2002 0620 Regular City Commission Meeting

Home Browse Search

Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting June 20, 2002 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Ascertain Whether Persons Required to Register as a Lobbyist Have Complied; Providing for Validity of Action; Providing for a Repeal of Conflicting Provisions; Providing for Severability and an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: The proposed ordinance was verbally amended during the meeting] City Clerk Brown-Morilla read the title and Commissioner Ede1cup reported. Public Speakers: Susan Fried Two amendments were read into the record by Commissioner Ede1cup to include the following: 1) Page 2 of the Ordinance, Section 1, the last paragraph that is in bold, and add to it "At such time as the Miami-Dade County Commission exempts lawyers in a quasi iudicial proceeding from the definition of lobbyist, this ordinance shall automatically without further action of this Commission, be amended to exclude the same." 2) In Section 2, third sentence from the bottom where we are asking for".. . compensation or consideration to be paid by each principal to the lobbyist." Add the following language.. .except as otherwise prohibited by law." Vice Mayor Iglesias objected to page 2 of the ordinance and page 4 regarding campaign contributions from lobbyist. Commissioner Kauffman noted that City Commissioners annually file a financial disclosure report. She expressed the opinion that the County should act on their lobbyist proposal first and litigate if challenged. She didn't believe it is appropriate to ask for the disclosure of the compensation by the lobbyist. City Clerk Brown-Morilla distributed copies of the City's Lobbyist Log and directed the City Commission's attention to the column showing the date of registration and also to the column titled fees paid, where they would note the large number of individuals who have refused to comply with the registration law currently in effect. He also noted that of all the many individuals listed on the registration log, almost all ofthem were individuals that had spoken publicly at a City Commission meeting and so he had handed them a registration form during the meeting and made note of their obligation to register. He reminded the City Commission that the existing ordinance requires City staff to be diligent to determine if a person has complied with the legal requirement of registering and paying the lobbyist registration fee. [City Clerk's Note: see section 2-11. 1 (9)(s)] There was discussion about why the City Clerk did not prevent Lobbyists from speaking if their fees are unpaid, and he explained the concerns. Commissioner Edelcup deferred the proposal until after Miami-Dade County 5