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America's First Settlement Established 1559 MEMORANDUM Mayor and City Council- will-iam D. we. 'c-- ciry Arrorney'%-- August 7, 2OO9 Comments Regarding the Charter Review Commission's Proposed Charter Office of City Attorney T O : FROM: DATE: R E : Mayor Wiggins has requested that. I review t h e proposed Charter and be prepared to assist Council in the scheduled workshop. In doing so, I have found several- provisions that m a y require attention an d discussion by Council- because t.he particular provision appears incomplete, ambiguous, o r not sufficiently clear as to be readily understood or implement.ed. My comments are as follows: MAYOR 1. Section 4.01(a) (7 ) - This provision allows t h e Mayor to discipline or remove a department head "for just cause" without the consent o f Council. Currently, department hreads are contractual employees of the City Manager a n d m a y b e discj-plined o r removed without just cause, since the State of Florida is an " a t wil-l-" employment staLe and department heads are conLractual- employees a nd are exempt from Civil Service protectj-on. fn the event of a dispute b y a department head over whether "just cause" exists, this Charter provisi-on does not specify whether it is t h e Mayor, th e Council or t h e Courts that determine whether "jusL cause" exists or what the definition o f "just cause" i s going to be. PO. Bor 12910 32521 180 Gouernmenta.I Center Pensacolq,, 'lorida (850) 435-1615 FAX (850) 595-1290
