Charter Review Committee requests public input

City of Fernandina Beach

December 3, 2019

To read City of Fernandina Beach Charter click here.

The Charter Review Committee, established on August 16, 2019 by the Fernandina Beach City Commission, is comprised of seven members: Arlene Filkoff (Chairperson), Richard Clark (Vice Chairperson), Bradley Bean, Margaret Davis, Tammi Kosack, Jon Lasserre, and Benjamin Morrison. City Attorney Tammi Bach serves as staff to the Committee.

The Charter Committee seeks input from the community and has taken steps to make it easier for citizens to ask questions and make suggestions to the Committee:

• A website has been created for the Charter Review Committee: http://www.fbfl.us/crc. The website will include information such as meeting dates, reports and recommendations, and an email address where the community can submit questions and/or make comments.
• An email address has been set up for the Charter Review Committee: CRC2020@fbfl.org. Emails sent to this address will be received in the City Attorney’s office and promptly forwarded to all members of the Charter Review Committee.
• Members of the Charter Review Committee will be available to meet with citizen and business groups and discuss the work of the Charter Review Committee. Interested parties should either send an email to the address noted above or contact the City Attorney’s office (904-310-3275).
• All meetings of the Charter Review Committee are public. The community is encouraged to attend and will be able to make comments. The dates and times of all meetings of the Charter Review Committee will be listed http://www.fbfl.us/crc, as well as the City’s regular agenda listing.
• In addition to the Charter Committee’s regular meetings, public meetings will be scheduled in spring of 2020 to review the details of our preliminary recommendations and solicit comments and suggestions from the public. Meeting dates and times will be published on the website.

About the Charter Review Committee -- On August 16, 2019, the Fernandina Beach City Commission established a Charter Review Committee as an advisory board to the City Commission. The Charter, similar to a constitution, establishes the broad organizational framework by which the City will govern itself and explains how the representatives will be elected, duties and responsibilities of the major officers, and fiscal authority. In establishing the Charter Review Committee, the Commission articulated the following goal and charge for the Charter Review Committee:

The goal and charge to the Committee is to review the existing City Charter, analyze how the Charter addresses the needs of the City, and propose appropriate changes to remove obsolete or out of date provisions, practices, or policies contained in the Charter. The review must consist of a full review of the Charter, including wording changes and updating sections to reflect modern local government practices.

The Committee must complete its work and submit a formal recommendation to the City Commission by June 30, 2020. It is the Fernandina Beach City Commission’s responsibility to schedule the necessary public referendum to consider any recommended changes to the City’s Charter.