FL
Florida House Bill H1583

Florida 2022 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H1583 Compare Versions

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1010 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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12+A bill to be entitled 1
1313 An act relating to Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, 2
1414 Escambia County; amending ch. 2001 -324, Laws of 3
1515 Florida; providing requirements for filling vacancies 4
1616 on the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority; prohibiting 5
1717 certain members from reelection under certain 6
1818 circumstances; revising personnel guidelines; removing 7
1919 a personnel appeals board; revising the personnel 8
2020 appeals process and procedure; revising the 9
2121 qualifications for the executive director; removing 10
2222 the exclusion of certain personnel from civil service 11
2323 protections; providing an effective date. 12
2424 13
2525 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 14
2626 15
2727 Section 1. Subsections (b) and (c) of section 4 , 16
2828 subsections (a) and (f) of section 10, section 11, subsection 17
2929 (a) of section 12, and section 13 of section 3 of chapter 2001 -18
3030 324, Laws of Florida, are amended to read: 19
3131 Section 4. Governing body. — 20
3232 (b) Members shall be elected, in the primary and gen eral 21
3333 elections held in 1984, by districts under the district plan of 22
3434 the Board of County Commissioners of Escambia County 23
3535 (hereinafter referred to as the "Board"). Each member shall be 24
3636 an elector of the district from which he or she is elected and 25
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4545 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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4747 shall be elected by the qualified electors of that respective 26
4848 district. Members elected for Districts Two and Four at the 27
4949 general election held in 1984 shall be elected to a 2 -year term. 28
5050 Members elected for Districts One, Three, and Five at the 29
5151 general election held in 1984 shall serve for a 4 -year term. 30
5252 Thereafter each member shall be elected for a term of 4 years. 31
5353 Beginning in 1996, the term of office of each member shall 32
5454 commence on the second Tuesday following the general election in 33
5555 which such member is electe d. Upon the expiration of a term of 34
5656 office, a successor to the office shall be elected as designated 35
5757 in this paragraph; however, upon the occasion of a vacancy for 36
5858 any elected office which vacancy occurs prior to the expiration 37
5959 of the then present term of that office, a successor shall be 38
6060 appointed by the Governor and the successor shall be a resident 39
6161 of the district in which the vacancy occurred. Any person 40
6262 appointed to fill a vacancy shall be appointed to serve only for 41
6363 the unexpired term and until a succ essor is duly elected. If the 42
6464 Governor fails to make an appointment within 90 days after the 43
6565 date of the vacancy, the chair of the Board shall nominate two 44
6666 persons from the district in which the vacancy occurred as 45
6767 potential candidates to fill the vacancy. The remaining members, 46
6868 excluding the chair, shall select by majority vote one of the 47
6969 two nominees to fill the vacancy. 48
7070 (c) Members shall be eligible for reelection. Any person 49
7171 elected to two consecutive full terms as a member of the Board 50
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8080 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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8282 subsequent to July 1, 2021, is not eligible for election to the 51
8383 Board for the next succeeding term. 52
8484 Section 10. Personnel. — 53
8585 (a) The authority may adopt policies for the appointment, 54
8686 removal, or suspension of is empowered to appoint, remove, and 55
8787 suspend employees or agents of the authority and fix their 56
8888 compensation, which policies shall be no less protective than 57
8989 the protections required under part II of chapter 110, Florida 58
9090 Statutes within the guidelines established by the Escambia 59
9191 County Civil Service Rules . 60
9292 (f) Employees of the authority are subject to the civil 61
9393 service system of Escambia County and to the policies and rules 62
9494 of the Civil Service Board. 63
9595 Section 11. Personnel disciplinary proceedings appeals 64
9696 board.—The authority shall conduct all employee or agent 65
9797 disciplinary proceedings according to its policies adopted 66
9898 pursuant to section 10, which shall be no less protective than 67
9999 the rules of the Department of Management Services, or its 68
100100 successor, adopted pursuant to s. 110.227, Florida Statutes, as 69
101101 may be subsequently amended, including, without limitation, 70
102102 proceedings for corrective action, termination of employees or 71
103103 agents, and appeals. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing 72
104104 contained herein shall be deemed to subject the authority to the 73
105105 jurisdiction of the Department of Management Services, including 74
106106 the authority within the definition of the term "agency" for 75
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115115 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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117117 purposes of chapter 110, Florida Statutes, or to require appeals 76
118118 to be handled by the Public Employees Relations Commission. The 77
119119 authority may engage the services of administrative law judges 78
120120 through the Division of Administrative Hearings to render 79
121121 nonbinding recommended orders to the executive director for such 80
122122 appeals. 81
123123 (a) There shall be appointed a personnel appeals board 82
124124 comprised of two members appointed by the authority, two members 83
125125 chosen by employees of the authority classified below the level 84
126126 of department head, and one member appointed by the other four 85
127127 members. The members of the board shall serve a term of 1 year. 86
128128 An appointment to a vacant position on the board shall be filled 87
129129 in the manner of the original appointment to that position. The 88
130130 board shall hear appeals from suspensions, demotions, or 89
131131 dismissals or of employees of the authority classified below the 90
132132 level of department hea d and not designated as other key staff 91
133133 personnel by the authority as provided in section 13. The 92
134134 decisions of the board on such appeals shall be final, subject 93
135135 to review by the Circuit Court of Escambia County. The board may 94
136136 investigate and make recommend ations to the executive director 95
137137 of the authority on major policy and procedural questions 96
138138 relating to personnel management and on individual grievances by 97
139139 employees. However, the recommendations of the board on such 98
140140 matters shall be advisory only. The boa rd may employ legal 99
141141 counsel, and a reasonable budget for such purpose shall be 100
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150150 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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152152 provided by the authority. The executive director of the 101
153153 authority shall provide the administrative services required by 102
154154 the board. 103
155155 (b) Notwithstanding anything provided herei n or in any 104
156156 special or general act to the contrary, the rights and benefits 105
157157 herein granted shall be in lieu of and substitution for any 106
158158 rights and benefits such employees may have had under any civil 107
159159 service or personnel system of the City of Pensacola or Escambia 108
160160 County. 109
161161 Section 12. Process and procedure. — 110
162162 (a) Any person wishing to appeal a termination of 111
163163 services; assessment of fees, charges, or fines; notice of claim 112
164164 of lien; or increase in security deposit an action of the 113
165165 authority that directly affects his or her substantial interests 114
166166 may file a petition for review within 10 days after of the date 115
167167 the complained of action is taken. The authority shall consider 116
168168 such petitions for review and shall take action at a public 117
169169 meeting to grant or deny su ch petitions within 40 days after of 118
170170 receipt. 119
171171 Section 13. Executive director. —The authority shall employ 120
172172 and fix the compensation of an executive director, who shall 121
173173 manage the affairs of the utilities systems under the 122
174174 supervision of the authority and direct the activities of the 123
175175 employees of the authority. The executive director shall devote 124
176176 his or her entire working time to the performance of his or her 125
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185185 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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187187 duties and not have outside employment or business. The 126
188188 executive director shall be a college graduate. The executive 127
189189 director must either possess a degree in science, engineering, 128
190190 business management, or public administration or, alternatively, 129
191191 must be a licensed and registered engineer. The executive 130
192192 director shall have at least 6 years of experience in the field 131
193193 of engineering, operations, or management of a utility system of 132
194194 size comparable to or larger than the water and sewer system of 133
195195 the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority at the time of the vacancy 134
196196 of the position City of Pensacola in 1981 . The authority may 135
197197 allow the substitution of additional years of administrative or 136
198198 management experience in lieu of the specific educational or 137
199199 professional requirements set forth above. The executive 138
200200 director, the assistant execu tive director, the department 139
201201 heads, and such other key staff personnel so designated by the 140
202202 authority shall not be included within any civil service system 141
203203 or be under the jurisdiction of the personnel appeals board. 142
204204 Section 2. This act shall take eff ect upon becoming a law. 143