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Panama City charter review board excludes pay from charter, alters agenda rules and election timing
Summary
The advisory board voted to leave mayor and commissioner pay out of the charter, let any single commissioner place noticed items on the agenda, align the mayoral election with presidential years (keeping a four‑year term), and require hired officers to reside in Bay County, not strictly inside city limits.
The Panama City Charter Review Advisory Board voted on multiple changes at its meeting, approving several procedural and structural edits to the draft charter while directing staff to prepare redline and clean copies for the city commission.
The board voted 5–0 to exclude specific compensation amounts for the mayor and commissioners from the charter, opting instead to leave pay-setting to the commission or ordinance. A proposer argued that including a formula in the charter could depoliticize the issue; opponents said compensation is inherently political and should remain open to public debate. The board instructed staff to record the debate in the memorandum to the commission.
On the agenda‑setting process, the board approved an amendment—by a 3–2 vote—to section 32 so that any one commissioner may request that a specific item be placed on the next regular or special meeting agenda, provided statutory notice deadlines (the board discussed a 48‑hour public‑notice standard) are met. Supporters said the change provides an explicit path for commissioners to put items before the body; critics warned it could weaken the city manager’s operational role and risk last‑minute additions.
The board also voted 4–1 to align the mayoral election with presidential election years while retaining a four‑year mayoral term. Supporters said aligning mayoral contests with higher‑turnout presidential years would increase voter participation; opponents preferred shorter, two‑year mayoral terms to allow voters more frequent checks on executive performance.
On residency, the board voted 4–1 to rescind a strict city‑limits residency requirement for certain hired officials — specifically the city manager, city attorney and comptroller — and instead require residency within Bay County. Members said the change will widen the candidate pool for technical positions while preserving local accountability.
Board members and staff also discussed editorial corrections (including an inaccurate note that pensions had merged into the Florida Retirement System), the use of liberal‑construction language in the charter, and whether boundary language should point readers to up‑to‑date map resources rather than reproduce lengthy meets‑and‑bounds text. Staff and counsel agreed to research historical charter text from 1963 and incorporate any necessary clarifying language.
Next steps: staff will prepare a clean and a redline version of the draft charter reflecting the board’s changes and circulate them to members. The board scheduled a follow‑up meeting for June 10 to finalize remaining language; staff reminded members of the referendum packet filing timeline and commission workshops that must occur before the submission deadline.
