Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 08-22-2007 special agenda — reading text

27 Regular Meeting 6- 12- 07 CITY COUNCILlMAYOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND RELATIONSHIP cont. Mr. Minich first thanked the Mayor for all the work he has done in Tallahassee to keep the tax burdea off them and all the people he worked with in Tallahassee have done a great thing for the City. to ke p it down so that the citizens of the city can choose the services they want and not some leg isla r in Tallahassee. He expressed appreciation to Mr. Miller for his comments and pointed out t t the Charter: says a Council of seven members,. it does. not say 'seven individuals, they have no i ividual authority; they only have collective authority that goes by vote. He agreed they can go t to gain information to do the job better but they are not.out to supervise anyone individually. H ointed out the Mayor has the rights, privileges and immunities of a member of council except th he can only vote in a tie vote; so the Mayor has the right to collect information also like the rest of ouncil, so they do not necessarily want the Mayor to sit there as a talking head, they want S9 eone who is as attuned to the issues as Council because he has to be as well informed about t issues so he can make the right decision when a tie 'comes up. He stated the Mayor does not ve any more say in running around telling anyone What to do than any of the rest of Council be use they do not have that authority either, all directions given to a charter member are given in thi oom by vote. Mr. Holmes commented the City Attorney has put out directives about fo vs. function because it- has been addressed before and the ultimate goal for Council is to make e best decision with the best knowledge available to them and the Mayor brings a great amount knowledge. He absolutely did not want to restrict the Mayor in his comments or his knowledge t t will help a decision that he may be looking at. He extended to the Mayor that if he ever did w t to speak then he would take the gavel so he would have the opportunity to speak. Dr. Pullen wished to know how the Mayor presented Imself to the legislators. when he is in Tallahassee. The Mayor replied he presented himself as e Mayor. Dr. Pullen commented his belief that the Mayor could not express himself as the Mayor d an opinion unless Council agrees to it. He mentioned when he collects information he makes it ear he is representing only himself and asking questions for himself; no Councilmember can repr ent Council without approval of the Council, arid no board or committee can represent a committe nless they were asked to do it. He expressed that the Mayor cannot represent himself as the Ma r of the City unless he has the express approval of Council and they vote on exactly what the Ma r can say. The Mayor mentioned he usually adve . es that he is going to speak advocating the Northwest Florida League of Cities position or the lorida League of Cities position, and he has presented that information to Council. He said he do s not bring up anything he has not presented to Council and if there is something Council does no ant him to speak on it might be appropriate to say we need to discuss it in Council if they don' t nt him to represent the City on an issue. Dr. PuJ/en added that jf the Mayor is going over to repre ent the Florida League of Cities that is a different matter because. he is an officer of the Florida Le' ue of Cities, but not to say he is representing the Council when they have not discussed what h may be representing, but the Mayor is free to express his personal opinion. The Mayor com nted it is a point well taken. Mr. Hartwell expresse is understanding that as long as the Mayor was not stating a position for the J City allocating or res urces, he is free to speak.He asked the City Attorney if there is no issue if it is something that.ha Iready been voted on by Council. The City Attor y commented the question relates to the issue that has been raised, is the Mayor a member of t legislative body or is he the Mayor. She said she tried to illustrate in her opinion that the Mayor' under the legislative provisions of the Charter, he is entitled to vote, but he also has other obligatio to represent you all ceremonially ~ nd she thought that does give the Mayor a greater ability state the position of the City when he. knows it. She said each of Council has the right in a publi setting to can say they are a Councilman and express their opinion and she has not heard one wa or the other whether the Mayor is doing anything different. She said the rules, in her opinion, uld apply to everyone equally because of his position in the legislative section of the Charter. 28 Regular Meeting 6- 12- 07 CITY COUNCIUMAYOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND RELATIONSHIP cont. The Mayor expressed his understanding that under Roberts Rules of Order he can particip discussions, and he tries to make sure he is asking for clarification issues, but once a motion i he gets out of the debate. He tries to restrict his comments just for clarification. Mr. Minich commented since the Mayor does preside, he makes the rulings and latel a lot of the Mayor's comments were for clarification other than opinions, but since the Mayor mak the rulings it is Important to keep an air of impartiality unless he feels o strongly about an issue, th he passes the gavel. He said it is the right of every member of Council if they think the rules are ing violated they can make a point of order. Mr. Miller commented when he asks a question of someone behind the p ium he would like the person behind the podium to answer the question, not the Mayor who has occasion answered the question. He stated it is just a question of getting organized. it is n personal, it is roles and missions, they have the job of being Councilmen and he is the Mayor. Mr. Reeves commented that sometimes when trying to facilitate a g up someone might feel like they are getting their toes stepped on a little bit, but that is part of the jo . The Mayor opened the floor for public input. There was no on from the public who wished to speak. No action was taken by Council. FAIR ASSOCIATION LEASE Consideration of a lease agreement between the Ci of Fort Walton Beach and the Northwest Florida Fair Association. The City Manager referenced the draft lease greement and went over a few minor changes that need to be made: page 3, line 74 the words e separately licensed will continue to be struck through but will be eliminated from the final versio ; page 4, line 96 should be buildings plural; page 6, line 130 & 131 should also state excluding . dstorm coverage; page 7, line 156 rewrite the date to use the conventional date method of June 0, 2012 and line 160 rewrite the date as January 31; page 8, line 179 and 185 the zip code should e 32547; and line 173 the zip should be 32549. The City Attorney confirmed at the corrections did not change the draft lease agreement significantly. Charles Rigdon, Jr., with F Ir Association said the Association thanks the Mayor and Council for the opportunity and thanked e City Manager who represented the City well. He said the base rent is acceptable and he did t want it to hold up approval of the lease tonight but the only issue not in the lease is acknowledg ent that if the Fairgrounds has to be used for emergency management, they ask that the rent be ro-rated based upon how many days the fairground was actually being used. He said if FEMA pa them for the use of the buildings, then the Association should pay the City but if FEMA does no pay them then they ask that the rent be abated. He said they have no objections to . the recomme aed administrative changes to the draft lease but the only thing he asked is to let them look at thei The Ci eductibles on windstorm coverage. Manager commented if the windstorm coverage will change the outcome of the vote then Coun I may want to require her to bring that back to Council. She explained the reason for concern 0 ov damage to the buildings in the event of a catastrophic event is to ensure proper removal of the b Idings.  29 Regular Meeting 6- 12- 07 FAIR ASSOCIATION LEASE cont. Mr. Minich received confirmation from Mr. Rigdon that other than the windstorm damage, there s no. problem with the $ 1, 000 deductible for everything else. Mr. Hartwell received confirmation there is an alarm system in the facility. The Mayor opened the floorforpublic' input. As there was no one, public-input was clos ( I. Mr. Reeves moved to approve the five year lease and three five year renewal riods ~or-a total of a 15 year lease between the City of Fort Walton Beach and the No west Florida Fair Association, with the administrative modifications. Mr. Minich seconded otion. and it carried by a vote of 6 to 1 with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Mini in favor and Hartwell opposed. RES. 07- 11 - FORT WALTON BEACH YOUTH COMMITIEE The Mayor read the resolution by title. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, C ATING A FORT WALTON BEACH YOUTH COMMISSION FOR THE YOUTH OF THE OF FORT WALTON BEACH; ESTABLISHING ITS MEMBERSHIP AT 11 MEMBERS; AN PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Cam Johnson, PIO, briefly went over the make up ofth youth commission as an advispry board that will bring forward to Council for action any ideas they lieve will benefit the youth of th~; City. During some discussion it was suggested that t wording Youth Commission be changed to Youth Committee; it was noted the