Five charter amendments passed
By Bari Auerbach

On Nov. 2, a majority of Sunny Isles Beach residents voted to approve the following five charter amendments:

Commission Compensation: The city’s Charter will now be amended to provide City Commissioners with a monthly compensation of $1,000 for their services on the Commission and the Mayor with a monthly compensation of $1,250 for his or her service on the Commission.

Formerly, the Charter provided that the Mayor and City Commissioners shall serve without compensation. Reimbursement for expenses remains unchanged.

Filling a Vacancy in Office of Commissioner: The city’s Charter will now be amended to stipulate that that vacancies for an unexpired Commission term of six months or less be filled by appointment and that other vacancies be filled by special election to be held, not sooner than 45 days or more than 90 days following the occurrence of the vacancy.

Formerly, the city’s Charter stipulated that a vacancy in the office of Commissioner be filled by appointment depending upon the length of the unexpired term and the occurrence of a general election.
During discussions regarding filling vacancies on the Commission, City Attorney Lynn Dannheisser has explained a term is deemed “commenced” from the date of the election - except in the case of a filling of a vacancy…When calculating the number of years served by someone who has filled a vacancy on the Commission, if the remaining time of the unexpired term they took over is less than two years, it will not count as a term; and if the remaining unexpired term is more than two years, it will count as a term (the Commission decided this based on a precedent set by term limit laws pertaining
to the office of the Vice Mayor of the United States).

The proposed charter revision amendment regarding filling vacancies on the Commission originated following the situation that arose when former Mayor David Samson passed on while still in office. At the time, Norman Edelcup, who was serving as Vice Mayor, filled Samson’s seat. Since there was more than six months left in the Mayor’s term, per the city’s charter, Edelcup was required to run for the seat of Mayor.

Ultimately, Edelcup ran unopposed and became the new Mayor of Sunny Isles Beach. Subsequently, Roslyn Brezin was appointed to fill Edelcup’s open seat on the City Commission. Now that the charter amendment has passed, in the future, those appointed to an open Commission seat will have to run in a special election just like the mayor, if the seat they’re filling has an unexpired term of more than six months. The special election would also have to be held not sooner than 45 days or more than 90 days following the occurrence of the vacancy.

Revision of General Election Date for Mayor and Commission: The city’s Charter will now be amended to revise and extend the date of the general election for Mayor and Commissioners to the second Tuesday in November of each odd-numbered year.

Formerly, the city Charter stipulated that the date of the general election for Mayor and Commissioners would be in September of each odd-numbered year.

During discussions regarding the date of general elections, the Commission agreed more residents are in town in November as opposed to September.

"They way [elections are] scheduled now, people running for office are [campaigning] when no one is here in July and August for a September election,” Edelcup said. “It would be better to start [campaigning] in September and October and then have the election in November.”

Term Limits for Members of the Commission: Formerly, the city’s Charter stipulated that a person may serve two elected terms as Mayor and two elected terms as a City Commissioner. Now, the city’s Charter has been amended to stipulate that a member of the City Commission may only serve four terms on the Commission.

City Attorney Lynn Dannheisser explained this charter revision amendment relating to term limits clarifies the definition of a term. It will still be mandated that no person can serve as mayor for more than two elected terms and no person can serve as a commissioner for more than two elected terms.

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