During its initial phase, August 1999 through January 11, 2000, the Charter Review Commission (CRC) sought input from the public and from the Alachua municipalities on revisions to the Alachua County Charter. The twenty five ideas for revisions that were suggested to and/or requested of the CRC are listed in the table below.
The CRC is now in its second phase during which it will review the suggested revisions, determine which revisions it will proceed with, and draft ballot language for those revisions. Of the original twenty five suggested revisions, thirteen were removed from consideration by majority vote of the CRC at its February 22nd meeting at the advice of legal counsel. Three more were removed by the CRC at its February 22nd meeting due to lack of interest by a majority of the commission in pursuing the suggested revision/issue.
The nine suggested revisions/issues which remain under consideration will be reviewed and discussed in detail by the CRC at its meetings in March. The scheduled date for dicussion of each item is shown in the table below in the column titled "Remains under consideration". Some or all of these nine remaining items may be removed from consideration as the selection process progresses; however none will be eliminated in March while indepth review and discussion of each item is underway. The CRC agreed that it would take no Section Three vote any earlier than April 4, 2000.
At its March 28th meeting the CRC will wrap up the discussion(s) of any issue(s) that needed to extend beyond their scheduled discussion date.
| Suggested Revisions/Issues to Consider | Remains under consideration |
Removed at advice of counsel |
Removed by vote of CRC |
|---|---|---|---|
| County ordinances prevailing over municipal ordinances | 3/14 | ||
| County environmental ordinances prevailing over municipal ordinances; can specify that certain areas prevail (Chapter 125) | 3/14 | ||
| Municipalities should maintain the ability to exercise home rule | X | ||
| Flexibility to empanel the CRC more frequently than every ten years | 3/7 | ||
| County Commission salary structure should be controlled locally | 3/21 | ||
| Salary reduction for county commission | X | ||
| Establish a joint planning structure | 3/14 | ||
| Repeal the Boundary Adjustment Act | X | ||
| Term limits for County Commission | X | ||
| Specify a certain amount of funding for land conservation | X | ||
| Assess a fee for the use of all governmental resources | 3/7 | ||
| Single member districts | 3/21 | ||
| High cost of county-wide campaigns | X | ||
| District Residency Requirement | X | ||
| Non partisan elections for all County elected officials | X | ||
| Limits on the autonomy of the Sheriff | X | ||
| Fire service consolidation | X | ||
| Review issues from the sustainability perspective | X | ||
| Independent auditor | 3/7 | ||
| Conflicts in Charter (glitches) | 3/7 | ||
| Campaign finance regulations | X | ||
| Special districts should have elected officials serving as governing body | X | ||
| Annexation regulations | X | ||
| Assure appropriate level of staffing and funding for the environmental protection office | X | ||
| Police review board comprised of citizens and officers (Sheriff) | X |
This is a personal page belonging to Susan Barfield Wright.
Homepage URL: www.susanwright.org
Email:
swright@ufl.edu
Last updated: 3/7/00