CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION SUMMARY MINUTES JUNE 3, 2016

Transcription

1 SUMMARY MINUTES JUNE 3, 2016 MEMBERS PRESENT: Larry S. Davis, Chair James Gray Kane Burnadette Norris-Weeks Suzanne Gunzburger Cynthia M. Guerra, via telephone Cynthia Busch Lori Moseley Carlos J. Reyes Tom McDonald 1

2 MEMBERS ABSENT: David Di Pietro Katherine Richards Jose Izquierdo ALSO PRESENT: Carlos Verney, Executive Director, Charter Review Commission Samuel Goren, Esquire, Structure of County Government Subcommittee Legal Counsel Alex Penelas, former Miami-Dade County Mayor George M. Burgess, former Miami-Dade County Manager Jack Osterholt, Miami-Dade County Deputy Mayor; former Broward County Administrator Michelle J. Gomez, Commissioner, City of Tamarac & Member, Broward County Planning Council Mark Journey, Esquire, County Attorney s Office Grant Smith, Charter Review Commissioner Joni Armstrong Coffey, County Attorney Matthew Gotha, Chief of Staff to Commissioner Mark D. Bogen Monica Cepero, Assistant County Administrator, County Administrator s Office Russell Rand Nancy Cavender, The Laws Group 2

3 A meeting of the Broward County Charter Review Commission Structure of County Government Subcommittee ( Subcommittee ) was held at Broward County Governmental Center, Room 302, 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Friday, at 1:00 p.m. (The following is a near-verbatim transcript of the meeting.) 3

4 AGENDA ITEM I - CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL MEMBERS ABSENT: David Di Pietro Katherine Richards Jose Izquierdo AGENDA ITEM II - PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE WAS LED BY CHAIR LARRY S. DAVIS.) AGENDA ITEM III - APPROVAL OF MINUTES - SUMMARY MINUTES OF MAY 6, 2016 STRUCTURE OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING Chair Davis asked if everyone had a chance to look at the minutes from the last meeting. Commissioner Gunzburger made a motion to approve the minutes as they were submitted. Commissioner McDonald seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. 4

5 AGENDA ITEM IV - ELECTION OF STRUCTURE OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT SUBCOMMITTEE VICE CHAIR Mr. Goren noted for the record that Chair Jose Izquierdo was appointed by Governor Scott to be a Circuit Court Judge and Chair Izquierdo intends to resign his position as a member of this board. Mr. Goren continued to mention that under the bylaws and rules of the Charter Review Commission, Vice Chair Davis ascends to the Chair s position for this Subcommittee. However, the rules also indicate a requirement to appoint a Vice Chair. Commissioner McDonald made a motion for Commissioner James Gray Kane to be appointed as the Vice Chair. Commissioner Moseley seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. AGENDA ITEM V - MR. ALEX PENELAS, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY MAYOR ( ) - SPEAKER Mayor Penelas presentation covered a historical overview of Miami-Dade County Government. Mayor Penelas had a few recommendations for the Governance Subcommittee based on what he has seen and experienced in county government. He made it very clear that for a county as diverse and as complex as Broward County, there needs to be a Strong Mayor form of government. He said that someone needs to be held accountable and with an Executive Mayor form of government with a County Manager, there is no accountability. 5

6 He stated this because in an Executive Mayor form of government, the County Manager really holds more power over the county employees and many different departments. He noted that during his time as the Executive Mayor of Miami-Dade County, he had no legal authority to direct county employees, department directors, etc., while the County Manager did have the authority to direct all of the employees that the Mayor could not. Next, he thought that a Strong Mayor needs to have a Deputy Mayor and professional staff that he likened to the President s Cabinet. He also noted that the County Commission needs to have more power. He thinks they are at a disadvantage because they are tasked with the important job of appropriating and they lack the professional staff that will only answer to the County Commission. Mayor Penelas opined that the County Commissioners staff should be on par with that of the Mayor s staff. There was a question and answer session between the Commissioners and Mayor Penelas AGENDA ITEM VI - MR. GEORGE M. BURGESS, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY MANAGER ( ) - SPEAKER Mr. Burgess had thoughts to share based on his time as a County Manager under both an Executive Mayor and a Strong Mayor. 6

7 Mr. Burgess started by explaining how 35 cities and all of their regional services, each of which could have their own independent authority, all fall under one governing board in Miami- Dade County. This governing board oversees public housing, environmental programs, the airport, and much more. He said, while the County provides these local services in unincorporated Miami-Dade, the truth of the matter is that they are providing traditionally local government services in many of the other cities. Based on his deep knowledge of how county government works and experience with such an expansive governing board, he stated that it was very important to focus on the quality of professionals managing the business of government and that there does not need to be a county manager to have quality professionals in county government. Mr. Burgess stated that government is not just politics, it is trying to guide this big machine and get people thinking more about results than hiding behind rules and regulations. Mr. Burgess mentioned that much of what local government does require is professional management and that can be done with a Manger-Council form of government, Executive Mayor, or a Strong Mayor. In his opinion, there should be a countywide elected individual, so ultimately somebody is accountable. But he does not know necessarily that it has to be strong vis-à-vis an executive. Mr. Burgess then briefly discussed some differences of commission electoral styles that he had experienced. Mr. Burgess thought it was important to explain that he observed a ninemember commission with an at-large elected mayor. 7

8 He believed that in that form of commission, the weak mayor s strength was real behind the scenes. He also observed an increase from nine to thirteen single-member districts and the effect it had on parochialism. He thought that the single-member districts encouraged inclusion and diversity, but at the same time it created a parochial way of thinking about the districts. There was a question and answer session between the Commissioners and Mr. Burgess. AGENDA ITEM VII - MR. JACK OSTERHOLT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY DEPUTY MAYOR (2011- PRESENT); BROWARD COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ( ) SPEAKER Mr. Osterholt gave a brief overview of the duties of the five Deputy Mayor system in Miami-Dade County. Some of the duties of the Deputy Mayors are reporting directly to the Mayor, reading and signing various reports and documents, overseeing the airport, overseeing the seaport, overseeing the water and sewer department, and overseeing Regulatory and Economic Resources, which is composed of eleven departments that are together in one place. Mr. Osterholt believes that the system of Deputy Mayors works well in Miami-Dade County. He noted the differences between county governments that he has experienced during his career. One particular difference that stood out to him was when he was the County Administrator in Broward County and he had the authority to set the agenda, to decide what went on the agenda, and when and in what order items were placed on the agenda. 8

9 Yet, when he became a Deputy Mayor in Miami-Dade County, he did not have that power. He is now required to get a member of the County Commission to sponsor an item that he wants placed on the agenda and the Chair has the power to place the item on the agenda. He said that when he had the agenda setting authority as County Administrator in Broward County, an item got placed on the agenda when it was the right thing for the citizens and made sense at the time, rather than what a Commissioner wanted to see on the agenda. The last thing he mentioned was regarding appropriations. From his time in Tallahassee he experienced how the State handled appropriations, which was through different appropriations committees. On the county level, there is only one appropriations staffer and he cannot imagine trying to replicate the State s approach to appropriations, multiple appropriations committees, on such a small, local level. There was a question and answer session between the Commissioners and Mr. Osterholt. AGENDA ITEM VIII - BRAINSTORMING SESSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF PRESENTERS FOR FUTURE SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS Chair Davis asked the Subcommittee to consider a vote to have the full Charter Review Commission change the name of the Structure of County Government Subcommittee to Structure of Governance or Governance Subcommittee. 9

10 Commissioner McDonald moved to have the Structure of County Government present a motion to the full Charter Review Commission to change the name of the Structure of County Government Subcommittee to Structure of Governance or Governance Subcommittee. Commissioner Reyes seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY AGENDA ITEM IX - PUBLIC COMMENT Russell Rand presented comments regarding his perspective on the structure of Broward County Government. AGENDA ITEM X ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Moseley moved that the meeting be adjourned. Commissioner Gunzburger seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY (The meeting concluded at 2:52 p.m.) 10