Charter Amendments
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to eliminate the distinction between permanent boards and advisory boards and to authorize the city commission to establish advisory boards, as it deems necessary, to provide advice or recommendations to the city commission; provided, however, that no individual shall serve simultaneously on more than two (2) advisory boards?
The charter currently states that a resident cannot serve on more than one permanent board. However, technically no boards are “permanent.” This amendment fixes the language by eliminating the distinction between “permanent” and “temporary” boards.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to provide that residents of the city shall have standing to bring legal action against the city to enforce the provisions of the city charter?
This amendment makes it easier for a resident to file a lawsuit against the commission in the event the city commission violates the city charter.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to provide that candidates running for a district seat on the commission shall be elected by the electors residing within their district, with the mayor continuing to run at-large, and requiring candidates to reside in their district for one year prior to qualifying to run, with the mayor required to reside in the City for one year prior to qualifying?
This amendment was not recommended by the Charter Review Board.
Currently, the entire city gets to vote for each commissioner (20,000 registered voters). The Districts simply require the commissioners to live spread-out through the community. If this change passes, a commissioner could get elected with as less than 2,500 votes.
A change like this would encourage commissioners to only “look-out” for their individual district, not the whole city.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to provide for the swearing in of newly elected members of the city commission at 6:30 p.m. on the third business day following the receipt of certified election results from the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, as opposed to the first Monday following the receipt of certified results?
This is a housekeeping amendment which simply cleans-up the current charter to provide for a more definitive date and time for swearing in of newly elected members.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to reduce the voting requirement to hire a city manager from a four-fifths (4/5) vote of the city commission to a majority (3/5) vote and to require applicants for the city manager position to have, at a minimum, the type of degree possessed by any department head reporting to the city manager?
Currently, three commissioners can fire the city manager, but it takes four commissioners to hire a new manager. So, in practical effect when three commissioners fire the city manager, they are unable to hire a replacement until a fourth commissioner agrees, which results in the city having to rely on an interim/temporary manager. If passed, this amendment would allow a new manager to be hired by majority vote (3/5).
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to authorize the city manager to appoint and remove all department heads and assistant department heads in the city, including the city clerk, without approval of the city commission?
This amendment was not recommended by the Charter Review Board.
Currently, the city commission must approve the hiring and firing of all department heads and assistant department heads. This amendment would shift significant power from the city commission to the city manager.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to eliminate the administrative assistant position from the charter as a direct report to the city commission and transition the position to one reporting to the city manager?
This is a housekeeping amendment. The current charter states the Administrative Assistant should report to the commission, but the commission has assigned the city manager as the supervisor. Therefore, this change has no practical effect other than cleaning-up the language in the charter.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to require the city manager to submit the annual budget to the city commission by August 15 of each year, as opposed to July 1, and to conduct one public meeting prior to submitting the budget and one public meeting with the commission after submitting the budget, as opposed to two meetings in each instance, in addition to the two public budget hearings required by state law?
This amendment was recommended by the city’s finance department. It would adjust the budgeting timeline to be more practical and aligned with State law and county deadlines for setting the annual ad valorem millage rate.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to provide that no accountant or partner at a firm of accountants who is responsible for the city’s annual audit shall participate in the city’s audit if that person has performed audit services for the city in each of the previous five (5) fiscal years, instead of requiring the city to change the individual or firm responsible for the city’s audit every three (3) years?
Currently, the charter requires the city to switch auditors every three years. Although good in theory, this is against industry standards and results in frequent auditor changes. As a result, by the time an auditor learns the system, its time to change. The proposed change is consistent with the requirements of publicly traded companies; allowing the audit company to be the same but requiring the audit partner responsible for the audit to change every five years.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to require that, unless included in the adopted budget for a particular fiscal year, no capital project shall exceed five percent (5%) of the city’s operating budget of the general fund, as adopted at the beginning of the most recent fiscal year, unless approved by a vote of the electors of the city at a referendum election, subject to certain limited exceptions?
This amendment will require the city commission to get approval from the residents if they want to build something costing more than 5% of the general fund. This amendment would have prohibited the building of Flamingo West Park without referendum approval from the residents.
Shall the Cooper City Charter be amended to require the city commission to convene a charter review board every six (6) years as opposed to every four (4) years, and to authorize a majority of the city commission to fill vacancies on the charter review board in the event that any member of the city commission does not make appointments to the board?
This amendment contains no substantive changes, rather it slightly changes the process and timeframe for the convening of the Charter Review Board.
