House Bill hb0863

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 863

        By Representative Ritter






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the North Springs

  3         Improvement District, Broward County; amending

  4         chapter 71-580, Laws of Florida, as amended;

  5         increasing the board of supervisors to a total

  6         of five members; providing for elections by

  7         electors residing within the district;

  8         providing for the appointment of a city

  9         commissioner from the City of Coral Springs and

10         a city commissioner from the City of Parkland

11         as board members; providing for regular and

12         special board meetings instead of landowner

13         meetings; providing for severability; providing

14         an effective date.

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16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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18         Section 1.  Subsections (1) and (2) of section 5 of

19  chapter 71-580, Laws of Florida, as amended by chapter 89-440,

20  Laws of Florida, are amended to read:

21         Section 5.  Board; election, organization; terms of

22  office; quorum; report and minutes.--

23         (1)  The board of the district shall exercise the

24  powers granted to the district under this act and under

25  chapter 298, Florida Statutes. The board shall consist of five

26  three (3) members, and except as otherwise provided herein

27  each member shall hold office for a term of 4 four (4) years

28  and until his or her successor shall be chosen and shall

29  qualify. A majority of The elected members of the board shall

30  be residents of the district Broward County, and all members

31  

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 863

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  1  shall be residents of Florida. All members of the board shall

  2  be landowners within the district.

  3         (a)  One member shall be elected by majority vote of

  4  registered electors casting votes at an election of those

  5  electors residing within the district and within the City of

  6  Coral Springs, and one member shall be elected by a majority

  7  vote of registered electors casting votes at an election of

  8  those electors residing within the district and within the

  9  City of Parkland.

10         (b)  One member shall be elected by a majority vote of

11  registered electors casting votes at an election of those

12  electors residing within the district.

13         (c)  One member shall be a city commissioner from the

14  City of Coral Springs selected by a majority vote of the city

15  commission, or a designee may be substituted for the city

16  commissioner, also to be selected by a majority vote of the

17  city commission.

18         (d)  One member shall be a city commissioner from the

19  City of Parkland selected by a majority vote of the city

20  commission, or a designee may be substituted for the city

21  commissioner, also to be selected by a majority vote of the

22  city commission.

23         (2)  Commencing upon the expiration of the terms of the

24  existing board members, all subsequent board members

25  thereafter shall meet the requirements provided for herein and

26  shall be elected as provided for herein. Existing board

27  members' terms shall be extended to November of the year in

28  which their term expires. In November 2001, the two new board

29  members shall be selected or elected as provided for herein.

30  Board members to be elected shall be elected at an election

31  conducted by the supervisor of elections on the first Tuesday

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 863

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  1  in November of the year the board members' terms expire. The

  2  costs of such elections shall be paid by the district. In the

  3  month of June of each fourth year commencing June of 1972,

  4  there shall be held a meeting of the landowners of the

  5  district at the office of the district in Broward County,

  6  Florida, for the purpose of electing three (3) supervisors for

  7  said district. One supervisor shall be elected solely by those

  8  landowners owning property within the city limits of the City

  9  of Parkland, and this supervisor must be a landowner who owns

10  property within the city limits of the City of Parkland. One

11  supervisor shall be elected solely by those landowners owning

12  property within the city limits of the City of Coral Springs,

13  and this supervisor must be a landowner who owns property

14  within the city limits of the City of Coral Springs. One

15  supervisor shall be elected at large by all landowners of the

16  district, regardless of where their property is located.

17  Candidates for each supervisor position will be nominated

18  during the meeting of landowners, and the nominee who receives

19  the highest number of votes for a supervisor position shall be

20  declared elected. Notice of said landowners meeting shall be

21  published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper

22  in Broward County which is in general circulation with the

23  district, the last of said publication to be not less than 14

24  days nor more than 28 days before the date of the election.

25  The landowners when assembled at such meeting shall organize

26  by electing a chairman who shall conduct the meeting. At such

27  meeting each landowner shall be entitled to cast one vote per

28  acre of land owned by him and located within the district. A

29  landowner may vote in person or by proxy in writing. Fractions

30  of an acre shall be treated as one acre, entitling the

31  landowner to one vote with respect thereto.

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  1         Section 2.  Section 13 of chapter 71-580, Laws of

  2  Florida, is amended to read:

  3         Section 13.  Notice and call of board meetings of

  4  landowners; quorum; adjournments; representation of meetings;

  5  taking action without meeting.--

  6         (1)  The board shall establish a regular meeting date

  7  each month and shall meet no less than one time each month.

  8  However, the board may decide by majority vote to take one

  9  month off from meetings each year for a vacation. Meetings of

10  the board shall be held in a public place, and shall be held

11  in accordance with the requirements of chapter 286, Florida

12  Statutes. The board shall publish notice of all meetings of

13  landowners once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks prior to

14  such meeting in a newspaper in Broward County in general

15  circulation within the district. Meetings of landowners shall

16  be held in a public place, or any other place make available

17  for the purpose of such meeting in the Broward County

18  Courthouse and the place, date and hour of holding such

19  meeting and the purpose thereof shall be stated in the notice.

20  Landowners representing a majority of the number of acres in

21  the district, present in person or by proxy, shall constitute

22  a quorum at any meeting of the landowners; provided that

23  irrespective of the number of acres represented, there shall

24  be minimum of five (5) landowners owning separate parcels of

25  land, at each meeting.

26         (2)  Special meetings of the board may be called at any

27  time to receive reports of the board, or for such other

28  purpose as the board may determine, upon 24 hours' notice to

29  board members and to the public by posting such notice at the

30  district office at a public location set aside for such

31  purposes. The board may call special meetings of the

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 863

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  1  landowners at any time to receive reports of the board or for

  2  such other purpose as to the board may determine. A special

  3  meeting of the landowners may also be called at any time upon

  4  notice as provided hereinabove at the written request of the

  5  owners of not less than twenty five (25) per cent in acreage

  6  of the land within the district for the purpose of taking any

  7  lawful action by the landowners of the district. Such special

  8  meeting shall be called by any court of competent jurisdiction

  9  in the event that the board fails to do so upon request as

10  provided in the preceding sentence. Except as otherwise

11  provided in section 5 of this act with respect to the election

12  of supervisors, action taken at a meeting of the landowners

13  shall be by affirmative vote of the owners of at least a

14  majority in acreage of the land within the district

15  represented at such meeting.

16         (3)  If no quorum is present or represented at a

17  meeting of the landowners at the time and place the same is

18  called to be held, the landowners present and represented,

19  although less than a quorum, may adjourn to another time or

20  day, and at such or any subsequent adjourned meetings may, if

21  a quorum is then present or represented, take any action that

22  the landowners could have taken a the meeting or meetings so

23  adjourned for lack of a quorum.

24         (4)  At any meeting of the landowners, guardians may

25  represent their wards; executors and administrators may

26  represent the estate of deceased persons; trustees may

27  represent lands held by them in trust; and private

28  corporations may be represented by their duly authorized

29  proxy. All landowners, including guardians, executors,

30  administrators, trustees and corporations, may be represented

31  and vote by proxy.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 863

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  1         Section 3.  In the event any one or more of the

  2  sections or provisions of this act or the application of such

  3  sections or provisions to any situation, circumstance, or

  4  person shall for any reason be held to be unconstitutional,

  5  such unconstitutionality shall not affect any other section or

  6  provision as to any other situation, circumstance, or person,

  7  and it is intended that this law shall be construed and

  8  applied as if such section or provision had not been included

  9  herein for any unconstitutional application.

10         Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

11  law.

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