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Charter changes add to powers

If the changes are adopted, the City Commission would be able to fire a city manager on a simple majority vote.

By SHANNON TAN
Published November 10, 2005

LARGO - Voters could soon get a chance to approve changes to the city charter that would give them, and elected officials, more power.

A 15-member Charter Review Committee, which has been meeting since June, presented its recommendations to the City Commission on Tuesday. Commissioners will meet again Dec. 1 in a special work session to determine what changes they would approve.

Commission-approved changes would go on the ballot at a referendum in March.

The Charter Review Committee proposed 17 major changes that could turn into some nine ballot questions put to voters for their approval.

Two proposals would enhance voters' role in the governance of the city. They would:

Require referendum approval to abolish the police or fire departments.

Hold elections in November instead of March to increase voter turnout.

Other changes would give commissioners more authority. They would:

Allow a simple majority vote of commissioners to hire, fire and set the salary of the city manager. Now those decisions require a supermajority vote of at least five members of the seven-member commission.

Remove the section prohibiting city officials and employees from contributing to or participating in the management of the campaigns of commission candidates.

Change the duties of the mayor so he or she will represent the city in intergovernmental relationships, appoint members of citizen advisory boards, and present an annual state of the city message.

Other proposed changes would:

Limit the city's eminent domain powers.

Require the commission to appoint a committee to review the charter every five years.

Include "age, disability, sexual orientation and national origin" in the provision prohibiting discrimination with respect to any city position.

Commissioner Mary Gray Black, who had opposed a reference to "sexual orientation" in the city's internal mission, vision and values statement, questioned why the committee wanted to change that provision.

"It's more inclusive," said the Rev. J. Arnold Johnson, the committee's chairman.

Black also opposed taking out the provision banning city officials from donating to commission candidates. That section tripped up two commissioners this year, but the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office cleared them of any wrongdoing.

Commissioner Andrew Guyette took the opposite view. "I prefer to take it out because of all the conflict it caused in the last election," he said.

The committee attempted to strengthen the mayor's powers in the charter so he would represent the city in intergovernmental relationships.

But Mayor Bob Jackson said that such a change would not be practical. Now each commissioner shares the responsibility by serving on different boards.

"You're setting up the dynamic for more friction between the city manager and mayor," said Commissioner Pat Gerard.

Jackson disagreed, saying that he and City Manager Steven Stanton "agree on many more things than we disagree on."

A few commissioners also questioned the change that would prevent the commission from using eminent domain to take property for economic development, except for a public purpose such as a road or to remove a public nuisance.

Explained committee vice chairman Howard Smith: "It seems to me like it was a kind of protection we could provide to the citizens of Largo."

The use of eminent domain has been a hot topic among local governments since June. That's when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the case of Kelo vs. City of New London. The ruling said a city or county may use its power of eminent domain to acquire private property for economic revitalization. The Connecticut city wanted to destroy homes to build an office complex.

Florida is one of eight states that prevents the use of eminent domain for economic development unless it is to develop a blighted area. Still, local governments have since moved to reassure residents.

Commissioners did agree to tweak one of the changes to require the charter to be reviewed every seven years.

About 10 other proposed changes would simply clean up or clarify sections of the charter, such as shortening the preamble and changing the term "qualified voter" to "registered voter."

Another 15 changes would make the charter, which was adopted in 1974, consistent with state law and current city practices. In November 2004 and March, voters approved several amendments to the charter after commissioners found provisions that conflicted with or were superseded by state statutes. But in March, voters rejected the ballot question granting the commission the authority to appoint an internal auditor.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:21:17]