Pinellas County voters will find six proposed amendments to the county charter on the Nov. 8 ballot. The amendments were proposed by the Charter Review Commission, a group of elected officials and residents appointed every eight years to propose updates to the charter. All of the amendments should be approved.
Charter amendment No. 1 would make it easier to put charter amendments on the ballot through petition drives. It would reduce the signatures required to propose a charter amendment from 10 percent of registered Pinellas voters to 8 percent. It also allows more time for gathering signatures, from 180 to 240 days.
Charter amendment No. 2 would add a financial impact statement with charter amendments that appear on the ballot. The charter currently has no requirement that voters be informed of the cost of proposed amendments.
Charter amendment No. 3 would create a County Redistricting Board, appointed by the County Commission, to review and draw commission district lines every 10 years. Now commissioners draw the districts.
Charter amendment No. 4 would put the county attorney under the purview of the County Commission and the five constitutional officers — sheriff, clerk of court, property appraiser, supervisor of elections and tax collector. The county attorney works for all those offices now, but only the County Commission has the authority to hire, fire and annually review the attorney.
Charter amendment No. 5 would require members of the Charter Review Commission live in the district of the commissioner who appoints them. This helps ensure countywide representation on the charter review board.
Charter amendment No. 6 removes outdated language in the charter, including references to entities that no longer exist or state law that has changed.
The amendments, generally ministerial in nature, would be positive changes to the charter and make county government more responsive to citizens. On all six Pinellas County charter amendments, the Tampa Bay Times recommends voting yes.