A village committee tasked with reviewing the charter and providing recommendations on potential updates and changes wrapped up its work on April 15.
Composed of seven residents, the Charter Review Committee convened in January and spent the ensuing weeks sifting through the various sections. They examined council compensation, filling vacancies, terms, meetings and records, among other items.
Recommendations by the committee will go to the village council for consideration on whether they should go to the ballot in November. Among the notable recommendations are raising council members’ pay from $1,000 a month to $1,500, in addition to a cost of living adjustment. Since the early 2000s, village council members have received $1,000 a month. The committee voted 7-0 at a March 4 meeting to recommend the increase.
Committee member Craig McBay was an advocate for bumping council members’ pay since the first meeting on Jan. 26. He acknowledged how much time is put into the job — from 20 to 40 hours a week — while also saying it could help attract working members in the community.
“It obviously takes a lot of time to do the job,” he said. “For somebody who’s working and may have to give up time from work, having some compensation to make up for that – say I’m a fisherman and now I have to cut out ‘x’ number of fishing trips – that might just help fill the gap.”
Committee members also backed a recommendation of staggering terms and slightly increasing years in office. Currently, village council members serve two years per term in office. In total, they can serve up to eight years, if re-elected by the village voters. The charter review committee backed increasing the years in office from two to three years at a Feb. 18 meeting. It was reaffirmed at a Feb. 25 meeting, when committee members voted to recommend three-year terms — and staggering them — so all seats aren’t up for election at the same time.
Committee member Lorie LaLonde noted that 90% of municipalities across the Sunshine State stagger terms. Member Joe Roth said staggering terms would mean the village wouldn’t experience four or five seats turning over at the same time. He said the move would retain “some semblance of institutional knowledge.”
If there’s vacancy at least halfway through the term, the committee recommends a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term. Within 30 days of the vacancy, the council would need to appoint a person for the interim until the replacement is elected.
The committee is also recommending a supermajority vote on various matters, including the sale of village property. The council would also need four out of five affirmative votes on matters pertaining to purchasing property.
Other items the committee is recommending supermajority votes for are comprehensive plan future land use map amendment, rezoning or change in use of conservation or public/semi-public properties currently owned by the village to something other than recreation, conservation or park use.
The committee elected to leave various sections in the charter alone, such as the height restriction and a referendum when the village council sets a millage rate above 5.000.
All these recommendations will be presented to the council during next month’s meeting. Council members will need to approve the recommendations in order for voters to consider at the November election.
