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07-05-37 Special 726 COUNCIL CHAMBER -_f J"uly 5, l\l37 The Council met in sj:ecial session at 7:30 P.M. for the purpOOO of discussing, with Delray Beach Citizens, at a mass meeting called fCll:' that purpo 00, the various phases and provisions of the new City Charter. The follow- ing members were present: Mr. Barton, Mr. Gwynn, Mr. Hill and Mr. Wodisch3k. Councilman Genton and the Mayor were absent. Mr. Hill, President of th3 Council, announced the purpOOO of said meeting, stating it was the wish of th3 Council to clarify and e:!tplain m such sections of the Charter as might be confusing or objectionable to th3 citizens and asked those present to express tIe ir views or objections freely on the que stion, which que stion the Council had desired to put to a vote of the pemple at a Referendum Election called for July 6th. The Clerk requested permission to read a letter from th3 City Attorrey giving an opinion in regard to tIe calling of such Referendum Election. It was moved by Mr. Wodischek, seconded by Mr. Gwynn and unanimously carried, that a copy of said letter, as follows, be spread on the minute s. July 5, 1937 Mis s Mae W. Cramp City Clerk, Delra y Beach, Flor ida. Re: Special Election For approval of House Bill No. 1406. Dear Miss Cramp: Replying to your t>ro letters of July 3rd in reference 1P the special election which has been called by tIe City Council for Tuesday, JUly 6th, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified voters of tre City of Delrey Beach for ratification and adoption of the new Delray Beach Charter Act (House Bill No. 1406); I would like to advise you that Section 172 of said House Bill No. 1406 is as follows: "Section 172. This Act shall take effect upon its ratification by a majority of tre qualified electors residing in Delra y Beach, Flor ida, voting at a special election to be called by the City Council 727 COUNCIL CH~mER - J"uly 5, 1937 in the event twenty-five j:er cent. of the qualified voters residing in said Ci ty of Delray Beach shall peti tion the said City Council for such election within thirty mys after the passage of this Act. If twenty- five percent. of said qualified electors do not pet- ition the said Council as afbresaid within thirty dIJ'Ys, then and in that event this Act shall become a law." In my opinion, in order for the City of Delroy Beach 1P hold a valid election in pursuance to the authority set forth in said Section 172, a petition signed by twentyfive per cent. of the qualified electors of th3 Ci ty of Delray mus t be filed wi th the City Council wi thin thirty days a fter the passagE' of said House Bill No. 1406. I have just received trefollowing telegram from Honorable R.A. Gray, Secretary of tre 8ta te of Florida, to-wit: "C. Y. Byrd "Retel Act relating to City Charter of Delroy Beach became a law on May thirtyfirst referendum clause provides for the holding of an election to ratify'said Act wi thin thirty days after the passage of sane on petition of twentyfive percent of qualified voters. R.A. Gray Sec. 0 f sta te" I advised tIe City Council at its regular meeting on June 21st to adopt a proper resolution and to do every- thing necessary to hold a special election on July 6 so that in the event tre necessary petitions were filed with the City Council on or before June 30th, that said election could be held as provided in Section 172 of House Bill.No. 1406. You will recall that the only petition or peti ti ons file d wi th the City Counci 1 on June 21st were those signed by fifty-eight qualified voters. It is my understanding that no further peti tions have been filed with the City Council and that you as City Clerk do hot have the required signed petitions by twenty-five per cent. of the aual ified voters in your offi ce at th is tine. - r. Due to the fact that the proper petitions were not filed on June roth, HQ.use Bill No. 1406 became a law in pursuance to Section 172, without the holding of said special electi8n. 728 COU1rCIL C~mER - July 5, 1937 I would appreciate very much if this letter 'rould be copied into the minutes, as in my opinion a very cri tical condition is about to arise, whereby a special election has been called wi thout the properly required number of qualified voters requesting the calling of said election. Very truly yours, C.Y. Byrd Ci ty Attorney. '!he City Attorrey also addressed the meeting declar- ing, that inasmuch as the Charter becane a law on June 30th without ratification by election, because electors had failed to present, within thirty days of the Act's passage by legislature, sufficient signers petitioning such election, that eny election at this time would amount to nothing more than a straw vote, affecting in no way the validity of the Act. He also stated, that undoubtedly there were some hi tohes and irregularities in tIe Charter which had escaped the Council's notice in reviewing the Bill but none existed of a serious nature. One of the se, which he acknowledged, was in regard to the territorial boundaries 01' the City. In this rega rd, the Charter, as passed, reads: Section 3: "That the territorial boundaries of the old City of DeJray. Palm Beach County, State of Florida, as cons ti tuted on the date of the passage of House Bill No. 432 at the regular session of the Florida legi slature for 1927, the sane being Chapter No. 12677 of the Special Laws of 1927," should read "That the terri torial boundari es of tre old City of Delray, Palm Beach County, state of Florida, as consti tutee. on :!i.he date of tf'e passage of House Bill No. 432 at the Regular Session of the Florida legilsature fCll:' 1927, as amended by HOUOO Bill No. 1222 passed at the Regular Session of th3 Florida legislature for 1931, and as excluded by Final Decree of the Court dated December 15, 1933." This was an error, on his part in drafting the Bill, Mi'. Byrd said, and should be corrected, as it was not the intention 1P include any territory in the newly constituted City of Delray Bpach, that was not 1'ormerly included on the date just prior to the passage of said new Charter Act. roo. Mr. Byrd said that numerous notices had been Dub- lished both before and after the drafting of the Chart~r. announcing the Council's intention of submitting same for passage by the Legislature, and inviting citizens to discuss the proposed revisions and changes vlith the Council at 'Ghat time. As no interest had been evinced by tIe citizens, 729 CCtWCIL CITAMBER - July 5, 1937 the Charter, in its present form, was duly adopted by the Council on May the 10th, and passed the Iegisla iure on May 31st, with a negative referendum. He said he had then recommended that the Act be submitted to a vote of the ci tizens end was authorized by the Council to advertise said election, to be held July 6th, on too ass'.'mption that the necessary petitions v.ould be presented within the required time limit. Since the j::etitions circulated had not been returned to the City Clerk wi th the required number of sign- , atures by June 30th, no legal election could be held, and the Act was now a law, regardless of such ele ct ion. He was ready to ans.er any questions the audience wished 1P ask, he said; and in reply to en enquiry from Councilman Barton as to whe ther the di strict previously known as Ward 1 could be he ld responsible, under the prlbvisions of the new Charter, for the old bonds floa ted in "Yard 2, he advised till t the se two wards bore an entirely separate debt responsibility and could, in no way, be held liable for each other's bonded debt. The Charter was definite and clear on this point, he said. Mr. Page sta~Ged he was desirous of voting on the quest~ ion and enquired of Mr. Byrd if the election tomorrow had been legally ca> led end Mr. Byrd replie d: "The Charter provides that it shall be called within 30 days after the signing of the petitions;" and that he and the Council had presumed that petitions, with the required signatures, would be in the hands of the City Clerk wi thin the required 30 days, and on the strength of this presumption, had issued the call for nn election. This was done so that the election might be duly advertised and held before the lapse of the 30 days allowed. Mr. Howard Cromer, who had ciroulated the petitions, stated these had been placed in three drug stores, and the proprietors asked 1P cooperate in obtscining si::na tures to same, but that it had been impossible to cJbtain the required number of signatures. , Mr. Troup alleged he did not know such petitions were in circulation, and had not been asked to sign one, and because he Imew nothing of the new chexter he had re- solved to vote against it. However, upon obtaining a copy of same and reading it through, he had found nothing object- ionable in it. He believed, he said, if the anticipated election had been held the following day, that not fifty of the legal voters of Delray Beach would have 1Jeen familiar with the contents of same and that the present situation, should be a les;,on to the citizens. He also said about three- fourths of the old charter had been copied into the new one, and that in reference to the issuance of bonds, the prov- isions and requirelJE nts for satre, was repeated almost worl'l 730 COUNCIL CHAMBER - JUly 5, 1937 for word from the old Charter, and that it required that all bond issues, including refunding bonds, be validated by a vote of the people. As there seemed to be a desire on the part of some to allow the electors to express themselves by vote, it was asked what it would cost to hold a straw-vote election and it was estimated it would probably be around 130.00. Mr. A.J. Caraker enquired if it was within the right of the Council to authorize and pay fbr such an election out of City funds, and tre City Attorney said he believed it was wi thin theprovince of the Council to do this, if the citizens so desired. Mr. C~oraker said he felt it was just a waste of funds, since such an election could have no"effect on the validity of the Act. He considered the failure to hold the ele ction, as intended, was due to the indifference of the Public rather than to any fault of the Council and recommended closer cooperat ion between the ci tizens and members of the Council in order that the townspeople may be fully appraised in matters of such vi tal importance and become familiar with the details of sane. Mr. Jelks stated he did not believe the ordinary citizen was sufficiently posted in regard to the new charter to take it upon themselves to petition for an election, and considered it should have been the duty of someone who knew the inner workings of S3.id Charter to see that the requirellEnts for referendum eJB ction were complied with. Edward Page, enquired of the City Attorney if the mistake as to territorial boundaries, appearing in Section 3 of the charter could be remedied now or if it wculd remain until next session of t:re Legislature to be corrected. Mr. Byrd inforned him that ti::e General law gave cities the right to exclude territory by ordinance, and recommended that this irregularity be corrected in this way. He stated however, that the boundaries as defined in Section 6 of the new Cmrter were correct, and as intended. ~ . Upon Attorney Adams being questioned as to the effect an election wculd have on the issue in que stion, he stated such an election, if held,would just be a way of sounding out public opinion as 1P whe the r the votersfavored the new Charter or not, but it would not affect the validity of the Charter, one way or another, except to determine how the voters felt. Mr. TroUJ, who had been appointed Clerk of the Election Board said he would refuse to act, in any election not legally called or authorized by the Counc il. Upon being asked if the voters had any voice in the issuance of bonds, Mr. Adams stated that the new 731- COUNCIL CHAMBER - July 5, 1937 Charter expressly required tha t any and all bonds be submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the City. Mr. Adams f=ther stated, that at the tine the Charter question first came up, upon enquiry, he had been informed that it would contain a Nega ti ve Referendum, and then at a later meeting it was decided by the Council 1P have an Affirmative Referendum on it. On the strength of this decision, he sa id, he had infolllIlled several of his clients to this effect, which 9robably was the rE'ason citizens had not taken it upon themBelve s to circulate and return necessaDY petitions, requesting an election. He said he did not know, until that morning, that the Char ter had been passed with a negative referendum, and that he was innocent when he had advised his clients that the Council intended to call an election on it. Under the circumst':inces, it had become a law, wi thout a vote of the 'people he said, and the people might just as well be content with it for the next two years anyway. One thing which thenew charter did not provide, and which he would have lilred to have Sfcen in sane, was some provision or machinery fbr the adjustment of de- linquent taxes. He was informed that this had not been incorporated in sane because it Vias not in the old charter and if it had been it was feared it would be declared un- constitutional. But he believed it should have been put in, and uood until such time as the City was restrained from operating under such provision. He considered the sudden doubt and distrust of the new charter had largely been caused by the tentative Debt Refunding proposition similtaneously presented by the Bond- holders Committee. ! ' Mr. J .M. Cromer averred the neglect to held an election, ascalled, was due to the people's lack of cooper- ation, s~ating that three out of five refused to sign petitions when presented to them. Mr. E.C. Hall also addressed the meeting saying that the Charter was now an accomulished fact and it would be impossible to call any legal eJection that would have any bearing on sam3. SUch IDuld only expre ss the sent ime nt of the people, and he questioned tre wisdom of wustllng tine and money going any further with it. He considered a letter to the paper would accomplish the same result. He did not believe the Counc il was guilty of negligence. '!he members were not recuired 1P circulate petitions, he said, and thefact that they did put them out at all showed they desired to cooperate. He believed the whole situation could have been avoided had a little closer cooperation existed between t:re Council and the local paper. He believed the News should have carried all, or a good portion of the Charter E' i ther as news me tter or as advertising. 732 COU1mIL CHAMBER - J"uly 5, 1937 Mr. Hill, then addressed the assemblage, and said, that from the expressions of those in the audience. it seemed that the IDa jori ty fel t it would be inadvisable to hold an election on a matter that was already settled, and he, as a member of the Council felt the same way about it. If, however, the Council desired to call an election to ascertain public opinion in regard to this. he asked the members to rmke it known. Mrs. Weir, then arose and said she had attended all the meetings of the Council and knew that the members had put a great deal of thought and effort into the prepara- tion of the new Charter, and asked that a vote of' conti dence be extended the nembers. Councilman Barton said, from the sent iment expressed at the neeting he could see no reason to hold an election, at the expense of the City, and therefore moved that the election be called off. Mr. Wodischek seconded the motion, and on roll call the vote was as follows: Mr. Barton yes, Mr. Gwynn yes, Mr. Hill yes, Mr. Wodischek yes. '!he motion carried. On motion regularly made, sec~nded and carried. the meeting adjourned. ~(j fl-(.A) {lfYvy, f City Clerk . APPROVED: ~~lli M President' of Council Chamber ~ f"," '.