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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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An act relating to Santa Rosa County; amending chapter 2
79-561, Laws of Florida, as amended; revising 3
definitions; removing the school board as a taxing 4
authority; revising the method of electing the civil 5
service board and budget appropriations; repealing 6
implementing rules relating to the classified pay 7
plan, leave, and holiday policies; providing that 8
actions related to suspensions, demotions, and 9
dismissals may be filed through the board of county 10
commissioners' human resources department; providing 11
an effective date. 12
13
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 14
15
Section 1. Subsections (2) and (9) through (18) of section 16
1, section 3, subsections (1), (2), and (3) of section 4, 17
sections 5, 6, 7, and 12, subsection (1) of section 16, 18
subsections (2), (3), (6), and (7) of section 21, and section 24 19
of chapter 79-561, Laws of Florida, as amended by chapter 2002 -20
385, Laws of Florida, ar e amended to read: 21
Section 1. Definitions. —As used in this act: 22
(2) "Appointing authority" means county commission, clerk 23
of the circuit and county courts, tax collector, property 24
appraiser, sheriff, and supervisor of elections , superintendent 25
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of schools, school board, and regional library . Within the 26
limitation of the foregoing words, appointing authority also 27
means and includes all officers and agencies now or hereafter 28
having the authority to make contracts of employment with 29
persons in the classif ied service as defined in this act. 30
(9) "Constitutional officer" means the sheriff, clerk of 31
circuit and county courts court, tax collector, property 32
appraiser, or supervisor of elections. 33
(10) "Demotion" means an involuntary change of job 34
position that results in a reduction in pay. 35
(11) "Department" means a major subdivision of the two 36
taxing authorities provided for in this act or as established by 37
an appointing authority. 38
(12) "Division" means a subdivision of any department, as 39
established by that appointing authority. 40
(11)(13) "Employee" means any person who holds an 41
appointment to any position within the classified service. 42
(12)(14) "Cause" means actions adversely affecting the 43
orderly, efficient operation of the service, including, but no t 44
limited to, insubordination, immorality, drunkenness, 45
inefficiency, neglect of duty, violation of any employment rule 46
or regulation or any combination thereof. 47
(13)(15) "Employment" means the initial appointment to a 48
position within the classified ser vice of the county. 49
(14)(16) "Probationary employee" means an employee who has 50
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served fewer than 365 continuous calendar days from the date of 51
employment. 52
(15)(17) "Taxing authority" means one of the following two 53
major entities of Santa Rosa government: 54
(a) county commission. 55
(b) School board. 56
(16)(18) "Unclassified service" includes any person 57
elected or appointed members of a board or commission; county 58
administrator, attorneys and assistant attorneys retained by the 59
county or any person employed by them; Office of Management and 60
Budget Director; Public Works Director; Public Service Director ; 61
persons of highly technical or professional training maintaining 62
an independent practice employed on a part -time basis; patients 63
or inmates; persons under nonpermanent federal grants (unless 64
specifically accepted by the board into the service); 65
instructional personnel and administrative personnel as 66
described in section 228.041(9) and (10), Florida Statutes, 67
respectively; executive director of Nava rre Beach; county 68
engineer; county project coordinator; judicial clerk; court 69
reporters; chief deputy for: sheriff, tax collector, property 70
appraiser, supervisor of elections, and clerk of circuit and 71
county courts; one administrative assistant to: sheriff and 72
property appraiser; one secretary to each judge, county 73
commissioner, school board member, superintendent of schools, 74
tax collector, supervisor of elections, and clerk of the circuit 75
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and county courts, and county administrator ; and one 76
supervisory-level-technical person employed or appointed by and 77
at the discretion of an appointing authority for every 5 10 78
employees, or fraction thereof, employed in or appointed to the 79
classified service by an appointing authority. 80
Section 3. Organization of the s ystem.—The various county 81
governmental agencies shall be organized into the county 82
commission following two taxing authority authorities for 83
administration under the board as provided in this act . The: 84
(1) COUNTY COMMISSION TAXING AUTHORITY. —This taxing 85
authority shall include the classified employees of all agencies 86
of government not specifically designated by this section as 87
part of another taxing authority, and shall include but not be 88
limited to all classified employees working for the county 89
commissioners, sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, clerk 90
of the circuit and county courts , West Florida Regional Library, 91
and supervisor of elections. 92
(2) SCHOOL BOARD TAXING AUTHORITY. —This taxing authority 93
shall include all classified employees of the school board. 94
Section 4. Civil service board created. — 95
(1) A civil service board consisting of five members is 96
hereby created. Members are seated in the following manner: two 97
members One member elected by vote of the county commission 98
classified employees, one member elected by vote of the school 99
board classified employees, one member appointed by the county 100
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commission, one member appointed by the school board, and two 101
members elected one member by vote of the constitutional 102
officers. All members of t he board shall serve a 4 -year term. No 103
member shall serve more than two appointed or elected full terms 104
in succession. 105
(2) The supervisor of elections of the county shall be 106
responsible for conducting the elections for the employee member 107
members of the board. Said elections are exempt from the Florida 108
Election Code. The election of members shall be by vote of the 109
classified employees of the respective taxing authorities as 110
outlined in this section, and nominations of candidates for said 111
positions shall be submitted in writing and signed by 15 members 112
of the classified service employed within the taxing authority 113
authorities holding the election and filed with the supervisor 114
of elections at least 21 days prior to the date on which 115
elections shall be held. The names of all persons nominated by 116
the classified employees shall be printed upon a ballot. The 117
classified employees shall be permitted to vote in the election 118
by a secret ballot. The use of a mailout ballot is permitted. 119
The election shall be by a majo rity of the votes cast. 120
(3) Any member of the board may be disqualified to hear 121
and determine any cause if there exists any grounds under the 122
laws of Florida which would disqualify the judge of any court, 123
or which is a ground of challenge for cause to a juror. If any 124
person charged with any offense or violation of any law or rule 125
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of the board files an affidavit stating that he or she does not 126
believe that he or she will receive a fair hearing and sets 127
forth sufficient reasons for such belief, supported by two 128
affidavits of disinterested persons stating that they do not 129
reasonably believe that such member of the classified service 130
will receive a fair and impartial hearing, the board member so 131
challenged shall disqualify himself or herself. If sufficient 132
challenges are made to reduce the number sitting on the board to 133
less than three, then an alternate member shall be selected by 134
the remaining members of the board for the purpose of hearing 135
that particular cause before the board. 136
Section 5. Existing board to assume authority; election or 137
appointment date.—Elections or appointments shall be held or 138
made on the last Tuesday in May , with the exception of the 139
appointment of the fifth member of the board, which will be made 140
at the next meeting. The board members shall take office at the 141
next meeting of the board. The oath of office shall be 142
administered to each of the board members by the clerk of the 143
circuit and county courts. 144
Section 6. Appropriations to be made for the board. —The 145
county commission is and the school board are hereby required to 146
appropriate and fund between them a sufficient sum of money for 147
the operations of the board and for the enforcement of this act. 148
The board shall submit an annual budget to the county commission 149
and school board at least 30 days prior to the beginning of the 150
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new fiscal year for each taxing authority. Each taxing authority 151
shall include one-half of this budget amount in each of their 152
respective budgets. The actual legal expenses for hearings shall 153
not be a budget item b ut will be billed separately by the board 154
to the county commission and school board for the hearings that 155
involve their taxing authority . If the requested budget is 156
disapproved by the county commission both or either of the 157
taxing authorities, said budget submitted shall be subject to 158
review by the circuit court for unreasonableness upon the 159
resolution of the civil service board requesting such review. 160
Section 7. Board to be independent; staff authorized; 161
attorney.—The board shall be independent and is authorized to 162
employ a staff and legal counsel as it may deem qualified and 163
competent to carry out the purpose of this act. The board is 164
also authorized to use personnel in the employ of the county, 165
subject to approval from the appointing authority, to ass ist in 166
carrying out the provisions of this act. The attorney chosen 167
shall be independent of the county and its appointing 168
authorities as defined in this act , and shall advise the board 169
and staff with respect to all legal matters of policy and 170
procedures. The board attorney shall act as counsel and/or 171
hearing officer to the board at all hearings and trials. The 172
attorneys for the appointing authorities enumerated in this act 173
shall, when requested by the appointing authorities, appear and 174
prosecute charges at trials or hearings before the board. 175
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Section 12. Officers and meetings. —The board shall elect 176
one of its members as chairman and another member as vice -177
chairman, and shall meet at such time and place as specified by 178
call of the chairman with advance wr itten notice to each member 179
at least 2 days prior to said meeting. Notice shall be deemed 180
sufficient when mailed to the current address of each member on 181
file with the board. All meetings shall be open to the public. 182
Three members of the board shall consti tute a quorum for the 183
transaction of business. 184
Section 16. Rules for classified service; posting of 185
rules.— 186
(1) Rules implementing a classified pay plan, leave and 187
holiday policies, reduction-in-force guidelines, and procedures 188
relating to hearings of the Civil Service Board which have 189
general application to the classified employees under the board 190
of county commissioners and constitutional officers shall be 191
adopted and may be amended by vote of the board of county 192
commissioners and constitutional officers. Each county 193
commissioner and each constitutional officer shall have one 194
vote. If there is a tie vote, the majority vote of the board of 195
county commissioners shall prevail. 196
Section 21. Suspensions, demotions, dismissals, and 197
hearings.— 198
(2) Such action may be filed through with the board of 199
county commissioners' human resources department no more than 10 200
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days excluding holidays of the relevant taxing authority after 201
the effective date of the disciplinary action, and if not 202
received in the office of the board within 10 days excluding 203
holidays of the relevant taxing authority of such action the 204
employee will be reinstated and reimbursed for loss of pay and 205
allowances. Such action may then be refiled by the relevant 206
appointing authority. Thereafter, the employee shall have 10 207
days excluding holidays of the relevant taxing authority after 208
the action has been filed through with the board of county 209
commissioners' human resources department within which to 210
request a hearing before th e board on such action. If a hearing 211
is requested by an employee the same shall be heard within a 212
reasonable time thereafter. Any appointing authority may suspend 213
a classified employee for a reasonable period not to exceed 30 214
working days pending hearing a nd decision. Every such suspension 215
shall be without pay; provided, however, that the board shall 216
have authority to conduct a hearing upon appeal by the affected 217
employee for every such suspension and, in case of its 218
disapproval, shall have power to restore pay to the employee for 219
such suspended time. 220
(3) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, 221
no person in the classified service shall be demoted, suspended, 222
or dismissed except for cause upon written action and after an 223
opportunity to be hear d in his or her own defense. 224
(6) In case of failure of any person to comply with an 225
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order of the board, or a subpoena issued by the board or any of 226
its members or director, or on the refusal of a witness to 227
testify to any matter to which he or she may be lawfully 228
interrogated, a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction in 229
the county in which the person resides, on application of any 230
member of the board or its designee, shall compel the person to 231
testify or comply with said order or subpoena. 232
(7) The sheriff of any county shall serve such subpoena 233
and shall receive the same fees as he or she normally charged 234
charges for such service, and each witness who appears, in 235
obedience to a subpoena before the board or a member or its 236
designee, shall receive for his or her attendance the fees and 237
mileage provided for witnesses in civil cases in the civil 238
courts of this state, which shall be audited and paid in the 239
same manner as other expenses are audited and paid, upon the 240
presentation of proper vouchers approved by any two members of 241
the board. 242
Section 24. Political activity. —Any member of the 243
classified service who chooses to run for any elective county or 244
state public office shall, upon qualifying for such office, be 245
immediately deemed to have temporarily t erminated his or her 246
employment as a classified employee and all pay and other 247
benefits accruing under this act shall cease to run until such 248
time as said employee is no longer a candidate for elective 249
public office. In the event said employee is not elect ed to said 250
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public office, the employee he shall be reinstated to his or her 251
prior position without penalty except for the loss of pay and 252
accrued benefits during the temporary suspension of employment. 253
In the event said employee is elected to the elective office, 254
the employee he shall be allowed to resume his or her employment 255
within the classified service only for that period of time 256
following the day of his or her election until the date he or 257
she assumes said office, at which time his or her employment 258
within the classified service shall terminate. 259
Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. 260