§ 2.01. City commission; district boundaries established for residency to qualify for candidacy; reappointment.

The city commission shall consist of five (5) city commissioners and a mayor who are elected at-large on a nonpartisan basis. Each city commissioner shall be a qualified elector of the city and shall be a resident of the district from which he or she is elected. The mayor shall be a qualified elector of the city and may reside in any district within the city. City commissioners and the mayor shall be elected by a citywide vote. The boundary for each of the five (5) districts for the office of city commissioner is described in Appendix B of this Charter. The district boundaries may change by annexation, contraction and reapportionment in accordance with this charter.

A candidate for the office of mayor shall have continuously resided in the city during the six-month period immediately prior to the date of election. A candidate for the office of city commissioner shall have continuously resided during the six-month period immediately prior to the date of election in the respective district from which the candidate seeks to qualify for election. The city commission by ordinance may provide for evidence acceptable to establish domicile or legal residence.

The mayor shall reside continuously in the city during the mayor's term of office. Each city commissioner shall reside continuously during the commissioner's term of office in the district from which the commissioner was elected.

The district boundaries shall be reapportioned every ten (10) years based upon the official Florida State and Federal Census. The city commission shall adopt an ordinance containing the reapportionment within six (6) months of the date of official publication of the most recent official Florida State and Federal Census.

District boundaries shall be reapportioned to create districts of nearly equal population. Districts shall be arranged in a logical and compact geographic pattern and shall promote fair representation. Service boundaries of public facilities shall be considered.

(Res. No. 75-93, § 5, 3-25-1993; Ord. No. 2787-94, § 1, 2-13-1995; Ord. No. 3023-97, § 1, 1-27-1997; Ord. No. 4392-11, 11-28-2011)

Editor's note

As provided in section 2 of Ord. No. 3023-97, adopted Jan. 27, 1997, section 1 of said ordinance shall be effective and operative on Jan. 1, 1998 for the March 1998 election, since approved by the voters at a referendum held on March 11, 1997.