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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Charter Review_09/19/2007 VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA CHARTER REVIEW BOARD MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 19, 2007 I. Call To Order And Roll Call The Village of Tequesta Charter Review Board held its regularly scheduled meeting at the Tequesta Village Hall, 345 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta, Florida, on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. The meeting was called to order at 2:00 P.M. by Chair Capretta. Village Clerk Lori McWilliams called the roll: Present were Chair Joseph Capretta, Vice Chair Mary Hinton, Dottie Campbell, Geraldine Genco, and Russell Von Frank. Also in attendance were Village Attorney John C. Randolph and Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. II. Approval of Agenda MOTION Vice Chair Hinton moved approval of the agenda. Board Member Von Frank seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. III. Approval of Minutes MOTION Board Member Hinton moved approval of the September 5, 2007 meeting minutes. Board Member Von Frank seconded the motion, Board Member Genco asked to withhold approval until 5.01 and 3.05 could be discussed; the motion and second were withdrawn and after discussion the motion was changed by Vice Chair Hinton to approve the minutes as amended according to the audio of the September 5, 2007 meeting. Motion was seconded by Board Member Von Frank and carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. IV. Final Review of Redlined Charter Attorney Randolph reviewed the changes as shown on the redlined 3 version: The first change had been to make "Florida law" consistent throughout, so the only change from the last time on page 1 was the change to "Florida law' in 2.01. In 2.02 the word "hold" was inserted. The Board indicated they wanted to review all changes made, not just since the last time. Attorney Randolph reviewed the changes: Charter Review Board September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes Page 2 1.02 — added "policies and" 2.01 — added "Florida law" and removed "each Village Council Member shall be entitled to an annual salary to be fixed by ordinance ". 2.02— Inserted the word "hold "; deleted from the document going to the voters the State law references; however, that would be added back in during codification. 2.05- Vacancies — "forfeiture of office" had been a big change; additional wording was added to clarify #4: 3 consecutive regular monthly meetings where the absences have not been approved by Village Council. Attorney Randolph clarified for Vice Chair Hinton that this would necessitate a referendum. Board Member Genco voiced issues with the wording in #4 not reading correctly and asked that the wording be changed to "within" three (3) consecutive months or six regular monthly meetings. Discussion ensued, following which Village Clerk McWilliams read the language for #4: "misses three consecutive regularly scheduled monthly meetings, in three successive months, where such absences are not approved by the Village Council, or" And #5: "Misses six regularly scheduled monthly meetings where such absences are in any one year period." The Village Clerk advised she would type the wording as discussed and bring it to the board so they could see it in black and white. The language passed out by Village Clerk McWilliams, with the addition of "Misses" as the first word in #5 was agreed upon. Legal Counsel Addition Section number was left blank under appointment of legal counsel and auditor to make sure it was put in the right place; Attorney Randolph felt it was in the right place and stated it would be re- numbered. It was new language which the Board had approved. Attorney Randolph stated he had been asked to point out that at the 2001 Charter Review Commission meeting, the previous Charter had stated "the Village Council shall have to power to retain and appoint an Engineer, an Attorney, and additional officers as the business of the Village may require." Going to the highlighted section #2, the reason stated for that being deleted was "Village advisors such as the Engineer and Attorney are retained by the Village as the business of the Village requires; they are not staff employees of the Village and should not be given permanency in the Charter." The Board felt that should stay in; the Council should hire all attorneys that worked on behalf of the community. Discussion ensued regarding how far this would go; Village Clerk McWilliams pointed out it was in Council Procedures #8, as discussed at the 8/17/07 meeting to be a recommendation for Council Procedures. Attorney Randolph asked whether the intent was that this was to apply just to the hiring of the legal counsel of the Village or to go further to mean any attorney hired for the Village. Attorney Randolph reported the language used by Jupiter. Legal fees were Charter Review Board September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes Page 3 discussed, it was noted those would be addressed under policies and procedures. Vice Chair Hinton stated her position was that legal fees were a large part of the' Village expenses and she felt the Council should approve any attorney because they were ultimately responsible for the money. Board Member Genco stated she was comfortable with the language the Board had decided on. 2.08 - Florida Law should be changed to a small "1" – Florida law. 3.02 – Attorney Randolph pointed out the line on page 5 was not meant to be a line— it had occurred in the copying process. Page 6 had no lines; page 7 was clear. 5.01- #8 "the relief of the poor, and for" was deleted. 6.01- Attorney Randolph advised that Village Clerk McWilliams had talked to the Supervisor of Elections, who said the word "certified" should be used in the phrase "as certified by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Election's office ". 6.02- the word "certified" should be used in the phrase "as certified by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Election's office ". 6.03- The word "genuine" was removed. 6.05- The word "business" was added in front of "days" in two places. 6.07- 60 was placed in parenthesis to be consistent with the way it had been dealt with in other places. 6.08- 60 was placed in parenthesis to be consistent with the way it had been dealt with in other places. 7.02- Changed to read: All meetings of the Council shall be open to the public pursuant to the provisions of Florida law. Chair Capretta noted the big changes were the Council would hire the legal counsel and the auditors. Chair Capretta commented this was to be presented to the Village Council by him or Vice Chair Hinton at the October 11 meeting, giving them the proposed changes to the Charter recommended by the Board and telling them the Board had seen a lot of other issues that needed clarifying. Charter Review Board September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes Page 4 Village Clerk advised she was searching for an ordinance on the establishment of each department and if not found, a recommendation would be made to Council to create and approve such an ordinance. V. Discussion on Items Recommended to be Placed into "Council Procedures ". Board Member Hinton suggested for Item 6 (page 3 of 4) to add "and phone" expenses. Board Member Genco stated there was a resolution adopted for employees regarding reimbursement for mileage, etc. and she thought a resolution should be presented for Council approval for travel and per diem for Council members. Vice Chair Hinton asked to have telephone reimbursement added to that resolution. Board Member Genco asked for a set of recommendations including the Charter amendments for presentation to Council, and that for Item 6 Council adopt a resolution or amend the existing resolution for Council. Chair Capretta felt a procedure or resolution could be done and left up to the Council. Board Member Hinton felt this discussion told Council the board recommended this. Board Member Genco expressed her opinion that the format of the presentation should be to have Chair Capretta make recommendations to the Council for charter amendments; Board Member Hinton indicated she felt these changes were procedures and not charter amendments. Attorney Randolph recommended the Chair of this committee should write a letter to the Village Council, signed by all members of the Charter Review Board, containing the proposed changes; and also list other items that were discussed and recommended, and the Village Council would decide if it should be a resolution. MOTION Board Member Genco moved approval of the Village Attorney's recommendation. Board Member Hinton seconded the motion. Attorney Randolph indicated he needed to review the list to be sure everything was included. Other items the Board had discussed were mentioned, such as looking at the code to be sure it was consistent, looking at Council salaries, and that Council might want to clarify what inquiries or investigations were. Attorney Randolph commented he had been looking at the list of the four items while this discussion was taking place, and saw nothing additional that needed to be included. Motion carried 5 -0. VI. Communication From Citizens There were no communications from citizens. Charter Review Board September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes Page 5 VII. Adjournment Upon motion by Board member Genco; seconded by Board member Von Frank, and unanimously carried 5 -0, the meeting was adjourned at 3:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lori McWilliams Village Clerk