City Looks For Applicants to Review Charter

Nine citizens are needed to meet eight times over the course of the next year to make possible changes to the rules that guide the city.

City leaders are expected to vote on forming a Charter Review Committee at its meeting Tuesday.

If approved, the seven-member committee with two alternates would be established at the end of March. The group would meet monthly until January 2014.

Their meetings are tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. the last Tuesday each month. If there are changes they would be added to the election ballot to be voted on by Largo residents in November 2014.

Applicants should be registered voters. Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. March 28.

Commissioners would like the small group to be open and diverse including business owners, college students and graduates of the city’s citizen academy.

“The honus then would be on us to pick the right people who would be conscientious enough to go through the charters and really understand what they are doing,” said commissioner Curtis Holmes.

Changes as part of the last charter review maintain that the city must select a group to review the document every seven years. A 15 member group reviewed the charter for the first time in 30 years during the city’s centennial in 2005.

This time the group would be about half that size.

“I like the idea of a smaller board,” commissioner Harriet Crozier said, adding the commissioners will be able to make the final decision on the members. “It got to where people wanted to make a comment but didn’t have that opportunity.”

She also wanted to make sure the time commitment, eight months of meetings, is emphasized to applicants.

Timeline:

• March - establish charter review committee
• January 2014 - possible recommendations for charter changes
• August 2014 - possible ordinance must be complete for ballot
• November 2014 - possible charter changes voted on by Largo residents

To apply: http://www.largo.com/egov/apps/action/center.egov?view=form;page=1;id=260

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