MEMBERS PRESENT:

Ed Crapo, P. Denton, P. Hanrahan, R. Hawkins, C. Martin, J. Massey, F. Peterkin, B. Thomas, J. Wootten and S. Wright

DJ Williams (Staff Liaison), Dave Wagner (County Attorney), Bob Ott (Attorney) and Terri Hutchinson (ESSA)

George Nickerson, Independent Counsel

Summary:

After confirming a quorum, the meeting was called to order at approximately 5:37 p.m. by Chair Wootten. A motion was made by Member Hanrahan/Thomas to approve the agenda. Motion passed unanimously. A motion was made by Member Thomas/Peterkin to approve the minutes after correcting the spelling of Member Hawkins last name. Motion passed unanimously.

The citizen comment section of the agenda was briefly discussed. There was consensus to keep the section on the agenda but language will be added to read "Comments will be received for items which are scheduled on the agenda and comments will be limited to three minutes".

There was discussion about the County Commission's flexibility to empanel the CRC more frequently than every ten years. The 1992 court order related to the empaneling of the 1991 CRC and its ability to place initiatives on the ballot before the 2000 general election and the rationale for empaneling the 1991 CRC were discussed. Some members expressed a desire to draft permissive language which would allow the CRC to be empaneled more frequently than every ten years. After more discussion, there was consensus to tentatively include this item with conflicts in the Charter (should this item remain as an item which is proposed as an amendment to the Charter).

George Nickerson (Independent Counsel) was recognized and he summarized his March 7, 2000 memo on the issue of assessment of a fee for all governmental services. Mr. Nickerson outlined his concerns which related to unintentionally requiring fees for certain services and limiting the County Commission control on the budget is very likely inconsistent with general law.

There was extensive discussion regarding creating an independent auditor position. Mr. Nickerson advised that the County Commission could contract with a service provider to conduct management performance audits per Power -v- Alachua County court case. This discussion also included issues related to mandating performance audits for Constitutional Officers. There was consensus to invite the City of Gainesville Auditor to the March 28, 2000 meeting to provide a presentation (limited to 30 minutes) to the CRC. Mr. Nickerson is to summarize the different Florida governments which have independent auditors.

Conflicts in the Charter were discussed. The conflicts which were identified relate to sunsetting of the CRC and residency requirements for County Commissioners. The CRC requested that Mr. Nickerson draft language related to these issues for its review and comment.

DJ Williams advised the CRC that the County Commission conducted a workshop on March 6 to discuss Charter issues. Based upon the discussion at this workshop, staff was requested to coordinate a presentation from Volusia County officials on the topic of joint planning structure. It was explained that County staff was working with Gainesville staff on developing joint planning activities and County staff had identified other local governments that were using a joint planning structure. The CRC expressed interest in receiving a presentation from County staff on this topic. Ms. Williams is to coordinate the joint planning structure presentation with appropriate staff.

Additionally, Ms. Williams was requested to make a note in her e-mail to the CRC that if members identify any other glitches in the Charter, these should be provided to her as soon as possible.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:40 p.m.