By REID TUCKER
First talked of years ago, a voter referendum to abolish the voting rights of the mayor moved closer to appearing on the ballots after a unanimous decision from the DeFuniak Springs City Council.
The Council members were all in favor of the proposed referendum on the night of the board’s Feb. 9 meeting, though an additional feature was added to the language of the referendum before it was approved for first reading. The referendum, which, if passed would amend the city charter to remove the mayor’s right to cast a tie-breaking vote in the event of a Council deadlock, was designed with enabling the mayor to communicate with board members about city business outside of meetings without violating Florida’s Sunshine Law. This, including a further provision to eliminate the mayor’s power to veto a decision made by the Council is all part of the original intent of the amendment championed by former mayor Harold Carpenter.
A public hearing regarding the proposed referendum will be held Feb. 23 prior to the vote to put it before voters at the next city election in mid-April.
The Council’s varied agenda featured items ranging from discussion about the city manager’s vacation days to a bigger-than-expected bill from the city’s CPA to a landscaping easement for the recently relocated Bogey’s Restaurant to a heartwarming presentation of a certificate of appreciation for resident and volunteer Ellen Mayfield.
To get things started, the board returned a 4-1 vote to allow City Manager Sara Bowers to have back four vacation days after she spent part of her Christmas holidays working on a difficult Fiscal Year 2013 audit with former finance director Thomas Carman. Councilman Mac Carpenter cast the lone nay vote, expressing the belief that the city may have avoided its troubles come audit-time – and indeed having to fire Carman – if Bowers had helped him sooner.
Next, the Council decided to take no action at the meeting regarding a bill from CPA firm Tipton, Marler, Garner & Chastain for $44,214 to cover the extra services needed to adjust the numerous accounts contained in the aforementioned FY2013 audit. The Council members decided to hold off on paying the full amount for several reasons.
First, the city had already spent $66,200 on the audit when the budget contained $65,000 for it; second, the auditors had already agreed to a set amount to complete the audit; third, part of the reason for the extra expenses comes down to the CPAs having to bring a new project manager up to speed in the middle of the audit process. Instead, the Council decided to try to check on negotiating a lesser payment amount with auditors. Bowers said the city will go out for bids on auditing services following the completion of the FY2014 audit.
The Council did however cast a vote to grant Michelle Harding, owner of Bogey’s Bar & Restaurant, a right-of-way landscaping easement. She got permission to remove some of the existing trees near the property located at 660 Baldwin Ave. and to replace them, with the city’s only expense being assistance in the removal. Harding said she would take responsibility for contacting utilities providers prior to removing the trees and replacing them with new shrubs.
Finally, Longtime city resident and perennial community volunteer Ellen Mayfield was presented with a certificate of appreciation by Mayor Bob Campbell for her many years of service to DeFuniak Springs. Mayfield and her husband, retired dentist Dr. Lynn Mayfield, are both fixtures of the local scene, helping with seemingly every project in need of volunteers. The Mayfields are especially devoted to helping coordinate the city’s annual Christmas Reflections event, which attracts visitors from around the world to DeFuniak Springs for the holidays.
