2 QUESTIONS ON GARDENS BALLOT WON’T BE COUNTED
But all four will appear because of ruling’s timing.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Palm Beach Gardens has no immediate plans to fight a judge’s decision to discard two of the four questions that will appear on Tuesday’s election ballot.
The ballots have already been printed, so voters will see all four questions, but their votes for only the last two will count. Poll workers are supposed to tell voters about the voided questions on Election Day.
If voters make a selection for those questions anyway, it won’t count.
Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge G. Joseph Curley tossed the first two questions, asking voters to change the City Charter and term limits. He found that the questions didn’t adequately tell voters what they’re deciding.
His ruling raised two possibilities. Palm Beach Gardens could appeal the decision so that the questions could stay on the ballot, or Sid Dinerstein — the former Palm Beach County Republican Party chairman who filed the legal challenge to the ballot questions — could appeal in an attempt to have the remaining two questions thrown out.
So far, neither side has taken further legal action.
The Palm Beach Gardens City Council voted 3-1, with Councilman Matthew Lane dissenting, not to appeal the judge’s decision. Councilwoman Rachelle Litt was absent from the emergency special council meeting early Tuesday morning.
However, should Dinerstein appeal, the council gave Palm Beach Gardens Attorney Max Lohman the authority to cross-appeal; Dinerstein’s attorney James D’Loughy did not rule out the possibility of an appeal Friday.
If Dinerstein appeals, Palm Beach Gardens would ask an appeals court to keep the first two questions the circuit judge threw out.
Lane said he believes all four questions are misleading and should be reviewed by the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Here’s a look at the ques- tions:
Question No. 1
Voters will no longer decide this question, which would have asked whether the City Charter should be changed to eliminate incon- sistencies and conflicts with state law.
The question also would have eliminated a requirement in the charter that the council review the city manager’s job performance every year and that he or she live in Palm Beach Gardens.
Question No. 2
Voters w ill no longer decide this question, which would have asked voters whether City Council mem- bers should be limited to serving no more than three consecutive, full terms. A full term is three years.
Currently, council mem- bers may serve no more than two consecutive, full terms.
Question No. 3
Votes on this question count. It asks whether council members who leave office because of term limits should have to sit out for three years before they are re-elected.
There’s a disagreement over the current rules for term-limited city council members.
Dinerstein and D’Loughy say term limits approved in November 2014 already ban term-limited council members from ever running again.
Lohman said former council members may never serve again if they’ve already been elected to two consecutive full terms. Current and future council members, however, could serve again after sitting out for only a year. The different treatment could leave the city open to a lawsuit, he has said.
If voters approve the threeyear cooling-off period, it will apply to everybody, he said.
Question No. 4
Votes on this question count. It asks whether the highest vote-getter in council should be named the winner, even if the candidate doesn’t get more than 50 percent of the vote.
If voters say “yes” there will be no more runoff elections, saving the city more than $70,000 a year. Opponents say it makes it easier for an incumbent to get elected because a nominal candidate could divide the vote.