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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-08-01 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesE3 7525 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321-2401 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTIONS/DISCUSSION SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Special Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, August 1, 1989 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office), City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida: The purpose of this meeting is discussion and possible action on the following: MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5505 providing for a procedure to be followed in instances where there is a proposed Amendment to the City Charter that must be placed on the ballot for voter approval. FINAL ACTION: TABLED. The City Council may consider and act upon such other business as may come before it. All meetings are open to the public. Carol A. Evans City Clerk 1ryursuant to Section 286.0105, Florida Statutes H a Parson decides to appeal any decision made by the city vrith rc-Gpr:ct to my matter considered u nsidered at sch meetirr, or vi:i! n.8 'd a record cf 116, pvcI ,.,,e2,dinFs and fO7 !?l:a"/ P'f-�':1 i.�.E a &ju baiim re,-,ord AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1989 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Tuesday, August 1, 1989 at 2:00 P.M. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office PRESENT: ABSENT AND EXCUSED: ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Jack Stelzer Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr John P. Kelly, City Manager Richard Doody, City Attorney Pauline Walaszek, Special Services Secretary MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5505 providing for a procedure to be followed in i stances where there is a proposed Amendment to the City Charter that must be placed on the Ballot for voter approval. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: TABLED. City Attorney Doody read Temp. Reso. #5505 by title. City Attorney Doody said there had been several Joint Workshop meetings held with the City Council and City Charter Board regarding procedures for Charter Amendments. He said at the meeting of June 21, 1989, the City Council and Charter Board considered the four procedures outlined in the Resolution. He said he received a letter from Alan Gabriel, Attorney for the Charter Board, regarding minor modifications of the procedures. City Attorney Doody said the Charter Board approved the proposed procedures and requested that the City Council consider adopting the procedures by Resolution. He said the procedures were consistent with the City Charter and Florida Statutes. Mayor Abramowitz said there was concern as to why the City Council was hearing this matter at this time since the City Council was on vacation until August 6, 1989. He said City Attorney Doody was being called out of town for three weeks and, since the City Attorney prepared the Resolution and handled this matter, the City Council should hear this Resolution while City Attorney Doody was present. City Manager Kelly said C/M Hoffman was aware of the meeting; however, he could not attend because of a scheduled doctor's appointment. Mayor Abramowitz said legally the City Council was on vacation until August 6, 1989; however, he would like the City Council to address their concerns regarding the Page 1 8/1/89 Resolution. He said C/M Hoffman indicated that he would listen to the tape of the meeting. He said he would not be comfortable if the City Council had questions regarding the Resolution and City Attorney Doody was not available to answer the questions. Zeke Feldman, Chairman of the Charter Board, said the Charter Board proposed that the Resolution be written regarding the Amendment procedures. C/M Stelzer asked if the meeting was a Joint meeting with the Charter Board and Mayor Abramowitz said the meeting was a Special meeting of the City Council. Mayor Abramowitz asked if C/M Stelzer objected to Mr. Feldman commenting at this meeting. C/M Stelzer said the City Council was aware of Mr. Feldman's comments and he asked if the comments should be stated at each meeting. Mayor Abramowitz said he was not aware of what Mr. Feldman was going to say. He said he did not want any disagreements until August 6, 1989; therefore, he would like everyone concerned about this matter to state their comments. Mr. Feldman said the Charter Board submitted a proposal to the City Council regarding the Amendment procedures and he would like to hear any objections that the City Council may have regarding the procedures. Mayor Abramowitz said he approved of the proposed procedures, which were the same procedures agreed upon at the June 21, 1989 Joint Workshop meeting. He said the City Council received a copy of the Resolution before this meeting and he would like the City Council to comment on the procedures at this meeting. V/M Bender said this was the first time that the Charter Board and City Council had an agreement between themselves regarding Charter Amendments. He said the proposal seemed to be workable and he approved of adopting the proposal so that it could be implemented, if needed. C/M Stelzer said he suggested at the June 21, 1989 Joint Workshop meeting that an Item 5 be added requiring the City Council and Charter Board to take their disagreements to Court for a resolution if they could note agree among themselves as described in Item 4 of Resolution. Mayor Abramowitz said at the June 21, 1989 Joint Workshop meeting the City Council and Charter Board felt that there was a possibility that the proposed procedures would work. He said if the procedures did not work, he felt that the Charter Board would file suit against the City Council. He said he did not object to this; however, he did object to the City Council and Charter Board not having a procedure to resolve their disagreements. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like the Charter Board and City Council. to work together by finding a procedure to assist in eliminating their disagreements. He said he could not assure the City Council or the Charter Board that the procedures would work. Page 2 8/1/89 Mayor Abramowitz said the recent disagreement began when the Charter Board submitted four Charter Amendments to the City Council, in which the City Council did not agree with one of the Amendments because of a word. He said if the City Council would have met with the Charter Board and explained their concerns, the word may have been changed allowing the Amendment to be placed on the Ballot. He said this did not occur,• therefore, the Amendment was not placed on the Ballot. C/M Stelzer said the City Council never actually refused Amendments submitted by the Charter Board. He said when the City Council received the Attorney General's opinion he suggested that the City Council and Charter Board wait until there was a problem before pursuing the matter for a resolution. He said the Charter Board decided to continue with a lawsuit as opposed to waiting until there was a problem. C/M Stelzer said the Charter Board spent the City's money to sue the City Council and they were threatening to spend additional monies to sue the City Council again. He said the City Council should not make any deals with the Charter Board. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not approve of the word "deal". C/M Stelzer said Mayor Abramowitz objected to the previous City Council making a deal with Cardinal Industries. He said the City allowed Cardinal Industries 24-feet; however, Cardinal Industries built swimming pools and additional landscaping in exchange. He said the City Council made a deal that benefited the City. C/M Stelzer asked what the City Council would be benefiting if they made a deal with the Charter Board and allowed them to do what they pleased. He asked if the City Council would have sued the Charter Board if they received an adverse opinion from the Attorney General. He said he doubted that the City Council would have done this and Mayor Abramowitz agreed. C/M Stelzer asked why the City Council should make appeasement to the Charter Board when the Attorney General's Office submitted an opinion that the City waited for several years to receive. He said the opinion indicated that the City Council was the only Body that could place Charter Amendments on the Ballot. He said the City Council should follow this opinion and he opposed any deals made with the Charter Board. C/M Stelzer said the Charter Board submitted Charter Amendments to the City Council and the Amendments were not approved by the City Council, the Amendments were returned to the Charter Board for further changes. He said when Amendments were submitted to the Houses in the Government and, the Amendments were not approved, the Amendments went no further. He said this would not occur if the proposed procedures were adopted. He said he did not approve of either taking the disagreements to Court or giving in. Mayor Abramowitz said he disagreed with C/M Stelzer's concerns. He said the proposed procedures may not work; however, he felt that it was in the best interest of the City that the City Council and Charter Board attempt to Page 3 work together. He said he did not feel that approval of the procedures would diminish his responsibility in carrying out the laws of the City. Mayor Abramowitz said there may be a possibility that the procedures would not be used and C/M Stelzer suggested that the Resolution not be implemented. Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted to give the City Council and Charter Board the opportunity to have a procedure if they did not agree on Charter Amendments. He said the Charter Board had a role in the City and the role had to be followed until it no longer existed. He said he wanted to do as much as possible to have the City Council and the Charter Board work in the best interest of the City. He said if the procedures did not assist in a resolution to the disagreements then the Courts should assist. C/M Stelzer said if Item 4 of the Resolution did not work than the a decision had to come from the Courts. He said there should be an Item 5 added to the Resolution indicating that if the City Council and Charter Board could not come to an agreement regarding a Charter Amendment, that the matter should be decided by the Courts. He said he would not object to the Resolution if an Item 5 was added. Mayor Abramowitz asked if C/M Stelzer was indicating that the Charter Board would be required to take the matter to Court for a decision if the City Council and Charter Board did not agree with a Charter Amendment. He said the decision should be left up to the Charter Board as opposed to being forced to pursue the matter in Court. Mayor Abramowitz said if the City Council and Charter Board did not agree it was obvious that there was only one avenue to take, which was litigation. C/M Stelzer said the procedures which was being placed in a Resolution was presently being followed. He asked if the procedures were being placed in a Resolution to appease someone. He said presently the Charter Board submitted Charter Amendments to the City Council and, if the City Council did not agree with the Amendments, they were given back to the Charter Board for additional changes. Mayor Abramowitz said there was a difference in having the procedures and placing the procedures in a Resolution. He said C/M Stelzer mentioned the procedures in the Government Houses and the proposed procedures would assist the City Council and Charter Board in having those types of procedures. He said the Resolution indicated that if the City Council and Charter Board disagreed on Charter Amendments they were to meet and discuss the disagreements in hopes of a resolution. C/M Stelzer asked if the Representatives and Senators met and discussed their disagreements and Mayor Abramowitz replied, yes. V/M Bender said the Representatives and Senators sent their disagreements to a Committee and C/M Stelzer said the City Council and Charter Board would be sending their disagreements to the Courts as opposed to a Committee. Page 4 8/l/89 Mayor Abramowitz said this was not the purpose of adopting the procedures and C/M Stelzer said a Resolution was not needed to implement the procedures because they already existed. V/M Bender asked if the existing procedures were documented and C/M Stelzer said the procedures existed. V/M Bender said the Charter Board and. City Council were elected officials and a working agreement should be implemented in the best interest of the City. He said the City came first and there were no documented procedures available to the two Bodies. He said the Resolution established documented procedures for the first time between the City Council and Charter Board regarding Charter Amendments. V/M Bender said he would like the opportunity to test the procedures, it needed. He said problems should not be anticipated because there may never be any problems. C/M Stelzer said problems were being anticipated by implementing the Resolution. He said he stated from the beginning that nothing should be done until there was a problem. V/M Bender said there should be a procedure and C/M Stelzer said the existing procedures have been used for 17 years. V/M Bender said there was nothing documented and he would like to have documented procedures. C/M Stelzer said the City never received an opinion from the Attorney General and he was against the Resolution because it was allowing the Charter Board to tell the City Council what to do. Mayor Abramowitz said he respected C/M Stelzer's opinion and C/M Stelzer said at the next City Council meeting he would be proposing that the City Council submit to Ballot an Amendment to eliminate an elected Charter Board. C/M Stelzer said the Charter Board has not assisted the City for 7 years. He said the Charter Board whitewashed every investigation and consistently persecuted him. He said the Charter Review Committee spent 7 months creating Charter Amendments and the Charter Board did not agree with the Amendments. He said the Charter Board did not agree with any assistance from professionals for Charter Amendments. C/M Stelzer said he would be making the proposal at the next City Council and he wanted to see how many Councilmembers would allow the residents to make the decision. V/M Bender said the City Council and Charter Board had an obligation to work together in the best interest of the City. He said he did not disagree with having documented procedures because there have never been documented procedures in the City. He said he was not being disagreeable; however, he did object to being disagreeable. He said the City Council and Charter Board should not be disagreeing on something in anticipation of a problem. Page 5 W© : . C/M Stelzer said the Charter Board has never hindered the City Council from doing what it wanted; however, now this was occurring. Mayor Abramowitz said he agreed that there was nothing wrong with the City Council and Charter Board having procedures for handling disagreements on Charter Amendments. He said the purpose was to avoid litigation without aggregating the powers, responsibility and duties of the City Council. Mayor Abramowitz asked that a copy of the Minutes be submitted to C/M Hoffman and C/M Rohr so that they were aware of what happened. Mr. Feldman said he wanted the record to reflect that no deals were being made with anyone. City Attorney Doody said some Motion should be made regarding the Resolution. Mayor Abramowitz said the meeting Notice indicated that there would be discussion and possible action by the City Council. He said he intended to have four Councilmembers available; however, he was unaware that C/M Hoffman had a previous appointment. C/M Stelzer had concerns with there not being three affirmative Votes on a Motion to Table and City Attorney Doody said either a majority by Motion would Adopt or Table the Resolution. He said if no action could be made then the most logical thing to do would be to adjourn the meeting. He said the Resolution could not be left in abeyance; therefore, the most logical thing to do would be to Table the Resolution. C/M Stelzer asked Mayor Abramowitz why he placed himself in this type of position and Mayor Abramowitz said trying to be honest in the City was very dangerous because most of the people were not familiar with this type of action. C/M Stelzer said it may not have been appropriate to call this meeting because the answers were known and Mayor Abramowitz said he did not know all of the answers. Mayor Abramowitz said if the City Attorney was not going out of town, he would not have called the meeting. City Attorney Doody said he suggested that the meeting be called and C/M Stelzer said he would not object to the Resolution being Tabled. * V/M Bender MOVED to TABLE Temp. Reso. #5505, SECONDED by * C/M Stelzer. C/M Stelzer asked if the Resolution would be Tabled until the August 9, 1989 City Council meeting. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to call a Special meeting as opposed to a Regular City Council meeting. We'U 2C ALL VOTED AYE City Manager Kelly said the City Council recently received a tentative Millage Rate of 6.70. He said the tentative Millage Rate had to be sent to the County Page 6 1 1 8/l/89 Appraiser's Office by August 4, 1989; however, he would like to know if the City Council wanted the tentative Millage Rate of 6.70 to be sent. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City Council had to make the decision at this meeting and City Manager Kelly said there should be a decision made before August 4, 1989. City Manager Kelly said the City Council agreed that the tentative Millage Rate should be 6.70 and, in the interim, the Budget would be reviewed and reduced if possible. V/M Bender asked if the tentative Millage Rate could be hand carried to the County Appraiser's Office and City Manager Kelly replied, yes. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not want to make the decision at this time and City Manager Kelly said he wanted to inform the City Council that this decision had to be made by August 4, 1989. C/M Stelzer asked why Mayor Abramowitz objected to sending a tentative Millage Rate of 6.70 to the County Appraiser's Office. Mayor Abramowitz had concerns with constantly being placed in a position to vote on something that he was not sure of. He said he was not willing to vote on this matter because he just received the proposed Budget material yesterday. V/M Be..der said he received the Budget material yPs.-er.day. He said when the City Council voted on the tentative Millage Rate of 6.70 it was recommended by the City Manager. He said the City Council was now being asked to make a decision on another Millage Rate and he was not going to approve the previous tentative Millage Rate until he reviewed the Budget material. He said he wanted to be as realistic and factual as possible and give the public the opportunity to see that the City Council had the opportunity to reduce the Millage Rate at this time. City Manager Kelly said if the tentative Millage Rate submitted to the County Appraiser's Office was too high, it could be reduced in the future. Mayer Abramowitz said he did not want to play the hero game and C/M Stelzer said every year the City submitted a low rate and was required to follow it. C/M Stelzer said the City Council had to compensate for one million dollars of income last year because they wanted to be a hero. Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted to submit a legitimate Millage Rate and C/M Stelzer said he wanted to submit a tentative Millage Rate of 8.0; however, he approved of a 6.71 tentative Millage Rate because it would be sufficient for the costs. ** EDITOR'S NOTE: There will be a Special City Council meeting held on August 3, 1989, at 10:00 A.M. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office) regarding the tentative Millage Rate. Page 7 P 8/l/89 City Manager Kelly said Workshop meeting dates had to be selected for review of the Budgets. He said he would like this to be done within the next few weeks. At 2:35 P.M., C/M Hoffman ENTERED the meeting. City Manager Kelly said the Budget Public Hearings should be held in September, 1989, the first one before September 12, 1989 and, second one no earlier than September 20, 1989. City Manager Kelly said he received a telephone call from the City Manager of North Lauderdale requesting a Special meeting regarding the Recycling Proposals. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that this meeting be set after C/M Rohr returned from vacation. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 10:40 A.M. NO AN ABRAMOWITZ, MAYOR CAROL A. E ANS, CITY CLERK "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $51.40 or $6.4; 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." CITY OR 1 AMAR,AC APPROVED AT MEETING OF �,L f 8 City Clerk u Page 8