Groveland council debates Charter and ordinance changes on manager hearings, term transitions and agenda access

Council Member Michael Jaycox presented a packet of proposed Charter amendments and ordinance revisions at the Groveland City Council workshop on May 21, 2026, asking the Council to consider moving some protections from the Charter into employment contracts and to expand individual Council members’ ability to place items on the agenda.

Jaycox said the Charter provision that allows a City Manager to demand a pre-termination public hearing has led to costly separations and should be addressed in contracts rather than the Charter. “Hearing rights should be addressed through employment contracts rather than the Charter,” Jaycox said, adding the change would not eliminate contractual or statutory rights for future managers.

Mayor Keith Keogh and others pushed back on removing the hearing provision, saying it provides transparency and due process. Keogh said retaining a public hearing helps preserve public trust: “It provides transparency and due process by allowing the public to hear all relevant information before a decision is made.” Council Member Amy Jo Carroll and Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines also emphasized the optics of altering voter-approved rules so soon after a Charter review.

Vice Mayor Gaines asked the Council to hear from Charter Review Committee member Jennifer Eastridge. Eastridge told the Council the committee had recommended the one‑year transitional term when the voters approved four‑year terms, saying the committee judged that approach most efficient for aligning future election cycles.

Jaycox also proposed an amendment to avoid a one‑year bridge election by extending Districts 2 and 4 to three years during the transition and an ordinance amendment to let individual Council Members submit agenda items directly to the City Clerk (subject to deadlines and manager review). Council consensus directed Interim City Attorney Benjamin Schafer to draft ordinance language reflecting Council comments for future consideration.

On a separate but related proposal, Jaycox asked that Council members be given clearer access to the Chief Financial Officer for oversight and inquiries. Members discussed safeguards to prevent a single member from monopolizing the CFO’s time and agreed staff should draft specific provisions limiting requests to informational inquiries and preserving the City Manager’s administrative authority.

Interim City Attorney Schafer advised that any Charter amendment changing term lengths would ultimately require voter approval and warned that Council Members directly affected by such changes may need to recuse themselves from votes. Carroll also urged seeking guidance from the Florida Commission on Ethics to assess recusals and “special personal gain” implications.

Next steps: the Council directed the city attorney to prepare draft ordinance language and seek necessary legal/ethics guidance before any action is placed on a future agenda.