Take it to the limit one more time.
The Bradenton Beach Charter Review Committee assembled for the first time April 20 to discuss possible charter amendments for the November general election ballot.
City commissioners established and appointed the committee earlier this month, based on recommendations from city attorney Ricinda Perry.
The committee is working to end its review and produce a report by the first week in May because the Manatee County supervisor of elections requires paperwork by the beginning of June.
The April 20 meeting began with the swearing-in of members by city clerk Terri Sanclemente and the selection of Ed Straight as chair and Anne Leister as vice chair.
Perry then led the group into its review.
“We are working with the most important governing document of the city,” she said.
A charter is a governing document for municipalities, originally adopted by the electorate and amended by voters through a referendum. Every Florida city operates under a charter and one method of amending the document is for a review commission to draft and propose changes to be considered by voters at the polls.
Perry raised a couple of issues for the committee to consider — term limits for elected officeholders and the ward system for representation.
“There were some directives from the commission on what they wanted to look at,” Perry told the committee. “One of the first ones is the wards, making sure there are equal numbers of voters in the wards, where the ward boundaries should fall and whether to keep a ward system in place,” she said.
Straight asked the committee to vote as to whether the wards should remain unchanged.
He said, “Let’s first address whether we want to keep wards. Those in favor of keeping the same wards, say ‘Aye.’”
The group voted 4-1 for the motion.
Little, Leister, Straight and DeBaun voted yes but Hassett said the city did not need wards.
Perry raised the topic of term limits: Should term limits continue or be eliminated?
The charter states that no person may hold the same elected office for more than three consecutive terms, or portions thereof, with each term lasting two years.
“We are, of the three cities on the island, the only one who remains with term limits in place,” Perry said.
Sitting commissioners and the mayor will face limits on their terms and “they would be disqualified from being able to serve you and the rest of the citizenry,” she said.
Bradenton Beach voters in 2021 rejected a proposal from the city to eliminate term limits.
Voters also rejected an attempt to remove the commissioner-mayor term limits from the charter in 2016
Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency member David Bell, speaking during public comment, encouraged the CRC to heed the previous votes.
“The voters decided that there should be term limits,” he said.
Bell said he did not vote in favor of term limits in 2021 but added, “I feel like we have to listen to the voice of the people who voted for this.”
Hassett lamented the lack of other people at the meeting and spoke about the group’s responsibility.
“I think it tells us an awful lot that there is no public presence here today,” he said. “It becomes our job, in my opinion, to determine whether or not what the city is proposing is the best thing for the citizens of Bradenton Beach.”
CRC members did not decide whether to propose a charter change on term limits and will meet next at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, at the Bradenton Beach City Hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.
To review the charter, go online to library.municode.com and search the “code library” for the city.