Who wants to work on Chartering this county?

[wrobert]

Okay, let us get serious here. I have always had an interest in exploring charter government for Walton County. Much to the dismay of all of my elected political friends. I guess being into something for the greater good and not to expand my own influence is a bit strange around here. So I am asking for people who are REALLY interested in looking into something like this. It would be a lot of work, but it would truly be a step in returning power to the people.

 

[Andy A]

I said previously that I was interested in seeing non partisan races for local elected positions in Walton County. If this is part of charter government, I am definitelty interested and have the time to help. PM me to tell me how and what I can do.

 

[wrobert]

Establishing a charter commission would be the first step. In order to keep the process clean, I would say gather the 15% petitions and then get the legislative delegation to appoint members. That would make it pretty fair. You would need about 4500 verified petitions. That would cost around $500 to get verified. I know the work I went through to get 353. It is hard, but certainly not insurmountable.


125.61 Charter commission.--
(1) Following the adoption of a resolution by the board of county commissioners or upon the submission of a petition to the county commission signed by at least 15 percent of the qualified electors of the county requesting that a charter commission be established, a charter commission shall be appointed pursuant to subsection (2) within 30 days of the adoption of said resolution or of the filing of said petition. (2) The charter commission shall be composed of an odd number of not less than 11 or more than 15 members. The members of the commission shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners of said county or, if so directed in the initiative petition, by the legislative delegation. No member of the Legislature or board of county commissioners shall be a member of the charter commission. Vacancies shall be filled within 30 days in the same manner as the original appointments.

 

[Andy A]

Is the present county form of government changed be becoming a charter government? If so, how?

 

[Johnny Post]

Establishing a charter does not necessarily change the form of government.

The biggest claimed advantage of charter counties is home rule authority. Now, truthfully, all counties have home rule to some degree, but proponents of charter government feel that power is increased with a charter.

In essence a county is free to create its officers, terms of office, powers, etc. If these are set or limited by statute, then you must abide by that. If you have a charter, you are not necessarily bound.

I would look hard at the St. Johns and Nassau situation before trying to charter. St. Johns met heavy opposition from Nassau, and I believe it became a fairly nasty situation.

 

[wrobert]

Establishing a charter does not necessarily change the form of government.

The biggest claimed advantage of charter counties is home rule authority. Now, truthfully, all counties have home rule to some degree, but proponents of charter government feel that power is increased with a charter.

In essence a county is free to create its officers, terms of office, powers, etc. If these are set or limited by statute, then you must abide by that. If you have a charter, you are not necessarily bound.

I would look hard at the St. Johns and Nassau situation before trying to charter. St. Johns met heavy opposition from Nassau, and I believe it became a fairly nasty situation.

Oh it ain't going to be fun. And I doubt successful. But doing the work shows that there is an interest, a great interest. And it causes all sorts of discussion to occur. And there is so much you can address. Remember Sarasota County was the first to have verifiable paper ballots in this State due to a charter amendment being passed.

 

[ShallowsFuzz]

Okay, let us get serious here. I have always had an interest in exploring charter government for Walton County. Much to the dismay of all of my elected political friends. I guess being into something for the greater good and not to expand my own influence is a bit strange around here. So I am asking for people who are REALLY interested in looking into something like this. It would be a lot of work, but it would truly be a step in returning power to the people.

wrobert I wouldn?t mind helping out if I can. I sometime ago after you first posted on this subject, emailed our Commissioners about just that, to see what kind of feed back I would get. I received information from all of them except for one.
It?s educating the public on the advantages and disadvantages of it.
Let me know, I?ll get Shallowsnole right on it. But seriously, I?ll help her.

 

[Jdarg]

I'm in. But we need someone who knows a lot about this to to put it together and you are kind of busy now Robert!

My dream- excellent school board, excellent schools, all BCC and TDC peeps effective, and non-partisan county elections. Sigh.....

 

[wrobert]

I'm in. But we need someone who knows a lot about this to to put it together and you are kind of busy now Robert!

My dream- excellent school board, excellent schools, all BCC and TDC peeps effective, and non-partisan county elections. Sigh.....

True, very busy right now. But if we could find a petition to start the charter commission, now is the time. Lots of people will already be out working on elections, finding qualified electors would be pretty easy now at various events. So a major dent in the needed petitions would be possible. By the time that is done, they are certified, and the members of the commission set, myself and many other community activists will be past the election and ready for another project.

But so far only seems that a half a dozen or so are interested. It is going to take a group the size of the blue sign resistance to get this thing going.

 

[ckhagen]

I can help, Robert.
What we really need is for someone to put together a very basic bullet point sheet of info for quick and easy explanations as to what exactly it will mean, or we might have a harder time getting those sigs than necessary.