Friutland Park May Increase Residency Requirements for Office Due to New Villagers

[KeepingItReal]

Fruitland Park moving closer to districting - Daily Commercial: News (http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/article_b56f6216-2796-5306-bf6f-f419fb126845.html)


City Attorney Scott Gerken plans to study the issue.
“There may be some [statutory] limitations [governing candidate residence requirements],” Gerken said.
“I don’t think you could say 20 years, but then I don’t think the one-year requirement is written in stone either,” he explained.

Fruitland Park’s new majority will begin arriving early next year. If the timeline projected by The Villages developers holds, 4,000 new voters will be able to cast ballots in the 2016 elections and the earliest arrivals could qualify to run for commission seats then or even for mayor.
Extending the city’s candidate residency requirement to two years would prevent Villages of Fruitland Park newcomers from qualifying for a city post until 2018, or the mayoral race in 2020.
That transition period would give the city time to adjust to its new majority, and vice-versa, commissioners agreed.
Legislation and court decisions regarding residency requirements for municipal office are unclear.

[njbchbum]

Sounds like a great idea! But why do the papers always cite 4,000 residents when you know a fair number of folks who purchase there will not be state residents?

[theorem painter]

It seems to me that the municipality of Fruitland Park should be happy about the huge increase in their tax base due to The Villages residents rather than acting like residents are going to over throw their government as soon as they move in.

[asianthree]

don't you think it will take 10 years for people to be full time to change a vote

[kansasr]

It didn't take that long for The Villages and the developer to change the election rules for the Sumter County Commission to favor The Villages!

[Bizdoc]

I think that the folks in Fruitland Park are setting themselves up to become a non-city. Given all of their discussion about preventing a group of people (the incoming Villagers) from running for office and limiting their influence on how things are done, they have provided an even half-witted attorney everything he or she needs to sue them out of existence.