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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-08-23 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesRECORD OF COUNCIL ACTIONS/DISCUSSIONS SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Special Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, August 23, 1988 at 10:45 a.m. in Conference Room #1 (Room 103) of City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The following proposed Charter amendments will be considered at this meeting: 1. MOTION TO - ADOPTTemp. Ord. #1396 on first reading proposing an amendment to Article IV, Section 4.02 of the City Charter to increase the number of successive elective terms of office from two (2) two (2) year terms to three (3) two (2) year terms for councilmembers and Mayor to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED on first reading. Second reading and public hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 1988 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 (Room 103). 2. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Ord. #1397 on first reading proposing an amendment to Article VIII, Section 8.01 (a), of the City Charter to increase the number of successive elective terms of office from two (2) two (2) year terms to three (3) two (2) year terms for Charter Board members to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED on first reading. Second reading and public hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 1988 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 (Room 103). 3. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Ord. #1398 on first reading proposing an amendment to Article VIII, Section 8.01 (c), of the City Charter providing that Charter Board members shall forfeit their office if they miss three (3) consecutive regular board meetings or five (5) out of seven (7) consecutive regular board meetings to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED on first reading. Second reading and public hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 1988 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 (Room 103). 4. MOTION TO ADOPT Ord. Temp.__ #1399 on first reading � -,_--- proposing an amendment to Article VIII, Section 8.02 (a), of the City Charter to amend the investigatory powers of the Charter Board by deleting, because of its vagueness, the term "dishonesty" as a specific example of what may constitute nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. FINAL ACTION: DENIED. All meetings are open to the public. Pursuant to Section 286.0105, Florida Statutes It a person decides to appeal any decision made by the city Council with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing, he will need a record of the proseadings and for such purpose, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based CAE/nr Carol A. Evans City Clerk CITY OF TA14ARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1988 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this Special meeting to Order on Tuesday, August 23, 1988, at 10:45 A.M. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office). r1RESENT: ABSENT AND EXCUSED: ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Councilman Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr Vice Mayor ,lack Stelzer Richard Doody, City Attorney Carol A. Evans, City Clerk 1. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Ord. #1396 on first reading proposing an amendment to Art cle IV, Section 4.02 of the City Charter to increase the number of successive elective terms of office from two (2) two (2) year terms to three (3) two (2) year terms for councilmembers and Mayor to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED on first reading. City Attorney Doody read Temp. Ord. 11316 by title. C/M Bender MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Ord. #1396 on first * reading, SECONDED by C/M Rohr. C/M Hoffman said the proposed Amendments were well investigated by the Charter Board and, if the.Charter Board was submitting the Amendments to the City Council to place on the November Ballot, he would approve the Amendments. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 2. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Ord. #1397 on first reading proposing an amendment to Art1 le VIII, Section 8.01 (a), of the City Charter to increase the number of successive elective terms of office from two (2) two (2) year terms to three (3) two (2) year terms for Charter Board members to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED on f r st reading. City Attorney Doody read Ted- Ord. #1397 by title. * C/M Hoffman MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Ord. #1397 on first * reading, SECONDED by C/M Bender. Mayor Abramowitz said there has been a lack of continuity in the City and this Amendment may assist in eliminating some of the continuity. Page 1 J 8/23/88 - Special C/M Rohr said he would like the terms of office to be 2 three year terms for the legislators because it took time for elected officials to learn their job and achieve appropriate goals. Melanie Reynolds, Resident, said she agreed with C/M Rohr because 2 three year terms would allow Districts 2 and 4 to run for Mayor without having to give up a year in office. C/M Hoffman asked Stan Bernard, Vice Chairman of the Charter Board, why the Charter Board decided to make the terms of office 3 two year terms. Mr. Bernard said the Charter Board investigated this matter and found that the residents were not in favor of the City Council running continuously. He said this Amendment would allow the residents to eliminate a person from office if he or she did not appropriately represent the position or keep a person longer if the person was an asset to the City. C/M Bender said he was in favor of 3 year terms because it was very costly to have an election. C/M Hoffman said Mrs. Reynolds statement was valid; however, a 3 year term would mean that the positions had to run at the same time which may leave the City Council without any experienced people. He said this matter could be investigated and changed at a later date. C/M Rohr said 3 year terms should not be any different than 2 year terms providing the Districts were staggered. C/M Hoffman said if there were 3 year terms, there would be Districts that had to forfeit a year from their present term in order to run for the Mayor position. Mayor Abramowitz said he was glad that there was a representative from the Charter Board present to hear the concerns. He said this matter could be investigated and possibly changed in the future. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE AT 11:00 A.M., V/M Stelzer and City Manger Kelly ENTERED the meeting. 3. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp Ord. #1398 on first reading proposing an amendment to Article VIII, Section 8.01 (c), of the City Charter providing that Charter Board members shall forfeit their office if they miss three (3) consecutive regular Board meetings or five (5) out of seven (7) consecutive regular Board meetings to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED on first reading. City Attorney Doody read Temp_ Ord. #1398 by title. * C/M Rohr MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Ord. #1398 on first * reading, SECONDED by C/M Hoffman. C/M Rohr asked if this Amendment was similar to the City Council's forfeiture of office. Page 2 8/23/88 - Special City Attorney Doody said the Charter Board proposed two Amendments regarding this matter. He said the City Council's forfeiture of office Amendment was not pursued because of various questions regarding the language. V/M Stelzer asked if the person appointed to fill a vacancy that had one year remaining in the term, had to count the one year as a complete term when running for the term at the next election. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the one year term constituted a full term. City Attorney Doody said he would have to investigate this matter before he could answer properly; however, this concern may not pertain to this Amendment. V/M Stelzer suggested that this Amendment be held until the City Attorney reports on his findings. C/M Hoffman said if a change was needed it could be made in another Section that pertained to the matter. C/M Rohr said if a vacancy was filled for one year, it did not seem correct for the term to be counted. C/M Bender said the Ordinance should contain a definition of terms to clarify the terms of qualifications. V/M Stelzer said he wanted to make the City Council aware of this matter in case there are problems in the future. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that this matter be researched and, if needed, changed at a later date. He asked if this matter could be clarified to prevent problems in the future. City Attorney Doody said this Amendment could be adopted at this time and, if there was a need for clarification, it could be implemented in the future. Mr. Bernard said the concern was a different issue than the proposed Amendment; therefore, it could be handled at a later date. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 4. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Ord. #1399 on first reading proposing an amendment to Article VIII, Section 8.02 (a), of the City Charter to amend the investigatory powers of the Charter Board by deleting, because of its vagueness, the term "dishonesty" as a specific example of what may constitute nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance to be placed on the November 8, 1988 ballot. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: DENIED. City Attorney Doody read Tem2- Ord. #1399 by title. * C/M Hoffman MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Ord. #1399 on first * reading, SECONDED by C/M Bender. C/M Hoffman asked if the deletion of the word "dishonesty" strengthened or weakened the Charter Board's powers. Page 3 8/23/88 - Special City Attorney Doody said from a legal standpoint, it was appropriate to delete the word "dishonesty" because the other terms in the Section included the act of dishonesty; however, the deletion of the word "dishonesty" may be misinterpreted. City Attorney Doody said to submit an Amendment for Referendum, he could only use 75 words or less. He said he would like to include an additional paragraph stating, "dishonesty was included in the action of misfeasance, nonfeasance and malfeasance and could not be recognized by the courts as a legal provision, etc."; however, he could not do this because of the 75 word limitation. He said the City Council should decide if the deletion of the word "dishonesty" would be misinterpreted. He said the word has been in the Charter since 1976; therefore, the deletion of the word was a policy decision to be made by the City Council. V/M Stelzer said he was not objecting to the word being deleted or left in the Charter; however, the residents would object to the deletion of the word because they would feel that this would allow the City Council to be dishonest. He said if this Amendment was placed on the Ballot, it may be denied, which would cause the other Amendments to be denied as well. V/M Stelzer said the Charter Board's previous Attorney suggested the word be eliminated; however, the word has been in the Charter since 1976 and by deleting the word or leaving it in the Charter, di-d not change the Charter provisions. He suggested the Amendment be denied because the residents would misinterpret the deletion as allowing the City Council to be dishonest. Mayor Abramowitz said from a practical point of view, he did not care for the Amendment; however, if the Amendment enhanced the Charter, he would approve the Amendment being placed on the November Ballot. City Attorney Doody said the Amendment was an improvement to the Charter by eliminating redundant language; however, it was not an issue of great importance. Mayor Abramowitz said if his decision had to be made on the redundant language of the Charter or the residents misinterpreting the Amendment, he would have to vote against the Amendment. Mr. Bernard said the Charter Board may not have recommended this Amendment if their Attorney did not suggest it; however, the Charter provisions would not be changed regardless of whether the word remained or was eliminated. C/M Rohr said he agreed with the concern of misinterpretation because the City Council was presenting the Amendments; however, the Amendments were decided upon by the Charter Board and brought to the City Council to be placed on the November Ballot. He said the City Council were not the creators of the Amendments. Mr. Bernard said there was a need to present this Amendment to the residents in a way that would not be misinterpreted; therefore, this Amendment should be investigated to see how it could appropriately be presented to avoid misinterpretation. Page 4 67 41 8/23/88 - Special Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter Board was acting properly by eliminating the word "dishonesty"; however, the City Council was responsible for submitting the Amendments to the residents and he did not want to submit an Amendment that would be misinterpreted. Mayor Abramowitz said it was very disturbing to hold this Amendment back from the November Ballot because the Charter Board worked very hard on this Amendment; however, the City Council had to make decisions on the Amendments being properly presented to the residents. C/M Rohr said this matter helped him to understand why the City Council should be the presenters of the Amendments to Referendum. He said if the Charter Board submitted these Amendments to the residents, it may have caused problems in the future. C/M Bender said he would like this matter investigated before it was submitted to the residents. VOTE: ALL VOTED NAY With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:20 A.M. 4ROLL±LA.'-EVANS, CITY CLERK 10 "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $45.00 or $1.25 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." APPROVED AT MEETING OF ZL9 - Sg Page 5