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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-16-1993 Special Workshop• • CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORKSHOP MEETING June 16, 1993 A Special Workshop Meeting of the Cape Canaveral City Council was held on June 16, 1993, at the City Hall Annex, 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 6:02 P.M. by Mayor Salamone. ROLL CALL: Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Councilmember Councilmember Councilmember City Manager City Attorney City Clerk BUSINESS: Joy Salamone John Porter Arthur Berger Joan Calvert Rocky Randels Bennett Boucher John Kancilia Faith Miller Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present 1. Discussion & Review of Recodification of City's Code of Ordinances, Land Development and Zoning Regulations as prepared by Municipal Code Corporation. Council began its review process by discussing the proposed changes to the City Charter. Mr. Kancilia explained that the City Charter had been adopted by a Special Act of the Legislature in 1963. In 1973, the enactment of municipal home rule allowed municipalities to amend its charter by ordinary ordinance except for seven areas. The seven areas include: creation or existence of the municipality; establishment of the form of government; grants of extraterritorial powers or powers affecting any area which includes lands outside the municipality; establishment of terms of elected officials and the manner of their election; distribution of powers among elected officials; matters relating to appointed boards; and any rights of municipal employees. Provisions related to the seven aforementioned areas could only be changed by referendum. Mr. Kancilia explained that several sections that did not pertain to the seven areas had been pulled from the Charter and placed in the Code of Ordinances. Mayor Salamone stated that she had a problem with the terms used for Councilmember including "Councilman, Councilmen, Councilperson ". She asked that the wording be gender neutral throughout the Charter and Code and refer to only "Councilperson" and "Boardmember ". Mr. Boucher advised that Municipal Code had stated that "Councilman" would be changed to "Councilmember ". Mr. Kancilia advised that several sections of the Charter had been enacted by referendum and could not be changed without a referendum. There was extensive discussion regarding the gender specific nouns included in the Charter and whether or not Council wanted to place the matter as a referendum question on the November ballot. There was also discussion regarding placing corrections within the text in brackets to clarify any items which needed to be changed, such as the " Councilmember" wording. There was also discussion regarding the spelling and grammatical errors included in the Charter. There was general discussion regarding the provisions included in the Charter which were historical only and were not practices which the City currently adhered to, for example, Article I, Sec. 5, Reorganization of Officers, and Article V, Sec. 3, Election of Mayor. Mayor Salamone questioned if it would be possible to bold print the wording that was current. Mr. Kancilia advised that Municipal Code would be consulted to determine if it was possible to bold print portions of the Charter. City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Special Workshop Meeting June 16, 1993 Page 2 There was discussion regarding how supplements to the Code would be added in the future. Extensive discussion ensued regarding the reasoning behind revising the outdated ordinances and Charter through the recodification and supplement processes. Mayor Salamone advised that she did not have a copy of Florida Statutes, Chapter 166, and requested same. Mr. Kancilia stated that basically Chapter 166 provided that municipalities had all powers that had not been specifically reserved to the State. He stated that the Charter had been written at a time when municipalities only had powers granted to them by special act and the Charter was a special act. Mayor Salamone expressed her concerns regarding the importance of the Charter. Mr. Kancilia stated that State law had superseded a number of provisions in the Charter for the past twenty years. Discussion followed regarding the provisions deleted from the City Charter due to conflict with State law. Council would be given copies of all Florida Statute chapters that were referenced in the City Charter. There was discussion regarding Article V, Section 3, pertaining to the election of mayor and mayor pro tem. The provisions included in the section were historical and related to the manner of election and would have to be placed as a referendum issue in order to be amended. There was discussion relative to Article VI, City Manager, Section 1, Appointment of the City Manager. Mayor Salamone questioned if a residency requirement could be added for the City Manager. Mr. Kancilia stated that there was case law regarding residency requirements and it had been found unconstitutional to require residency of appointed officials. Mayor Salamone stated that there were three different versions included in the Charter and ordinances which provided for appointment of another person due to the City Manager's absence or sickness. Mr. Boucher stated that there was an ordinance which provided that the City Clerk would serve as City Manager during his absence. Mrs. Calvert suggested appointing a Deputy City Manager. Mr. Kancilia stated that wherever ordinances conflicted with the Charter, the Charter would take precedence. Ms. Miller advised that Section 2 -102 of the Code of Ordinances, provided that the City Clerk "may be deputy city manager ". Mr. Kancilia stated the provision did not conflict because of the "may" language. Mrs. Calvert stated that there should always be a "deputy city manager" to fall back on if the city manager was absent. Mr. Kancilia stated that Council may want to delete any reference in the ordinance to say that it may be one person or another and just have the appointment as a continuing resolution. He stated that the resolution should designate "the person" not "the position ". After a ten - minute break, the meeting was reconvened. There was discussion relative to Article IX, City Tax Assessor and Article X, City Tax Collector. Mr. Boucher stated that the old articles provided that the City Tax Assessor prepared tax maps, assessed the properties, etc. Those provisions were statutory responsibilities of the State and its counties. There was discussion regarding the editor's notes included by Municipal Code Corporation for clarification purposes on sections that were editorially deleted. Mr. Randels felt that the editor's notes provided a paper trail and a history of why certain sections of the original Charter were amended or deleted. • 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Special Workshop Meeting June 16, 1993 Page 3 Mayor Salamone questioned the section (Article XVI, Section 2) which provided for a Budget Committee appointed by Council each fiscal year. This section could be deleted by referendum. Council asked that formal action to appoint a Budget Committee be placed on the next Council workshop. There was discussion regarding Article XXI, Elections, Section 7, Registration Fee, whereby the City Clerk had added the word "Voter" to the title of this section. Since this was a manner of election provision it could not be changed. There was discussion regarding Section 16, Referendum Ballot Form, which had obsolete wording regarding the form of the ballot. The City Clerk would check with Municipal Code to determine whether or not the wording could be removed. There was discussion regarding Article XXIV, Miscellaneous, Sections 5 and 6, which included language that conflicted with State law. Mr. Kancilia stated that he would check with Municipal Code to determine if these sections could be amended because there was a provision that allowed for removal of wording from a Charter which violated State law or constitution. There was general discussion regarding whether or not changes to the Charter should be placed as a referendum issue on the November ballot. There was discussion regarding Article XXIV, Miscellaneous, Section 7, Investigative Procedures, regarding wording that the City Manager wanted added to allow that only an "appointed" officer or employer could be investigated by the City Council or appointed advisory board. Mayor Salamone felt that the wording should remain that "any" officer or employee could be investigated by the City Council or appointed advisory board. Mr. Boucher explained why he felt that the wording should refer only to "appointed" employees. Mr. Kancilia felt that it was dangerous to leave the wording intact because of potential liability problems with Council appointing investigation committees to do things which may breach union contracts. There -bei g°,no:', er..business, the meeting adjourned at 8:02 P.M. Faith. G. Miner,- 5•'_ AAE City Clerk