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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-11-14 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY or TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP COUNCIL MEETING WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1990 Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Wednesday, November 14, 1990 at 9:00 A.M. in Conference Room #1. PR39F�NTW6 Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Bruce Hoffman Councilman Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Henry Rohr Councilman Henry Schumann John P. Kelly, City Manager Alan Ruf, City Attorney (entered at 9:55 A.M.) Patricia Marcurio, Office Manager, City Clerk's Office 2 JE cT: Candidate filing fees and any other related items. Mayor Abramowitz said many of the cities are reviewing their filing fees and he would like to hear Council's reaction and thoughts regarding this subject. V/M Hoffman suggested stating what the current filing fees are in all elected positions and what the State fee is. Ms. Marcurio said it is $25.00 for the Mayor, $10.00 for Council and $10.00 for Charter Board members. C/M Schumann said it is 1% of the current salary for State filing fees. V/M Hoffman suggested working on the basis of a percentage of the salary rather than a fixed fee for Council and a flat fixed fee for the Charter Board due to no salary involvement. He suggested a 3% fee for Mayor and Council in addition to the 1% State filing fees and for Charter Board, $50.00. City Manager Kelly said there are many different options, including a fee plus the State percentage. Mayor Abramowitz said he noticed that the cities that are low, like Tamarac, have now addressed the problem and are in the process of making some changes. C/M Rohr said based on percentage is a good idea. Mayor Abramowitz said based on the current economy, the percentage fee would be good. C/M Bender said he would like to see the Mayor and Council fee be higher than 3% and he suggested a 5% fee. He said Sunrise has their fee at 5%. C/M Rohr said the salary schedule of the individual cities needs to be examined to establish the fees. Mayor Abramowitz said he does not want to prevent good people from wanting to be elected due to the fees. V/M Hoffman suggested 4% plus the 1% for the State which totals 5%. C/M Schumann said he feels this is too high. He said Coral Springs wants $288.00 to file for a Council seat for a salary of $4,800.00 and $360.00 to file for a $6,000.00 Mayor's job. He said Davie has $108.00 plus the State 1% for a $3,636.00 salary and Fort Lauderdale charges $100.00 for a $3,000.00 job. He questioned whether Council wants.4% Page 1 City Council Workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ plus 1% which is,5% of $3,600.00 or 5% of $4,800.00 with no reason for the increase. He said he would like a reason for the increase and he feels the increase is too high by comparison. He said Miramar has a $25.00 filing fee for a $12,000.00 job, Lighthouse Point, $10.00 far $10,400.00, and Parkland, $72.00 for $4,800.00. V/M Hoffman said a percent is a percent no matter what. C/M Rohr said he feels the idea of increasing the fees is to prevent any frivolous approaches to the filing for an office and not being serious about the duties involved. He said by raising the amount of the filing fees, the City benefits. C/M Schumann said what other cities do has no bearing on what Tamarac does. V/M Hoffman said this would be to prevent frivolous filing and this money comes out of the Campaign Fund. He said if the person is a serious contender, he will raise some money for his campaign and this is a legitimate campaign expenditure. He said he sees no hardship for a serious candidate to pay more money. He said if a person wants to run for an elected position, they should pay for it. C/M Bender said the fees on the list are being reviewed by the various cities to be upgraded. He said the current fees must not be acceptable because they are being reviewed for adjustment. He said he does not feel that the 5% of the $3,600.00, which is $150.00 to $170.00, is too much for a person to pay out of his Campaign Fund to file. He said this Indicates that the person is serious and wants to do the job he nay be elected for. Mayor Abramowitz said the people at this meeting, if they have intent to run again for office, are raising their own cost. He said he understands C/M Schumann's concerns, but does not agree with these rates being too high. He said he has gone through two campaigns with people saying to him that they would be a candidate for $10.00 and there were some candidates that were not serious about doing the work but just wanted the recognition. He said this does an injustice to the electoral process in Tamarac. He said he feels that the 3% and 5% fees that have been discussed would not discourage any serious candidate. He said he is willing to go with a 5% filing fee and he liked the compromise of 4%. V/M Hoffman said a total of 5% including the 1% State fee is reasonable. Mayor Abramowitz said he does not feel this is too high and it is a legitimate expense out of the Campaign Fund. City Manager Kelly said the salaries being received by the Mayor and Council are ridiculous for the job function and for discouraging the frivolous candidates, the public made their choice and voted on it, He said the amount is a Council judgement call. V/M Hoffman asked how much it costs the City to process a candidate. He said the City Clerk needs to follow up on the paperwork and the filings of the reports. He said this takes at least a couple hours work for processing and he feels the City should get back most of the expenditures for processing. C/M Rohr said the $10.00 filing fee was good several years ago, Mayor Abramowitz said the salary is an embarrassment for the amount of time these people work. He said he would like the inadequacies of the City corrected slowly. City Manager Kelly said by law, the City cannot charge more than the amount of time for the work and Council is within the ballpark. C/M Bender said there are 4 reports submitted, edited for compyiance, audited and filed. He said there are situations where candidates request financial reports submitted by other candidates and additional work is done with making copies. He said there is money and .time Page 2 City Council workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ involved and he feels this is the right thing to do in supplementing the income to cover the expenditures of the election problems. V/M Hoffman made a recommendation to raise the fee to 4% for the City in addition to the 1% for the State making it a total of 5% filing fees. Mayor Abramowitz said the State may change its rates and suggested the recommendation be 4% for the City plus whatever the State charges for filing fees. CONCENSUS OF COUNCIL: C/M Rohr AYE C/M Schumann NAY C/M Bander AYE V/M Hoffman AYE Mayor Abramowitz AYE Mayor Abramowitz said the City Manager and City Attorney have been instructed to draw up the proper documentation for changing the filing fees as indicated. C/M Schumann asked if there is going to be an Ordinance or Resolution for these fees. City Manager Kelly said it is probably a Code. C/M Schumann said he thought this was a meeting for discussion.. Mayor Abramowitz said this was not a vote on the Ordinance, only a consensus of opinion of the Council. He said at one time, every Councilman would ask for an Ordinance to be filed and when it came to the meeting, it would be determined that nobody wanted it. He said presently, an expression of interest is being done prior to the documentation being drawn up which works well. He said the Council has expressed their interest in this Ordinance; however, this is not a vote. C/M Schumann said when the City charges $180.00, the present fee is being raised. He said he is not in favor of a $10.00 or $50.00 fee. He said if it is being raised as a deterrent to keep frivolous people from coming in, whether it is $180.00, $100.00 or $1,000.00, if the Council goes over a certain dollar amount, Council will dissuade a lot of people from running. Mayor Abramowitz said he feels that C/M Schumann was a very serious candidate and he asked C/M Schumann if he had to pay $180.00 to run for the Council, if he would have paid the $180.00. C/M Schumann said at the time that he ran for office, he would have paid $180.00. Mayor Abramowitz said this is not intended as a revenue enhancement. He said it is not a deterrent. He said it is bringing the City into compliance with the economy. He said he has seen frivolous candidates run and any such candidate will not run if they have to pay $180.00. C/M Schumann said by looking at the current list of City filing fees, Tamarac is second only, if this passes, to Coral Springs. Discussion was held regarding the ratios. C/M Bender said the populations of some of these cities are smaller than Tamarac. He said the salaries for Council in Tamarac have never been raised. He said there has not been a change for filing fees except when the State made the 1% fee change. Mayor Abramowitz said there will be several cities that will want a copy of Tamarac's Ordinance for changing their filing fees. C/M Rohr said he feels the Chhrter Board fees should remain as they are. V/M Hoffman said everyone has a right to their opinion and if four members of Council agree to change the filing fees it should be that way. Page 3 City Council Workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ City Attorney Ruf said there is time for any changes due to the Ordinance having to be read twice. V/M Hoffman said if the filing fees are increased, all fees should increase, including the Charter Board. He said he recommended the fees for the Charter Board be raised to $50.00. C/M Rohr suggested the Charter Board fee be raised to $25.00 because it is a non-paying position. C/M Bender said the Charter Board members campaign and receive contributions from which the fee would be paid. C/M Rohr said a $50.00 fee would be within the range also. Mayor Abramowitz said Council receives a salary and the Charter Boeird does not. He said he feels a change in the fee is in order. He suggested a $40.00 compromised fee. C/M Rohr said anything wwld be better than the $10.00 fee. He said the Charter Board is an elected board but is like any other Board or Committee. V/M Hoffman said the same work needs to be done by the City Clerk's office as with a Council. filing. Discussion was held regarding the proper title of Boards and Comnirtees. Mayor Abramowitz said he feels $50.00 is a little high and that $25.00 is more reasonable. C/M Rohr suggested making the Charter Board filing fee $75.00. C/M Schumann said if the fee is raised to $75.00, the Charter Board will be eliminated because no one will run. CONCENSUS OF COUNCIL: C/M ROHR AYE C/M BENDER NAT V/M HOFFMAN NAT C/M SCHUMANN WAY MAYOR ABRAMOWITZ NAT C/M Bender suggested a filing fee of $35.00 for the Charter Board. CONCENSUS OF COUNCIL: V/M Hoffman suggested $50.00. CONCENSUS OF COUNCIL: Mayor Abramowitz suggested $40.00. CONCRNSUS OF COUNCIL: C/M BENDER AYE V/M HOFFMAN NAY C/M SCHUMANN AYZ C/M ROHR MAY MAYOR ABRAMOWITZ NAY C/M ROHR AYE C/M SCHUMANN NAT C/M BENDER WAY V/M HOFFMAN AYZ MAYOR A13RAMONITZ WAY C/M SCHUMANN AYZ C/M BENDER AYZ C/M ROHR NO VOTE V/M HOFFMAN NO VOTE MAYOR ABRAMOWITZ RYB V/M Hoffman said the Charter Board does not pay a State fee. Mayor Abramowitz said this is an improvement which is better than before. C/M Rohr said he understands that Eric Soroka may be leaving the City of North Lauderdale. He said he has been very disappointed in the way negotiations have been run through Mr. Soroka regarding the recycling. He said if he leaves and another Chairman is needed to be appointed, he would like to see Tamarac take over the negotiations. He said Tamarac will have more input and can offer more to these negotiations for' everyone involved. Page 4 City Council Workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ i �j Mayor Abramowitz said he is opposed to this suggestion and he understands the frustration that has occurred. He said he feels that City Manager Kelly has enough work to handle and there are many things that require his attention. He said he does not want to share City Manager Kelly's time with four other cities. He said he has been very unhappy with what has gone on and he suggested Irene Lieberman would be a good person to handle this. He said the only elected official that could be on that Board, legally, would be Irene Lieberman. C/M Rohr said if Irene Lieberman does not want to do it and City Manager Kelly is too busy, he questioned why it has to be a City Manager. City Manager Kelly said it has to be a veteran agreement signed and executed by five Councils so authorized unless a change is made. He said the agreement was approved by the five cities which provides for that. May -or Abramowitz said it must be an Administrative Head of the City and City Manager Kelly is the Administrative Head of Tamarac. He said Irene I.rebeczman is -the only Mayor who is also the Administrative Head of the Get y , VLM Hcvffman $Jaid he agrees with the concerns. He said it needs to be disdussea..tboroughly and seriously if City Manager Kelly should do this job. C/M Rohr asked if Dina McDermott could do this and City Manager Kelly said no. City Manager Kelly said he has the same concerns. He said Eric Soroka provided a lot of service. He said North Lauderdale and Coconut Creek were able to free up their people to spend more time on the recycling project. He said Coconut Creek hired a full-time person to work under the City Manager to give him guidance and improvised that Tamarac would allow those two cities to take the lead which is why Tamarac paid $500.00 and $700.00 respectively to help cover their administrative fees. He said Tamarac is paying into that to help defray some of the time they spend on it. He said he did not want to spend all of that time on it, which was quite extensive for all of the frustrations they had. He said there will be a serious void with Eric Soroka leaving because nobody wants to do it. V/M Hoffman said there is a contract with Waste Management, Inc., and the Board cannot just disband. City Manager Kelly said the Recycling Program is in the third year's funding cycle. C/M Rohr said if no other City agrees to handle the recycling program, the agreement will have to be changed. City Manager Kelly said there is a very good chance that it will be coming back to the respective cities because of the concerns of the remaining body as to who will assume the responsibility. He said the agreement will have'to be modified because the new person coming into North Lauderdale is not about to be given that responsibility. He said each community will have to amend the existing agreement to provide for new administration. Mayor Abramowitz suggested waiting to see if Eric Soroka is leaving North Lauderdale. He said he has not accepted the job he was asked to __ take at present. Mayor Abramowitz said there are a lot of other things coming up with Waste Management, Inc., which are more disturbing than the Recycling Program. He said he is going to call a workshop regarding the residents being penalized by Waste Management, Inc., for being in the compliance factor. He said Tamarac was in compliance with the order from the State and, as a result, in June there will be a major increase. He said Tamarac and Wilton Manors were the only two cities to vote against Waste Management, Inc., and now the Broward League of Cities is in opposition Page 5 City Council Workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ to Waste Management, Inc. He suggested this be discussed in a workshop as soon as the facts are gathered. V/M Hoffman said the County has placed a fee of $.20 per page an Xeroxing information. He said the City is letting people come in and get copies for free. He suggested this be discussed and that the City follow the County in these fees. C/M Schumann said a Police Report is $4.00 and a Death Certificate is $7.00. Mayor Abramowitz asked that this be reviewed and brought back to Council. V/M Hoffman said he spoke with the County Clerk's office and he had requested a list of contributors to someone's campaign. With no further business to discuss, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOORNZD this meeting at 10:00 A.M. W *, AROL A. eEV4AWNS CITY CLERK "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $69.52 or $1.55 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." Page 6 City Council Workshop Meeting 11/14/90/KJ