HIGH SPRINGS – In a heated and contentious emergency commission meeting held Tuesday, July 17, High Springs commissioners narrowly passed a measure that pushes forward a charter amendment, which would place a $1 million cap on borrowing by the City.The amendment would first require two public hearings and approval by commissioners before it could be placed on the November ballot for voter approval.
As it is currently proposed, the charter amendment would prevent the City from borrowing more than $1 million unless there is a natural disaster or four of five commissioners approve a referendum, which would then require voter approval and the debt must be paid back within five years.
Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas said the move for a charter amendment is a way to reign in borrowing by the City.
Commissioner Sue Weller said she was concerned that the $1 million was arbitrary and that the amendment would tie the hands of the City in the foreseeable future.
Weller cited a countywide transportation tax initiative, for which the City has agreed it would make certain roadway improvements totaling $3-5 million if the tax passes in November. Those improvements would be funded by the taxes, but would potentially require upfront funding through a bond. But, Weller said she feared the proposed charter amendment would prevent the commission from moving ahead with its promises.
Defending the amendment, Commissioner Linda Gestrin said the changes would “give the taxpayers more say in what goes on.”
She pointed to the first three phases of the City’s sewer system, which she says has cost some $8 million.
Commissioner Scott Jamison vehemently opposed the move, saying it was a way to curtail the sewer.
Although he agreed the concern over the debt is legitimate, he said the reasoning of some commissioners didn’t pass muster.
“You make the comment if you don’t have the money you shouldn’t borrow it, and yet we just put a couple hundred thousand dollars into something we don’t have the money for,” Jamison said, referencing a proposed in-house police dispatch service that is expected to cost the City an additional $150,000 annually.
“This [amendment] handcuffs future commissions and takes even more away from them,” he said, adding that it meant “less authority for commissioners in the future and less ability to do their jobs.”
High Springs resident Joyce Hallman was in favor of the amendment saying, “I urge you to go forward with this ordinance.” She disagreed with Commissioners Jamison and Weller, adding “The Charter gives too much power to the commission.”
Others, however, stood in opposition to Commissioner Gestrin and Vice-Mayor Barnas. Resident and former High Springs City Attorney Thomas DePeter worried that the push for the amendment was too rushed. He pointed to inconsistencies and contradictions within the proposed referendum, adding, “It’s not well drafted.”
DePeter also agreed with concerns raised by Commissioner Weller about the process by which the proposed charter amendment came to be, including calling an emergency meeting to push the amendment ordinance forward.
Weller urged her fellow commissioners to allow a Charter Review Committee to oversee the process and develop possible amendments, as is called for in the City’s Charter.
Mayor Dean Davis, Vice Mayor Barnas and Commissioner Gestrin voted in favor of moving ahead to get the ordinance on the November ballot. Commissioners Weller and Jamison opposed the move.
Despite the commission’s decision to hold the first of at least two public hearings on the matter on July 19, laws regulating public notices and public hearings may have put a kink in their plans. There appears to be a discrepancy with the earliest possible dates on which the public hearings can be held while still meeting ballot deadlines.
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The amendment would first require two public hearings and approval by commissioners before it could be placed on the November ballot for voter approval.
As it is currently proposed, the charter amendment would prevent the City from borrowing more than $1 million unless there is a natural disaster or four of five commissioners approve a referendum, which would then require voter approval and the debt must be paid back within five years.
Vice-Mayor Bob Barnas said the move for a charter amendment is a way to reign in borrowing by the City.
Commissioner Sue Weller said she was concerned that the $1 million was arbitrary and that the amendment would tie the hands of the City in the foreseeable future.
Weller cited a countywide transportation tax initiative, for which the City has agreed it would make certain roadway improvements totaling $3-5 million if the tax passes in November. Those improvements would be funded by the taxes, but would potentially require upfront funding through a bond. But, Weller said she feared the proposed charter amendment would prevent the commission from moving ahead with its promises.
Defending the amendment, Commissioner Linda Gestrin said the changes would “give the taxpayers more say in what goes on.”
She pointed to the first three phases of the City’s sewer system, which she says has cost some $8 million.
Commissioner Scott Jamison vehemently opposed the move, saying it was a way to curtail the sewer.
Although he agreed the concern over the debt is legitimate, he said the reasoning of some commissioners didn’t pass muster.
“You make the comment if you don’t have the money you shouldn’t borrow it, and yet we just put a couple hundred thousand dollars into something we don’t have the money for,” Jamison said, referencing a proposed in-house police dispatch service that is expected to cost the City an additional $150,000 annually.
“This [amendment] handcuffs future commissions and takes even more away from them,” he said, adding that it meant “less authority for commissioners in the future and less ability to do their jobs.”
High Springs resident Joyce Hallman was in favor of the amendment saying, “I urge you to go forward with this ordinance.” She disagreed with Commissioners Jamison and Weller, adding “The Charter gives too much power to the commission.”
Others, however, stood in opposition to Commissioner Gestrin and Vice-Mayor Barnas. Resident and former High Springs City Attorney Thomas DePeter worried that the push for the amendment was too rushed. He pointed to inconsistencies and contradictions within the proposed referendum, adding, “It’s not well drafted.”
DePeter also agreed with concerns raised by Commissioner Weller about the process by which the proposed charter amendment came to be, including calling an emergency meeting to push the amendment ordinance forward.
Weller urged her fellow commissioners to allow a Charter Review Committee to oversee the process and develop possible amendments, as is called for in the City’s Charter.
Mayor Dean Davis, Vice Mayor Barnas and Commissioner Gestrin voted in favor of moving ahead to get the ordinance on the November ballot. Commissioners Weller and Jamison opposed the move.
Despite the commission’s decision to hold the first of at least two public hearings on the matter on July 19, laws regulating public notices and public hearings may have put a kink in their plans. There appears to be a discrepancy with the earliest possible dates on which the public hearings can be held while still meeting ballot deadlines.
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