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

reached, recommended changes from each work group back to the entire stakeholder group to review the proposed changes. It is possible that some of the work groups have overlapped in their assessment of the charter or have analyzed interdependent aspects of the city charter. In one to two meetings, stakeholders will go through all of the proposed changes, identify areas of overlap, ask questions of clarification and come to agreement on a final set of recommended revisions for the charter. Careful attention must be given to the agreed -upon language as it has significant impact in the final drafting for charter change. An additional but worthwhile activity during this step in the process is to have the stakeholder group recall the shared vision of government that they developed early on and ask them if the proposed changes to the charter reflect that vision. G. Draft charter revision Technical experts and staff will incorporate any changes brought about during the presentation to the stakeholder group. It is possible that one additional work group meeting for a particular area is required to ensure that any changes made reflect the opinions and ideas of the work group. Staff and technical experts will then begin the process of adapting the recommendations into the language and format used in the charter. H. Present charter language to the stakeholder group As a final check to guarantee clear communication of and support for the charter revisions, the charter language should be brought back to the stakeholder group for final approval. Since the final revisions will be expressed in a different form than the proposals of the work groups, participants 78  should have the chance to consider the actual language that is being proposed. This extra step should forestall any perception that the steering committee or technical experts might have dismissed the work of citizens and will ensure strong support for the changes when the measure reaches the ballot. Enactment Stage Once the appropriate language has been drafted for the proposed reforms and the stakeholder group has signed off on them, the next step involves a formal electoral process to pass the charter revisions. This process differs across communities and it is difficult to prescribe best practices for it. However, it is important that the method for getting the changes to the electorate is decided well before the final version of the charter recommendations is drafted. Enactment is a vital part of the process and the choices and time lines for doing so should be kept in mind throughout the process. The best -case scenario is that revisions are drafted in time for an upcoming election. This allows the steering committee to build upon the momentum of the citizen engagement process and rely upon the knowledge of participating citizens to help them create support within the broader community. Following are two examples of recent charter revision processes that may be useful guides to this process. Charter Revision in Alachua County, Florida Alachua County, Florida, recently revised its charter to obtain home rule authority. Alachua County provides a good example of a charter revision that was citizen based but which received critical support from the local government. The citizens of Alachua County were concerned about the growing influence of money in local politics, but Alachua County lacked laws or the ability to create laws governing campaign finance w reform. In December 2000, approximately a dozen citizens gathered together and formed Alachua County Citizens for Campaign Reform (ACCCR). p„ The top three concerns of ACCCR were ( 1) the amount of money being raised and spent by the candidates, ( 2) the difficulty in determining who was giving money to which candidates, and ( 3) the loopholes in state law that permitted, if not ensured, that contributions did not have to be disclosed prior to elections. ACCCR decided that its first step would be to try to get home rule authority that would give the citizens of Alachua County regulatory power over campaign finance for their elections. A law professor specializing in Florida constitutional law, and a member of ACCCR, wrote the language of the home rule authority bill that was submitted to the local legislative delegation. ACCCR realized from the beginning that it would require overwhelming public pressure to get the legislative delegation to introduce the bill at the legislature. To that end, it began an intensive campaign by writing letters to newspaper editors and legislators, sponsoring a public forum on the topic, and pursuing radio and TV interviews /coverage, press coverage, and literature drops. ACCCR also decided that another way to induce the legislators to act was to show actual voter support for local campaign finance regulation, so it placed a nonbinding referendum ( straw poll) on the ballot in an upcoming county election. 79 According to the law, getting this nonbinding referendum on the ballot required either 1) thousands of petition signatures or 2) action by the county commissioners. Ultimately, ACCCR was able to convince the county commissioners to place the referendum on the upcoming ballot. To aid in its efforts, ACCCR built coalitions with the Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, Common Cause Florida, and some other local groups ( Sustainable Alachua County, Women for Wise Growth, etc). It sought support from the local political parties and unions with mixed success. It also received official endorsement from three individual local unions. ACCCR also held two public forums to educate citizens on the issue. The forums were taped for local radio broadcast and cable TV replay. Replaying these forums helped tremendously in ACCCR' s efforts to reach the local county public and to raise awareness of and support for the issue. There was no organized opposition prior to the straw poll ballot. Once the results of the straw poll came in ( 68% in favor of local regulation) it became difficult for many groups to oppose the issue because of its overwhelming support. Some opposition materialized, however, prior to the binding referendum last November. Leaders of the local Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties spoke publicly against it, as did some key local union representatives. But ACCCR had already gained wide public support and the endorsement of several individual local unions and, consequently, no formal opposition emerged on behalf of any organized group other than the Libertarian party. In November 2002, ACCCR succeeded in obtaining home -rule authority for campaign finance in Alachua County elections. Alachua County now has the power to adopt local campaign finance regulations, provided that the local regulations do not conflict with those of the state or court rulings. For more information on the requirements for charter revision in your city, town, or county, contact your local government. d 80 ""