Section 5.01 Charter Amendments and Charter Review.
This Charter may be amended in accordance with the provisions for Charter Amendments as specified in the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act, Chapter 166, Florida Statutes, or its successor. The form, content, and certification of any petition to amend shall be established by ordinance.
In March 2016, and at least every eight (8) years thereafter, the Commission shall appoint a charter review board consisting of five (5) electors of the City holding no other office, appointment, or employment in the government of the City of High Springs except on advisory bodies of the City. Such board shall review the Charter, and within ninety (90) days after such appointment, recommend to the Commission such alterations, revisions, and amendments, if any, to this Charter, as in its judgment are desirable. The City Commission shall review the recommended alterations, revisions, and amendments and shall submit such amendments as it deems appropriate to the electorate at the next general election or special election set by the Commission. The term of a member’s appointment to the Charter review board shall expire ten (10) days after the recommended alterations, revisions, and amendments are submitted to the City Commission. The members appointed to said the board should serve without compensation.
Section 5.02 Oath of Officers.
After election or appointment and before taking office, each Commissioner or Charter Officer of the City shall swear or affirm:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, honor, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida; that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State and under the Charter of the City of High Springs; and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of (the title of office) on which I am now about to enter so help me God.”
Section 5.03 Limitation on Employment of Commissioners.
No Commissioner shall be employed by the City, nor shall a former Commissioner be employed by the City until after the expiration of one year from the time of leaving office. For the purposes of this Section, the restriction on employment shall apply to regular employees of the City, whether full or part-time, as well as contract employees, including independent contractors.
Section 5.04 Budget Adoption.
The Commission shall adopt an annual budget for the City by ordinance before October 1 of each year. An ordinance adopting an annual budget shall constitute appropriations of the amounts specified as expenditures from the funds indicated and shall constitute a levy of the property tax proposed.
Section 5.05 Limitation on Alienation of City-Owned Real Property.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the following parks and public lands may not be sold, leased, traded, or given away by the City unless such sale, lease, trade, or gift is approved by a vote of the electors of the City of High Springs. The properties are as follows:
(1) Howard Memorial Park
(2) James Paul Park
(3) Civic Center Park
(4) Martin Luther King (Day Care Center)
(5) Memorial Park
(b) The foregoing properties may be leased without a referendum only for a public or civic purpose which also serves a recreational, artistic, or cultural purpose, including incidental concessions.
Section 5.06 Citizens’ Petition Initiative – Ordinances.
(a) Initiative. The electors of the City of High Springs shall have the right to initiate City ordinances in order to establish new ordinances and to amend or repeal existing ordinances upon petition by a number of electors qualified to vote equal to ten (10) percent of their total number in the City as a whole in the preceding general election.
(b) The sponsor of an initiative ordinance shall, prior to obtaining any signatures, submit the text of the proposed ordinance to the City Clerk, with the form on which signatures will be affixed, and shall obtain the approval of the City Clerk of such form. The style and requirements of such form shall be specified by ordinance. The beginning date of any petition drive shall commence upon the date of approval by the City Clerk of the form on which signatures will be affixed, and said drive should terminate one hundred eighty (180) days after that date. In the event sufficient signatures are not acquired and submitted to the supervisor of elections during that one hundred eighty (180) day period, the petition initiative shall be rendered null and void, and none of the signatures may be carried over onto another identical or similar petition. The sponsor shall submit signed and dated forms to the supervisor of elections and, upon submission, shall pay all fees as required by general law. The supervisor of elections shall, within forty-five (45) days, verify the signatures thereon.
(c) Within sixty (60) days after the requisite number of names have been verified by the supervisor of elections and reported to the City Commission, the City Commission shall notice and hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance according to law and vote on it. If the City Commission fails to adopt the proposed ordinance, it shall, by resolution, call a referendum on the question of the adoption of the proposed ordinance to be held at the next general election occurring at least forty-five (45) days after the adoption of such resolution. If the question of the adoption of the proposed ordinance is approved by a majority of those registered electors voting on the question, the proposed ordinance shall be declared by resolution of the City Commission to be enacted and shall become effective on the date specified in the ordinance, or, if not so specified, on January 1 of the succeeding year. The City Commission shall not amend or repeal an ordinance adopted by the initiative for a period of three (3) years after the effective date of such ordinance; except that during the second through third years, such an ordinance may be amended or repealed by the City Commission by an affirmative vote of at least four (4) of the five (5) City Commissioners.
(d) The right to initiate City ordinances shall not include ordinances establishing, amending, or repealing the City budget, existing debt obligations, the comprehensive plan of the City, or the zoning or re-zoning of land.