Provide direction regarding potential charter amendment.  

Changes to the City Charter may only be made through a vote of registered voters of Winter Park. Currently, the City Charter calls for the Mayor and Commissioners to serve at large (see below), meaning they run for office and represent the entire city.   

Sec. 2.01. - Commission created; composition; designation; election generally.

There is hereby created a city commission to consist of five (5) members, one of whom shall have the title of "mayor." The other four shall be known and designated as "commissioners," one of whom shall be elected vice mayor as set forth in Section 2.06. The city commission shall be elected at large and hold office in the manner hereinafter provided, and shall constitute the governing body and authority of the city, with all the powers and privileges herein granted and provided.

In accordance with section 5.10(c) - Charter Review,  The City commissioned a Charter Review Advisory Commission in 2019 to complete a full review of the Charter.  The issue of modifying the commission composition from at large to single member districts  was discussed but consensus was not achieved to recommend that change to the Commission to be added to the ballot.  The City Commission further discussed this issue when evaluating the final report of the Charter Review Advisory Committee and adopting the ordinance to establish the ballot questions, and ultimately chose not to include on the ballot.

A group of citizens has expressed an interest in revisiting section 2.01 of the Charter to consider single member districts.

Section 5.10 Charter Amendments describes the two ways the Charter may be amended:

(a) Initiation by ordinance. The commission may by ordinance propose amendments to any part or all of this Charter, except Section 1.02 prescribing boundaries, and upon passage of the initiating ordinance shall place the proposed amendment to a vote of the electors at the next general election held within the city or at a special election called for such purpose. Amendment of Section 1.02, resulting from annexation done in accordance with general law, shall be by ordinance of the commission and shall not be subject to a vote of the electors except as provided by general law.

(b) Initiation by petition. The electors of the city may propose amendments to this Charter by petition signed by at least ten (10) percent of the total number of qualified voters registered to vote in the last regular city election.

The requirements for municipal redistricting are a function of the charter and local ordinance and compliance with court case holdings (federal & state) on factors to be considered in redistricting and compliance with equal protection standards and the Voting Rights Act.

In addition to the need to comply with equal protection standards and the Voting Rights Act, courts have generally held that when a city redistricts, the following factors should be considered:

(1)       Compactness;

(2)       Contiguousness;

(3)       Preservation of communities of interest;

(4)       Preservation of cores of prior districts;

(5)       Protection of incumbents;

(6)       Political Affiliation

Attached are Population by Census Block maps based on 2010 data.  This data is currently being updated by the 2020 census but this data will not likely be available until after the March ballot.

Also attached, is an Excel spreadsheet and a map created in GIS to divide the City into quadrants (based on garbage and recycling routes) for illustrative purposes only.  This would require adjustment to meet the criteria stated above.  Additional scenarios can easily be modeled in the GIS system.  

The timeline to initiate a charter question by petition for the March 2021 ballot would as follows:

Finally, you will also find a memo from the City Attorney's office addressing the question raised at the last commission meeting regarding petition requirements in light of COVID 19 procedures.