Lady Lake officials are prepared to explore the possibility of revising the town charter, following a workshop session Thursday morning at Town Hall.
The charter hasn’t been touched in 40 years and gives a great deal of power to the town manager. That became a point of contention after the abrupt departure of Police Chief Chris McKinstry in December.
The first step would be recruiting citizens to serve on a charter revision committee, something Fruitland Park and Wildwood did in 2014. Ultimately, Fruitland Park voters approved the proposed changes to the city charter while Wildwood voters turned them down.
Commissioner Paul Hannan suggested looking to the ranks of volunteers who serve on town boards, such as the Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Parks, Recreation and Tree Advisory Committee.
However, Town Manager Kris Kollgaard cautioned that in some instances, people serving on those boards are not residents of Lady Lake and are not as invested in the town. She suggested ensuring that each of the town’s five wards be represented.
The recommendations from the committee would be reviewed by the commissioners and then put before the voters. Commissioners indicated they were leaning toward putting the charter revisions on the 2020 ballot, as it would be a presidential election year and turnout will be higher.
Mayor Jim Richards was not enthusiastic about revising the town charter.
“It’s like the Constitution of our country, those were some pretty smart people. Just looking at it for the sake of looking at it, doesn’t make much sense to me,” he said.