MINUTES OF

POLK COUNTY CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION

MAY 14, 2002

Chairman Dan Costello called the meeting of the Polk County Charter Review Commission to order at 6:00 p.m. in Room 407 of the Administration Building of the Polk County Board of County Commissioners.  Commissioner Nunnallee led the prayer and Commissioner Allen led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Ms. Swearengin called the roll.  All commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioners Moore Bailey, Hunt, and Masters who gave advance notification of their absences in accordance with the Commission’s Rules.

The Chairman said he would like the record to show the Commission had a quorum.

The Chairman said the first order of business was the approval of the minutes of March 26, 2002.  The Chairman asked if there were any changes to the minutes? 

Commissioner Strang said he had a few non-material corrections on pages 13, 14, 21, 40, and 41, and in the interest of time, he would get with Ms. Swearengin later regarding those changes. 

The Chairman asked if there were further changes?  There were none.  

Commissioner Nunnallee made a motion to approve the minutes of March 26, 2002 subject to the changes, and Commissioner Gernert seconded the motion.  The motion carried. 

The Chairman said he had a brief report.  He said the web site had been up since May of 2001, and it had a bulletin board on it, but there had been nothing placed on it, but a test which he placed on it himself, which indicated that it had not been read in great detail.  He said what he was proposing was in connection with Commissioner Gernert’s budget, and he had discussed it with him.   He asked that the Commission give him the approval to pay $800 to $1,000 to get the web site upgraded so that it was more attractive.  He said the web site had everything on it, but it had no pizzazz, and he would like to have the Commission’s approval to make those changes. 

He said he had been in touch with one web designer on that issue, and he would like to entertain a motion to make those upgrades. 

Commissioner Lindsey made a motion to approve up to $1,000 to get the web site upgraded, and Commissioner Allen seconded the motion.  The Chairman asked if there was further discussion?

Commissioner Gernert said the only thing that he would ask when the Charter got into that process was if they had developed a logo that was representative of that campaign, that it be placed on the web site.

The Chairman said he would like Commissioner Gernert to be involved in that process.

The Chairman asked for all those in favor of the motion to say aye.  The motion carried.

Commissioner Strang said, as they were probably aware, there was software that could keep track of the number of hits that was received on a web site.

The Chairman said he was aware of that software, and the bulletin board did have that capability.

The Chairman said the county provided the service for the Charter’s web site, but he wasn’t sure if they could place that software on the server, but he would ask the county about it, because if they could, there would be no cost in doing that.

Commissioner Strang said he wasn’t sure what the Commission would do with that information.

The Chairman said that information would be interesting and would show the effectiveness of any advertisements.  

The Chairman said that completed his report, and he asked Commissioner Gernert if he would make his report to the Commission.

Commissioner Gernert said he had the first step in the communications process for the Commission to review, and they didn’t have to do it that evening, although any input they wanted to give was certainly welcomed. 

He said when the Charter Commission went to the community the first time they used a simple three-panel brochure, which was similar to the one he provided to them, and within their plans the only real deadline approaching was June. (Sample brochure attached to file copy of these minutes).

The Communication/Education Committee will have a brochure ready for the people speaking at service or civic clubs, and they suggested that a limited number of those brochures be printed due to other questions or considerations that might possibly need to be added or revised.

Commissioner Gernert said the brochure the Committee provided was a first effort, and what he did was take the information that was on the web site, and electronically lift it and drop it into the document as far as the eight ballot amendments were concerned.  He said they didn’t put the strike through information in because there simply wasn’t room, and he thought there was a limit to what people were going to read. He said truly interested citizens could go to the web site or contact the office, and that information would be sent to them.

He asked if the Commission thought a brochure similar to that was a good first step?  He said using that information they could take those same points and work them into a very brief Power Point presentation for commissioners who were Power Point adept and wanted to use that method.  He said they could have the Power Point presentation ready in June. 

He said as they continued through the summer, and perhaps in August they could make the final decisions about what they were going to have produced by an agency, which he thought would save some money, and would also allow them to reallocate funds if they wanted to do heavier presentations in the media.

He asked if there were any questions or comments?

Commissioner Stoer asked where those materials would be available? 

Commissioner Gernert said what he was proposing was that they run two or three thousand brochures and send the majority to the Charter’s office, and send fifty to each of the commissioners for their use during speaking engagements or if they were out in the community, and if someone asked questions then they would have those brochures to distribute.  He said if they needed additional brochures they could call Ms. Swearengin and she would get those to them. 

He said as they were using the brochures and citizens made suggestions that might possibly improve the brochure, to pass those suggestions along to either him or Commissioner Nunnallee or Commissioner Dukes, so that the brochure could be modified, so when they got closer to fall and they decided when they were going to do the direct mail piece to the community they would know they had the essential information in a fairly brief format that they could get into the public’s hands effectively. 

He called the Commission’s attention to the back of the brochure, which was designed as a mailer.  He said it would probably require a label attached to each brochure so that it could be mailed.  It was his feeling they would probably want to print the brochure on slightly heavier paper so that it wouldn’t require an envelope, and in doing so that would save money. 

The Chairman said he received a very good impression from the brochure.  He asked Commissioner Gernert if the logo on the brochure was the suggested logo?

Commissioner Gernert answered yes, and that was what they were working with then.  He said that logo was used on the fist brochure, and they lifted it from the first brochure and inserted Polk County Charter, and kept it very simple.  He said it didn’t have to be printed in black, but he liked the clean look of it.  

Commissioner Price asked if there was any chance that the commissioners could have some of those brochures very quickly? 

Commissioner Gernert said he would like for the commissioners to review the brochure over the next forty-eight hours, and if they found something in it that was not clear, and was spelled wrong to please help them with that, because after one looked at that kind of thing extensively one missed typos, but to call him or e-mail Ms. Swearengin with any corrections that they would suggest as far as grammar or spelling, and they would immediately make those changes. 

He said if they hadn’t heard of any changes that needed to be made by Friday, they would assume that no changes needed to be made, and they would take the brochure to a printer to be printed. 

Commissioner Strang asked if they were supposed to send their changes to Ms. Swearengin?

Commissioner Gernert answered, yes. 

Commissioner Nunnallee said she would like to see something added to the brochure that said, “get out and vote”, or “your voice is your vote”, or something so that it urged the public to vote, if they were allowed to do that. 

Commissioner Gernert said he thought that they could place a strong emphasis on voting on Election Day. 

Commissioner Price said they might say, 2002 Ballot Considerations on November or September whatever the date was, and to please vote. 

Commissioner Nunnallee said she thought if they had that sentence in an odd place that it would be more noticeable.

Commissioner Price asked if the Power Point presentation was ready?

Commissioner Gernert answered, “no”, based upon the brochure they would lift the information from the brochure and place it in the Power Point presentation.

Commissioner Price said she had a presentation the following week. 

Chairman Costello said Election Day was November 5^th. 

Commissioner Gernert said he could probably have the Power Point presentation ready for Commissioner Price by the following week.

The Chairman said the libraries would be a good place to distribute those brochures as well. 

Commissioner McLaughlin said he preferred the use of blue ink in the brochure, and he didn’t want to spend the money for multi color printing, but he felt blue ink might stand out more.  He said he thought with blue ink, if one received a lot of papers in the mail, the brochure would stand out more, and thicker paper would be nicer.  He said he would leave that to Commissioner Gernert’s discretion as to what was more appealing to the eye. 

The Chairman said he agreed to leave that to Commissioner Gernert’s discretion because he had been in that sort of business for quite some time.

Commissioner Strang said he would e-mail his suggestion, but he wanted to make it then so that the other commissioners could hear it.  He said under the FAQ’s regarding the question, “How is the Charter amended?” which was located on the last panel of the brochure, he would suggest they add the word “proposed”, so the sentence began, “The proposed amendments presented here…”

The Chairman said that was a good point. 

Commissioner Gernert said if they came across something else to e-mail Ms. Swearengin, and she would forward those suggestions to him, and on Friday he would make any changes that were necessary, and they would get the brochure turned around by the next week. 

The Chairman asked Ms. Swearengin if the libraries had the Charter Review Commission’s final report?

Ms. Swearengin answered, “yes”. 

The Chairman said the next item for discussion was the approval of expenditures through April 15, 2002. 

Commissioner Strang made a motion to approve expenditures the Commission incurred through April 15, 2002, and Commissioner Nunnallee seconded the motion. 

The Chairman asked if there was further discussion?  There was none.  The motion carried.

The Chairman said the Commission also had a budget document through November 4, 2002.  He said that document contained three total columns, which was a reflection of all of the months, with the first total column being from May through November, the second April 2001 through the April 2002, and the final column, which was the projected yearly total of 2001 and 2002.  He said that was strictly a budget document, and it reflected the fact that they approved something on the order of $53,700, which was reflected in the May/November columns and in the yearly total columns and they could see the total projected amount was for $197,133.  He asked if he could get their approval on those budget projections?

The Chairman asked if there were any questions? 

The Chairman said as they could see, more than half of the expenditures were for consultants or Kelly Services. 

The Chairman said he would like to call the Commission’s attention to the $2,000, which was allotted for Cobb, Cole and Bell, and Kurt Spitzer.  He said he did not anticipate needing to use those funds, and those funds were there just as a contingency. 

Commissioner Lindsey made a motion for the approval of the projected budget, and Commissioner Allen seconded the motion.  The Chairman asked if there was further discussion?  There was none.  The motion carried. 

The Chairman asked if Commissioner Gernert could detail the process with regards to getting the PR firms?

Commissioner Gernert said what they would essentially have left was the process that would occur starting in late August or early September through the end the process, and what they would need to do was to outline what they wanted done as far as PSA’s or placement of the ads and the development of those ads, and they would have the graphics they could present to them, so that they would know what they were supposed to use in them, and they would do an RFP, which would probably be done in late May or the first week of June, and give them thirty days to get them back, and the Communication/Education Committee would come to the Commission at the July meeting with a recommendation on who the Commission should use, and  the agency would know from an outline or RFP what they would have to produce and that should be well within the Commission’s timeframe. 

The Chairman said they were down to Unfinished Business, and he asked if there was any Unfinished Business to come before them?   There was none.

The Chairman asked if there were any remarks of interested citizens?  There were none. 

The Chairman asked if there was any New Business to come before the Commission? 

The Chairman asked since there were no scheduled issues for discussion on the Commission’s agenda for June if the Commission would like to cancel the June 11, 2002 meeting, and meet in July? 

Commissioner Stoer made a motion to cancel the Commission’s June 11, 2002 meeting, and Commissioner Dukes seconded the motion. 

The Chairman asked if there was further discussion regarding that issue?  There was none.  The motion carried. 

The Chairman said the Commission’s next scheduled meeting would be on July 9, 2002 at 6:00 p.m. in room 407, of the County Administration building. 

The Chairman said without further objection, the Commission would stand adjourned.  There were no objections.  The meeting adjourned at  6:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cynthia Swearengin