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Minutes 10-15-99CITY COMMISSION STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION WORKSHOP HELD IN THE LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1999 AT 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: M~ayor Gerald Broening Vi~e Mayor Henderson Tillman M~yor Pro Tem William Sherman C~mmissioner Nellie Denahan C6mmissioner Ron Weiland FACILITATOR: D~. Lance deHaven-Smith, Ph.D. P! Bi mi all all TI' Dr th~ A esentation by Dr. deHaven-Smith: "Boynton Beach in Context" · deHaven-Smith said he would be making a presentation and said he had read the nutes from prior Commission meetings since April. He made a database and entered the voting patterns of the Commissioners. He especially thanked Joyce Costello for her assistance. (The first three minutes of the tape were inaudible). e Politics of Historic Coastal Cities . deHaven-Smith said he would be discussing redevelopment problems and noted ;re are political activists in the City that can destroy the decision-making process. )roposed agenda was handed out. Dr~i deHaven-Smth pointed out that Florida had 2 million people in 1930 and just r,e.~ently crossed the 15 million mark. The growth has been diverse. He discussed the di~terent types of people that make up the population growth, which has been tremendous, as well as diverse. This growth has an impact upon the communities and the County. Drl deHaven-Smith said that it would get worse before it gets better and the Cd~mmission will be faced with some challenges· A lot of problems are driven by the retirement influx. He explained that a baby boomer is a person born between 1946 and 19~64 and asked how many of the Commissioners were baby boomers; some were. Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 (From the tape, it appears that Dr. deHaven-Smith was pointing to a chart and was making reference to specific figures that are unknown to the typist.) Baby bloomers will stad to retire in 2010. There is a baby boomer turning 50 every 7 seconds. He continued to refer to the demographics on the chad and to discuss how this area Would be growing as a retirement area. Dr. deHaven-Smith pointed to the map to demonstrate where retirees locate. Retirees dp not locate in downtown Miami. Retirees locate approximately one or two counties obt of Miami. Why is that? Retirees need to be near hospitals and doctors and that is V~hy they tend to settle around the major urban centers. He continued to discuss various areas on the map and the impact that retirees have upon these locations. He said that FlOrida has a lot of medium size cities and does not have any major big cities like other stiates. A varied sprawling urbanization exists because of the retirement population. The Special Challenges in Boynton Beach Tt~e main problems in the County are urban redevelopment challenges and coastal pr3blems, but first Boynton Beach needs to figure out where they are in the stage of development. Once the retirees come, then the younger people come to provide the d¢ctors, teachers, and other necessary services, which results in urbanization. The re':irement population declines after urbanization, because they die off or move up to the n6xt county. What comes behind this, are ethnic minorities, which includes Hispanics, H~itians, and new kinds of immigrants. Broward County and south of Pinellis are considered the major retirement communities in the State. Pslm Beach County is the biggest county east of the Mississippi River in landmass. He thi3ks we have just seen the beginning of retirement in this area. Dr. deHaven-Smith sad that a large slave population lived in THE central pad of Florida and in the Panhandle and said that he remembers segregation as a child. Racial issues are an issue in Florida and it is a "Black/VVhite issue". The Black/White situation is what crEates the problems in the older pads of the community. He pointed out on the map th(~.demographics of the Black population in the State, which runs along the eastern p,o~tion from the railroad tracks of the State from Miami to Jacksonville. Rep. Alcee Has. tings has an Afro-American Congressional District. This is the result of racial zOning in the South Federal Highway was usually considered the center of town. Dr. we. "st~ CO~ FIo phE Col deHaven-Smith next spoke about the school population and how the Black children · e bused to the white schools in order to achieve racial balance. This was called ~r bursting". This has left run-down, high-crime areas that run all the way up the st. There are some very strong, healthy Black communities in this coastal area of 'ida, but there are a lot of Black areas that are tragic. There is also the same ,nomenon on the West Coast. The redevelopment problem emerged from this. The nmission must decide how much they want to go through with redevelopment and Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session B6ynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 do you want to consider softening the redevelopment. The tax situation was then discussed. He noted there are certain populations in Florida not paying any taxes and th!s affects the entire community. A third of the voters are retirees. Therefore, statewide, retirees constitute the popular majority of the votes. A discussion took place on the homestead exemption and how the State is heavily based on the sales tax and how all this affects funding of the expected services that are caused by growth. The next topic discussed was public opinion and the electorate. Most people only care about one issue, no matter what their race, color or nationality is. The challenge for the COmmission is how to deal with the electorate. It was agreed upon that 14% is a good turnout in a City election, which is calculated upon the registered voters. Only 55% of the people, who are able to vote, register to vote. Dr. deHaven-Smith explained to the COmmission what constitutes "public opinion". i Dr. deHaven-Smith noted that he tracked the decisions that the Commission has made over the past six months and said the Commission did well, but there have been mlStakes made. He noted that the Commission has been under a great deal of pressure. The population make up of Florida has more northeasterners than native FlOridians. Therefore, the Commission has to deal with this population as well as the minority population. (~e entire second side of tape I from Friday evening was inaudible and the re~ording secretary was unable to transcribe this side of the tape.) Af wi wi' Dr :er studying the voting patterns, Dr. deHaven-Smith determined who was voting with ~om on the Commission. (It appears that he was illustrating the voting patterns a chart to the Commissioners.) The chart indicated that Mayor Broening votes :h the Vice Mayor Tillman and Mayor Pre Tem Sherman. . deHaven-Smith asked the Commissioners some questions and wanted them to 3rm him what the problems are. One question he asked, is what has been getting wQrse and what has been getting better. What stands out is that relations with the City Manager hawng been getting worse. He continued to discuss the division among the Commission. C6mmissioner Weiland asked Dr. deHaven-Smith to clarify the statement of giving the a ~ivist more involvement Dr deHaven-Smith said the exact opposite and that the avlerage citizen should get more involved and the activist should be given less involvement. It is not necessary that these two be balanced. Re ,les and Procedures 3 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 The next issue discussed was meeting procedures and the role of the Mayor. He advised to always run very tight meetings in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order. There should be no discussion unless it is on the floor. He stressed that the COmmission should learn Robert's Rules of Order and to stick with it. Dr. deHaven-Smith reviewed the agenda for Saturday and the issues he wished to d' ISCUSS: Morning v' Discuss trends, conditions, problems v' Assess City Politics, broadly defined: Vision 20/20 implementation, upcoming issues; and v' Develop a process for making a decision on the park. Afternoon v' Preferred City Manager Characteristics v' City Manager Search and Selection Process COmmissioner Weiland said he would like the City Manager Search to be discussed in the morning in order to allow time to focus on this issue. Mayor Broening also agreed with reversing the morning session with the afternoon session. ViCe Mayor Tillman did not agree. He felt that the agenda should remain as is and that many people on the Commission are not that familiar with the process. First you need to understand the process, otherwise we will be back to where we started. Vice Mayor Til man would like to review the role of Commissioners and then discuss the City Msnager search. He would like to discuss the process of governing and separating rol~s. Vice Mayor Tillman said the Commission needs to learn how to deal with activist inl?rference in the City in order to be effective in serving the public. COmmissioner Weiland agreed with Vice Mayor Tillman and did not want to be shbrtchanged on the time. The order of the agenda for Saturday was further discussed. COmmissioner Weiland feels that some people on the Commission are out of order as far!i as how they feel about their job description. Dr. deHaven-Smith stated that the cdrnmission is micro-managing itself. He pointed out the inconsistencies that take place during the meetings. Commissioner Weiland said that at a recent meeting Vice Mayor Tillman stated we ne, C.d to adhere to the charter and to go through the Manager. However, Commissioner wetiland said Mr. Hawkins told him that the charter reads that the Commission goes 4 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session BOynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 through the City Manager and not to different department heads, but he was comfortable if a Commissioner chose to go to a department head. However, Mr. Hiawkins expects that the department manager that was consulted should re ort back to i P him. Commissioner Weiland said he has gone to different department heads in the past. COmmissioner Denahan pointed out that everyone deserves to be respected. Dr.. dbHaven-Smith requested to deal with Commission Weiland's issue first. He stated that thie City Manager does not have the right to tell you what he told you and he made a mistake. The charter states that the Commissioners must go through the City Manager. DiScussion took place about the workshop of the previous evening regarding the budget issue., Vice Mayor Tillman pointed out that the activists who were stirring things up did not show up. C~)mmissioner Weiland said he feels compelled to help any citizen that calls him and that a citizen deserves to be represented and he asked if he had to contact the City M~nager every time someone called him. Dr. deHaven-Smith said yes. Mayor Br. oening suggested before going to the City Manager that the person calling with a reguest should be referred to the department themselves. Mayor Broening feels the C~mmission should be dealing with the larger problems and feels it is a waste of time wt~en the Commissioners have to deal with the smaller issues. Mayor Broening pcinted out that the City also has the Citizen Action Center to which a constituent can b6 referred. Dr. deHaven-Smith said that this could result in a misuse of elected office and the Commission must go through the City Manager. C( ap NE id( Cc ea de W~ re~ ,mmissioner Denahan pointed out that there is a respect issue and a citizen that peared before the Commission criticized the Commission for not attending the ,ighborhood Summit Meeting. She felt this was unfair because the citizen had no ,a how much time Commissioners are committed to various meetings and functions. mmissioner Denahan said it is important that the Commissioners are respectful of ~.h other and understand that each Commissioner has his or her own life. Dr. Haven-Smith said it is important that the Commissioners stick together. He said the y Commissioners treat each other is important and it reflects on how the citizens ~ct when they appear before the Commission. U~ chi Co De Co iss COl yor Broening said he perceives Commissioner Denahan as being an advocate for Idren and educational issues and that she knows more than anyone on the mmission about these subjects. Mayor Broening suggested that Commissioner nahan should be the Commissioner for education. Mayor Broening pointed out that mmissioner Sherman is a businessman and he knows small business and health Jes related to the elderly since his business was nursing homes. He could be the ~duit for business. Vice Mayor Tillman is the senior Commissioner and could be the 5 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 leader for intergovernmental affairs. Commissioner Weiland is a businessman and could be the point man for Chamber of Commerce issues and small business, as well aS parks and recreation. He felt this would be a good way for the Commissioners to obtain information. Dr. deHaven-Smith asked if the Commission would like to address the issue of communicating with the City Manager. Vice Mayor Tillman said there needs to be a concrete procedure for interaction between the City Manager and the Commission. He feels right now everything is abstract. He said that in his dealings with the different City Managers their personalities have played into the game and this is not right. As a result of this, sometimes all the information that should be disseminated does not. Dr. deHaven-Smith suggested that a checklist be prepared to determine that all the infOrmation is disseminated to everyone in order to avoid confusion. When debriefing takes place, certain issues do not get covered because of the personality interaction. Dr. deHaven-Smith said that this needs to be spelled out. COmmissioner Denahan said it is spelled out and that the "City Manager works at the le!sure of the Commission". Commissioner Weiland said that the individual meeting dates need to be changed. Commissioner Denahan said that the Commissioners need tolhold the City Manager accountable. Various procedural changes were discussed in dealing with the City Manager. Dr. deHaven-Smith said the ordinance is not as clear as it Could be between the division of the City Manager and the Commission. COmmissioner Denahan said she did not have that much of a problem that everyone was not receiving the same information, but rather responsiveness has been a concern to iher. She said the Mayor has gone on record on three different occasions for taking credit for stopping engineering plans for the park and she feels the City Manager should no~ allow this to happen. The Mayor does not have any authority to stop any action that was approved by the Commission. The Mayor said that it wasn't Commission approval, bu~ CRA approval. Mayor Broening said he was advised that this was O.K., but in retrospect, he would not doi this again and would seek consensus from the CRA members. Commissioner Wbiland said there never was discussion to stop the engineering. Mayor Broening admitted that he made an error and understands the point being made. Colmmissioner Denahan said that during the City Manager search resumes came in and weire narrowed down. She was told that the Mayor was out of town and that she could noti receive them until he comes back. She sought the advice of the City Attorney; the Cit~ Manager told her that she would expect the same treatment if she were out of town. She did not agree with this and the City Manager told her to take it to Art Lee. This put he! in a very awkward position. The City Manager has a vested interest in the process 6 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 and is a candidate himself. The Commissioners stated there was an urgency and it needed to be handled expeditiously. However, the resumes were held for ten days because the Mayor was out of town. She said there are numerous other appearances Where there is a strong Mayor who is telling the City Manager what to do and the rest of us follow the decision of the Mayor. When the Mayor canceled meetings, Commissioner Denahan sought the advice of the Ciity Attorney and he told her that meetings are cancelled the same way they were called It was inappropriate for the Mayor to cancel meetings. The City Attorney also said it was inappropriate for the resumes to be held for ten days until the Mayor returned. Commissioner Denahan said there is an appearance of impropriety, to which the, City Attorney agreed. There is distrust and this is causing stress on the trust factor. Miayor Broening said when he took the job, he thought this is how it works and was briefed this way. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman said he is most familiar with the strong-Mayor form of City government and is unfamiliar with the strong form of City Manager government. He said he has not been taught how this type of government is supposed to work. He was of!the opinion that if he had been properly taught, it would be easier for him to work with the experienced Commissioners who were familiar with the process. Dr. deHaven-Smith said that when the Mayor takes a strong leadership role it causes tension with the other Commissioners and staff as well. Mayor Broening said when he went to IEMO and after two and one-half days of training, he learned what his role was. There was an entire session on roles and it occurred to M~yor Broening at that time that his view of the Mayor's role is grandiose. Mayor Broening was of the impression from the previous Mayor that the Mayor was "the to@" and that the Mayor and the City Manager had a relationship. Vice Mayor Tillman poiinted out this was the problem. The former Mayor acted like a strong Mayor, but he wals not. Vice Mayor Tillman said that incoming Commissioners need to be briefed ahead of time to learn how this type of government works. You cannot assume that inCOming officers know how the government works and what their role is. Vice Mayor Tiltman said that the meeting taking place tonight should have be held first before the COmmissioners took office. MaYor Pro Tem Sherman was of the opinion that the Commission is now going in the right direction. Dr. deHaven-Smith said that the City Manager situation really brought all !his out to the forefront. 7 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, '! 999 Commissioner Weiland said people thought that his request for an audit was to make staff look bad, but this was not the case. Commissioner Denahan pointed out that at last night's meeting the Commission voted and it was a policy decision and therefore it cannot be criticized again. Vice Mayor Tillman did not want to go back there at this point and the meeting needs to move forward. Vice Mayor Tillman said his greatest concern is to keep Boynton Beach operating and when he sees a meeting floundering he feels it is his function to move the meeting on. Whenever people see the COmmission becoming bogged down, the first thing they say is "ineffective". COmmissioner Denahan commended how well run and attended last night's meeting was and commended staff for a job well done. The meeting last night needed to take place so'that there could be full faith and trust in the City staff and administration. She felt it wasn't a witch-hunt, but an opportunity to shine. She noted that it was finally determined how the money for AFE actually got spent without coming back for COmmission approval. D~. deHaven-Smith suggested that this issue be dealt with on Saturday after the City Manager selection is covered. Commissioner Weiland said that when the budget was presented to the Commission it was supposed to be done in a 30-minute meeting that turned into three hours. This is totally unacceptable, because we have questions and Commissioner Weiland said it felt like the budget was being shoved down our throats and the Commission should just rubberstamp the budget. Dri deHaven-Smith said a great amount of progress has been made and suggested that th~ workshop conclude until Saturday morning. He reviewed some of the salient issues that had been covered. Mayor Pro Tern Sherman said there are a lot of rules and regulations in place and the Cc mmission has no background on how they got there and it is assumed that this Commission has to accept them. When can this Commission say "this is the way we w~ nt to do it"? Co Vic tha Dr. shl mmissioner Denahan said that the Commission is the policy maker and it is the remission that allows the City Manager to choose how things get done. e Mayor Tillman was of the opinion that'this Commission can institute policy changes future Commissioners won't have to go through. deHaven-Smith suggested that after this planning session, the Commissioners ,uld consider meeting with the staff to spend a day and review a specific set of items. 8 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 Commissioner Weiland feels that the Commission is looked at as they are only going to be in office for two years because of term limits and can wait us out, to which Dr. deHaven-Smith agreed that this does exist. Mice Mayor Tillman said the Commission at this point could make some positive changes. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman said that the Commission shouldn't be torn apart by the regulars who appear on the stand at every Commission meeting who are now rUnning the show. Dr. deHaven-Smith said this also needs to be dealt with. aVlCe Mayor Tillman asked Commissioner Denahan what her intent was by reading the honymous letter. He felt that was totally wrong. Commissioner Denahan said she always supports the lower socio-economics and putting more money into aftercare programs and HeadStart Programs ~funded through the County. She said she asked th~ City Manager to look into this as soon as possible and make sure it is cleared up at thee budget meeting. The City Manager promised her that Mr. Sugerman would read it into the record and that Mr. Sugerman would be fully briefed on it. To the contrary, the Ci C( W~ M~ C( di,, sa M~ Cc CO Manager did not brief Mr. Sugerman and he did not see the financial statements. )mmissioner Denahan said she also does not approve of anonymous letters, but she Inted to give the HeadStart Program an opportunity to clear the air. ~yor Broening said !his had nothing to do with the budget and these were ,mmis. sioner Denahan s concerns, but should not have been made public. A heated ;cuss~on took place on how this issue should have been handled. Dr. deHaven-Smith id that the Commissioners should strive to iron out the issues. He noted that the City ~nager is not being responsive to Commissioner Denahan, but to other mmissioners he is o.k. He concurred that reading the letter was upsetting and it aid have been handled behind the scenes. C(~mmissioner Weiland feels that there is a strong Manager, strong Mayor form of g(~ernment which does not filter down to th,e_ other Commissioners. Mayor Pro Tem Sherman agreed with Commissioner Weiland s assessment of how City management is being run. 9 Meeting Minutes Strategic Planning Session Boynton Beach, Florida Friday, October 15, 1999 (The Recording Secretary assumed this was the conclusion of the Friday evening session because the tape just ended with the prior discussion.) Th, trie -TEST: lerk rbara M. Madden, Recording Secretary 'anscribed from two tapes) CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH Vice Mayor. .. May_'~' Pr~ qem , Com.mis)sioner quality of the tapes was extremely poor and at times inaudible. The Recording Secretary to transcribe as much information as possible. 10