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Charter review committee adopts meeting schedule and asks staff for governance 'menu' and presentations
Summary
The Panama City Charter Review Committee approved a calendar of meetings and asked staff to produce examples of municipal governance structures, provide financial and election information, and arrange a presentation by the Florida League of Cities.
The Panama City Charter Review Committee approved a multi-month work plan on Tuesday, adopting a default meeting schedule and directing staff to prepare comparative research and specialist briefings to guide early substantive discussions.
The committee set a baseline schedule of regular meetings on the fourth Thursday of each month, with these early exceptions: a meeting Oct. 2 in lieu of Sept. 25 and a March 5 meeting in lieu of the fourth-Thursday date. The committee also designated Jan. 8 as an intentionally open meeting that can be used to catch up or be canceled if not needed.
Why it matters: Committee members intend to use the calendar to structure a phased review of the city charter: early meetings will focus on foundational topics such as the commission and elections, followed by sessions on the city manager, clerk and attorney, city officers and departments, finances and public utilities. Members emphasized they want staff to produce concise background material ahead of each meeting to make discussions more productive.
Staff directions and research requests: The committee asked staff to provide by Sept. 19 a "menu" of governance options — short examples of how other Florida municipalities allocate powers between mayors, commissions and managers. Caroline, the committee’s consultant, and city staff will compile charter language examples and recent cases where cities changed governance models. The committee also requested:
- A 15–20 minute remote presentation from the Florida League of Cities about common municipal government forms and where those models have been used; the committee suggested scheduling that at an upcoming meeting. - Background on election timing and runoff mechanics, including the fiscal implications of moving local elections to the November general election; staff noted spring standalone elections recently have cost the city roughly $20,000 to $40,000 in some cycles. - A basic municipal-finance briefing and annotated financial statements to explain revenue sources and budgeting terms prior to the committee’s finance-focused meetings.
Committee members discussed trade-offs such as how much to place in the charter versus leave to ordinance; several members said high-level guardrails belong in the charter while detailed operational matters can remain in ordinances. Nevin, the city attorney, described staff’s drafting process: "We'll act as staff just like you do with the city commission ... we'll go back, we'll work as appropriate with Jan, with Jonathan, any other department head we need to get input on, and then we'll present it back to you ahead of the meeting," he said.
Formal action: The committee moved, seconded and approved the proposed meeting schedule and the staff tasks; the vote was recorded as unanimous.
Ending: Committee members agreed to use the pre-meeting materials and the League presentation to begin drafting charter language after the October series of meetings, with staff producing drafts for committee review and revision.
