Charter Review Commission Minutes
Aug. 29, 2005

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Candace Lankford handout
Frank Marshal handout
Joe Stitch handout
Comments by Andy Baker
 
CALL TO ORDER/REMARKS BY CHAIR

Charter Review Commission Chair William Scovell convened the listening session at 6:00 p.m.  The meeting was held at the Brannon Center, 105 S. Riverside Drive, New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  The following members were present:  Chair Scovell, T. Wayne Bailey, Joseph Benedict, Clarence Davenport, Patricia Drago, P. T. Fleuchaus, Alex Ford, Richard Gunter, Peter Heebner, Charles Matousek, Pat Northey, Ezell Reaves and Glenn Storch.  Vice-Chair John Graham and member Thomas McClelland were excused absences.  Also present were Volusia County Attorney Dan Eckert, Assistant to the County Manager Betty Holness, Assistant County Attorney Rick Karl, Special Projects Coordinator Cindy Finney, Staff Photographer Jeff Crumbley, Administrative Aide Camilla Grasso, members of the press and 30 members of the public. 

Chair Scovell welcomed everyone to the fourth Public Listening Session and made a few explanatory remarks about the appointment and purpose of the Charter Review Commission.  He noted the purpose of the listening sessions was to hear the thoughts and desires of members of the community in relation to defining the County Charter.  He added the information gathered during the five sessions would be used to help the Commission organize its efforts, such as which committees should be formed and which issues those committees should consider.  He added the end result would be the Commission’s recommendations for Charter changes, if any, which would be put on the November 2006 ballot for the voters’ adoption or rejection.

REMARKS BY ELECTED OFFICIALS

He recognized the presence of several government officials:  State Representative Dorothy Hukill, County Council Member from District Three, Jack Hayman, County Council Member from District Two, Art Giles, School Board Chairman Candace Lankford, New Smyrna Beach Mayor James Vandergrifft, New Smyrna Beach City Commission Member Lawrence Sweet, Edgewater City Council Member James Brown and New Smyrna Beach City Manager Frank Roberts.

Chair Scovell stated a few process ground rules, including that each speaker should limit his or her remarks to three minutes, that the Commission would only be listening to the proposals put forth and not debating them, that everyone should be respectful of each other’s time, that those wishing to speak before the Commission must fill out a request form and that each speaker must use the microphone so as to be quoted correctly on the record.

Chair Scovell called upon County Council Member Hayman for comments.  Mr. Hayman thanked the Commission members for their dedication and service and noted issues he felt should be examined, including annexation, city-county dispute resolution, taxation, water conservation and the Smart Growth Initiative. He added that for Smart Growth to be successful, the right Charter would have to be in place.  He spoke of the economic impact of rapid residential development and stated that the economy also needed to expand toward technology.  He felt the Charter could put in place at the County level the form of government that could help insure the creation of jobs and preserve the quality of life in Volusia County.  He also said that the elected Chair position might need to be examined to see if it needed to be restructured in some way, such as making it a strong Chair position, giving it veto power, etc.

Mr. Storch asked for further comment on the city-county dispute resolution issue.  Mr. Hayman replied that the Volusia Council of Governments (VCOG) had recently suggested the County Council and VCOG appoint a group, with representation from the School Board, to examine disagreements between the County and municipalities in areas of annexation and utility service areas.  He said he did not endorse such a proposal because it would not provide for an unbiased arbiter, and a mechanism was already in place under the Florida Statutes to effectively deal with dispute resolution.  Upon questioning by Dr. Bailey as to how useful he had found the Volusia Growth Management Commission (VCMG) to be in dispute resolution, Mr. Hayman replied that he had found the VCMG to be quite effective.

Chair Scovell called on Mayor Vandergrifft for comments.  Mayor Vandergrifft welcomed the Commission and thanked the members for their dedication.

Chair Scovell called on New Smyrna Beach City Commission Member Lawrence Sweet, who stated he felt the County Council should be made up of six District members and only one At-Large seat. Mr. Sweet said the elected Chair and the second At-Large seat should be eliminated.

Candace Lankford spoke next on three topics: the School Board’s Growth Management Policy for Facilities and Development, Number 613; a PowerPoint presentation she had brought as a handout to reinforce Policy 613; and her work on the Smart Growth Implementation Committee.  She added that she did not believe the VCMG was effective, and that school concurrency needed to be placed in the Charter.

The next speaker was Joe Stich, who provided a handout and also suggested ideas for changing the Charter that would streamline government and make it more responsive to the citizens it represented.

Chair Scovell called on Margaret Boisvert, who asked the Commission to address annexation issues, flooding issues and special taxing districts.

Andy Baker then spoke about his concerns over unmanaged growth. Mr. Baker said eminent domain, developers paying for both new roads and road improvements and limiting the amount of road construction to segments should all be addressed in the Charter.

Chair Scovell called on Frank Marshall to speak next.  His handout was an excerpt of the County Charter. Mr. Marshall stated he had concerns about the beach and the protection of natural resource conservation areas, and suggested language be added to the “Abuse of the Environment” subsection of the Minimum Environmental Standards section of the Charter that would protect natural habitats, the dune system and the beach.  He also felt the Unified Beach Code section of the Charter should have language added concerning both the protection of the dune ecosystem and the prohibition of new development permits east of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL).

Gilly Aguiar asked the Commission to evaluate the possibility of creating a strong Chair and paying all the County Council members an increased wage since their jobs were essentially full-time positions.  He also suggested creating driving and non-driving zones on the beach and felt the County should work with the cities along the I-4 corridor to better implement the smart growth concept.

Janet Deyette spoke, urging the Commission to study the Smart Growth Implementation Committee’s final report and to put strong language in the Charter that would deal with unmanaged growth and development and the inherent problems caused by them, such as overburdened roads, flooding and overcrowded schools.

Chair Scovell called on Sandy Lou Gallagher, who also stressed the importance of the Charter Review Commission using the report of the Smart Growth Implementation Committee as a tool for defining Volusia County’s future growth.

Edgewater City Council Member James Brown was the final speaker.  He stated that the County had been meeting with Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange and Oak Hill on a regular basis to brainstorm ideas for various areas of cooperation and suggested the County arrange similar meetings with other municipalities.  He suggested the Commission consider consolidating some County departments as Edgewater had done, to give better service to citizens.  He also recommended the Commission amend the Charter to give all County Council Members four-year, staggered terms.  Chair Scovell noted that such was already the case for the County Council terms.

After some discussion among Commission members about identifying the various subcommittees to be formed at the September 6^th meeting, the meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

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