Post by lekamarie on Oct 8, 2007 12:59:03 GMT -5
From News Herald
October 3, 2007
By Ryan Burr
CEDAR GROVE
Ten Cedar Grove residents filed a lawsuit in Bay County Circuit Court on Tuesday requesting a judge to set a referendum date for a town charter amendment that would allow dissolution of the town.
The suit, entered by local attorney Jerry Gerde on behalf of the Citizens Referendum Committee, also asks that the town be restrained from interfering with the process.
Absent from the plaintiffs’ names is Commissioner Janet Beier, who had helped lead the effort to collection petitions allowing a referendum.
“I’m out of it now,” Beier said on Tuesday.
The Bay County Supervisor of Elections Office verified on Aug. 28 that the committee had obtained enough signatures for a referendum to be held, and the petition called for the election to be held within 30 days. That deadline passed last week. Beier made a motion for a Nov. 20 election at the Sept. 25 Cedar Grove City Commission meeting, but no commissioner backed the motion.
Commissioner Gary Posey said after last week’s meeting that he doesn’t believe the petition will stand up in court. He pointed to the Florida statute that outlines dissolution criteria, including a provision that the municipality “must not be substantially surrounded by other municipalities.” Posey said Cedar Grove clearly is bordered by many cities.
In the end, Posey said the dissolution issue “will go away.”
To dissolve the city, a majority vote is needed to amend the charter and implement a dissolution procedure, then another vote on actual dissolution, which requires another round of petition gathering.
If Cedar Grove fails to set an election date for the dissolution vote, Florida statutes permit the county to do so. But for the charter amendment, only a judge can intervene if the city doesn’t select a date.
October 3, 2007
By Ryan Burr
CEDAR GROVE
Ten Cedar Grove residents filed a lawsuit in Bay County Circuit Court on Tuesday requesting a judge to set a referendum date for a town charter amendment that would allow dissolution of the town.
The suit, entered by local attorney Jerry Gerde on behalf of the Citizens Referendum Committee, also asks that the town be restrained from interfering with the process.
Absent from the plaintiffs’ names is Commissioner Janet Beier, who had helped lead the effort to collection petitions allowing a referendum.
“I’m out of it now,” Beier said on Tuesday.
The Bay County Supervisor of Elections Office verified on Aug. 28 that the committee had obtained enough signatures for a referendum to be held, and the petition called for the election to be held within 30 days. That deadline passed last week. Beier made a motion for a Nov. 20 election at the Sept. 25 Cedar Grove City Commission meeting, but no commissioner backed the motion.
Commissioner Gary Posey said after last week’s meeting that he doesn’t believe the petition will stand up in court. He pointed to the Florida statute that outlines dissolution criteria, including a provision that the municipality “must not be substantially surrounded by other municipalities.” Posey said Cedar Grove clearly is bordered by many cities.
In the end, Posey said the dissolution issue “will go away.”
To dissolve the city, a majority vote is needed to amend the charter and implement a dissolution procedure, then another vote on actual dissolution, which requires another round of petition gathering.
If Cedar Grove fails to set an election date for the dissolution vote, Florida statutes permit the county to do so. But for the charter amendment, only a judge can intervene if the city doesn’t select a date.
