. He said the Charter instructs Council as to how they can spend the money and how to get it reimbursed. He said he feels that it costs the City double the amount to monitor it than the amount of money given to Council to spend. He said there have been recommendations to give the amount to Council and whatever is leftover after expenditures, is to be declared on their income tax, He said there was a recommendation to place a level of the amount of money to be expended. Mayor Abramowitz said he feels there is a better way to monitor the expenditures of the Council. Discussion was held regarding the monitoring of Council expenses, C/M Schumann referred to Section 7.13 of Carla Coleman's report which limits capital projects to 2.5% of the current budget without Referendum authority. He said the language does not clearly define what funds will be considered as part of the City budget. C/M Schumann referred to the suggestion of giving Council the total sum for expenses and whatever is left is to be declared on the income taxes, would not be considered an expense account but is then considered income. He said when a;sum of money is issued and must be backed up wit r the required expense vouchers, this is an expense account, which is a non-taxable item. He asked if Council would be required to turn over the expense vouchers if the money is given as a lump sum and, if not, it would have to be reported as income. Mayor Abramowitz said the Mayor and Council are invited to a lot of affairs due to being the Mayor or Council person of the City. He said these functions should be paid out of the expense account. City Manager Kelly suggested the money be issued on a monthly basis and these accounts itemized, leftover money returned. C/M Schumann said this could be worked out any way possible as long as expense vouchers were turned in, which would classify it as being expenses, but without a voucher, it is classified as income. Further discussion was held regarding this. City Manager Kelly said there are gray lines separating political and functional affairs when the Mayor and Council are invited to various functions. Discussion was held regarding these functions. C/M Schumann said Council needs to define who the beneficiary is in the function, whether political or charitable. He said he feels that if it is charitable, then it is a valid City expense but if it is for a political candidate running for office, then it would not be a valid expense. Mayor Abramowitz said this definition should be in the Charter. Further discussion was held regarding this. V/M Bender referred to Section 4.04 of the Charter, which explains how the Mayor and Council should handle their expenses and he asked what is considered duties. He said this needs to be redefined and given to everyone equally. Mayor Abramowitz said there has been a lot of money spent in the City due to the ambiguous language in the Charter. V/M Bender said he would like to eliminate the expense account and whatever functions that Council feels are required to be done by the City Council Workshop Meeting 10/07/91/KJ Page 3 City, should be paid for'by the City. He said there is no need for separate bookkeeping for this. Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter requires a change regarding expense accounts. C/W Glasser said the decision will remain up to the City Manager if this is eliminated. V/M Bender said the City Manager must work on an agreement as to what the responsibilities of Council are which will be the deciding factor. Further discussion was held regarding this. V/M Bender said the Ethics Commission uses a different set of rules to determine whether it is in line with an elected official's duty or not. Mayor Abramowitz said he has contacted the Ethics Commission several times and has been told by them that if it falls within the duties as Council or Mayor, it is allowable, but they will not send it in writing. V/M Bender said the Ethics Commission gives Section numbers and other backup for their basis. He said Council is entitled to utilize the same information as the Ethics Commission. City Manager Kelly said he will contact the Ethics Commission regarding this and V/M Bender requested the definition of expenses in writing. C/W Glasser asked what the date is for the Referendums to be prepared for the March election and City Manager Kelly said January 17, 1992 is the deadline. Mayor Abramowitz recapped the areas of concern by Council as follows: Compensation, Section 4.04, Page 5; Vacancies and Forfeiture of Office, Section 4.05, Page 6; Redistricting, Sections 6.01, 6.03, and 6.07, Page 10; Arrangements for Elections, Section 6.09, Page 12; Financial Procedures, Article VII, Page 13-16; Requirements of Referendum, Section 7.13 and 7.18, Page 17. V/M Bender expressed his concern with the combining of the Utilities and General Fund monies and Mayor Abramowitz said the report by David M. Griffith addressed this. Mayor Abramowitz referred to Page 4 of the Carla Coleman report regarding two year terms. He said he feels that Vacancies and Forfeiture, Page 7, should be reviewed carefully. V/M Bender said he has reviewed the Financial. Procedures section and the City is in conflict with the State in many areas. Mayor Abramowitz said the Requirements for Referendum, Page 17, was high on the list of priorities by Council. He said Paragraph 1 of the Carla Coleman report addresses the situation regarding the clear definition of what funds will be considered as part of the City budget. C/M Schumann said when the City publishes the budget, both the Utilities and General Fund budget are posted giving a grand total, which people assume is the total budget. TAPE 2 City Attorney Ruf said that Cooper City had recently handled this same incident and one of the recommendations was to take the Utilities out of the requirement because the City is using non -tax dollars. He said anything affecting utilities or anything mandated by State or Federal Statute should be exempt from this Referendum requirement. He said it was suggested that the Utilities issues be taken out because the City would not be using ad valorem taxes, but user fees to pay for them. Mayor Abramowitz asked what happens assuming that they mandate the Storm Water Drain Act and the funds that the Utilities Department generates do not cover the expenditure. City Attorney Ruf said the City would not be able to sell the bonds and the City would be in court with the Federal Government. Mayor Abramowitz asked what would happen then. City Council Workshop Meeting 10/07/91/KJ Page 4 City Attorney Ruf said the City would have to raise the rates. V/M Bender said the money would also have to be stretched depending on what the Federal Government allows. City Attorney Ruf said anytime that the City pledges ad valorem money a Referendum is needed. He said most cities do not have this provision, which is a very unusual one. Mayor Abramowitz said it makes sense if it is about taking the Utiliti out of the 2.5% cap and if there are no tax dollars being used. City Attorney Ruf said Cooper City increased the percentage, but their budget is approximately half of what Tamarac's is. He said the City only has to go to Referendum if borrowing money. C/M Schumann asked if there is anything contrary to State Law which would prohibit the City from deleting the cap and City Attorney Ruf said, no, but the City would have to go to Referendum to delete the cap. City Attorney Ruf said the City attempted to do that over the years but it had been rejected. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Abramowitz said Council had totally disagreed with the Carla Coleman recommendation on Page 23, last paragraph. He said no elected member has the right to go to a member of Staff for requests. He said everything should be directed through the City Manager and V/M Bender said except for purposes of inquiry and information. Mayor Abramowitz said he feels that an elected official should have the right for information whenever needed. Discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like Council to review this a little further and bring it to a meeting for Friday, October 11, 1991 for further discussion. He requested that City Manager Kelly and City Attorney Ruf bring any information to the table at that time that they feel, may be beneficial to the City. V/M Bender suggested a priority list be made and given to the new members of Council for review. Mayor Abramowitz asked that Council express their concerns regarding the Charter. He said one of the major issues is the method of compensation. City Manager Kelly said there is an issue on refunds. He said there are people who have made applications with the City for permits and have decided not to follow through on their project due to the economy. He said they have requested refunds from the Building Department. He said a survey was done with other cities regarding refunds and some cities issue refunds and some do not. City Attorney Ruf said in the Building Department, there were a few refund requests that were approximately $600 individually. He said the Chief Building Official suggested that the administrative costs be deducted and only refund the costs for permits and inspections. He said there is no obligation under the Code for refunds. C/M Schumann said he agrees with charging for administrative costs. City Attorney Ruf said there is authority under the Charter for the City Manager to make refunds not to exceed $1,000. City Manager Kelly said refunds made in the past were for duplicate payments and other such incidents. C/W Glasser said there may be trouble if the City issues refunds and V/M Bender agreed. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: ALL AGREED - NO REFUNDS City Council Workshop Meeting 10/07/91/KJ Page 5 C/W Glasser suggested that the "fees are non-refundable" be placed on the documents and City Attorney Ruf said they could be stamped with this. 2. PUSLIC PARTICIPATTON - Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is not agendized for public hearing at this meeting. Speakers will be limited to three minutes during this item and at public hearings. There will be a thirty (30) minute aggregate time limit for this item, and speakers are encouraged to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation. Mayor Abramowitz OPENED and CLOSED the Public Participation with no response. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 10:45 a.m. CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK y "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $92.31 or $2.05 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."