The 2024-25 Cape Coral City Council. PROVIDED<\/p>\n
Cape Coral City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss proposed amendments to the city\u2019s charter.<\/p>\n
Among the proposed changes submitted by the city\u2019s Charter Review Commission are an increase in compensation for council members and a method on how compensation could be changed in the future; additional proofs of residency and requirements for those seeking office; and how seats could be forfeited and how vacancies could be filled.<\/p>\n
The discussion will include the following proposals : 4.02 \u2013 mayor and city council; 4.05 \u2013 candidate qualifications and election; 4.06 \u2013 mayor, mayor pro tem; 4.08 \u2013 council and mayor compensation and expenses; and 4.11 \u2013 vacancies, forfeiture of office, filling of vacancies.<\/p>\n
For 4.02, the proposed language states that \u201ca candidate for council member shall have been continuous full-time resident of the district in which they are seeking office for the entire calendar year immediately preceding their qualification for office. Residency shall be defined as the candidate\u2019s place of domicile, or permanent legal address.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed language for 4.05 has excluded \u201ca sworn statement of qualifications and has added \u201csubmission of the required proof of residency.\u201d That proof of residency includes a \u201csworn affidavit at the time of qualifying that provides their place of domicile or permanent legal address and affirms that they have meet the residency requirements.\u201d In addition, candidates shall have at least two forms of identity \u2013 voter\u2019s registration, driver license or Florida identification card, property tax receipt, homestead exemption, utility bill, or lease agreement.<\/p>\n
As for as the proposed addition for 4.06, the mayor pro tem shall be elected at the first regular council meeting following each City General Election.<\/p>\n
For 4.06, the proposed rate of compensation is $70,000 per year for council members, a jump from $32,600 currently and $80,000 for the mayor, a jump from $36,600 a year. For future increase outside of a charter amendment, \u201cthe mayor and council members shall not increase the salary, any retirement benefit, any stipend, or any other type of compensation paid to its members unless such increase is approved by ordinance, subject to public hearing and public comment, after a super majority of at least six affirmative votes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For 4.11, one of the proposed changes includes a council member failing to attend three consecutive noticed City Council meetings, instead of three consecutive meetings.<\/p>\n
When a vacancy occurs, according to the proposed language, \u201ccausing an unexpired term of more than two years in duration the vacancy shall be filled at the next scheduled City General Election, but the council shall appoint, by majority vote, a person eligible to hold office.\u201d The second is when an unexpired term is less than two years with the same outcome.<\/p>\n
The third if the \u201ccouncil fails to appoint an eligible replacement to fill the vacancy within 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, a special election shall be called to fill the balance of the remaining term.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, in City Council chambers, 1015 Cultural Park Blvd. The meeting is open to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2024-25 Cape Coral City Council. PROVIDED Cape Coral City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-76358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}