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HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-04-01RESOLUTION NO. R-04-01 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SEBASTIAN, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA, URGING MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING MUNICIPAL ISSUES DURING THE 2004 LEGISLATIVE SESSION; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, legislation passed (HB 113A) during the 2003 Special Session "A" that is the implementation of Article V, a 1998 constitutional amendment, that requires the state to fund the county court system; and WHEREAS, HB 113A prohibits state attorneys from appearing in county courts for the purpose of prosecuting municipal ordinances; and WHEREAS, the bill also prohibits a municipality from contracting with a state attomey for the prosecution of municipal ordinances, and public defenders will not be allowed to represent indigents charged with ordinance violations; and WHEREAS, HB 113A requires a filing fee of $200 for each code or ordinance violation; and WHEREAS, several cities enforce code enforcement through a citation process, which are filed through the county court system; and WHEREAS, many of the fines for these citations are less than half of the proposed $200 filing fee, which would make the citation process ineffective for code enforcement activities; and WHEREAS, the intent of the Municipal Revenue Sharing hold harmless provision in HB 113A was intended to not reduce any revenues currently shared with municipalities; and WHEREAS, clean drinking water is a precious resource that must be adequately planned for to meet the needs of future growth in Florida; and WHEREAS, cities are implementing several innovative methods to assure an adequate supply of drinking water is available for its citizens; and WHEREAS, efforts were made during the 2003 legislative session to mandate that cities establish water conservation rate structures, impose drought rates, require submetering in apartment buildings or condos, mandate statewide irrigation standards, implement "informative billing", and meter reclaimed water; and WHEREAS, municipalities would be negatively impacted by legislation mandating conservation measures on a "one size fits all" approach and many of the conservation measures being considered had no demonstrable conservation benefit but will be very expensive to implement; and WHEREAS, the geographic emphasis and restrictive nature of Florida's current annexation policy has negatively impacted Florida's municipalities by inhibiting their economic vitality, creating inefficient service delivery and subsidizing urban sprawl; and WHEREAS, the current law has actually made it more difficult for municipalities to provide municipal services in the urbanizing areas in comparison to counties and special districts; and WHEREAS, Florida's tremendous population growth and inflexible annexation policies causes disruption in historical service delivery responsibilities and results in a continuous conflict and inefficiencies in the financing and delivery of many local public services. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY OF SEBASTIAN, AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. That the City of Sebastian urges Governor Jeb Bush and members of the Florida Legislature to support legislation that: Preserves the authority of individual local governments to determine and implement the specific water conservation measures required under a water use permit, and which preserves a iocal government's control over reclaimed water that is created by the local government Section 2. That the City of Sebastian urges Governor Jeb Bush and members of the Florida Legislature to support legislation that: Allows municipalities to contract for the services of public defenders and state attorneys to enforce local ordinances; and Eliminates the fee schedules for the enforcement of municipal code or ordinance violations. Provides a modification of the distribution formula for revenues transferred from the Half-Cent Sales Tax Program to the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund for Municipalities. Section 3. That the City of Sebastian urges Governor Jeb Bush and members of the Flodda Legislature to support legislation that: Strengthens the ability of municipalities to eliminate all enclaves regardless of size or use, and provides reasonable procedures to expeditiously annex areas that are contiguous to their boundaries. Section 4. That a copy of this resolution shall be provided to Governor Jeb Bush, Senate President Jim King, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and members of the Florida Legislature. Section 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption. The foregoing Resolution was moved for adoption by Councilmember McCollum . The motion was seconded by Councilmember B a r c z y k and, upon being put into a vote, the vote was as follows: Mayor Walter Barnes ay e Vice-Mayor Ray Coniglio a y e Councilmember Joe Barczyk a y e Councilmember Jim Hill a ¥ e Councilmember Nate McCollum a y e The Mayor thereupon declared this Resolution duly passed and adopted this 14th day of January, 2004. CITY OF SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA ATTEST: Sally A.~i°, CMC City Cle~k Mayor Walter Barnes Approved as to form and Legality for the City of Sebastian Rich Stringer (~ City Attorney