Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 09-16-08 workshop agenda — reading text

adopted shall be transferred to the department, office or agency assuming its powers and duties, but, in the event that the powers or duties are to be discontinued or divided between units or in the event that any conflict arises regarding a transfer, such property, records or equipment shall be transferred to one or more departments, offices or agencies designated by the city council in accordance with this charter. Section 9. 03. Pending Matters. All rights, claims, contracts, and legal administrative proceedings shall actions, orders, continue except as modified pursuant to the provisions of this charter and in each case shall be maintained, carried on or dealt with by the city department, office or agency appropriate under this charter. Section 9. 04. State and Municipal Laws. a) In General. All city ordinances, resolutions, orders and regulations which are in force when this charter becomes fully effective are repealed to the they areextent that inconsistent or interfere with the effective operation of this charter or of ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant thereto. To the extent that the constitution and laws of the state of all laws relating to or affecting this city or its agencies, officers or permit, employees which are in force when this charter becomes fully effective are superseded to the extent that they are inconsistent or interfere with the effective operation of this charter or of ordinances or resolutions adopted pursuant thereto. b) Specific Provisions. Without limitation of the general operation of subsection ( a) or of the number of nature of the provisions to which it applies: 1) The following laws and parts of laws generally affecting counties or city agencies, officers or employees are inapplicable to the city of or its agencies, officers or employees: [ enumeration) 2) The following public local laws relating to the city of are superseded: enumeration] 3) The following ordinances, resolutions, orders, and regulations of former city governing body] are repealed: [ enumeration] Section 9. 05. Schedule. a) First Election. At the time of its adoption, this charter shall be in effect to the extent necessary in order that the first election of members of the city council may be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this charter. The first election shall be held on the of . The [ city officials to be designated] shall prepare and adopt temporary regulations that are applicable only to the first election and designed to insure 59 its proper conduct and to prevent fraud and provide for recount of ballots in cases of doubt or fraud. b) Time of Taking Full Effect. The charter shall be in full effect for all purposes on and after the date and time of the first meeting of the newly elected city council provided in § 9. 05( c). c)First Council Meeting. On the of following the first election of city council members under this charter, the newly elected members of the council shall meet at [ time] at [ place]: 1) For the purpose of electing the [ mayor and] deputy mayor, appointing or considering the appointment of a city manager or acting city manager, and choosing, if it so desires, one of its members to act as temporary clerk pending appointment of a city clerk pursuant to § 2. 08; and Note: Omit bracketed words if § 2. 03, Alternative II is used. 2) For the purpose of adopting ordinances and resolutions necessary to effect the transition of government under this charter and to maintain effective city government during that transition. d) Temporary Ordinances. In adopting ordinances as provided in § 9. 05( c), the city council shall follow the procedures prescribed in § 2. 12, except that at its first meeting or any meeting held within sixty days thereafter, the council may adopt temporary ordinances to deal with cases in which there is an urgent need for prompt action in connection with the transition of government and in which the delay incident to the appropriate ordinance procedure would probably cause serious hardship or impairment of effective city government. Every temporary ordinance shall be plainly labeled as such but shall be introduced in the form and manner prescribed for ordinances generally. A temporary ordinance may be considered and may be adopted with or without amendment or rejected at the meeting at which it is introduced. After adoption of a temporary ordinance, the council shall cause it to be printed and published as prescribed for other adopted ordinances. A temporary ordinance shall become effective upon adoption or at such later time preceding automatic repeal under this subsection as it may specify, and the referendum power shall not extend to any such ordinance. Every temporary ordinance, including any amendments made thereto after adoption, shall automatically stand repealed as of the ninety -first day following the date on which it was adopted, renewed, or otherwise continued except by adoption in the manner prescribed in § 2. 12 for ordinances of the kind concerned. e) Initial Expenses. The initial expenses of the city council, including the expense of recruiting a city manager, shall be paid by the city on vouchers signed by the council chairman. f) Initial Salary of Mayor and Council Members. The mayor shall receive an annual salary in the amount of $ and each other council member in the amount of 60  until such amount is changed by the council in accordance with the provisions of this charter. Section 9. 06. Severability. If any provision of this charter is held invalid, the other provisions of the charter shall not be affected. If the of the charter or any of its provisions to any person or application circumstance is held invalid, the application of the charter and its provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected. Commentary. A severability clause is a necessary precaution and should be included in every charter. Appendix OPTIONS FOR MAYOR -COUNCIL CITIES Since 1915, the Model City Charter has been based on the council- manager form of government. Some cities have a tradition of using or prefer to use the mayor- council form, and in some states the adoption of council- manager government may be limited by state statutes.' Cities that use the mayor- council form can make choices to " reform" their city government within the framework of this form of government. There are structural approaches that can clarify the structure and improve the performance of the mayor- council city government. The mayor -council form of government is based on principles of separation of powers and checks and balances similar to those found in American national and state governments. Certain powers are assigned to the mayor and others to the council in cities that use this form. In addition, some mayor- council charters provide for other officials such as appointed boards or administrators who have independent authority to make specified decisions. It was common in the nineteenth century for cities to divide authority among many officials in the belief that the more power was divided and the more officials were directly elected, the more democratic the process of city government would be. In practice, complex structures with highly fragmented authority created ineffective government in which it was difficult to hold anyone responsible for the failure of city government as a whole. In certain cities, the fragmented structure created a vacuum that party organizations filled with unified control. In other cities —probably more numerous than those with control by party organizations —the prevailing structure simply contributed to a lack of competent and farsighted leadership and contributed to city governments that were neither effective nor Two examples illustrate how state statutes can affect the choice of form of government. Indiana law prescribes that all cities use the mayor -council form; small towns have an option in the choice of form. In Wisconsin, state statue specifies that the " council- manager" optional charter have a council president rather than mayor and gives the manager unusual powers such as the authority to appoint council committees. Only ten of 190 cities in Wisconsin operate under the council- manager form. In Dale Krane, Platon Rigos, and Melvin Hill, Jr., Eds., Home Rule in America: _A Fifty -State Handbook ( Washington: CQ Press, 2001), see chapters on Indiana by William Blomquist and on Wisconsin by Stephen E. C. Hintz. 61  a efficient in their delivery of services to citizens. Some cities still retain these features in their charter. The first Model City Charter proposed replacing the fragmented authority and confused assignment of responsibility of existing nineteenth century city governments with simplified and centralized executive authority exercised by an elected mayor. After the first edition, the model charter assigned this centralized executive authority to an appointed city manager. From the second through the fourth editions of the charter, no provisions were proposed for mayor- council cities. With the fifth edition, the strong mayor- council form from the first edition reappeared as an alternative for those cities that chose not to use the preferred council -manager form with the suggestion that a " vice mayor" or what would later often be called a chief administrative officer CAO) might be appointed by the mayor. These recommendations appeared in the sixth and seventh editions as well. The approach taken in this edition is different. Officials and citizens who are reviewing a mayor -council charter are given analytical questions to guide their assessment of the governmental structure. In contrast to exclusive reliance on the strong mayor alternative, two options for organizing the mayor -council form are now proposed. Analytical Questions about Mayor- Council Governments For cities that prefer to use the mayor -council form of government, there are two questions to answer in designing a charter. o First, how should authority be divided between the mayor and the council? The Model Charter Committee recommends two options for the division of authority: the first option is to provide for a blend of separation and sharing of authority between the mayor and the council; the second option is the classic strong mayor -council approach. o Second, should a chief administrative officer be appointed? The Model Charter