Time for a Charter?

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it would look like if Citrus County were to become a Charter County. Let's have that discussion.

First, for those that do not know, Counties and Cities have the ability to create a Charter that guides their county. This is basically a mini constitution. The Charters outline how the city/county government operates.

20 of the 67 Florida counties are Charter counties.

• Alachua
• Brevard
• Broward
• Charlotte
• Clay
• Columbia
• Duval
• Hillsborough
• Lee
• Leon
• Miami-Dade
• Orange
• Osceola
• Palm Beach
• Pinellas
• Polk
• Sarasota
• Seminole
• Volusia
• Wakulla

As you can see, there are a variety of counties and populations that went this route. All municipalities in Florida operate under a Charter, including Crystal River and Inverness. So this is not a foreign concept for Citrus County.

So why doesn't Citrus County operate under a Charter? No clue. It has been talked about before but never really beyond the exploratory stage.

I have been talking to several people lately about the pros and cons of becoming a Charter County and it appears the pros far outweight the cons... so I am looking for feedback from you on why it would be a good or bad idea.

First, lets talk about some pros. No particular order.

• The ability to recall elected officials. I have heard a few people here and there ask about doing a recall for elected officials, largely commissioners after they do a vote the person does not like. Currently, the only way to get rid of a commissioner is vote them out at an election or have the Governor yank them. That will likely never happen.
  
  So people want a way to hold these people accountable and Florida allows for a recall election for Charter Counties. The Charter would dictate how many people would need to sign a petition to start the process and then voters decide to keep them or bounce them.
  
  I am intrigued. If a commissioner is really bad, this gives some recourse for that. Right now, they can just shrug their shoulders knowing they are save for at least their term. If there were more "fear" maybe they do a better job.
  
  It would take a big push to make it happen.. lots of signatures to start the process (Charter determines the number). But in theory, possible.
  
  However, the con side of this is someone not being happy about one particular vote and somehow convinces 1000s of people to sign a petition. We could be seeing recalls every month... in theory.
  
  However, again, that would be a big lift to get the signatures to make it happen, but better chance than we have now of it being abused.
• The ability to set salaries. The Charter would dictate salaries for commissioners and maybe the other elected officials. Right now, they are based on a state formula based on population. More people = more salary. Is there an incentive to slow growth when commissioners get paid more for that growth? Good question. More on this in a second.
• The ability to elect commissioners by district and add more commissioners. The Charter would dictate how commissioners are elected. Some counties do as we do, county wide election. Other counties do it by district. For example, a voter in district 1 would only vote for the commission candidates running for district 1. This would provide more district representation as that commissioner is literally working for that district. People in your district don't like you... goodbye. No looking for another district to bail you out.
  
  The Charter would also be dictate how many commissioners we have. Currently it is 5... one for each district. My thinking is we could add two more. Go to the district voting and then add two at large seats where the entire county votes for them. Now you have a 7 member board... 5 members represent a district and 2 members represent the entire county.
  
  Going back to our salary idea... the Charter could limit salaries for commissioners to $50,000, down from the $80,000 or so now. This would open up the funds to add the 2 other commissioners as well as their benefits. Costs would be about the same we have now.
  
  Rather than people doing this for the money, they would be doing it to help the county. Literal civil servants. City Council members make $500 or so a month, so still a good chunk of change. This also reduces them to the average income of the county citizens they would be representing.
• Citizens can bring changes to ordinances via referendum. This allows citizens to change ordinances they desire to change or bring new ones they desire to add. This is done via referendum and follows a process the Charter would set out.
• Perhaps the biggest change a Charter could do... limit campaign contributions. I believe Sarasota County has a $200 limit on contributions. I believe the Charter would also allow counties to ban an owner of multiple companies from paying from all their different LLCs. If a company is tied to an individual that already donated the limit, that company could not donate further.
  
  Imagine how that would change local elections. It would require candidates to reach far more people than they do now and we likely do not see $100k campaigns any longer, funded by large donations.
• Term limits. The Charter could set term limits for elected officials.
  

The Charter could do other things too, this just gives an idea. The idea here is that counties would maintain home rule and not be under State control on many things.

Color me intrigued.

Again, I am looking for more negatives. I know that the state leaders largely do not like Charters because they lose control. Which makes it more intriguing. But if you have some negatives, let's hear them.

The problem with all this is that its not an easy process. There are two options.

1) BOCC votes to create the Charter Commission and get started on the public hearings. I do not see 3 people on this board that would support this idea.

2) Citizens gather enough signatures to force the BOCC to create the commission. That requires 15% of the registered voters or 18,000 people here in this county.

That is a HUGE lift but certainly possible.

Once the commission is started, they meet regularly over the course of a year with public workshops and the like to create the framework of the Charter... which is then voted on by the BOCC and then goes to a ballot for a county vote for approval. This commission contains around 11 members and is chosen by the BOCC.

Perhaps it is time to explore this. I would be down for starting on the petition process. Let's talk about it!