Editing Melbourne Village, Florida (section)

==Government==
The Town of Melbourne Village is governed by a Town Commission of seven members, one of whom is the Mayor/Commissioner. By town charter, these are unpaid positions. The Mayor and Commissioners are non-partisan positions and are elected in November during the general elections for two year terms. Terms are staggered, with three commission seats up for election each year plus the mayoral seat up every other year. Each year, the Commission elects one of their members as the Vice Mayor. The Commission meets at least once a month to deal with town business, in a modified "town hall"-style meeting. This form of government is a mixture of the [[Council-manager government|"Council-Manager"]] and the [[Mayor-council government|"Mayor-Council"]] systems, as the Mayor is elected (rather than appointed) yet does have a vote on the Commission. While the Mayor is responsible for the day-to-day executive oversight and guidance for the town (in essence, the Town's "city manager"), the Commission can reverse or direct the Mayor's actions.

Three departments serve the town with paid employees:  Administration, Public Works, and Public Safety. The latter has been contracted to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.

===American Homesteading Foundation===
The American Homesteading Foundation was the entity behind the founding of Melbourne Village. All homeowners in the town are given the option of being members of the AHF.<ref>[http://www.melbourne-village.com/ American Homesteading Foundation]</ref>  The AHF was founded in 1946 by Virginia Wood, Elizabeth Nutting, and Margaret Hutchinson, and is a not-for-profit corporation and independent of the official municipality.  The AHF serves the community by owning, maintaining, and operating all the community property within the town, and sponsors recreational and educational activities throughout the year.<ref>http://www.melbourne-village.com/multimedia/calendar.html{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} AHF Calendar and Scheduled Events</ref>  The community property includes approximately {{Convert|45|acre}} of parks and paths, the Village Hall, and the AHF Swimming Pool. In its modern form, the main function of the AHF is sometimes described as an independent self-funded Parks and Recreation department for the town's residents.

===Community involvement===
More than 25 percent of the residents of Melbourne Village are routinely involved in committees and volunteer events.  In the 2008 elections, voter turnout for Melbourne Village (Precinct 31) was 95 percent.<ref>[http://www.votebrevard.com/pdfs/2008genvoterturnoutbypct.pdf Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Voter Turnout Report 2008 General Election] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211115640/http://votebrevard.com/pdfs/2008genvoterturnoutbypct.pdf |date=February 11, 2011 }}</ref> Even in non-presidential election years, turnout is typically 60 percent<ref>[http://www.votebrevard.com/pdfs/2007cityvoterturnoutbypct.pdf Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Voter Turnout Report 2007 General Election] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211123056/http://votebrevard.com/pdfs/2007cityvoterturnoutbypct.pdf |date=February 11, 2011 }}</ref> to 80 percent.<ref>[http://www.votebrevard.com/pdfs/2006genvoterturnoutbypct.pdf Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Voter Turnout Report 2006 General Election] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211122307/http://votebrevard.com/pdfs/2006genvoterturnoutbypct.pdf |date=February 11, 2011 }}</ref>

===Planned development===
The Vision 2012 Committee was chartered by the Town Commission in March 2006, as a response to trends and concerns about recent construction that, if not addressed, could significantly change the existing neighborhood character via the larger size of structures, greater lot coverage, and the loss of green-space.<ref>[http://www.melbourne-village.com/20060805flatoday.html Reprint of Florida Today article, August 5, 2006]</ref>

The result of this work was the Responsible Growth Plan,<ref name="RGP">Town of Melbourne Village, Ordinance 2007-01</ref> a set of ordinances that developed building coverage ranges for all lot sizes, devised incentive strategies to encourage homeowners and builders to minimize the visual and environmental impact of larger lot coverage, improved the town's code emphasis on tree canopy, green conservation, and native vegetation,<ref>Town of Melbourne Village, Ordinance 2008-01</ref> and provided a way to manage all these objectives via the Town Review Board.<ref name="RGP" />