Sunny Isles Beach

Population Shifts

Voters to decide on charter changes in November

By Randy Abraham

Growth in the city’s northern and southern regions has unbalanced the population of city commission districts, so in November city voters will be asked to approve two related charter changes.

The first would redefine the city’s commission district boundaries. When the city was formed in 1997, much of its population was based at the Winston Tower complex, but ongoing development has brought high-rise residential complexes to the north and south. Commissioner Lewis Thaler said his northern commission district is now the most populous in the city; Commission Roslyn Brezin said her area south of Sunny Isles Boulevard is poised for additional development. But Commissioner Gerry Goodman, who resides in Winston Towers, joked that currently his district only includes a city block.

“This will give you another block,” Mayor Norman Edelcup quipped.

A second proposed charter change, also scheduled for the Nov. 4 general election, would ask city voters to convert an at-large commission district to a residential district. The city’s charter provides for an at-large seat open to candidates residing anywhere in the city, and three district commission seats, which must be filled by candidates who reside within specific geographic districts. The mayor is elected at-large. If the charter change is approved, one at-large commission seat would become a south central district seat.

However, the city hasn’t yet considered rescheduling its future municipal elections to coincide with general state and federal elections as the city of Aventura did in an April mail-in vote. Aventura residents approved a charter referendum to move the municipal elections from March in odd-numbered years to November in even-numbered years. Sitting Aventura commissioners whose terms would expire in March 2009 now will serve until November 2010. Those whose terms were set to expire in March 2011 will now serve until November 2012.

Aventura officials say they initiated the change when the county sent a letter early this year that recommended rescheduling local elections to save money and boost voter turnout by aligning them with state and federal elections. Aventura City Manager Eric Soroka estimated that the switch would save the city about $70,000 per election.

“The county did send us a letter [suggesting an election date change], but so far we haven’t taken any action,” Edelcup said. “We only have five voting precincts in the city, so I don’t believe it would be the same magnitude of savings as expected by the city of Aventura, but it’s something we will probably look at in the future.”