Charter Review Commission
September 30, 2013
MINUTES
A meeting of the Charter Review Commission was held on Monday, September 30, 2013 at 4:00 PM on
the 10th floor of Kansas City, Missouri City Hall located at 414 E. 12 th Street, Kansas City, Missouri
64106.
Attendance was as follows:
Present
Andrea Bough
Matt Dameron
Stacy Daniels-Young
Duke Dujakovich
Steve Glorioso
Bobby Hernandez
Gayle Holliday
Rodney Knott
Tim Kristl
Quinton Lucas
Rev. John Modest Miles
Jim Rice
Absent
Enrique Gutierrez
Staff:
Jim Giles, Mayor’s Office
Cecilia Abbott, Asst. City Attorney
Randy Landes, Finance Director
Welcome & Introductions- Gayle Holliday opened the meeting at 4:00 PM. Tim Kristl moved, it was
seconded and approved unanimously for approval of the minutes of the September 23, 2013 meeting.
Finance Issues – Randy Landes, Finance Director, appeared to answer questions during the discussion
regarding the following issues raised by the Finance Department during prior meetings.
§204bTaxpayer Clearance – Randy Landes proposed the following language as a change to
Section 204(b) that reads, “Current on all city taxes or municipal user fees, as attested by the
candidate to the City Clerk in a form prescribed the Director of Finance”. This change would
cause the Charter to mirror state law. It was moved, seconded and unanimously approved via
voice vote to approve this change.
§220(a)6Authority and Duties of City Manager- This was another language cleanup proposal.
The Budget functions are now assigned to Finance Dept. and not to the City Manager. The
language proposed would read: “(6) Prepare Reports. Prepare and submit to the Mayor and
Council such reports as may be required by them.” Duke Dujakovich moved to accept the change
to section 220(6) and Quinton Lucas seconded. Roll call vote ensued and it failed with a vote of
6-5. Rev. John Modest Miles did not participate in the vote. The Commission felt that while this
change was acceptable, too many small changes would lessen the chances that the entire package
would be approved by the voters.
§407Further cleanup of Finance Department duties language- Quinton Lucas moved and
Andrea Bough seconded for approval of changes within Sections (1) and (2). The language
reads:
(1) “Accounts and financial records. Maintain and supervise all accounts and financial
records and prepare periodic and annual financial reports;
(2) Collection, custody and disbursement of funds. Manage the collection, custody,
investment and disbursement of all City monies and taxes, however, the Council may
authorize the keeping of utility accounting records by any department operating as a
public utility, and may authorized the collection by any such department of all
monies due the City from the operation of any such utility;”
The motion was approved with Steve Glorioso dissenting. Rev. John Modest Miles did not
participate in the vote.
§503 Property Tax Levies/When ordinance becomes effective- The Commission added
property tax levies to the list of emergency clauses to allow for more timely reporting of levies to
state agencies. Randy Landes testified that it was difficult to obtain the exact information from
the four counties comprising Kansas City in time for the information to be included in the budget
and approved with the other information. Therefore, he requested adding Section (G) to the list
of emergencies recognized:
“(G) Setting annual property tax levy rates. Setting the annual property tax rates for
taxation of real and tangible personal property.”
Tim Kristl moved and Duke Dujakovich seconded for approval. Motion was approved
unanimously.
§803Annual Budget- The Finance Dept. is attempting to close holes in the budget process.
Currently the Manager provides the Mayor a budget on 1/15 and it is then a public document.
The press and Council are therefore provided the document simultaneously and the Mayor must
respond by 2/16. The goal is to provide a model where the Manager and Mayor work more
closely together to present the preliminary budget. Duke Dujakovich moved, Steve Glorioso
seconded to table the consideration of the amendments to Sections 803, 804 and 805 until such
time as the other budget issues were considered by the Commission. The motion was then
amended by Duke Dujakovich to table only the amendments to Sections 803 and 804. Steve
Glorioso amended his second. This motion passed unanimously.
§805Adoption of Annual Budget- This proposal syncs the timing of the approval of tax levies
with budget adoption. Andrea Bough moved, _________________seconded and the following
proposed language was approved unanimously:
(g) . . . Whenever practicable, ordinances fixing the tax levies shall be passed at the time
the annual appropriation ordinance is passed, but no later than the fourth regular meeting in
March. . . .
§813Earning and property tax- The Commission decided to change two items. The change to
section 813 (b) stated:
(b) Limitation on tax. The tax shall not exceed what is authorized by state law.
The purpose was to remove from the Charter language the 1% limitation. This was recommended
by the Municipal Revenue Commission last year but was never acted on.
(d) Collection and remission of tax. The proposed change to subsection d was to delete
the last sentence which stated: “Each employer shall be entitited to retain the percent allowed by
law of the total amount collected by the employer to compensate the employer for collecting the
tax.” The Commission felt that this language was duplicative and was better handed by
ordinance.
Bobby Hernandez moved and Jim Rice seconded for approval. With a 6-6 vote the
motion failed.
§815Lines and assessments- Currently all special assessments are perpetual. Finance
recommended that the Charter should authorize the City to write off debts and clear title work by
ordinance. Bobby Hernandez moved and Duke Dujakovich seconded. It was passed
unanimously.
§836Audits- The Finance Department made two recommendations. One was to simplify
selection of external auditor as described in Section 836 (b)(1):
(1) Recommendation to the Council. The financial auditor will be selected through a
competitive process, as conducted by the Director of Finance.
The second suggested change was to delete the last phrase of Section 836(c) as it was
no longer necessary.
(c) Audit Reporting. The results of the annual audit will be presented to the City Council
Committee designated to oversee financial matters.
Jim Rice moved approval of b(1) and (c). Quinton Lucas seconded. It was approved
unanimously.
§837 Monthly Reports- Language cleanups that include, changing section (a) to emphasize
“prepare” rather than “submit” and section (b) to delegate “form” and “manner” to the Director of
Finance. Changes proposed for (c) and (d) modernize the language to match current practice. The
motion was passed unanimously.
§902/Classification system- There was a motion that had been previously tabled until Duke
Dujakovich could be there as he had felt strongly about the language. The motion which was
taken off the table moved to remove the following draft language from 903(k): “if not a member
of a recognized bargaining unit”. With a roll call vote the motion failed.
§903/unclassified service- Duke Dujakovich moved and it was seconded that language defining
the unclassified system be approved as presented without modification. With a roll call vote of 73 it was passed.
Other business
 City manager will request that all directors forward ASAP any additional recommendations to
Commission;
 Platte County Economic Development forwarded their recommendations to the Commission and
Jim Rice will forward the letter to entire group;
 Next week the recommendations of the Departments and Health Commission will be discussed.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.