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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-08-16 - City Commission Joint Special Meeting Minutes7525 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE & TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321-2401 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 August 11, 1988 NOTICE OF CITY COUNCIL AND CHARTER BOARD JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING There will be a Joint Workshop Meeting of the City Council and Charter Board on Tuesday, August 16, 1988 at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office), City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The subject of this meeting is discussion on the Charter Amendments proposed by the Charter Board, is All meetings are open to the public. CEB/nr L] Carol E. Barbuto City Clerk AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY COUNCIL AND CHARTER BOARD JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1988 TAPE 1 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Tuesday, August 16, 1988 at 9:00 A.M. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office). DPrgrNT- City Council Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Jack Stelzer Councilman Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr Charter Board Dr. Alfred Wald, Chairman Stan Bernard, Vice Chairman Isaac "Zeke" Feldman ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Charter Board Ron Catronio ALSO PRESENT: John P. Kelly, City Manager Richard Doody, City Attorney Carol E. Barbuto, City Clerk Pauline Walaszek, Special Services Secretary Mayor Abramowitz suggested the Amendments be discussed one at a time. He said the City Council would discuss the Amendments first, then the Charter Board and then the Public. V/M Stelzer said the Resolutions could not be accepted because the first paragraph stated, "The Charter Board is authorized by Section 8.02(b) of the Tamarac City Charter to submit Charter Amendments to Referendum to be decided by the City voters." V/M Stelzer suggested that the Resolutions be changed to omit this clause. He said the City Council should not act on these Resolutions as they are. Mayor Abramowitz said the Amendments were decided through several meetings and much thought. He said he personally did not care who did the work on the Amendments, however, he wanted to follow the Law. He said with the City Council and Charter Board members at the same meeting, it did not make a difference who submitted the matter to the City Clerk for Referendum; however, the Amendments should be agreed upon by the City Council and the Charter Board. Page 1 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop City Attorney Doody said the City Council would have to adopt Ordinances on the Amendments; therefore, the City Council should not concern themselves with the Charter Board's drafting of their Resolutions. He said the City Council's Ordinances may not have reference to the clause in which V/M Stelzer is concerned with. V/M Stelzer said he objected to the Resolutions being submitted to the City Council with the clause. Mayor Abramowitz said the Charter Board has put a tremendous amount of work on the Amendments and he agrees with most of the Amendments. Chairman Wald said he understood the concerns of V/M Stelzer, City Attorney Doody and City Manager Kelly; however, the City was presently operating under an existing Charter. He said the present Charter, regardless of the Attorney General's opinion, provides that the Charter Board could put the Amendments on the Ballot. Chairman Wald said the Charter Board was not opposing the City Council; however, the City Charter presently allows the Charter Board to place Amendments on the Ballot and direct the City Clerk to submit the Amendments to the County. Chairman Wald said the Charter Board's previous Attorney, Robert Dunckel, felt that the Charter Board was 100% correct the following the Charter as it presently reads. He said the Charter Board's present Attorney, Alan Gabriel, also agreed the Charter Board was correct in following the present Charter. He said the Charter Board presently did not need the City Council's approval to place the Amendments on the Ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said this was the Charter Board's opinion. He said he would not allow this meeting to continue if there would be disagreements that could not be resolved. He said if the Charter Board was opposing this meeting, it should not take place. He said the City was advised legally that there was a possibility of challenge from the public regarding the Charter Board's placing the Amendments on the Ballot. City Manager Kelly said the Charter Board made a proposal to place the Amendments on the Ballot and forwarded them to the City Clerk. He said in the interim, the City received an opinion from the Attorney General stating that the Charter Board did not have the authority to do this; therefore, the City Council, City Attorney and he were accepting this opinion. City Manager Kelly said the City Clerk worked for the City Manager and, as the City Manager, he directed the City Clerk not to forward the Amendments submitted by the Charter Board to the Supervisor of Elections. City Manager Kelly said he suggested that the City Council call a joint Workshop immediately with the Charter Board if they were interested in placing the Amendments on the Ballot. He said he suggested this to resolve the wording of the Amendments so they could be presented to the public. City Manager Kelly said if the Charter Board wanted to challenge his decision or the City Council's decision, it Page 2 V- 1 1 1 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop would take a legal battle that no one was interested in pursuing. He said the legal battle would not be resolved in enough time to get the Amendments on the November Ballot. He said the purpose of the meeting was to agree with the Amendments and place them on the Ballot. City Manager Kelly said this was the only way the Amendments could be placed on the November Ballot. Zeke Feldman said he had proof that the Charter Board had the right to place Amendments on the Ballot and he submitted two cases to the City Attorney. He said the City received an opinion, only an opinion, from the Attorney General and, until it was decided by the Supreme Court that the opinion was the Law, the City should continue with the present law of the Charter. Vice Chairman Bernard asked if the City Council was prepared to deny the Charter Board the right of placing the Amendments on the Ballot. He said if so, the Charter Board would have to consider what to do from this point on. He said the Charter Board may challenge the ruling; however, the Amendments should be placed on this Ballot. He said he would like to do what is needed to get these Amendments on the Ballot; however, he would consider what should be done in the future. He said for the benefit of the City, the Amendments should be placed on the November Ballot. Mayor Abramowitz said the purpose of this meeting was to get the Amendments on the Ballot not to determine the legality of the Attorney General's opinion. He said the City was under a time restraint and he would like to continue with the meeting if the City Council and the Charter Board agreed to have these Amendments placed on the November Ballot. V/M Stelzer said he was not objecting to placing the Amendments on the Ballot; however, he was opposed to the proposed Resolutions because of the first two paragraphs. City Attorney Doody said the Charter Board drafted their Resolutions in their own language; however, the City Council would draft their ordinance with their language. He said the City Council should not involve themselves with the Charter Board's Resolutions. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not want to discuss the legality of the Amendments. He said this meeting should be about getting the Amendments on the November Ballot. Chairman Wald said the Charter Board held Public Hearings on the Amendments and tried to implement the public's concerns. He said he discussed this matter with C/M Hoffman and they agreed that one of the Amendments should not be placed on the Ballot. V/M Stelzer asked if this was a violation of the Sunshine Law and Attorney Doody said C/M Hoffman and Chairman Wald were on separate Committees. He said his client was the City Council, both individually and together, and, with C/M Hoffman and V/M Stelzer being his clients, it was not appropriate to ask an opinion regarding each other because it placed him in a conflict of interest position in which he refused to be placed. Chairman Wald said there should not be much discussion needed for the Amendments and, because the Amendments should be placed on the November Ballot, this meeting Page 3 `� 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop should continue. He said the legality of'the Amendments being placed on the Ballot could not be solved at this time; however, he did not want the City Council dictating what the Amendments should be. Chairman Wald said the Amendments were drawn up by the Charter Board and should be placed on the November Ballot as they were proposed in order to expedite matters. He said the Charter Board could discuss the legality of the Amendments being placed on the Ballot. C/M Hoffman said he did not approve of the Charter Board giving the City Council ultimatums and Vice Chairman Bernard said Chairman Wald was not giving the City Council ultimatums. C/M Rohr asked if the Charter Board felt comfortable with the City Council ignoring the Attorney General's opinion. He said if the City Council ignored the opinion the City Council and the Charter Board may be doing something illegal. He asked if the Charter Board was 100% positive that a Court of Law would declare the Attorney General's opinion incorrect. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council and the Charter Board should determine if the meeting was to continue. He said the Chairman of the Charter Board was indicating that the meeting was needless because the Amendments were not going to be placed on the November Ballot by anyone except the Charter Board. Mayor Abramowitz said he thought the City Council and Charter Board may expedite the Amendments by meeting and agreeing to the Amendments; therefore, he wanted the meeting to go on as planned. He said the City Council and Charter Board should do as the Attorney General's opinion tells them to do and place the Amendments on the November Ballot as the opinion tells them to do. He said from there on, the City Council and Charter Board Attorneys can handle the matter as they are directed to handle it. Mayor Abramowitz said if the meeting is Adjourned, the City Manager indicated that he instructed the City Clerk not to submit the Amendments for Referendum; therefore, the time spent on the Amendments would be wasted. Vice Chairman Bernard said the City Council and Charter Board should do what was needed to get the Amendments on the November Ballot. He said everyone seemed to want the Amendments on the Ballot and the disagreement should be handled after the election. Vice Chairman Bernard said if the Charter Board wanted their power justified, they would have to sue the City; however, he has not made up his mind as to whether this should occur. He said the Charter Board would have to meet to discuss this matter before action is taken. Mayor Abramowitz said this matter seemed to evolve around turf. He said the City is being classified as third in this matter. He said the City Council does not have time or want to usurp the Charter Board's power. Mayor Abramowitz said Chairman Wald stated that the Amendments were appropriate except one. He said he did not agree with this and he objected to another Amendment. He said as the highest elected position in the City, he Page 4�... 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop had the right to object to the Amendments and he knows that his objections may by honored by going into a ballot box and voting no. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council and Charter Board are at this meeting to discuss the Amendments and the only ones benefiting .from this disagreement were the Attorneys. He said all he wanted was for the City Council and the Charter Board to get the Amendments on the November Ballot. Vice Chairman Bernard suggested Mayor Abramowitz ask each Official if they were prepared to continue with the meeting. Mayor Abramowitz asked the City Council and Charter Board members if they wanted to continue with the meeting and they all AGREED to continue; however, V/M Stelzer and Chairman Wald said they agreed to continue providing the substance of each Amendment was discussed only. City Attorney Doody said if there were changes regarding the substance of the Amendments, the changes would occur at the time the Ordinances are adopted. SECTION 8.01(a) - Charter Board Terms of Office The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. SECTION 4.02 = C t Council Terms of Office V/M Stelzer said the Amendment would begin in the 1989 Municipal Election and he asked if a person who served two terms could run again. City Attorney Doody said this Amendment appeared to allow" a person presently serving two terms to run again in 1989 because there was no retroactive language in the Amendment. The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. SECTION 8.01(c) - Charter Board Forfeiture of Office The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. SECTION 4.05(a) and (b) = City Council Vacancies C/M Hoffman said the Amendment stated "any vacancy occurring on the City Council within 180 days of the next Municipal Election shall be filled by a majority of the remaining Council members." and then, "any vacancy occurring on the City Council with more than 180 days remaining a Special Election should be called." C/M Hoffman said under these terms, if a person was appointed to fill a vacancy with 181 days remaining until the next election, the person would have to run 3 times in two years. He said there was no point in a person Page 5 `/ 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop running for this type of vacancy. He said there was no provision in the Charter Board's filling of vacancies with this type of circumstance. He said the City Council and Charter Board should fill a vacancy for the balance of the year regardless of when the vacancy occurs and have the appointee run at the next General Election instead of spending the extra money for a Special Election. TAPE 2 C/M Hoffman said this Amendment should not be submitted to the November Ballot until it is reviewed further. City Attorney Doody said he realized that the paragraph above the Amendment stated, "If a vacancy occurred except as a result of recall,". He said the purpose of the language being in the Charter was because State Statute had specific regulations of how a vacancy was to be filled after a recall. He said this matter should be reviewed and rewritten to be consistent with the State Statute. Chairman Wald said the Resolution was taken from the recommendations made by the Charter Review Committee. He said he realizes that there was a lot missing in the Resolution. He suggested this Resolution not be submitted for the November Ballot. Vice Chairman Bernard agreed with Chairman Wald. Mayor Abramowitz asked if anyone objected to leaving the Amendment off of the November Ballot. V/M Stelzer said the clause, "The interim party shall serve until the next Regular Municipal Election", meant that with a two year term, the party filling the vacancy for the first year term, would have to run for the other year. Mayor Abramowitz asked the City Attorney to note the concerns of the City Council and Charter Board members. The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED not to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 SECTION 8.02(a) - Charter Board Duties and Powers C/M Hoffman said the Charter Board's previous Attorney, Robert Dunckel, suggested that the word "dishonesty" be eliminated from the Charter because he felt there was no way to define the word "dishonesty". He said the Charter Board had the power to investigate any specific act of dishonesty and he agreed with the Attorney's suggestion. V/M Stelzer read the definition of dishonesty as follows: "DISHONESTY" - not honest, disposed to lie, cheat or steal, untrustworthy, proceeding from or exhibiting lack of honesty, fraudulent, unscrupulous. Lack of honesty, a disposition to lie, cheat or steal, etc..." V/M Stelzer asked if the Charter Board was recommending that a Councilmember could lie, cheat or steal. City Attorney Doody said he discussed this matter with Attorney Dunckel regarding this matter and Attorney Dunckel stated that the other terms in the paragraph were recognized as legal terms. He said "dishonesty" was not Page 6 �- 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop recognized as a legal term and the Chartez would not be losing anything by eliminating it because any of the accusations that would fall under dishonesty, would also be considered in the other terms listed in the Charter. He said the elimination of the word "dishonesty" would only avoid questions by people who were not familiar with the legal terms of the word. Chairman Wald read the letter submitted by Attorney Dunckel which stated: "As a result of the hearing regarding the Stelzer matter on Monday, January 18, 1988, I recommend that a transcript of the proceedings be made available to all Board members present and future as an example as to how to carefully circumcise the powers of the Charter Board. My long term goal is that the Charter Board's power be zealously guarded from being used as an offensive tool by either the political majority or minority. The investigatory powers and procedures set forth in the Charter, with certain exceptions, are an overall benefit to a politically active, retiree community such as Tamarac. It is important that the investigatory mechanism be zealously guarded against political oppression. To that extent, it is imperative that the investigatory procedures be followed strictly and, if the facts alleged do not constitute a violation of a specific law, then the inquiry should be put to an end. To that extent, I would strongly urge that you delete the word "dishonesty" from the enumerated powers of the Board. Such a term has no place in the listing of offenses as it does not constitute a definable legal concept within accepted parameters. The term "dishonesty" is too subjective a term and lends to the investigatory process abuse. If the process is abused its institutional integrity will be undermined and its institutional function ultimately eliminated." City Attorney Doody said basically, he agreed with the opinion. He said "dishonesty" was a vague term and the change was to protect the City Council and Charter Board members. He said if the Charter Board was going to investigate a matter, it had to be something recognized as a violation under the Law because the Charter Board would be treading in an area that is close to defamation. V/M Stelzer asked what happened when he brought charges against a previous Mayor for falsifying the expense accounts. City Attorney Doody said this sounded like something that may be a violation of fraud, illegal personal gain, etc. He said all of the scenarios raised on the matter were covered in the language presently in the Charter. *He said "dishonesty" was too big an area and eliminating the word would protect the City Council and Charter Board members. The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. Page 7 �/' 8/16/88 - ,joint Workshop SECTION 5.04 = City Manager Duties and Powers C/M Hoffman said the City Manager had all the powers the Amendment would vest to him, except there are two positions in the Municipal Government that require the consent of the City Council, one is the City Clerk and the other is the Chief Building Official. He said there was no need to take the supervision away from the City Council. C/M Rohr had concerns with why "subject to the majority of the City Council" was removed. City Manager Kelly said the City was not registered with the International City Managers Association or recognized as a City Manager form of Government because of the way the Charter read at this time. V/M Stelzer asked the City Attorney to research the City Council's responsibility regarding the Chief Building Official and if the Charter prohibits the City from being known as a City Manager form of Government. Mayor Abramowitz had concerns with the Charter reading "an Assistant City Manager". He said the City did not have a position known as Assistant City Manager; however, this Budget year would allow the City Manager to hire an Assistant to the City Manager, not an Assistant City Manager. C/M Hoffman said several years ago, the Charter Board introduced an Amendment which was passed which limited the power of the Pension Board to invest monies. He said this was declared illegal by the Circuit Court; however, he has not seen this implemented and asked that this be investigated. Vice Chairman Bernard said this matter would be looked into and if this was illegal in the Charter, it would be Y changed. The City Council and Charter Board members AGREED not to place this Amendment on the November Ballot. V/M Stelzer suggested that SECTION 8.01(a) -- Charter Board Vacancies be eliminated from the Ballot. He said the City Council Vacancies was eliminated and he would like to have these two Amendments researched to see if they were conflicting. Chairman Wald said the Amendment stated that the Charter Board would appoint a person for the vacancy until the next General Election. V/M Stelzer asked if the person filling the vacancy would have to include that in his 3 terms and C/M Hoffman said the Amendment did not stress this matter; however, the Amendment stated, "the person filling the vacancy shall serve the remaining year or until the next General Election." C/M Hoffman said the succession in the Charter discussed Elections and not the number of terms. He said the Charter refers to the number of times a person could be elected; therefore, if a person was elected once for one year, it would be considered an election. Page 8 8/16/88 - Joint Workshop 1 1 V/M Stelzer suggested that this matter be researched and City Attorney Doody said the language being referred to was elsewhere in the Charter and not in the Resolutions. After discussion, the City Council and Charter Board members decided to place the Amendment for SECTION 8.01(a) on the November Ballot. With no further discussion, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 10:30 A.M. CAROL E. BARBUTO, CITY CLERK' "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $113.40 or $3.15 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." Page 9 �'