Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/88739
Sarasota News Leader October 19, 2012 to the County Charter for the improvement of County government." It meets only two or three times per year, and it seldom recom- mends any changes. Tuesday's session was no different. Four pro- posals were put forward, three by citizens and one re-introduced by Layton. Only Layton's survived, but any action will be delayed un- til next year, after the five new members are seated, according to unanimous vote of the panel. At every meeting, citizens have three minutes each to outline their proposals to improve county government. If the Charter Board votes favorably on a recommendation, the propos- er gets to come back to the next meeting for a 20-minute presentation to elaborate on the idea. Then a simple majority vote of the Charter Board is needed to send the idea to a "special committee." That might happen once a year. The special committee can take as long as it likes before reporting back. Then a two-thirds majority vote (seven of 10 members if all are attending) is necessary to schedule a general public hearing on the idea. After that public hearing, another two-thirds vote is required to forward the proposal to the ballot and allow the voters to make the final decision in a referendum. Historically, the odds of all this happening successfully are vanishingly small. It is im- portant to note this elaborate procedure is not enshrined in the county charter; it is a set of rules devised by the Charter Board itself. Page 39 Very, very few ideas survive this extended process. For example, Charter Board member Bob Waechter had proposed an amendment requiring that at least 60 percent of voters ap- prove an amendment in a referendum before it could be added to the charter, mirroring the level of approval necessary for proposed state constitutional amendments to take effect. His idea was sent to the "special committee," which was ready to report on Tuesday. Then Waechter said he was withdrawing the idea, so the report was never heard. His ability to withdraw the idea meant the proposal did not have a life of its own once it was sent to the committee, a very unusual cir- cumstance in legislative rules, because, gener- ally, once a committee accepts responsibility to review something, it reports its findings to the full body. Otherwise, as in this case, the committee's work is wasted. SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS NIXED One proposal did make it out of the special committee for a report back to the full Charter Board. This proposed charter change would require that all the county commissioners run only from districts, instead of living in a dis- trict but running countywide. Manatee Coun- ty uses a district system, with the addition of two at-large commissioners. Several citizens stepped forward to support the idea. They noted the county had sin- gle-member districts for a brief period of time, thanks to a successful petition drive in 1988 and subsequent voter approval. The charter change took effect in 1990, but two years later, voters approved a County Commission-spon- sored charter amendment that reversed the single-member district provision.