With 10 changes being proposed, the City Commission decides to list what it considers to be most important first.
By KELLY VIRELLA
Published December 19, 2003
CLEARWATER - Ballots in the city's March 9 presidential primary will have lots of dense proposals for voters to slog through. The City Commission decided Thursday that some of the more important changes to the city's charter will be close to the front.
Commissioners voted to put second on the ballot an amendment that would give them stronger powers to redevelop some portions of the waterfront.
An amendment that would allow the city to donate residential land to nonprofits without a referendum will be No. 4.
A measure that would lengthen commissioners' terms from three years to four, however, is No. 8 out of 10 on the list.
The charter determines which powers the City Commission has. A 12-member charter review committee proposed the 10 changes last month. City Attorney Pam Akin drafted the amendments, which contain some dense legal jargon that she said is unavoidable.
"The problem is they can only be 75 words long. The title can only be 15 words long," Akin said after the meeting. "It can be difficult to fully explain something with so few words."
Oddly, commissioners agreed to put one of the least significant charter changes - nonsubstantive changes in grammar - first. Akin said she felt it was most logical because the grammar changes affect the entire charter. Also, one of those changes is to make the Clearwater commission a "council."
If approved by a majority of voters, the amendments would become effective immediately.
The commission reviewed and discussed the amendments at several meetings and work sessions. But Thursday night, they accepted the order without objection. "I think it looks good," said Commissioner Whitney Gray.
"I have no problems with the order in which they're being submitted," said Commissioner Frank Hibbard.
Clearwater voters stop reading their ballots after a certain point, but don't have as bad a reputation as some, Akin said.
"The order probably doesn't matter that much," she said. "But we were concerned because of the presidential preference ballot."
