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CHARTER ISSUES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
May 23, 2002
5:30 p.m.
DRAFT
MINUTES

Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center
Training Rooms, First Floor
123 W. Indiana Ave.
DeLand, FL

Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by Committee Chair Jon Kaney at 5:31 p.m. Those present were Jon Kaney, Senta Goudy, Dr. James Huger, Doug Daniels, Charles Matousek, Linda White, Dona DeMarsh, from the County Manager’s Office, Dan Eckert, County Attorney. Members Jack Ascherl, Maryam Ghyabi, and Allen Watts, were absent. Members of the public included Jim Cameron and Summer Clayton.

Guest Speaker

Chairman Kaney introduced the speaker for the meeting: Dr. Lance deHaven-Smith is a Professor in, and former Director of the Reubin Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. The author of fifteen books and a former President of the Florida Political Science Association, Dr. deHaven-Smith has served as executive director of blue ribbon commissions in Florida and nationally.

Dr. deHaven-Smith began by stating that the Volusia County charter is the most highly regarded charter in the State of Florida. He provided a very informative power point presentation (attached). He began with an overview of the forms of government. He indicated that a problem of representation is the friction between politics and administration. Dr. deHaven-Smith continued his presentation with the patterns of County Governance indicating that the majority of county governments are the county administrative form.

The problem of representation and demographic trends were the next topics in Dr. deHaven-Smith’s discussion. After concluding on those issues, Dr. deHaven-Smith provided his thoughts on the interim report of the committee. He stated that he felt that the proposed changes were good. He made several suggestions. The first included making moderate changes now in an effort to avoid radical changes later. He pointed to the interference clause of the charter, which he feels is one of its greatest strengths. The next concern addressed dealt with the issue of the elected chair. Dr. deHaven-Smith indicated that the Elected Chair position can be very dangerous if not handled properly. He felt that it was important not to raise the expectations of the role too high. The elected chair will not be a strong mayor, but could attempt to act like one and begin interfering with staff.

There was a great deal of discussion on the configuration of the proposed districts. Dr. deHaven-Smith feels that one at-large and six single-member districts allows for more diversity than having multiple at-large and fewer single-member districts. However, he supported the current proposal of having three at-large and 4 single-member districts. He indicated that having the three at-large members afforded the Chair the opportunity to build a coalition.

After the presentation was concluded, the meeting was adjourned. The Chair asked that the next meeting notice indicate that final decisions would be made during that meeting.

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