Foreword

George Merrick founded the City of Coral Gables in 1921. The City was incorporated by Special Act of the Florida Legislature, Chapter 10418 of the Laws of Florida, on April 29, 1925, which approved the original Charter for the City of Coral Gables. In 1925, the Legislature amended the original Charter by three separate acts (Chapters 10419, 11439, and 11440, Laws of Florida). In 1927, the Legislature amended the Charter through the adoption of three additional Special Acts (Chapters 12631, 12632, and 12633, Laws of Florida). The original Charter, as well as the six above amendments, were repealed on May 8, 1929 when, by Special Act (Chapter 13972, Laws of Florida), the Florida Legislature granted limited home rule powers to the City of Coral Gables. The 1929 Special Act created a new City Charter, which empowered the City to govern itself on certain limited matters through a City Commission and Mayor as opposed to being wholly reliant upon Special Acts of the Florida Legislature for governance. Thereafter, the City Charter was amended by referendums as well as by Special Acts of the Florida Legislature (See Appendix C: Charter Amendments).

On January 1, 1954, with the approval of the City Attorney, the City Clerk for the City of Coral Gables, E.B. Poorman, issued an unofficial compilation of the Charter (the "Compiled Charter" or "CC"). This document was a compilation of the Charter approved May 8, 1929 (Chapter 13972, Laws of Florida) with all amendments thereto, and all the acts granting special powers or immunities to the City up to July 1, 1953. While the Compiled Charter was "unofficial," its text was prepared from reliable historical sources, copies of the legislative acts that were certified by the Secretary of State, legislative acts located in City files, or from laws contained within the official bound volumes of laws of each legislative session. Accordingly, the Charter was amended in reliance upon and with reference to the provisions in the Compiled Charter.

In 1973, the Florida Legislature passed the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act (the "Act"), Florida Statutes Section 166.011 et seq., which codified the broad powers granted to municipalities in Article VIII, Section 2(b) of the Florida Constitution. The Act granted to municipalities "governmental, corporate, and proprietary powers to enable them to conduct municipal government, perform municipal functions, and render municipal services, and [to] exercise any power for municipal purposes, except when expressly prohibited by law." Through the Act, the City was granted full home rule power and it no longer relies on the Florida Legislature to adopt special acts to resolve its day-to-day governance needs.

On May 21, 1957, Dade County (today "Miami-Dade County") was also granted broad home rule powers through the Dade County Home Rule Amendment to the Florida Constitution, Article VIII, Section 11 of the Florida Constitution. Consequently, while the City has broad home rule powers, it is constrained or pre-empted in certain areas by the Dade County Home Rule Amendment and the Dade County Home Rule Charter that was adopted pursuant to such Amendment. Likewise, the City is constrained or pre-empted in certain areas that are expressly or implicitly reserved to the Florida Legislature. As a result, over the years some of the City's Charter provisions have been repealed, reserved, or converted to ordinances by acts of both the Florida Legislature and/or Miami-Dade County. While past versions of the City's Charter retained references to those repealed, reserved, and/or converted provisions, this version of the Charter does not contain placeholders for, or references to, those provisions, for the purpose of making it more reader-friendly. Additionally, this Charter has been re-numbered; thus, its new numbered references differ from those in its past versions.

In addition, of note is Section 6.02 of the Dade County Home Rule Charter, which expressly states that:

[E]ach municipality shall have the authority to exercise all powers relating to its local affairs not inconsistent with this Charter. Each municipality may provide for higher standards of zoning, service, and regulation than those provided by the Board of County Commissioners in order that its individual character and standards may be preserved for its citizens.

This broad grant of authority to municipalities within the County Charter allows the City of Coral Gables to enforce City Charter provisions and City ordinances consistent with the broad grant of authority in Section 6.02. Likewise, the Dade County Home Rule Amendment protects municipalities in Dade County, such as the City of Coral Gables, from having their authority limited by any local, special, or general law of local application.

Finally, this version of the Charter is gender neutral.