City Commission Workshop Meeting

APPROVED: 2/5/2015 City Hall City of Eustis, Florida 10 North Grove Street Post Office Drawer 68 Eustis, FL 32727-0068 Meeting Minutes - Final* City Commission Workshop Thursday, January 15, 2015 6:30PM City Hall CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Eckian- 7:00p.m. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF QUORUM AND PROPER NOTICE I. Workshop Item 15012 Orientation and Review of the Sunshine and Public Records Laws, City Commission Rules of Order and Governance Protocols Derek Schroth, City Attorney, provided a presentation regarding the Sunshine Law, ethics, public records, the City Commission Rules of Order and the Commission Governance Guide. He reviewed the meeting notice requirement under the Sunshine Law and noted that it does not apply to the State legislature but does apply to all other political subdivisions. He stated that it also includes any advisory committee or board that provides recommendations to the elected officials. He explained certain conditions under which a private organization might fall under the Sunshine Law. He reviewed the three basic Sunshine Law requirements: 1) Reasonable notice must be given; 2) Meetings must be open to the public; and 3) Minutes of meetings must be taken and promptly recorded in writing. II. Commission Discussion The Commission asked if two or three Commissioners could discuss business as long as it is noticed, open to the public and minutes are taken with Mr. Schroth responding affirmatively. Mr. Schroth discussed the following issues and cited relevant cases: 1) Posting comments on social media resulting in possible Sunshine Law violations; 2) Commissioners going to lunch together and the need to avoid discussing City business; 3) How a sunshine violation may be "cured" so that future action may be taken; 4) What is "reasonable" notice and the recent change to the laws which require allowing public comment; 5) What is required to be included in official minutes; 6) Sunshine Law violations due to inadvertently hitting "reply all" when responding to emails; 7) Not circulating written reports or statements for the purpose of soliciting comments; 8) Not allowing people to act as conduits; 9) Being careful when using Facebook or Twitter accounts; 10) Attorney General Opinion 2008-07 regarding privately maintained electronic bulletin boards and blogs; and 11) Possible penalties for violations and who would be responsible for resulting attorney's fees. Mayor Eckian opened the floor to public comment at 7:23p.m. No one came forward. Mr. Schroth then discussed the following issues regarding public records: 1) Explained definition of a public record and what records may be exempt; and 2) Advised Commissioners to forward any emails sent to their personal email to the City Clerk or to their City email account and then they could destroy the copy on their personal email. The Commission asked about emails sent to them personally after the election but before being sworn in with Mr. Schroth advising that it be sent to the City Clerk for retention. Mr. Schroth then reviewed Chapter 119 regarding public access to public records and what constitutes a public record including metadata. He discussed what records may be exempt, recent public records access lawsuits, public records retention requirements and penalties for violations. City of Eustis, Florida Page 1 Printed on 1128/2015 City Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final January 15, 2015 The Commission asked if someone requests copies of their personal files regarding City business could they bring the files to the City Clerk for duplication. Mr. Schroth responded that, if the files are copies of documents that the City has the master copy of, they can discard their personal copy and direct the person to the City. Colleen Scott, Assistant Finance Director, asked about the police department lawsuit concerning a public records request with Mr. Schroth explaining it dealt with whether or not information requested was exempt from disclosure and that it is also a Sunshine Law violation if you provide information that has been declared exempt under Florida law. Mr. Schroth then discussed ethics requirements under FSS 112.313(1) and (6) . He recommended that, if a Commissioner is pulled over for a traffic infraction, that they insist the officer give them a ticket in order to avoid the appearance of personal gain. He further explained that an elected official may not use their position to either influence or obtain special treatment. The Commission and Mr. Schroth discussed the following instances: 1) whether or not someone could buy lunch for an elected official; 2) whether or not an elected official could buy lunch for someone else during a lunch meeting; 3) rules for accepting or reporting gifts; 4) use of Form 88 - Memorandum of Conflict of Interest; 5) the statutory requirement to vote unless there is a conflict of interest; 6) examples of what may create a conflict of interest; and 7) prohibition against doing business with the city. Vice Mayor Holland announced that the Lake County League of Cities would be sponsoring a state-mandated ethics and Sunshine Law training at its March 13th meeting from 10 a.m. until3 p.m. with lunch included. He indicated that the State League of Cities would be paying for the training and meal. Mayor Eckian again opened the floor to public comment at 7:52p.m. No one came forward. Mr. Schroth reviewed the City Commission Rules of Order and explained the voting procedure when there is an absence. He explained that the Rules of Order are guidelines and if they aren't followed it does not invalidate an action. Dianne Kramer, Acting City Manager, reviewed the following items in the Rules of Order that need to be updated: 1) Page 3 -Item #10- Preparation of agenda- No change or supplement to agenda after 5 p.m. on Friday prior to meeting; and 2) Order of business due to recent changes. She noted that staff often needs to add supplemental information that comes in after the agenda has been prepared. The Commission discussed the history of that requirement with the suggestion to add a line that would give the City Manager the ability to include additional information such as "but may supplement". Mr. Schroth reviewed the Commission Governance Guide noting the prohibition in the City Charter against administrative interference. He explained that Commissioners may contact staff but cannot direct what they do. He also cautioned them regarding sending letters or dealing with the media as they cannot represent their comments as being from the entire Commission. Ms. Kramer commented on Page 3 of the Governance Guide regarding defining priorities and goals under the Strategic Plan. She cited the need for a workshop to discuss goals for the year. She suggested that some items in the Guide should be more general and not as specific such as requiring quarterly monitoring reports. The Commission discussed holding a workshop with a consensus to schedule a workshop to include discussion on the City's progress in meeting already established goals. City of Eustis, Florida Page2 Printed on 112812015 City Commission Workshop Meeting Minutes - Final January 15, 2015 Ms. Kramer recommended that Protocol #5 in the Guide should be more general to require the Commissioners to provide the information each year to the City Manager but that the specific information should not be included in the Guide to avoid the necessity of frequently updating the Guide. She also suggested that the budget guidelines should be removed from the Guide since they should be updated annually during the budget process. Following further discussion, it was a consensus of the Commission to discuss the recommended changes at the proposed workshop. III. Public Input- None IV. Commission Direction Mayor Eckian opened the floor to public comment at 8:10p.m. No one came forward. There was no further direction from the Commission. V. Adjournment - 8:11 p.m. ALBERT G. ECKIAN City Clerk Mayor/Commissioner *These minutes reflect the actions taken and portions of the discussion during the meeting. To review the entire discussion concerning any agenda item, go to www.eustis .org and click on the video for the meeting in question A OVD of the entire meeting or CD of the entire audio recording or verbatim transcript of the meeting can be obtained from the office of the City Clerk for a fee . City of Eustis, Florida Page3 Printed on 112812015