MANATEE COUNTY – City officials representing the three city governments on Anna Maria Island oppose County Commissioner George Kruse’s desire for Manatee County to become a charter county.
Government officials in Longboat Key, Bradenton and Palmetto share that opposition.
All six municipalities in Manatee County are structured and governed according to their city charters, which can only be changed with the majority support of their registered voters.
Cortez and Parrish are among the unincorporated areas in Manatee County that don’t have city governments and are therefore governed by the county commission.
As a non-charter county, Manatee County is structured and governed according to state law and the Florida Constitution, and its governmental structure can only be altered by state legislators.
City officials expressed their opposition to a charter county during the Tuesday, Feb. 2 Council of Governments meeting. The quarterly meeting occurred at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto and was chaired this month by Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy.
The meeting began with Murphy discussing an agenda topic about issues in the city of Anna Maria. Those issues included the state Legislature’s annual efforts to preempt vacation rental regulations to the state while reducing home rule rights from Florida cities and counties.
The remarks Murphy made regarding larger governments’ assaults on smaller governments’ home rule rights to regulate vacation rentals foreshadowed the charter county discussion that followed.
Charter discussion
When introducing his requested agenda item, Kruse said his intent was not to do a deep dive on the subject.
“It’s something I’m looking into and I believe in. Every few years this comes up and I feel it comes up for a good reason. The last time was 2017, and that kind of just died away,” he said.
Kruse noted 20 of Florida’s 67 counties are currently charter counties. According to the Florida Association of Counties website, 75% of Floridians live in charter counties.
Kruse said Manatee County is the second-largest non-charter county in the state and he noted Sarasota County has been a charter county since 1971.
They have things like term limits and limits to financing for campaigns. They have recall provisions. These are things the people of Sarasota County elected over time to impose on their government. We can’t do any of that because the state of Florida prohibits it,” he said.
Not noted by Kruse was the fact that a charter county is also required to adopt an administrative code.
According to Florida Statute 125.87, “Following the organization of the first board of county commissioners elected pursuant to a charter, the board of commissioners shall adopt an administrative code organizing the administration of the county government and setting forth the duties and responsibilities and powers of all county officials and agencies pursuant to the provisions of the charter.”
“My goal,” Kruse said, “is to give the voice to the people. It’s not to take voices away or the power away from the municipalities. I know that’s a concern.”
Kruse said he’s only aware of one county in Florida that takes away a city’s home rule rights.
“It’s just not what’s done. It’s something that people who don’t want charters tell municipalities could happen,” he said.
Attorney Wade Vose is a partner in the law firm that serves as the city attorney for Anna Maria and his fields of expertise include county charters. Vose did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but he watched the charter discussion online.
When contacted by The Sun, Vose disputed Kruse’s claim that only one county charter in Florida takes away the rights of a city. Vose said Alachua, Broward, Charlotte, Columbia, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Sarasota, Seminole and Volusia counties are all examples of counties that have adopted county laws that supersede local municipalities’ laws. Vose also noted that he’s represented many of those counties.
“They all have instances where they have declared in their charter that county ordinances preempt municipality ordinances on specific topics, such as land-use regulations and beach regulations,” Vose said.
“Ideally, what I want to look into is a starter charter,” Kruse said during the meeting.
He said a starter charter would initially produce a county government identical to the non-chartered county government that exists today, while also giving the people of Manatee County the framework to make future amendments to it.
Kruse said 40 percent of Manatee County’s voters live in chartered cities. He also said a starter charter could be structured to require at least 60% support from all of the county’s registered voters to later adopt proposed amendments to the starter charter.
Vose disputes that claim. Vose said state law only requires a simple majority – 50% plus one vote – to amend a county charter.
“The Florida Constitution requires that a county charter can only be amended by a majority of the county electorate,” Vose said.
He referenced a First District Court of Appeal case out of Clay County where the court struck down a charter amendment that added a 60% vote requirement for charter amendments because it violated the Florida Constitution.
According to Vose, Polk County is the only Florida county whose charter includes a 60% threshold to adopt a charter amendment. Vose believes Polk County’s 60% threshold violates the Florida Constitution, but he said it’s never been challenged in court.
Kruse encouraged city officials to reach out to him to further discuss their charter concerns.
“I’d rather succeed as a group rather than ram something through myself,” he said.
During the group discussion that ensued, Kruse said there are two ways to place a proposed county charter on the ballot. One method is a citizen-initiated petition drive that requires the signatures of 15% of Manatee County’s registered voters. The second is for the county commission to form an exploratory committee and host public hearings before placing a proposed county charter on a future ballot.
Referencing the Florida Constitution again, Vose said the county commission method would only require the support of four of the seven county commissioners.
City opposition
During the meeting, Palmetto City Commissioner Brian Williams disputed Kruse’s contention that a charter county would not reduce the individual cities’ home rule rights. He suggested an opt-out clause for the cities if the county wishes to pursue a charter for its unincorporated areas only.
County commissioner and former Holmes Beach Mayor Carol Whitmore said, “I’m willing to listen, but I’ve been through it twice. It may not affect the cities now, but it could. Being a former mayor, I can understand where they’re coming from.”
In response to Kruse’s earlier statement, Bradenton City Administrator Carl Callahan noted 60% of the county’s voters do not live in chartered cities.
“We’re not going to get anywhere close to a majority,” he said, of that voting bloc.
As the District 3 County Commissioner, Kevin Van Ostenbridge represents Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach, the Manatee County portion of Longboat Key and portions of Bradenton. He also represents the unincorporated areas in Cortez and west Bradenton.
“I would agree with what Mr. Callahan just said. The county is expanding due to urban sprawl. Unincorporated county is what’s growing,” Van Ostenbridge said.
Regarding a county charter, Van Ostenbridge said, “I do worry that this erodes the autonomy of the cities. I would certainly have a fight on my hands if I supported this, so I don’t see myself supporting charter government. You would have people out in Lakewood Ranch ultimately deciding what is best for the residents on Anna Maria Island, and I don’t think that should be the case. Instead of people in Tallahassee deciding, the people in Lakewood Ranch are deciding. You’re trading one master for another,” he added.
Holmes Beach Vice Mayor Jim Kihm said, “I’m unclear as to what the need for a starter charter would be at this particular time. It sounds to me like it’s a solution looking for a problem. If it’s not broken, why do we need to change it?”
Kihm agreed with Williams’ suggested opt-out for the cities.
“I agree with what the other cities are saying. I think you need to remember that municipalities are the grassroots of government,” Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie said.
Chappie expressed concerns that future amendments made to a starter charter would eventually chip away at the cities’ home rule rights and their ability to govern at the local level. He noted this already happened when the state Legislature limited local government’s ability to regulate vacation rentals.
“It’s about governing from the bottom up, not from the top down. We get enough of that from Tallahassee and now we have to be on guard because of the county government. We’ve been screwed over before and I don’t want it to happen again. We don’t have to Zoom to talk with our constituents. We just yell over the fence or they catch us at the grocery store,” Chappie said.
Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said, “I’ve been through this before and my opinion on it is a big no. In a time when we need to be working together, this should be kicked to the curb summarily and be done with. This appears to me to be a power grab. Let’s summarily finish this conversation and move on to important issues.”
Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown said, “Whether it’s innocent or not, it’s going to seem like a power grab to us. There’s a lot of opportunity for it to be a power grab down the road. It sounds like there’s an opportunity here to stop this now. Take us (the cities) off the table and the county can have their own discussion.”
District 1 County Commissioner James Satcher’s district includes Parrish and other unincorporated areas.
In defense of Kruse, he said, “If there’s any power he wants to grab, he wants to take it from Tallahassee, not from you all sitting around the table. He wants to see the power that’s there come back to this county. I think that’s a reasonable case that he’s making. The real question is what would the people of Manatee County think? I like the idea of term limits.”
Satcher also said, “Parrish used to be just tomato fields and now there’s a whole lot of people there. There’s a lot of change here and it might be smart to get in front of it. I’m not throwing in one way or another, but I throw in for my fellow commissioner.”
Joining the discussion by phone, East Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Lee Whitehurst said, “Our question would be, does anybody know how this may affect the independent fire districts?”
When no one responded Murphy said, “I don’t see any answers in the room, sir.”
“The fire districts may be concerned if home rule affects that in one way or another,” Whitehurst said.
Post-meeting actions
After the meeting ended, Kruse was asked if he intended to continue his pursuit of a county charter.
“I want to still keep talking about it. I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Kruse said he would reach out to the mayors and the fire districts and would also research the possibility of creating an opt-out clause for the cities.
“I’m not trying to upset the municipalities,” he said.
Kruse was asked if he envisions the county commission pursuing a county charter without the support of the cities.
“I don’t know,” he said, noting he still needed to process the opinions expressed during the meeting.
Unlike some of his mayoral peers, Murphy does not think the charter county discussion is now a dead issue, and he wants to ensure that the city of Anna Maria is prepared to oppose it if needed.
On Wednesday, Murphy sent an email to the Anna Maria commissioners regarding a yet-to-be scheduled virtual meeting that will allow Vose to share his county charter expertise with them and others.
