The future of four Bradenton Beach ballot questions will remain hanging in the balance for a while longer.
A Dec. 6 hearing with Judge Edward Nicholas of the 12th Judicial Circuit failed to result in a judgment before the allocated 90-minute hearing concluded. The hearing was on the ballot questions petitioned by the Keep Our Residential Neighborhoods political action committee to make changes to the Bradenton Beach charter.
KORN’s charter proposals include:
- Prohibit the construction of a multilevel parking garage anywhere in the city.
- Require city commission vacancies be filled by election.
- Prevent construction within setbacks.
- Install a certified public manager as chief executive officer of the city.
The ballot initiatives failed to make it past the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office for the ballot in the Nov. 5 general election because the question language didn’t comply with state law.
In his Feb. 6 final order, 12th Circuit Judge Lon Arend of made it the city’s responsibility to conform the language to state law in his final judgment, but Perry refused to change the language, saying KORN attorney Robert Hendrickson advised against changing the proposed wording.
Hendrickson filed a motion to enforce Arend’s final judgment Aug. 27, claiming the city willfully failed to comply with the judge’s order, which resulted in the hearing with Judge Nicholas.
At the hearing, Blalock Walters attorney Chuck Johnson — representing Bradenton Beach — said Arend’s ruling stipulates that any party can challenge its legality.
In this case, Johnson said KORN’s petitioned ballot question that would prevent construction within setbacks is illegal under the Florida Constitution and would prevent state and federal grants to the city for stormwater drainage improvements.
Johnson added that the city also substantively addressed many of the concerns laid out in the KORN initiatives. He said the city amended its land development code to prevent parking garages, as well as formed a charter review commission in 2018 that addressed KORN’s city manager and anti-appointment ballot questions.
He argued that the city should not be required to put the initiatives on a future ballot because the items now have been addressed and approved by the electorate.
Additionally, city attorney Ricinda Perry — who testified as a witness and serves as the city’s co-counsel — argued that she sought changes to the wording from KORN cofounders John Metz and Reed Mapes on multiple occasions, to no avail.
She said, in the several commission meetings held to discuss the questions since Arend’s ruling, KORN representatives never opposed the language established in the city’s resolutions.
Hendrickson said Perry had never attempted to open a direct line of communication with him to ask for his review of the resolution language.
Hendrickson called city clerk Terri Sanclemente and Perry to testify at the hearing, while the city called for engineer Lynn Burnett to testify.
However, only Sanclemente and Perry testified before the hearing ended.
Perry has said if the hearing results in the city redrafting the language of the initiatives to meet the election office requirements, the city could hold a special election on the amendments or wait for the November 2020 election.