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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Workshop_11/07/2007MINUTES VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA VILLAGE COUNCIL CHARTER WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jim Humpage at 3:05 p.m. A roll call was taken by Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. Present were: Mayor Jim Humpage, Vice Mayor Pat Watkins, Council Member Tom Paterno, Council Member Dan Amero, and Council Member Calvin Turnquest. Also in attendance were: Village Manager Michael R. Couzzo, Jr. and Village Clerk Lori McWilliams. NEW BUSINESS 1. Review and Discussion on the Proposed Charter Amendments a. Referendum Chart b. Redlined Charter as proposed by Charter Review Committee c. Charter Review Board Meeting Minutes Mayor Humpage explained the Council agreed to review and was now evaluating the recommendations of the Charter Review Committee. Mr. John "Skip" Randolph explained the committee reviewed the Charter in its entirety and discussed in depth if changes were necessary for each section. He noted what was presented to Council were the suggested changes and the chart showed minor changes that would require a referendum if changed. He pointed out the minor changes were separated from the substantive changes, of which there were three, if Council did not wish to pursue the proposed changes then the minor changes would not be processed. He reviewed his letter dated 10/30/07 and noted he added suggested language to Section 2.12 relating to interference and inquiries which would, if accepted, make four substantive changes; he believed this suggested language had not been reviewed by the Committee. He stated the language in the Charter was boiler plate language from the State Model Charter and believed the language was confusing. He suggested the Charter read, "Except for the purpose of inquiries or investigations authorized by the Village Council..." in order to provide that the only time a Council Member would deal with employees other than through the Manager would be if Council authorized this as a collective body. Additionally, he recommended, as a result of Council Member Paterno's comments regarding Section 2.05 -Vacancies and Forfeiture of Office - "removal of a Council Member if they had not received an excuse for absences from another Council Member", he agreed and felt it could allow for an abuse of discretion. He suggested the language relating to approval by Council be removed. He said he also recommended Minutes -Village Council Charter Workshop -11/7/07 Page 2 removing the language regarding three consecutive meetings and deal only with six meetings in a year as opposed to three consecutive. Mayor Humpage clarified that minor to substantive changes would require approval by referendum and Mr. Randolph agreed and advised unless it was a change as a result of state law Council could then allow the Charter to conform to the requirement of state law without going to the residents. Mr. Randolph explained if Council elected not to approve the substantive changes he recommended not going to referendum over the minor changes and not change them in the Charter. Vice-Mayor Watkins clarified for the public that Council could not pick and choose what item they wanted changed via referendum and that the whole Charter had to go to referendum. Mr. Randolph explained the whole Charter was placed before the residents previously so that either all amendments would rise or fall on the basis of whether they wanted to amend them all. He voiced concern with the single subject rule in which Council could not place on a ballot question anything other than one single subject. For example, Council could not say should the Charter be amended at Section 2.01 as follows and at 2.03 as follows; that would be in violation. He stated there was a possibility to have three ballot questions, but he would have to investigate. Mr. Randolph explained the importance of educating the public on the changes and addressed the advertisement of the Charter Referendum which would note the changes to the Charter were noted by underlining and deletions; but this would not appear on the ballot. The advertisement would advise residents to come to Village Hall to review the amendments and through newsletter or press articles Council could educate the public on what they would be changing if they voted for this Charter amendment. He again noted he would get back with Council to determine if individual questions rather than the Charter as a whole could be placed on the ballot. 2.01 -Term and Compensation Mayor Humpage explained the Committee suggested deleting, "provided, however, a Councilmember shall not be entitled to any increase in salary adopted during the term for which such Councilmember was elected." Charter Review Chair Capretta suggested a Council Wage Compensation package policy that required Council salaries be reviewed every few years in order to stay competitive with surrounding entities; and felt Tequesta was behind the curve and believed more interested applicants would be attracted if Tequesta was competitive. He pointed out that there had been many squabbles over the past few years over issues that were not Charter related rather Council policies; he noted the Charter Review Board also suggested policy changes. Council Member Amero noted the policy manual was easier to change and the Charter was etched in stone and difficult to change and suggested the Charter be reviewed no less than every five years. 2 Minutes -Village Council Charter Workshop -11/7/07 Page 3 2.07 - Aaaointment of Les~al Counsel and Auditor Mr. Randolph pointed out that should Council decide not to make any changes by Referendum, they could through policy indicate how and by whom the Village Attorney would be hired. Mr. Capretta mentioned the Village Manager could simply speak with each Council Member individually for a consensus and come to Council in a public forum and recommend Council approve a specific attorney. Council Member Amero noted there was a policy against polling and Mr. Randolph mentioned the Manager could speak with Council Members regarding his intentions and discussed the gray area and the potential for a Sunshine Law violation. Vice Mayor Watkins questioned if residents would come to the polls and understand the ballot title and was concerned Council was setting itself up for failure; and whether it was the attorney or auditor it was going to come to Council for approval. She questioned if it would be in the best interest to place it out for Referendum and believed items could be done through Council Policy. Mayor Humpage suggested specifying in the Charter that Council could hire an attorney or an auditor and asked if the attorney could be hired as policy rather than a Charter change Council Member Paterno stated different attorney's have different views and interpret issues differently, he agreed Council should be charged with hiring the attorneys and auditors and felt strongly this was something that should be governed by Council. Mr. Randolph suggested wording the Charter amendment so that it could not be misinterpreted in the future. Mayor Humpage suggested offering the Charter change as a referendum and if it failed then it could be made policy. Council Member Turnquest questioned the broadness of the wording and would like to see Council in charge of hiring the Municipal Attorney and trust the Manager to hire all other attorney's. Mayor Humpage felt that once a main attorney was hired by the Council, Council would then act on that attorneys advice on future attorney needs. Council Member Amero felt it was important to leave the wording singular for hiring a Municipal Attorney and agreed Council would then take the advice of the Manager on any other attorney needs. Vice Mayor Watkins felt the Villager Manager should be experienced and knowledgeable enough to recommend excellent and experienced Attorneys. Geraldine Genco Dube, 7 Country Club Drive, asked what would happen if a Manager was on leave of absence and unavailable to appoint an attorney. She believed the Charter Committee originally intended for the Village to appoint the Chief Legal Counsel then that Counsel would assist Council and the Manager with further attorney needs. She also stated the wording used was legal counsel not attorney. Mr. Randolph referred to Ms. Mary Hinton stating previously that she believed strongly that to hold 3 Minutes -Village Council Charter Workshop -11/7/07 Page 4 Managers accountable and assist with the budgetary issues this should apply to hiring all attorney's. Ms. Dube stated that the Village had as many as five attorney's hired at one time, some of which she believed Council was not aware of. Mr. Randolph suggested using the wording of Village Council shall appoint the Village Attorney to act as legal counsel to and agreed plurality would be a worry, especially in the case of an emergency. Vice Mayor Watkins voiced concerned that having lack of knowledge in the legal aspect would hinder the hiring process for her. Council Member Paterno commented that all Council including himself and the Manager would make their best decision by studying the information given to them. Mayor Humpage believed the Village Attorney hired would guide Council and changing the wording when referring to hiring that attorney to singular phrasing would take care of the problem. Council Member Paterno felt that if the Manager was out on an extended leave Council would be able to take care of an emergency situation if one arose, and believed that the hiring of an attorney would never be that urgent a situation. Ms. Genco recalled a situation when Council was not aware litigation had been started. She stated Council should always be involved if a situation was to involve an attorney. Council Member Amero suggested addressing the wording issue of changing from Legal Counsel to Village Attorney. Mayor Humpage referred to the August 17, 2007 board minutes where it was recommended 4-0 to change the wording to Legal Counsel. Council Member Amero felt that using the wording of Village Attorney would not cover hiring of outside counsel for special situations. Mayor Humpage stated that the recommendation as it was would mean that all Council Members would need to gather to discuss the hiring of any specialty Attorney's. Mr. Randolph suggested the wording be, "The Village Council shall appoint a Village Attorney to serve at the pleasure of the Council and to act as legal advisor to the Village and to all its officers on matters relating to their official duties." He suggested continuing with, "Council shall engage Certified Public Accounting Firm to prepare and submit to the Council on Annual Audit." Vice Mayor Watkins did not feel limiting Council on their choices of firms was a good plan and did not believe the Charter should state the auditor or the attorney to come to Council for approval and felt that was micro managing. She stated that Council already had to approve any Village Attorney chosen by the Manager. Mayor Humpage stated it was better to have items in writing to avoid misinterpretation. Council agreed to remove the auditor and include only the Attorney and remove "The Council shall engage a certified public accounting firm to prepare and submit to the Council an annual audit." 2.01 -Selection, Term and Compensation Mayor Humpage suggested removing item. Council consensus agreed. 4 Minutes -Village Council Charter Workshop - 11R/07 Page 5 2.05 -Vacancies and Forfeiture of Office Mr. Randolph read the changes into the record to number five as: misses six regularly scheduled meetings (not to include special meetings) in any twelve month period. Village Clerk McWilliams suggested including workshops in the parentheses with the elimination of special meetings. Council consensus agreed. Mayor Humpage confirmed the suggested removal of item number four. 2.12 -Interference with the Administrative Department Council Member Paterno asked for the definition of inquiries and investigations and felt Council should be entitled to anything they ask for and stated it would be a violation of the State Law to refuse them. Mr. Randolph stated that the public records request law had a procedure that should be followed. He felt to avoid the interruption of departments and their heads and the vagueness of the word investigations may open the door to Council going beyond the norm with inquires. Ms. Geraldine Genco Dube felt that all Council Members have a different thought process on what information may help with their decisions; she felt they should be entitled to whatever documents they request. She also felt her requests in the past were misinterpreted as inquiries and felt getting approval from the Council for what was essentially a public record was absurd. Mr. Randolph explained the reason for this change was to protect department heads and the goal was to remove the vagueness to avoid unnecessary commands and meddling not the normal request. Council Member Amero stated he would like to leave the wording as is and felt no one should boss or demand and indicated he had never seen that behavior in the Village. He felt the rapport between Council and department heads was part of the pleasures of the position and felt Council would never interfere with their authority. Council Member Turnquest suggested removing the word inquires. Mayor Humpage expressed his opinion that Council was confusing "investigations and inquires" with "request", and referenced a meeting on August 22, 2007 when Mr. Randolph advised the wording of investigations and inquires to be changed because it was too vague. Mr. Randolph provided that "investigations or inquires" meant more than a "request" similar to a personnel matter and felt that type of inquiry should be authorized by the consensus of Council. Mayor Humpage agreed that this should be looked into and consensually dealt with by Council. Mr. Randolph explained it could be intimidating for a department head to have a Council Member come to them with questions. Manager Couzzo sated he would like request to go through him so if there were misinterpretations he would be held accountable and would like to avoid that situation impacting employees. 5 Minutes -Village Council Charter Workshop - 11/7/07 Page 6 Council Member Turnquest suggested removing the word inquiries because it appeared to be the word that was causing the confusion. Dottie Campbell, 30 Eastwinds Circle suggested including the definitions of inquiry and investigation with the policy for clarity. Mayor Humpage agreed with Council Member Turnquest`s idea of removing inquires and liked the wording, "authorized by the Village Council." Council Consensus agreed to remove the word inquiries and to add, "authorized by the Village Council." Mr. Randolph suggested offering the changes as a change to the Charter opposed to listing the three changes separately on the ballot and stated this could bring a dramatic change to the Ordinance if done in this manner. He stated he could investigate the different options but was limited on time restraints. Council consensus was to offer the three changes separately under minor changes. Mr. Randolph confirmed he would do this by three separate ballot questions and stated he would deliver the red lined changes for tomorrow's meeting. II. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: -Council Member Amero moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:52 p.m.; Vice Mayor Watkins seconded the motion; motion passes 5-0. Respectfully submitted, ~jO~Lc, ~ C(~ CL.Q~LtiY,., Lori McWilliams, CMC Village Clerk 6