Charter Review Committee

Charter Review Committee April 23, 2013 A Meeting of the Charter Review Committee was held on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at the Mahany/Meininger Center located at 3500 Marais, Royal Oak. The Meeting was called to order at 5:32 PM by Chairman George. PRESENT ABSENT Chairman George Moore DuBuc Richards Sulla Deputy City Attorney Mark Liss was absent. ***** ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements. ***** PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. ***** APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Mr. Moore Seconded by Mr. Sulla BE IT RESOLVED that the Minutes of March 26, 2013 are hereby approved as submitted. ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY ***** OLD BUSINESS Chairman George and Vice-chairman Moore provided a recap of the April 15, 2013 City Commission meeting. Proposal 1 was voted down by the City Commission. Mr. George and Mr. Moore understood that the Commission did not think that 1000 signatures was a large enough number to initiate a referendum on an ordinance. The Committee may revisit that item and raise the number for a future item. Proposals 2, 3 and 4 were approved as written. Proposal 5 was approved with an amendment that the vacancy is to be filled by Special Election if the Commission has not appointed someone within 60 days. Proposal 6 was rejected. Mr. George commented that the process for getting proposed Charter Amendments on the ballot has changed greatly over the course of the years and that the order seems to have deteriorated. It used to be that final wording was sent to the Attorney General after the proposals were put before the City Commission. He believes that recently the City Attorney’s office had to put too much energy into the final approval of the ballot language before the Commission even approved the concept. Mr. George specifically requested that the minutes reflect this discussion to assist in getting the City Attorney’s office and the Committee back in 1  Charter Review Committee April 23, 2013 sync. Mr. Sulla suggested formalizing the process and putting it in writing. The Committee agreed that input/assistance from the City Attorney’s office would be needed for that. The modification to Proposal 5 is to state that a Special Election will be held to fill a vacant Commission seat if the remaining Commission has not filled the seat within 60 days of its vacancy, instead of the seat going to the next highest vote-getter. Chairman George will e-mail Deputy City Attorney Liss to have him draft the modification. The Committee decided to continue in their efforts to inform the public of Charter amendment proposals and what they mean. Mr. Richards suggested using social media as a method of public out-reach. At the next meeting, previous worksheet items will be discussed for possible future use and a new item will be added to the list - discussion of an increase in pay for the Mayor and Commissioners as suggested by Commissioner Rasor. ***** NEW BUSINESS There was no new business. ***** SET MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT The next meeting of the Charter Review Committee will be Tuesday, May 28, 2013. Upon Motion of Mr. Richards, Seconded by Mr. Sulla, and adopted unanimously, the Meeting was adjourned at 6:16 PM. ___________________________________ Melanie Halas, City Clerk /go 2