July 8, 2004

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special/workshop session on July 8, 2004, at 1:00 p.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida. Present were: Chair Nancy Higgs, Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Ron Pritchard, Susan Carlson, and Jackie Colon, County Manager Tom Jenkins, and County Attorney Scott Knox.

PERMISSION TO SCHEDULE EXECUTIVE SESSION

County Attorney Scott Knox requested permission to schedule an executive session on July 13, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. to discuss The Great Outdoors case.

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Pritchard, to authorize scheduling an executive session at 11:30 a.m. on July 13, 2004 to discuss The Great Outdoors case. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Commissioner Colon advised Yvette Torres, a member of Commissioner Carlson’s staff, had a baby girl; and the baby is a beauty. Commissioner Carlson advised the baby was eight pounds; and Ms. Torres is recovering at home.

PRESENTATION OF FINAL REPORT, RE: CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION

Chair Higgs stated present today are Charter Review Commission Chairperson Anselmo Baldonado, Vice Chairperson Joan Madden, and Attorney Allen Watts.

Mr. Baldonado requested members of the Charter Review Commission who are present stand to be recognized; and Bob Bolin, Laura Ward, Howard Wolf, and Maureen Rupe stood. Chair Higgs expressed appreciation to the members. Mr. Baldonado stated in accordance with the provisions of the Brevard County Charter, the Charter Review Commission adopted and is forwarding to the Board of County Commissioners the proposed Charter amendments outlined in Exhibit A, which are to be placed before the voters in a special election called, pursuant to law and concurrent with the next general election. He stated to that end, he and Ms. Madden have affixed their signatures to the document; and they are present to respond to questions.

Joan Madden stated they all had a great time on the Charter Review Commission, but they worked hard. Attorney Watts stated he will be glad to respond to questions, but has no comments.

Commissioner Colon expressed appreciation to the members who worked hard for an entire year, taking time out from their families to serve the community; and stated they did it wonderfully, even when things were difficult and there were differences of opinion. She stated she is pleased and proud of the job that was done.

Commissioner Pritchard requested Mr. Baldonado read the summary at the bottom of page 8; and stated the public has a right to know what the Charter Review Commission went through, as it was a lengthy process.

Mr. Baldonado stated they had 17 regular meetings, one public participation planning committee meeting, three public hearings held in three areas of the County, three mandatory public hearings, 1,800 Commissioner hours of public meeting time, three style and drafting meetings, 80 unduplicated public speakers, 400 duplicated public speakers, 575 hits on the CRC website, and numerous letters, emails, faxes, and phone calls.

Commissioner Pritchard stated it was a noteworthy achievement; and the Board is appreciative of the work the Commission did. He stated he hopes the public will become better educated about the importance of the Charter and the sacrifice that the members of the Charter Review Commission make to participate in the process. He stated there were 47 recommendations to amend the Charter; and out of the 47, three survived the process. He stated some people have said it does not seem that is enough; but it is not the survival but that they were heard and provided opportunity to voice concerns. He stated there was opportunity to bring issues back; many were voted on two and three times; because they did not survive does not mean they were not good; and it just means they did not survive the process. He noted the Board appointed the Commission members to represent the citizens and hear what they had to say.

Mr. Baldonado stated the unsung heroes in the process are Assistant County Manager Don Lusk, CRC Executive Secretary Suzi Travis, Judy Siefert of the Veterans Services Office, Lindsay Conner of Roadways and Landscaping, and Brenda Becker of Housing and Human Services, who all helped complete the process.

Chair Higgs stated the mission today is to take into consideration the Resolution that would move the amendments to the ballot.

Commissioner Scarborough stated it is his understanding that anything coming from the Charter Review Commission will be taken by the Board as it is presented and put on the ballot; that is a very simple action; however, he received a memorandum from the MPO concerning proposal number 5. He stated there was a split in the legal opinion of two of the three; and inquired if that charges the Board with additional responsibility or should it just proceed with putting it on the ballot.

Attorney Watts stated the appropriate section of the Charter is 7.4a, which was added since the last Charter Review process; and it says for any proposed amendment sponsored by the County Commission or the Charter Review Commission, the Commission shall empanel a panel of three persons experienced in the field of local government law; and if at least two members of the panel find that the proposed amendment meets all of the requirements, the County Commission shall place the proposed charter amendment on the ballot for consideration at a referendum. Commissioner Scarborough stated he hears the word “shall” so he has his instructions.

Motion by Commissioner Pritchard, seconded by Commissioner Scarborough, to accept the Resolution of the Charter Review Commission proposing Charter amendments as follows: (1) Amendment and Transfer of Preamble; (2) Adequate Time for Charter Review; and (3)Truth in Taxation; and transmission of the proposed Charter amendments to the Board for the calling of a referendum, providing an explanatory statement, and ballot title for each amendment, and authorizing minor corrections by the Chair and staff.

County Attorney Scott Knox stated the Board is moving to accept the Resolution from the Charter Review Commission; and he will prepare resolutions calling for a special election, which will incorporate the ballot language from the Charter Review Commission.

Glenda Busick stated she disagrees with Commissioner Pritchard’s analysis of the Charter Review Commission when he said it was great that the people could voice their concerns; there is more to it than voicing concerns; and she wants action, which she could not get from the Charter Review Commission. She stated she did an analysis of the voting record of the 15 members of the Charter Review Commission; Commissioner Colon’s and Commissioner Pritchard’s appointees were pretty much opposed to good government issues; and she holds the Commissioners responsible for the actions of their appointees. She stated they opposed the creation of a growth management commission; and commented on those who voted for and against actions. She stated taxpayers need to have growth managed; but the Charter Review Commission opposed creation of preservation districts, limiting density increases, restriction of filling of rivers and lagoons and wetlands, and creation of urban growth boundaries. She complimented Commissioner Scarborough’s, Commissioner Higgs’, and Commissioner Carlson’s appointees, who seemed to look at what is for the public good, and did not just vote no, no, no. She stated the County is aghast at the population increase; the people want action; they do not want their voices to be heard and nothing happen; there were things the Charter Commission would not do; and it is the Board’s responsibility to take some action on some items the people want. She stated an issue that is going to get to the ballot that is of significance is one from Jim Ford that says they want the truth in what new construction dollars actually contribute to the tax increase and looks at all the taxing items like for roads, police cars, MSTU’s, plus property taxes to come up with a real number of what the taxpayers get in a tax increase. She stated she asked herself why is just the County Commission being held accountable to that; and the School Board and the cities should also be held accountable because the budgets where they advertise tax increases are false. She stated they are wrong and they lie about the total number of increase of taxes, so what is good for the Board should be good for every entity in the County; and the School Board and municipalities should be held accountable. She stated there can be a second amendment asking if the citizens want the School Board and the cities to live under the same rules.

Janice Scott stated she was very disappointed in the progress the Charter Review Commission made; every time it met it rehashed what the rules were going to be about consideration; and it was basically trying to make the citizens write the proposal in legal language as it would go on the ballot. She stated they thought they were going to bring their bright ideas about growth issues that are occurring all over the County; but the Commission wanted them to rewrite or get legal counsels to put it in legal language. She complimented Commissioner Scarborough about his appointments to the Charter Review Commission; and stated they worked hard and had a lot of ideas that were voted out. She stated Commissioner Colon’s appointees did not come from her District; and suggested if the Board considers amending the appointees that it be mandated that appointees come from the Commissioners’ Districts. She stated Save Brevard collected over 4,000 signatures on the density proposal that it brought forward; and it wanted any increase in density to have unanimous consensus of the Board rather than a simple three votes by three Commissioners who are supported heavily by development money. She inquired what is the development money doing for them; advised it is putting millions in their pocket; and it is really the people’s County. She stated it is ruining the wildlife that people come to the County to see; it is ruining life for older residents who came here hoping to spend the rest of their lives here; and she hopes when this comes before the Board that it will at least look at the Save Brevard ballot questions that were circulated around the County. She requested the Board not make them do another initiative petition; and stated if they go through that, they are going to start doing what everybody in the State is doing about referendums and that is to collect enough money to force it down everybody’s throat.

Tiffany Johnson stated she owns property in Titusville, both in the County and in the City; she became aware of the Charter Review proposals 8, 9, and 10; and she started losing sleep at night because what was happening scared her to death. She stated she started coming to the Charter Review Committee meetings; she met Commissioners Colon and Pritchard and their appointees; and they are for people who own property no matter if one is a homeowner or agricultural landowner. She commended Commissioners Pritchard and Colon on their appointees. She stated any proposal that was approved or disapproved had to have at least six votes; 40 amendments were turned down and three were accepted; and that does not indicate one group of appointees voting the wrong way. She stated they talked about proposals 8, 9, and 10; others pointed out they had 4,000 signatures on a petition; according to the Supervisor of Elections they would need 1% of the population of the County to get it in front of the Board of County Commissioners to be considered; they did not get that 1%; and that is why they are not before the Board. She requested the Board not consider any proposals brought by Ms. Busick on 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, and 24; stated none of those went before the legal panel except for proposal 11; and the attorneys found there was something wrong with proposal 11. She commented on adjustment of some proposals; stated number 40 went as far as the last hearing; but numbers 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, and 24 did not go to any public hearings. She stated number 40 went to public hearings but was turned down because people in the County and cities realized that it only had to do with local roads because arterial and collector roads in the County cannot be taken over by the cities. She requested the Board not consider Ms. Busick’s proposal to reconsider Charter proposals and stay with the three proposals that are before the Board today.

Georgia Phillips stated she wants to give her view of what happened; there were a lot of proposals that did not make it; the Review Commission looked at them and decided that some were not actually Charter subjects and some were insufficient to do the job desired; and there was no bias by anybody on the Commission. She stated they were there to do a good job; everybody was treated fairly; the Review Commission worked 1,800 hours; and it did a tremendous job. She stated everybody was able to be heard; they did find things that needed to be done in the County; and the Space Coast League of Cities is working on a concurrency task force to include the County Commission and the elected municipal officials, so in the long run a lot of good things came out of the process even though only a few proposals came out. She stated everything was well heard and studied to make sure it was going to do what was wanted; and if it did not qualify, it was eliminated.

Chair Higgs announced that concludes the speakers.

Mr. Baldonado requested Attorney Watts provide an overview of the implications if the Board were to go forward today with new proposals and where that would leave the process.

Attorney Watts stated part of the concern the Charter Review Commission had was that it ran out of time on some of the issues that may or may not have merit; and he cannot speculate on how they might have ultimately come out of the process had there been more time; but that was one of the reasons underlying the recommendation of amendment 2, which would change the review process somewhat. He stated there are other avenues that are available, as provided in the Charter, if the necessity should come up between now and the next regular review in six years, or in eight years if amendment 2 passes. He advised the Board has the power to convene a Charter Review Commission sooner than that if an overwhelming need arises; so there are a number of ways to address problems that some citizens may feel still need to be addressed. He stated regarding proposal 11, the League of Cities said there may be some merit there, but did not have time to get through it now. He stated it took the Charter Review Commission a year to work its way through; and paraphrased the Declaration of Independence, that prudence dictates that governments long established should not be changed for light or transient causes. He noted the process of amending a charter is like amending a constitution; it is hard to un-amend if it is done in haste and found that what was done was not exactly what was wanted; and it would have to be repealed by a second referendum. He stated the time limit for putting anything on this election cycle by action of the Board or by petition of the citizens is somewhat constrained; the general election ballot in a presidential year is a long one; the Statutes and Election Codes provide the form of the ballot; and Charter amendments rank near the bottom in the order of the ballot. He advised propositions should not be adopted in haste; the public should have ample opportunity to become familiar with them before they are asked to vote on them; and he leaves it to the judgment of the Board as to whether either criteria would be satisfied if the Board should want to take up either of the other subjects.

Commissioner Pritchard stated between Jefferson and Madison, they had the roots of government well in hand; and the Board cannot let small vocal minorities control the government. He stated the Board has to look at the welfare of the people; it has to look at the Charter as it would the State Constitution or the next thing is the Charter will have something about pregnant pigs, which is ridiculous. Commissioner Pritchard stated the whole attitude of amending the Constitution and the position taken by those people was ridiculous, and it was used to foster other causes and not benefit the people of the State of Florida. He stated they have recognized that error; the State is now taking measures to make sure things like that do not happen again; such things do not belong in the Constitution; and many of the things that were brought before the Charter Review Commission do not belong in the Charter. He stated the Charter Review Commission took appropriate action; and he applauds it for that. He stated he is proud of all the appointees; he will not support anything that was not supported and approved by the Charter Review Commission; and commended the group on its work.

Chair Higgs called for the vote on the motion to accept the Resolution of the Charter Review Commission proposing Charter amendments and transmission of the proposed Charter amendments to the Board for the calling of a referendum, providing an explanatory statement, and ballot title for each amendment, and authorizing minor corrections by the Chair and staff. Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Chair Higgs stated that is the only business before the Board today; but there are two requests for public comment.

Janice Scott stated she knows the Charter Review Commission worked hard; but she hopes that the next Charter Review Commission will look at what happened this time and make better use of their valuable time. She stated she would like to correct some information about Save Brevard; it was a large group of volunteers who went all over the County to collect signatures; she personally collected over 300 signatures at the Merritt Island Library from people who live in that District; and their comments were about how disappointed they were that there has been filling of the Indian River with the new condos next to the marina and across from BJ’s. She stated the people wanted her to remind them that Merritt Island is a wildlife refuge all the way to the Banana River; and that is mainly what was talked about. She stated they were not trying to change the government in haste; this is long overdue; growth in Brevard County is out of control; and if something is not done before there is a new County Commission, it is really going to be behind the eight-ball. She stated the land is disappearing as fast as it can; and the constituents from Palm Bay to Mims want the Board to do something about it; and if something is not done, the people are going to be objecting to what is happening in the schools and with the traffic. She noted they live in a coastal high-hazard zone; and the Board should seriously consider some of the proposals.

Commissioner Pritchard inquired where are the condos Ms. Scott is talking about across from BJ’s; with Ms. Scott advising there are condos across from BJ’s but over at the north side of Hubert Humphrey bridge are three condos, and one is built on a breakwater out in the Indian River. Commissioner Pritchard inquired if Ms. Scott is talking about Island Pointe; with Ms. Scott responding she does not know the name, but it is north of the marina at the bridge. Commissioner Pritchard stated that was not filled; that land was there. Ms. Scott stated everybody is saying there are submerged lands all over the County.

Glenda Busick stated it is not easy to talk to the Commissioners individually, so she is thankful there are meetings where all five Commissioners can be together in the sunshine. She advised city councils, the County Commission, and the School Board all have to meet in the sunshine; but she was floored to find out the Senators and Representatives exempted themselves from the sunshine laws. She stated she had no idea that was happening; but it holds local government to a higher standard. She stated she wants to correct something about the three ways that people get something on the ballot; one is to go to the Charter Review Commission, which they have done; another is to come to the Board; and the third is to get petitions signed. She stated she believes the Senators and Representatives did this to deny the people and make it hard on them; citizen petitions are the only way to amend the Constitution; and when Commissioner Pritchard says they should not amend the Constitution, all she can say is that is all the people have. She stated that is why at the local level, they have petitions to change the Charter; that is the only way the people have; and they need four votes to get some of the items on the ballot. She stated she wants each Commissioner to think how they are going to be ruled in history and whether they will be the one vote to stop almost half a million people from deciding the fate of the County. She inquired will the developers rule; are the schools going to be overcrowded; are the jails and roads going to be overcrowded; and will Commissioner Colon be the fourth vote or not; with Commissioner Colon responding not. Ms. Busick stated that is what she wanted to hear; Commissioner Colon is on the record that she is not going to be the fourth vote; and Commissioner Colon and Commissioner Pritchard are not going to let the voters decide the fate of the County. She stated Commissioner Colon is going to go down in history as one of the worst Commissioners for voters’ rights, and so it Commissioner Pritchard.

Michael Myjak stated he participated in the Charter Review process; it was his first time having done so; but he saw some of the results from the last one when he became a Brevard County voter in the late 1980’s. He stated on the whole he is appalled at the entire process; some of the people who participated in this Charter Review Commission were disingenuous from the beginning; there were several on the CRC who called for the abolishment of the Charter; and inquired if there is that kind of voting preference already on board as a basis for receiving comments, how can the Board trust them to vote for the best interests of the people. He stated they heard a half-dozen petitions focused on growth management and applying smart growth principles to the quality of life in the County; and every one of them was rejected because they were not identified and articulated in a full, complete, and constitutional reference. He stated for citizens to be able to come forward and petition a concept and have it be complete is asking too much of the people. He stated he was asked by Save Brevard to petition the CRC on behalf of saving the wetlands because the wetlands in the County are not being saved; there is no net loss of wetlands; and the whole concept of mitigating wetland property in another County means the County is losing its wetlands, its water recharge, its groundwater, and its very life existence in the future. He stated limiting mitigation was in the County’s future best interest; it was approved to be heard and was accepted by a vote of 10 to 5; but then it got mired down in a quagmire of legalese. Mr. Myjak commented on splitting the proposal into two separate things, having it put back together again, and then not getting a 10 to 5 vote because there were not 15 people in attendance. He stated the Board owes it to the County’s citizens to review the motions that turned down proposed amendments, and consider coming up with a growth management proposal for the ballot.

Lil Banks stated the Board appointed 15 citizens to review the Charter; they worked for a year reviewing it and made their decisions; and the Board should not undo what was done. She inquired if the Board undoes what the CRC did, then what is the purpose of having committees and saying the Board is going to look to the public for input.

Commissioner Colon stated the Board talked about not undermining what the Charter Review Commission wanted to do; and that was before everything was finalized. She stated people think you are the best Commissioner when you vote on the issues they feel passionate about, but they get upset and accuse you of being the worst one when you do not. She stated she has been on record that she has concerns about undermining something that has been worked on for an entire year; there were some items she wished were going to be on the ballot out of the 47 proposals; but the Board has to respect what the CRC voted on. She advised probably other Commissioners had things they wanted to see on the ballot; but it did not go the way they wished; and she stands behind all 15 members of the CRC who did a wonderful job in the midst of a lot of pressure. She commented on the group’s professionalism, the supermajority vote, and the long hours and amount of work done. She stated Ms. Busick is very upset; she cares about the community; and even if she is upset with her now, that is okay because she knows Ms. Busick loves the County and wants what is best for the community. She expressed appreciation to the Charter Review Commission and to staff.

Tiffany Johnson thanked the Charter Review Commission; stated it informed her about a lot of situations she did not know about; being a property and homeowner, she loses track of what is going on in the City and County; but she has learned a lot. She expressed appreciation to the CRC and the Board; stated the CRC did an excellent job; the members seemed to have their own thoughts about things that were not right; and commended them for doing a wonderful job.

Upon motion and vote, the meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.

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ATTEST: NANCY HIGGS, CHAIR
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

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SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

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