The Ocala City Council will host a workshop to discuss potential revisions to the city’s charter after coming to a consensus during Tuesday’s meeting.
Council members came to the conclusion to proceed with the workshop after a lengthy discussion in which members agreed that certain parts of the charter, which District 1 representative Brent Malever referred to as “antiquated,” were in need of a review.
Council President Pro-Tem Justin Grabelle and District 4 Councilmember Matthew Wardell suggested that the language in the charter needed to be clarified.
“I agree with Mr. Grabelle about cleaning up those inconsistencies,” said Wardell.
Wardell also indicated that he was in support of developing a “citizen’s review board” to bring forth additional revision recommendations from the community.
“There’s just some stuff that’s just not clear. I’m not scared of going beyond that,” said Wardell of pursuing feedback from the public.
Council president Jay Musleh and Malever lodged their support behind a workshop, but stopped short of agreeing to the citizen’s review board outright. Both agreed that if substantive revisions were merited, the creation of that review board would likely follow.
“Right now, I’m fine with a workshop. Ultimately, I think if we’re going to do any substantive revisions, that should be done by a citizen’s committee,” said Musleh.
The city of Ocala’s charter is comprised of articles that define the city’s form of government, as well as the positions within that form of government. It gives definitions for city offices, including those of the mayor and city manager. For more information and details, read the Ocala Charter and Code of Ordinances.