SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2003

CALL MEETING TO ORDER:

The Special Meeting of the Bowie City Council was held on Wednesday, December 17, 2003, in the Council Chambers. Mayor Robinson called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m.

QUORUM:

In attendance were Mayor Robinson, Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins, Councilmembers Aleshire, Bennett, Booker Jones, and Brady; City Manager Deutsch, Asst. City Manager Fitzwater, City Attorneys Robert Levan and Elissa Levan, Members of the Staff, the Press and the Public.

AGENDA ADDITIONS:

Mayor Robinson announced that Charter Amendment Resolution CAR-4-04 is being added to the agenda under New Business.

NEW BUSINESS:

A. Charter Amendment CAR-1-03 – Amending Section 4, “Qualifications of Councilmembers”
Of the City Charter to Prohibit Persons from Serving As Councilmembers Who Have Been Convicted of a Felony or a Misdemeanor Involving a Crime of Violence -

B. Charter Amendment CAR-2-03 – Amending Section 15, “Qualifications”, of the City Charter to Prohibit a Person From Service as Mayor Who Has Been Convicted of a Felony or a Misdemeanor Involving a Crime of Violence –

C. Charter Amendment CAR-3-03 – Amending Section 6, “Meetings”, of the City Charter to Require Regular Attendance at Council Meetings and to Create a Vacancy on Council for Members Failing to Attend Three (3) Consecutive Meetings –

D. Charter Amendment CAR-4-03 – Adding Section 32A, “Recall” of the City Charter to Authorize Recall of Elected Officials Under Certain Circumstances –

City Attorney Robert Levan said the four Charter Amendment Resolutions deal with the section of City Charter concerning elections and holding office; the Charter Amendment procedure involves action on the part of the Council which is different from procedures to adopt ordinances and is governed by state law; Charter Amendment Resolutions are permitted to be introduced and passed without any time between introduction and the enactment date. He reported that they are required to be advertised for four weeks at weekly intervals once they have been adopted and posted in a prominent place for 40 days; the CARs will become effective 50 days after its passage unless registered voters, who may object to their passage, file a petition to move the CARS to referendum within 40 days of its passage; if the petition is successful with regard to achieving the 25% requirements of persons petitioning these matters to referendum, the effective date is suspended until the election is held and the election determines whether the CARS will ultimately stand or not.

Mr. Levan added that CARs 1, 2 and 3 would add qualifications to the City Charter relating to the holding of office in the City; while the Charter provides that the Council shall be judge of the qualifications of its members, the number of articulated qualifications in the Charter is distinctly limited to age, residency, and being a registered voter; it is obviously more important and helpful for there to be certain specific requirements so that in acting upon qualifications there is some criteria to use. He then reviewed each Charter Amendment that was before Council and the reasons for the amendments.

In response to a question posed by Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins, City Attorney Elissa Levan said that tax evasion is a crime involving fraud which makes it a crime of moral turpitude; the question of whether it is a felony or misdemeanor will depend on how the Legislature designates it and how much money is involved.

Councilwoman Booker Jones said she felt the reference to a crime of violence is rather ambiguous and would like some clarification as to what constitutes a misdemeanor involving violence. City Attorney Levan said the crime would be either assault or battery. In response to Councilwoman Booker Jones’ inquiry about solicitation or sexual harassment, Mr. Levan said Council may want to include these issues as well as minor tax evasion; Council has some inherent authority to determine the qualifications of its members and Council has to make a judgment sometimes of whether or not being essentially determined to be guilty of that kind of conduct under the Civil Rights Act, arises to the level which would disqualify a person from sitting on the Council; it is not up to the attorney to determine the answer, it is up to the Council.

Councilwoman Bennett asked if a case is settled by means of a plea, could the case be appealed. Mr. Levan replied a plea normally means that there has been an agreement about what the ultimate result will be and is non-appealable.

Councilman Brady asked is it normal to have a window where recall is not permissible, for example, in the last 9 months of a term. Mr. Levan said the language was adapted from the recommendations of the Charter Review Committee; any time requirement can be used; the Board of Elections would administer a recall election in the same manner as a regular election.

Since there were no persons signed up to speak, Mayor Robinson declared the public hearing to have been held.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to amend Charter Amendment 1-03 to revise the wording in Sec. 4, Qualifications of Councilmembers, to read “and shall not have been convicted or entered a plea leading to a conviction of either a felony or misdemeanor involving a crime of violence, assault and battery, fraud or moral turpitude.” Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins then moved to adopt CAR-1-03, “Qualifications of Councilmembers”, with the amendment. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to amend Charter Amendment 2-03, “Qualifications of Mayor”, with the same wording, which was added to CAR-1-03. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to adopt CAR-2-03 as amended. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to adopt Charter Amendment 3-03 as drafted. Councilwoman Bennett seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Councilman Brady moved to amend Charter Amendment Resolution 4-03 to read: “…the recall of any councilmember or mayor with six (6) or more months remaining in his or her term.” Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

Councilwoman Booker Jones moved to amend CAR-4-03 to change the requirement of 25% of registered voters to 15%. Since there was no second, the motion died.

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved the adoption of CAR-4-03 with Mr. Brady’s amendment. Councilman Aleshire seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present.

ADJOURNMENT:

Mayor Pro Tem Jenkins moved to adjourn the meeting into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing legal matters with counsel. Councilman Brady seconded the motion and it carried unanimously by those members of the Council present. The meeting adjourned at 8:54 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pamela A. Fleming, CMC
City Clerk