Council Rejects Proposition Two, Sends Remainder to November Ballot

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July 13, 2012

Last night (July 12, 2012) the Palm Beach Gardens City Council voted 4: 1 on Ordinance 20, 2012 which will place on the November ballot a Proposition to amend the City’s Charter. The opposing vote was by Council member Joe Russo.

The Council kindly moved the discussion earlier in the agenda to accomodate the 11 people who had come to speak out on the Ordinance. After considerable debate, the Council unanimously agreed to remove Proposition Two – which would have changed city elections to ‘plurality’ wins from the current ‘majority’ wins, however they were unwilling to delay putting the remaining charter modifications to a later election. The removal of Proposition Two is significant and was a direct result of your efforts.

The wording for Proposition One remains unchanged. The text of Proposition One as well as the proposed charter (Exhibit A) can be found in the Agenda Item.

While what remains of Ordinance 20 is still troubling for the lack of public input to the substantive changes it contains, it at least can be discussed objectively in the context of the governance process. We will use our various websites, voters guides, and other resources to explain what it does and inform our readers of the choice they have to make.

Bill DiPaulo’s article in the Palm Beach Post summarizes the meeting and lists the substantive changes that are in the Ordinance.

Thanks to all who took the time to email the Council, and to express their positions on the proposals: Mark Marciano, Kevin Easton, Tracie White, Larry Casey, Lauren Miller, Mel Grossman, Terry Brady, Sally Schmiedl, Francisco Rodriguez, Fred Scheibl and Iris Scheibl. Sorry if I missed anyone.

It made a difference and demonstrated to our elected officials that we are watching them.