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4. PRESENTATION ON CHARTER GOVERNMENT IN FLORIDA 4.A. KURT SPITZER, KURT SPITZER & ASSOCIATES, INC. FIRST DRAFT OF THE HOME RULE CHARTER — FOR USE AS A DISCUSSION GUIDE Chairman Wheeler introduced Mr. Kurt Spitzer and announced he would open the meeting for input from the public after the presentation. Kurt Spitzer, Kurt Spitzer & Associates, Inc. presented a Charter Government Overview using a slide presentation (copy on file). He spoke of Dillon's Rule which is what local governments operated under prior to 1968; it was replaced by Home Rule. Out of the 67 Counties in Florida, 19 have adopted Charters. He felt it was important to remember that a Charter is adopted, amended or repealed by the voters in a County. He discussed example policy areas for Commissioners, and Constitutional Officers, and defined the differences between non -charter government and charter government ordinances. In terms of Home Rule, both non charter counties and cities have broad powers of local self government, and he stated in a Charter County the citizens are authorized to set standards of power on a permanent basis. The options for sending proposals to voters is by a Special Act, creating a Charter Study Commission which takes 18 months, or by Ordinance of the Board. He provided the first draft of the Home Rule Charter for use as a discussion guide (copy on file), and reviewed each Article in detail. In Article I he defined the nature of a dual vote, which was discussed in length at the previous workshop. Under Article II, he spoke about the options of the number of commissioners elected, residency, partisan elections, compensation, and redistricting. Chairman Wheeler noted one change in the draft that would move the organizational meeting from the first meeting in January to the first meeting after the elections in November. March 12, 2007 2 Public Workshop — Charter Government