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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-11-19 - City Commission Joint Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue Tamarac, Florida 33321-2401 Phone (305) 722-5900 Fax (305) 722-4509 August 21, 1991 NOTICE OF JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL AND CHARTER BOARD There will be a Joint Workshop Meeting of the City Council and Charter Board on Tuesday, November 19, 1991 at 11:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of Tamarac City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is: 1. Discussion on proposed Charter amendments. 2. PUBLIC Z&ATICIPATION - Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is on this meeting notice. 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. The City Council may consider such other business as may come before it. 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/nr I HE CITY OF TAMARAC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STAT US Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board 11/19/91/elo Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING OF CITY COUNCIL & CHARTER BOARD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1991 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this Joint Workshop Meeting between the City Council and the Charter Board to order on Tuesday, November 19, 1991 at 11:00 a.m. in Conference Room # 1, City Hall, 7525 NW 88th Avenue, Tamarac. PRESENT: CITY COUNCIL Mayor Norman Abramowitz V/M Dr. H. Larry Bender C/M Henry Schumann C/M Irving Katz C/W Diane Glasser CHARTER BOARD Chairwoman Muriel Davis Vice --Chairwoman Judy Kitograd Morton Winter Dave Krantz Isaac "Zeke" Feldman ALSO PRESENT: John P. Kelly, City Manager Chris Carsky, City Attorney Mary Blasi, Finance Director Paul Novack, Charter Board Attorney Ellen Wood, Secretary 1. DISCUSSION ON PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS. Mayor Abramowitz said the purpose of this Joint Workshop Meeting is to discuss the proposed Charter amendments and he recommended no action be taken today. He said this is an exchange of views between the Charter Board and the City Council. He said the format will be that the Charter Board will present their ideas, the City Council will present their ideas and there will be a general discussion regarding ideas presented and, after public participation, the meeting will be adjourned. He said the City Council will meet at a future date and will discuss their feelings and the Charter Board will do the same. Mayor Abramowitz said the following is the information obtained from Jane Carroll's office concerning the 1992 Election dates. He said for the Election on March 10, 1992, the Ballot wording must go to Jane Carroll's office by January 17,1992. He said the first primary is September 1, 1992 and the Ballot wording must go to Jane Carroll's office by July 20, 1992. He said the Presidential Election is November 3, 1992 and the Ballot wording must go to Jane Carroll's office by July 31, 1992. Mayor Abramowitz turned the meeting over to Chairwoman Davis for the Charter Board's portion of the meeting. Chairwoman Davis said the Charter Board has discussed and considered Articles 4,6 and 8 in the Charter. She said these are the Charter Board's priorities. Chairwoman Davis said in Article 4.02, they propose that the terms for Council and Mayor be extended from 2 years to 3 years. She said they also propose that the succession of terms be extended from 2 to 3 terms with an effective date for both of March, 1993. She said this would be 2 separate questions on the ballot. Chairwoman Davis said in Article 8, they propose the terms of the Charter Board members from 2 years to 3 years and also the limitation of terms from 2 to 3 terms, both effective / March, 1993. She said these will also be 2 separate V Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board 11/19/91/elo Page 2 voting for one or the other or both. Chairwoman Davis said the next priority is Redistricting, Article 6.03. She said the Board feels it is better to extend the Redistricting to 3 years rather than every year. She said they also feel that the Committees report shall not be final but that they should give their report to Council and the Charter Board to decide if they approve and if it is approved that the Council will make the Ordinance. She said if the Charter Board does not agree with the total report, they would have the right to make a report and submit it to Council for Council to make the Ordinance. She said this would be effective in March, 1993. Chairwoman Davis said the next proposal is from Article 8.04, Compensation of Charter Board members. She said they have proposed that each Charter Board member be given $100.00 a month compensation, effective March, 1992. Chairwoman Davis said these are all of the amendments that the Charter Board proposes.' Mayor Abramowitz asked if anyone on the Charter Board wants to make comments and then he will ask anyone on the Council to make comments. He said the same thing will happen when they go to the Council. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council has the right to put things on the ballot. He said if Council does not agree with the complete concept they will not put it on the ballot. C/M Schumann asked if the terms of office were the same that were proposed last time. Chairwoman Davis said except that they are two separate amendments so that the voters have a choice. She said a person can succeed themselves twice. V/M Bender said he feels it should be 3 year terms and revert back to unlimited terms. C/W Glasser said the Mayor's race falls at the same time that Districts 2 & 4 are open, if someone wants to run from 1 & 3 it means they have to resign their post; therefore this precludes those people from having an equal opportunity to run for the Mayorship. She said the length of term for the Mayor could be changed so that it falls at a different time or all elections in the same year. Mayor Abramowitz said every year there is an election in this City and Staff is traumatized and it is a detriment to the City. He said at the next Joint Meeting, the City Council should take a vote to support this or change it and then it will be worked out. C/W Glasser said it is not going to affect next year and if Council finds that there are other things to put on, this does not have to be a priority, it can go for another election. Mayor Abramowitz said Article 8 concerning the Charter Board's length and number of terms will be discussed. There was no discussion. Mayor Abramowitz said both sections of Article 4 have been discussed. He said next is Article 6, Redistricting. He said if the Charter Board does not agree with the Redistricting report it is their right or obligation to have a report of their displeasure and recommendation. He said Council has the same opportunity. C/M Schumann asked why have a Redistricting Committee if they r' do not have any authority. He said Council and the Charter c/ Board both have 4 people in the Committee and the Committee Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board, 11/19/91/elo Page 3 Vice -Chairwoman Kitograd said the Charter Board felt that the report should be approved by an elected body and not an appointed body. C/M Schumann said the Committee does have guidelines to follow. Mayor Abramowitz said he felt there should be checks and balances. V/M Bender said the Redistricting Committee is made up of representation of both sides. He agreed with C/M Schumann. He said the Committee should have the opportunity to review the objections and have them reflected. He said communications need to be kept open and he wants the Redistricting Committee's decision to be final after they consider Council's comments. C/M Katz said any advisory board who's decision becomes final is allowing for legislative rights that were given to this body by the City when Council was elected. He said if there is a problem with their determination and it is presented to the legislative body and there is disagreement, the legislative body should make those suggestions to the advisory Board so it can come up with a better decision. He said the legislative body's decision should be final. Attorney Novack said the word "final" in the Charter is ambiguous. He said to say that the report is final which is what the Charter says, only says that the report may not be changed but it does not mandate any Ordinance or other decision just because a report is final. He said it means that the Redistricting Committee cannot change it's report once it is rendered. He said to imply that the decision of the Redistricting Committee is final is not lawful. He said law -making authority cannot be delegated to an appointed body. Mayor Abramowitz said the Redistricting Committee has no right to make a decision that belongs to the elected officials to take legislative action. C/M Katz said the Redistricting Committee and the Charter Board would both be considered advisory. C/W Glasser said the Redistricting Committee has perimeters that they have to follow. She said other rules come into effect from Jane Carroll's office. She said the report is presented at a joint meeting and corrections can be made at that time. C/W Glasser said she is against changing it from 1 year to 3 years because it is done by registered voters in the district. She said three years is too long and with the Redistricting Committee there is no burden on Council or the Charter Board. ape 2 C/W Glasser said the west could also grow and have a strong hold within a three year period and she wants to stay in the one year redistricting. Mayor Abramowitz said the format is that the issues be worked out independently. Chairwoman Davis said next is an addition to Article 8 which concerns compensation of Charter Board members. Mr. Krantz said it is an elected office and the right people are not going to come in if there is not even a nominal salary to show appreciation. Vice -Chairwoman Kitograd agreed. �� Joint Workshop City Council & 11/19/91/elo Page 4 Meeting of Charter Board He said when the Charter was written there was a population of 20,000 and now the population is up to 46,000 and times and situations have changed and $200.00 would be appropriate. C/M Katz said he made a similar suggestion for Council. C/W Glasser said the City has to come into the twenty --first century. She said the electorate also has to be considered. Mayor Abramowitz said he would support the amount the Charter Board requested as a salary. Mayor Abramowitz said the following is the City Council's priority basis. He referred to Carla Coleman's report, Section 7.13, Capital Improvements and the determination of what makes the City's budget. He said the Charter states that anything over 2-1/2% of the budget must go to referendum. He said the legal opinion that Council has received is that the budget at this moment is 36 million dollars. He said the Council wants to make the Charter clear and concise so there is no ambiguous language on what constitutes the budget. He said some say the budget is only the general fund and Council's interpretation is that it is not factual. He said one way to do this is to raise the 2-1/2% to 5% to 7% but it was the determination of Council to leave the 2-1/2% as is and define "budget". Mayor Abramowitz said the next priority was terms of office, Section 4.04 and he wants to leave it until last. He said Redistricting, Section 6.03, was one of the items. Mayor Abramowitz said a major item was expenses and compensation of City Council, Section 4.04. He said the Section of the Charter, Article 7, regarding Financing was given to V/M Bender to make changes with the Attorney. He said they took the language from the City Charter that was in conflict with the State and changed it as per the State. Mayor Abramowitz said these are the things that the City Council deems a priority and asked Council if anything needed to be added. C/M Katz said yes, 5.01, 5.02, 5.04. Mayor Abramowitz said that is finance. After discussion, it was decided that it was City Manager's. Mayor Abramowitz said it was a suggestion made by V/M Bender but it is not marked as a priority. He said this would be discussed at Council's meeting. Mayor Abramowitz said he wanted to discuss Capital Improvements. He said it is a source of contention in this City and it needs to be refined to come into the twenty-first century. He said the City cannot operate when it has to go to referendum everytime it wants to spend a couple thousand dollars. He said C/M Schumann asked what happens if something is needed in an emergency and the voters say no. Mr. Winter asked if there was a court case pending on this and Mayor Abramowitz said yes, it has been there for two and a half years. C/M Schumann said 7.13 of the Charter says 2-1/2% of the then current budget. He said Carla Coleman says the present language limits capital projects to 2-1/2% of the current budget without referendum, however, the language does not clearly define what funds will be considered part of the City budget. He said if the utilities is not part of the budget of the City, then what is it. He said no one has ever told him that it is not part of the budget. He said the Charter needs to define "budget". r, 1 Mayor Abramowitz said the City just completed a study and l% Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board 11/19/91/elo Page 5 was drafted the State law also requires that the garbage and solid waste is separated,as an enterprise fund. V/M Bender said he feels that the general fund and utilities should be combined to make one budget and the 2-1/2% will be applicable to the total budget. He said this way the 2-1/2% does not have to be changed. C/M Schumann said it still has accounts receivable and accounts payable. V/M Bender said everything would be .identified separately. Ms. Blasi entered the meeting at 12:05 p.m. Ms. Blasi said proprietary funds cannot be combined with general governmental funds, general and utilities. She said it is not allowed under accounting procedures because they have different accounting regulations. She said the City can say total City Budget instead of fund but Finance has to keep them segregated into funds. C/M Katz said he suggests that the City follow the format presented to Cooper City that separated the two budgets as it presently exists and that the cap be raised from 2--1/2% to an acceptable percentage for an emergency project. He said one section of their Ordinance said the referendum requirement of this section shall not apply to capital projects within the water and sewer utility system of the City nor shall it apply to expenditures mandated by Federal or State Government, which would take in Tamarac's garbage. C/W Glasser agreed to putting everything together as the budget. Mayor Abramowitz also agreed with the majority. He said the City needs to stop the expensive litigation. He said there is one City, one area and one budget. C/M Katz said the City has two sources of revenue, one of fees and one of tax. He said he would like to keep them separate. Melanie Reynolds, resident, said the Charter needed to be revised to include Tamarac Utilities West so that it's budget could be considered. Mayor Abramowitz said that concludes capital improvement. He said they would go on to Expenses and Compensation, 4.04. He said the way this is done is ludicrous. He said for every dollar that Council gets, it takes three dollars to monitor it. He said it would be in the City's best interest to do away with this system or make a situation where Council has to come in with records but with a better system. He said Council is underpaid and expenses and compensation are detrimental. V/M Bender said the expense account vas established ten years ago and adjustments need to be made. He said the accountability should be restricted to the point that $25 to $30,000.00 are spent a year for bookkeeping to maintain an $11,000.00 appropriation for expenses and then to keep the records for years. He said the expense account should be given to Council once a year, records kept with receipts and possibly quarterly or semi-annually turn them in. He said at the end of the year if money is left over several things could be done, either retain the money and pay taxes on it or turn it back in to the City. C/M Katz said credible candidates for the office require more than the $300.00 monthly to maintain a position and the office. He said it is a losing proposition. He said the salaries for Council should be raised to $6,000.00 and $7,200.00 for the Mayor. He said receipts should be maintained up to the $2,000.00 and anything not utilized should be additional income with taxes paid on it. 1W Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board 11/19/91/elo Page 6 gets paid and in many cases when expenses are given to a particular person..and they have the opportunity to keep it as salary and paying taxes rather than going out and seeing the public, they sometimes do not do the job that they should be doing. She said it is important that the people that sit on Council go out and represent the City and be present at functions. C/W Glasser said she did agree that Council should be able to get that money in advance because more is needed at different times. She said the money should be accounted for and not kept as income. C/M Schumann said if a lump sum is given and accounted for quarterly, annually or semi-annually, what is left can be given back to the City. He said it should not be income. Mayor Abramowitz said his objection is that monetarily it does not make sense. He said it is a shame that a person has to be rich to be on Council because there are many charitable donations and invitations because of an elected position. Tape 3 Discussion was held on what functions are refundable and they agreed that often invitations are received simply because of their position in the City. C/W Glasser asked if City Manager Kelly approves all expenses of the City Council and Mayor Abramowitz said he also works for the City Council. V/M Bender said in this City, the only people that can run for office are those that are retired and have a good income. He said young people should be encouraged to run for office and if they do not have the money and maintain a full time job, they do not have the luxury of being in elected office. He said there are many things that are not in balance and they need to try and relieve pressure. Chairwoman Davis said "expense" needs to be defined so that a determination can be made as to what is a legitimate expense. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Manager has a ruling from the Attorney General. Chairwoman Davis suggested that expense vouchers be handed in, once a year. Mr. Novack said the problem is the expense of handling and the bigger problem is the appropriate use. He said this is not going to be affected by how a member gets reimbursed or how often. Mayor Abramowitz said it is handled in other cities by not putting any stipulations regarding how the expense is spent. C/M Katz said Lauderdale Lakes and Deerfield Beach get their expense allowance in monthly checks and they are not required to submit receipts for the money. He said he feels there should be accountability. Mr. Novack said even if there is not a provision in the City Charter as to what is proper and what is not, Council is subject to State law. He said if there is no accountability, there could be problems with IRS. He said one solution would be to increase the salary and do away with the expense account. He said there is not a possibility of taking politics out of it. Discussion was held regarding expenses and salaries. 1.1 Mayor Abramowitz said the business Council is in is to be out and about. Joint Workshop Meeting of City Council & Charter Board 11/19/91/elo Page 7 C/M Katz said it is not only what he can do regarding City business but now by being an elected official he cannot do what he could do as a private person. V/M Bender said the Charter mandates the salary that they get and it is set by Council. He said the City should not get involved in this, but the salaries for the Mayor and Council should be set by the County or the State. He said the County has their salary regulated by the State. He said this takes the politics out of it. He said maybe the City could tie into a formula like that. Mayor Abramowitz said they need to talk about what they are going to do now. V/M Bender said they are reviewing the Charter and he is addressing that particular section. Mayor Abramowitz said they were now going to talk about terms of office. He said Council wants the time element extended to more than two years. C/M Schumann said he wants unlimited terms. V/M Bender said 3 year terms, unlimited. Mayor Abramowitz said the Council will meet and discuss what they have heard and what they want to do at a Special Joint Meeting at which time the Council will have the opportunity to make the vote. Mayor Abramowitz said the feeling of the Council was not to put a million things on the ballot because it would confuse the public. ' Mayor Abramowitz asked if there was any public participation. Melanie Reynolds, resident, expressed her concerns that the Council and Charter Board are doing things for their own benefit and not for the public. She said there should be public input in these workshops. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED the meeting at 12:50 p.m. CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK "This document was promulgated at a cost of $157.14 or $ 3.93 per copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees of recent opinions and considerations of the City Council and Charter Board of the City of Tamarac." L,