Council changes meeting schedule
With Monday night’s approval, City Council will change the number of voting meetings it schedules beginning in January.
City Manager John Szerlag proposed holding regular voting meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month for 2017 with the fourth Monday reserved for special workshop meetings. In the case of one of those Mondays is an observed holiday, the meeting would be rescheduled to the Monday before or after the holiday.
Szerlag said the change is offered as a way to streamline city operations and give staff more time to prepare for items they bring before council.
Councilmember Richard Leon proposed two changes to Szerlag’s recommendation.
“I’m not a fan of the change,” said Leon. “I’ll give it a shot for a year and see how it goes. I would like to see the (workshop) meeting held in these chambers. One other change is the June meetings. Have the meetings on the 5th and 12th and the (workshop) the 19th. That falls in line with the previous (summer) hiatus and this summer camp I attend on the 19th.”
Council members did not object to the suggested changes.
“Agenda management would be crucial to keep things moving along,” said Councilmember Rana Erbrick. “I don’t have an issue with twice-a-month meetings. Leaving that second Monday open every month for the availability if something comes up that’s hot or is expected to be a long item like we’ve done in the past.”
Meeting schedules were last changed in 2012 when council went to the current weekly schedule.
Szerlag compared the two formats and informed council that there were 26 meetings in 2012 attending to 300 agenda items. In 2016 there were 41 meetings considering 400 items. That would add about four items to each twice-monthly meeting.
He also compared public input. With two meetings a month in 2012, 160 citizens spoke during public comment for an average of six speakers. This year there were 267 speakers for an average of six speakers.
Szerlag said citizens will not judge council by the number of meetings, but rather what it accomplishes for the city.
Council approved the new schedule with Leon’s suggested changes. The January meetings are set for Jan. 9 and 23 with the workshop meeting Jan. 30.
Incentive fund
for small businesses
Council also approved a request from the Economic Development Office to establish a new incentive fund to support small businesses locating in Cape Coral. The city’s current incentive program is geared more toward helping larger businesses looking to bring higher employment numbers to the city.
Economic Development Director Dana Brunett said there are 9,233 existing businesses in the Cape with an average of eight employees per business and 59 percent are home based.
“We want to have something in place that would support the smaller businesses,” said Brunett.
He proposed to fund the program with $200,000 to be taken from his office’s overall incentive fund reserves for the first year. The fund then would be an annual city budget item.
Applicants would go before an internal incentive fund committee for review and recommendation. Incentives of up to $25,000 can be approved by the committee. Incentives of $50,000 will continue to go through council.
All incentives will contain a “claw-back” provision for companies that do not stay a minimum of five years. The award will be pro-rated to reflect the business performance prior to leaving.
New Charter
Review Commission
As required by City Charter, council will go ahead and appoint a new Charter Review Commission even though the commission made changes through the 2015 general election cycle.
Council does not expect the new commission to make recommendations for the 2017 election, but they will have the freedom to meet and review the charter at a leisurely pace ahead of the 2019 election.
The commission will consist of seven regular members and two alternates.
Council’s next meeting is on Monday in Council Chambers at City Hall, located on Cultural Park Boulevard.