Fort Walton Beach Ordinance — 2198--Ballot Question #4 Chrt Amend-Facilitate Daily Operations — reading text

LATE 2nd ORDINANCE 2198 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA AMENDING SECTIONS 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, AND 22 OF THE CITY CHARTER; PROVIDING FOR A REFERENDUM ON THE CHARTER AMENDMENT; PROVIDING FOR A BALLOT QUESTION; PROVIDING FOR A VOTE AT THE MARCH 10, 2026 ELECTION ON WHETHER TO AMEND SECTIONS 11- 14, AND 16- 22 OF THE CITY CHARTER TO REMOVE OUTDATED VERBIAGE AND AMEND THE CHARTER TO FACILITATE MORE EFFICIENT DAILY OPERATIONS OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH; PROVIDING FOR COORDINATION WITH THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; SEVERABILITY; AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. SECTION 1. AUTHORITY. The authority for enactment of this Ordinance is Section 166. 031, Florida Statutes. SECTION 2. FINDINGS OF FACT. WHEREAS, Florida Statutes Section 166. 031( 1) provides, in part, that "[ t]he governing body of a municipality may, by ordinance... submit to the electors of said municipality a proposed amendment to its charter, which amendment may be to any part or to all of said charter except that part describing the boundaries of such municipality"; and, WHEREAS, the City Council has proposed an amendment to amend sections 11- 14, and 16- 22 of the City Charter to remove outdated verbiage and amend the charter to facilitate more efficient daily operations of the City of Fort Walton Beach. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 3. RECITALS ADOPTED. The foregoing " Whereas" clauses are hereby ratified and confirmed as being true and correct and are hereby made a specific part of this ordinance upon adoption hereof. SECTION 4. CHARTER AMENDMENT. For purposes of interpreting the revisions, text that is underlined is an addition to the existing text of the City Charter and text that is struck through is a deletion from the existing text of the City Charter. UPDATE CITY CHARTER AND FORMALLY PERMIT MORE EFFICIENT OPERATIONS. If the ballot language is approved, it would amend the City Charter by removing outdated verbiage and amending the charter to facilitate more efficient daily operations of the City of Fort Walton Beach. Section 11. City manager; acting manager; appointment, qualifications and salary. The council is hereby authorized to appoint from time to time a city manager who shall be the administrative head of the municipal government, who shall be responsible for the efficient administration of all departments, and who may be the head of the department or departments as the council may by ordinance provide. The city manager shall be chosen on the basis of their executive and administrative qualifications. The city manager may or may not be a resident of the City of Fort Walton Beach or the State of Florida. No member of the city council shall be appointed city manager. The city manager shall receive such salary as may be fixed by council. The council is further empowered to appoint or designate an acting city manager from time to time who and also to appoint or designate an assistant city manager from year to year or from time to time and either shall receive such salary as the council shall see fit. The city council shall have the authority to provide the duties of the post of assistant city manager or the acting city manager when the city manager is absent and cannot themselves designate or prescribe the duties of the assistant city manager or the acting city manager, as the case may be. In case of sickness or absence of the city manager, or in the case of a vacancy in said office, the city council may appoint another person, not a member of the city council, to act for the city manager during the absence or sickness, or during such vacancy, and the person so appointed may, during the absence, sickness or vacancy of the city manager, act and perform all the duties of the city manager, and all such acts of the person so appointed shall be as valid as though performed by the city manager. The council is limited to the appointment of an acting city manager to two consecutive terms of ninety( 90) days each at the end of which time it shall be mandatory that the Section 12. City manager; responsibility; powers of appointment and removal. The city manager shall be responsible to the council for the proper administration of all affairs of the city in their charge, and to that end, subject to such civil service provisions as may be provided for by ordinance and except as otherwise provided herein, the city manager shall have the power to appoint hire and remove all officers and employees in the administrative service of the city, and the manager may authorize the head of a department or office responsible to them to appoint hire and remove, with the same limitations, subordinates in such department or office. Appointments Hiring of employees made by or under the authority of the city manager shall be on the basis of the employee' s executive and administrative ability and of the training and experience of the appointee employee in the work which they are to perform. All such 60) days. Section 13. Removal of employees. Officers and Employees appointed hired by the city manager, or under their may be removed by the city manager, or by the officer by whom appointed, at any time.  Section 14. Mayor and cGouncil not to interfere in appointments or removals; violation a misdemeanor; forfeiture of office. Neither the mayor, council, nor any of its committees or members, shall direct or request the appointment hiring of any person to or removal from office by the city manager or any of their subordinates, or in any manner take part in the appointment hiring or removal of officers and employees in the administrative service of the city. Except for the purpose of inquiry, the mayor, council, and its members shall deal with that portion of the administrative service for which the manager is responsible solely through the manager, and neither the mayor, council nor any member thereof shall give orders to any subordinate of the city either publicly or privately. Any violation of the provisions of this section by the mayor or a member of the council shall be a misdemeanor, conviction of which shall immediately cause the forfeiture of the office of the member so convicted. Section 16. Manager' s and officer' s right to participate in council meetings. The city manager, the directors of all departments, and such other officers employees of the city as may be designated by vote of the council, shall be entitled to take part in all discussions of the council relating to their respective departments and offices. Section 17. Administrative departments. There shall be such departments, boards and authorities as may be established by ordinancc resolution passed after at least one advertised public hearing for the purposes of carrying out the legal, financial, public safety, public service and welfare functions of the city. The council may change any department, board, authority or office by erdinanceresolution passed after at least one advertised public hearing and may prescribe, distribute or discontinue the functions and duties of departments, boards, authorities and offices so established with the exception of the police or fire department., which shall require either a unanimous vote of the ordinance. The City of Fort Walton Beach shall maintain municipal police and fire departments, which shall be autonomous of other law enforcement and fire departments. Notwithstanding the necessity of mutual aid agreements with other law enforcement agencies and fire agencies absent a unanimous vote of the city council or majority vote at a public referendum to the extent allowed by State law, neither the police department or fire department may be disbanded, discontinued, merged, contractually replaced, defunded, or otherwise significantly diminished beyond minimal capabilities of providing quality public safety services to the City of Fort Walton Beach. Additional functions and duties may be assigned by ordinance to the police and fire departments commensurate with their respective public safety disciplines.  Section 18. Departments to be supervised by a director. At the head of each department there shall be a director who shall have the supervision and control thereof. Each director, with the consent of the manager, shall have power to prescribe rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this charter and the ordinances passed pursuant thereto, for the conduct of the officers and employees of the department of which they are in charge and for the custody of the books, papers, electronic files and property under its control. The city manager may act as the director of any one or more departments if the city council should so provide by ordinance resolution. Section 19. Surety bonds required of officers and employees. The council of the City of Fort Walton Beach shall fix the amount of the bond of all officers required by resolution or ordinance to give bond, and all officers, clerks and employees of whom bond is required by the council shall, before entering upon their respective duties, give bond with surety to be approved by the council, conditioned on the faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices, which bond, unless otherwise specifically provided by this charter, shall be payable to said city, and in such penalty as the council may by resolution prescribe. The council shall accept as surety on any official bond a good solvent surety company authorized to do business in the State of Florida. The premium on any such bond shall be paid by the city, unless otherwise specifically provided, and such bond shall be preserved by the city clerk manager or city manager' s designee. Section 20. City officers; appointment and compensation. The officers of the City are the city manager, city clerk and city attorney. The city council shall appoint the officers of the City and shall determine their compensation. city clerk and the city attorney. All other officers and employees shall be selected by the city manager. The council shall fix, by resolution, the compensation of the city maker, the mayor, the city clerk, and employees. The city council shall have the right to combine the functions of various departments and of various offices and to provide that one officer may perform the duties of one or more officers and may hold one or more offices. Section 22. Emoluments other than regular compensation prohibited; exception. No member of the council or officer or employee of the city shall directly or indirectly receive from the city any compensation, emolument or other thing of value for any service rendered by them or other than the regular compensation to be paid as fixed by the terms of their nor shall they accept any frank, free ticket, pass or service, directly or indirectly, from any person, firm or corporation, upon terms more favorable than are granted to the public generally. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor. Such prohibitions of free service shall not apply to police officers or firefighters in uniform or wearing their official badge when the same is provided by ordinance. This section does not prohibit