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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Workshop_03/24/2008MINUTES VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA WORKSHOP VILLAGE MANAGER'S CONFERENCE ROOM MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 Call to Order and Roll Call The meeting was called to order by Mayor Pat Watkins at 5:30 p.m. A roll call was taken by Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. Present were: Mayor Pat Watkins, Vice Mayor Calvin Turnquest, Council Member Arena, Council Member Humpage, and Council Member Tom Paterno. Also in attendance were: Village Manager Michael R. Couzzo, Jr., Village Attorney White, and Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. Approval of Agenda MOTION: Council Member Humpage moved to approve the agenda as submitted; seconded by Council Member Arena, motion carried unanimously 5-0. New Business 1. Discussion on the Memorial Stone saved from the old Village Hall building was displayed and proposed for use on the existing fountain. Carlton Stoddard distributed a handout to show he was grateful for what the Village was doing regarding this memorial, and commented he wanted to be on the memorial next to his wife. Village Council Member proposed using the money in Charitable Funds account to get this started. Individuals would pay for their own stones, which would replace blanks. Council Member Humpage estimated it would take 186 stones to go around the fountain. Stones would be sold on first come, first serve basis. Consensus of Council (Watkins, Arena, Humpage) agreed to move forward with the fountain. 2. Legal Update -Policies and Procedures a. Home Rule Powers Act Minutes -Village Council Workshop 3/24/08 Page 2 Attorney White noted this was Chapter 166; passed July 1973, which gave municipalities all powers to do all things except things that were specifically illegal; the Village's charter had -been recently updated. b. The Sunshine Law The Sunshine Law was established to make certain the people's business was done in the public. No two or more members from a board or commission could get together to discuss business that might come before them. Cell phone records, email, text messages could not be used to state a position and ask for comment back. Sunshine Law applied also to advisory committees, and committees allowed to rank proposals. Nothing in State law required a time for posting notices; only reasonable time. Palm Beach County is a charter county, meaning if they passed ordinances by referendum those would prevail over a municipality's local ordinance, except in five areas. Attorney White urged support of an item which would be on the November 2008 ballot stating if the County passed an ordinance which passed countywide but not in our municipality, it would not apply in our municipality; this would go a long way to preserving the Village's home rule. The ordinance would be on the Village Council's April agenda for their support. Attorney White clarified a Council Member could speak with a member of Planning and Zoning; a Council Member could attend the Planning and Zoning Board meeting; however they should not comment. on anything that was going to come before Council for a decision; and may not act as a conduit between two Planning and Zoning Board members. Attorney White stressed the seriousness of compliance with the Sunshine Law. c. Public Records Act Attorney White advised the amounts the Village could charge for public records was in the State law; a person could request a public record and did not have to provide any information, not even their name. The Village did not have to compile any records that were not already compiled; did not have to create lists if none existed; did not have to provide records in a different format than that kept by the Village; and future documents that did not yet exist could not be requested. Withholding public records was a very serious offense. d. Land Use Matters; Quasi Judicial .Hearings and Ex Parte Communication with Applicants Attorney White advised the Village was required to have a comprehensive plan under FS Chapter 163; presently the EAR (Evaluation and Appraisal Report) was Minutes -Village Council Workshop 3/24/08 Page 3 being prepared. Although the EAR should be done every seven years, this was the first one for the Village because smaller municipalities had been exempted up to the present time. The Village's EAR report had been accepted by DCA (Department of Community Affairs) and the EAR based amendments must be adopted by the Village Council within 18 months of receiving approval by DCA. They would need to select a firm to prepare this update to the Village's comprehensive plan. Land development regulations were also required, and must be consistent with the comprehensive plan. In the event of inconsistency, the comprehensive plan would prevail Quasi judicial hearings would be those most challenged; they must have standards applied, and included special exceptions, variances, and site plans. Witnesses should be sworn in, protocol should be followed, ex parte communications should be disclosed; decisions must be made only from information produced at the hearing. Challenges must be made within 30 days and they could only challenge on failure to provide procedural due process (notice and a hearing), competent substantial evidence, and following essential requirements of law. e. Ethics; Gifts; Disclosures Annual financial disclosure forms must be filed; quarterly gift disclosure forms available from the Village Clerk must. be filed for any gifts over $100. Never accept a gift for a vote. f. Conflicts of Interest -Voting Voting conflict of interest forms must be filled out,. and given to the Village Clerk. The outcome of the vote must inure to your private gain in order for a voting conflict of interest to exist. Any member of Council with a legitimate voting conflict must disclose it at the meeting and refrain from discussing it at all. The attorney should be consulted if any questions. g. Personal Liability So long as a Council member stayed within the scope of his/her duties, they had qualified immunity under the law. h. Role of Council; Policies & Procedures Attorney White commented to increase efficiency, if a Council member had any questions regarding the agenda they should contact someone about it before the meeting because it made them look like they didn't know what was on the Minutes -Village Council Workshop 3/24/08 Page 4 agenda when they asked such elementary questions. Items that needed discussion should not be on the consent agenda. Agendas going out two weeks ahead of meetings was very confusing, because then changes were made and backup sent; Attorney White felt a week ahead of the meeting was plenty of time to send out the agenda. The Village Manager distributed a draft agenda of bulleted items proposed for the next agenda. Attorney White noted the meeting minutes attempted to be verbatim, and advised that under the Sunshine Law all that was required was the person who made the motion, the person who seconded, and the action that was taken. A brief description of a discussion that took place, names of people who spoke could be listed, and the attorney suggested action minutes or to have a court reporter if verbatim minutes were desired. Audio would be available. The attorney clarified that anyone could propose an ordinance; only Council could adopt an ordinance. i. Review and Update of Village Council Policies ~ Procedures Voting The change to voting procedure was that "Yes" or "No" would be substituted for "Aye" or "No". Ballot voting was deleted. Agenda Item: Communications from Citizens During communication from citizens, no back and forth discussion should take place; if consensus of Council, the resident and Council should be provided the information within a reasonable time. The 3-minute time limit would be shown on TV screens. Asking for a response within the 3-minute time limit was discussed and left as it was. In Item 6 "moved on the agenda" was deleted, because it was already there. The Village Attorney was advised she could change her report format from items done during the month to brief and interesting. updates and issues that Council needed to be informed about. .Item 7 was changed to state that request cards were to be handed to the Village Clerk. Dottie Campbell asked for a more user friendly comment card and to stack the speakers to save time. Agenda Item: Communications from Council No changes were made. Agenda Item: Any Other Matters No changes were made. Quasi-Judicial Hearings The following order was agreed upon to be observed by speakers during the hearing: (1) Open Public Hearing (2) Applicant (3) Staff (4) Village Council (5) Public Minutes -Village Council Workshop 3/24/08 Page 5 (6) Applicant -final comments (7) Close public portion of hearing (8) Council deliberation and voting The last line regarding changes was deleted. General Items Item 2 regarding goals and objectives was deleted. Consensus of Council was the draft agenda of bulleted items would be emailed two weeks before the meeting; the agenda packet with backup would be sent on Friday before the meeting. Consensus of Council was to go to action minutes with motion, second, vote and one or two lines on discussion, and to place the audio on the website. Consensus of Council was to place bulleted items for the Agenda in the Courier prior to the Council meeting. Mayor Watkins requested cell phones be turned off during meetings, if traveling to notify the clerk, and to come to meetings with calendars. Charter Review Recommendations 1) Travel and per diem expenses reimbursement - no change 2) Item regarding authorization to contact the Village attorney was deleted 3) The Village Attorney shall recommend outside counsel for special situations and special expertise with concurrence of Village Manager 4) Parliamentary procedures shall be provided in a booklet 5) Discussion of increasing salaries for Council Members was deferred to the budget workshops -suggestions were to increase discretionary funds instead or have a gas reimbursement account 6) How to establish a department was included in policies 7) An ordinance to allow election poll workers to be from Palm Beach County instead of Village residents had already been passed. Consensus of Council was to place approval of policies and procedures on the Consent agenda. 3. Develop Council Twelve Month Calendar Council was requested to provide possible available dates for workshops. An executive session was set for 4 p.m. on April 3; a grant workshop was needed after April 10; a health insurance workshop after contract negotiations ended, and an annexation workshop at the end of April. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Council Member Humpage moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:15 p. m.; seconded by Council Member Paterno, motion carried unanimously 5-0. Minutes -Village Council Workshop 3/24/08 Page 6 Respectfully submitted, Lori McWilliams, CMC Village Clerk Note: These summary minutes are prepared in compliance with 286.011 F.S. and are not verbatim transcripts of the meeting. A verbatim audio record is available from the Office of the Village Clerk. All referenced attachments are on file in the Village Clerk's office.