More citizens want to take the law into their own hands
May 20, 2007
By EILEEN ZAFFIRO
Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- First came the citizen revolt over building heights in Ormond Beach, which blocked a $2 billion oceanfront project and sent ripple effects into development for decades to come.

Next was the Florida Hometown Democracy movement, an effort to allow voters statewide to go to the polls every time their local government ponders a change to their city's land-use plan.

Now, there's a campaign under way in Ponce Inlet to allow residents of the small town to create new local laws without their council's blessing and to veto recently passed ordinances.

Has a political renaissance begun? Are ordinary folks trying to wrestle back some power from the elected officials they no longer trust?

Several local officials do see an erosion of trust in everyone from city commissioners to congressmen, but most don't think a historic shift in representative democracy is under way.

Some suspect small groups, which don't represent majority opinion, have just gotten louder and better organized.

"My personal observation is that there's a small, vocal minority that wants to run the train," said Ponce Inlet Town Councilman Jim McCormick.

T. Wayne Bailey, a Stetson University political science professor, said he does see a populist sentiment sweeping across Florida, a state led by a populist governor.

"The idea being broached in Ponce Inlet is the zeitgeist (spirit) of government today," Bailey said. "I think you're getting a sense of outrage among some citizens who feel pushed to the wall. . . . I don't think you'd see this in Kansas or Nebraska. There are growth issues and diversity issues in Florida."

Mary Swiderski, executive director of the Volusia Council of Governments and the Volusia League of Cities, said new citizen powers might be unnecessary.

"Nobody comes to the meetings and communicates with elected officials," Swiderski said. "That's where they can affect changes, but people are not taking ownership of their communities."

Petition circulating in Ponce Inlet

PONCE INLET -- Some say democracy is running amok in this seaside town of 3,200, that anarchy is drifting over the sand dunes.

But others just see a push to give residents more control over what happens within the 4 square miles of Ponce Inlet.

Last month, Town Councilman Gary Comfort asked fellow council members to put a question on the November election ballot asking voters if they want the power to toss out newly passed ordinances and create new local laws.

The charter amendment proposal to allow people to govern at the polls died a rapid death. Everyone but Comfort rejected the idea.

So Comfort's daughter, Kimberly, hit the streets to get the query on the ballot with a petition drive.

"To me, it's an elementary part of democracy, but it seems to make my colleagues nervous," said Comfort, who noted he thought it would be more appropriate for his 42-year-old daughter to lead the petition drive. "I've seen council votes that didn't support what citizens wanted, and there was no mechanism to reverse a bad decision."

Then on Wednesday night, a new plot twist erupted in the idea for citizens to create and kill local laws. Three of the four council members who shot down the suggestion at their April meeting said last week they'd support a similar measure: one that would be twice as hard for citizens to use.

Kimberly Comfort's proposal seeks at least 10 percent of voters to sign petitions before a new law could be considered, or a newly passed one could face extinction. The new idea suggested by Mayor Nancy Epps, which still needs a final vote among council members, would require a minimum of 20 percent of voters to sign petitions.

Council members won't take a final vote on the 20 percent ballot measure until their July meeting. But, if a majority of them still prefer that higher threshold then, Ponce Inlet residents could wind up voting on both and could even adopt both.

If both measures pass, a judge would have to decide what to do, said Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Comfort has formed a political committee, Ponce Inlet Citizen's Alliance. She is chairwoman of the new group and her mother, Genevieve, is treasurer.

With 2,530 registered voters in Ponce Inlet, the Comforts need at least 253 of them -- 10 percent -- to support their cause by Sept. 7.

"When you violate our trust, we should have a way to turn it around. It's our government," Kimberly Comfort said. "I don't foresee it being used that often, but I'd like it to be available."

The effort in Ponce Inlet is not unique. Dozens of Florida cities allow their citizens to circulate petitions and force votes at the polls when residents and their elected officials disagree on local laws.

But the measures are rarely used. Daytona Beach voters have had the power to create and rescind local laws for more than two decades, but Deputy City Attorney Marie Hartman said she can't recall that option being used even once.

Before Wednesday's meeting, Mayor Epps said the current representative democracy system doesn't need tinkering.

"It's asking for mob rule and chaos," Epps, of Ponce Inlet, said.

Most citizens will never put in the time town staff and council members do when researching a local law, she said.

At last week's council meeting, she said the 10 percent threshold is " a dangerously low number." She first suggested 25 percent for a council-driven ballot question and later settled on 20 percent as a compromise.

The 10 percent minimum "sets us up for a position in which the representative form of government we live in is no longer valid," Epps said.

Vice Mayor Tony Goudie was also less than enamored with the 10 percent idea at the April meeting, but he sided with Epps on the 20 percent idea.

"It could cause a lot of consternation in the community to have council decisions stood on end by petition drives," Goudie said.

He's worried that only the necessary minimum number of voters would sign petitions and an equally small number would go to the polls, putting power in the hands of a tiny group within the town.

"My feeling is the petition drive system can be abused," Goudie said.

He's also worried about confusing ballot language and mandates with no funding.

Councilman Jim McCormick said he doesn't see a need for the initiative and referendum process, and he worries about the cost of special elections mounting. He also fears that small-town dynamics would make people feel pressured to sign petitions.

Only McCormick voted with Comfort to reject the 20 percent limit.

A few weeks ago, Town Attorney Virginia Cassady told council members in a memo that Gary Comfort's proposal did not appear to be "illegal or readily challengeable." But she warned council members they could only stop a question about a local law from going on the ballot if a court declared a measure invalid before a vote.

If something unconstitutional was passed, the town could end up in a court fight and ultimately liable for damages and attorneys fees.

Ormond Beach got into a court battle last year when city commissioners questioned the wording of a ballot measure on building heights that was created by a grass-roots group. The experience left Ormond Beach Mayor Fred Costello cautious of what he called "legislation by petition."

"If the electorate were as informed as the people they elect, it would work, but they're not," he said.

Opinions of the ballot measures are split in Ponce Inlet.

"We could get something that sounds good but has severe drawbacks," resident Tom Campbell said. "The unintended consequences of new laws can get weeded out at the council level."

But one of Campbell's neighbors, Russ Boner, thinks the change would be good for Ponce Inlet.

"I see it as a safety valve that would only be used once every four or five years," Boner said. "I think it's always a good idea to take democracy down to the grass-roots level."

Power to the People: How it Works

Ponce Inlet voters could soon have the power to create new local laws and toss out recently passed ordinances. People's power to create and kill town laws would not apply to several things, including the budget, taxes or appropriation of money. Here's how that would work:

LAWS FROM THE PEOPLE

· If some town residents had an idea for a local law, they'd need at least 10 percent of voters under a citizen proposal, or 20 percent under a council proposal, to sign a petition forcing elected leaders to at least consider the idea.

· If council members refused to vote on the measure or voted it down, then the proposed law would automatically go to a vote at the polls.

LAWS PEOPLE DON'T LIKE

· If residents opposed a newly passed local law, they would have 45 days after its adoption to gather signatures from at least 10 percent of registered voters under the citizen proposal, or 20 percent under the council proposal, to force elected leaders to reconsider.

· The new law would be suspended from taking effect once the petition was filed with the town clerk. If council members refused to rescind the ordinance, the matter would be decided at a public election.

eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

Do It Yourself Lawmaking

Residents of dozens of Florida cities have the power to use petitions and elections to get rid of newly passed local laws they don't like and to adopt new laws that their elected officials don't want. Here are some nearby cities with those powers:

In Volusia-Flagler
· Daytona Beach
· DeBary
· Edgewater
· Flagler Beach

Others in Central Florida

· Altamonte Springs
· Apopka
· Belle Isle
· Cape Canaveral
· Casselberry
· Cocoa
· Edgewood
· Lady Lake
· Maitland

SOURCE: Town of Ponce Inlet