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11-07-2007 - Special CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 7, 2007 6:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Thomas called the Special Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Michael Thomas Councilwoman Debra Rogers Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Manager Jon Williams City Clerk Susan wadsworth Assistant City Attorney Michael Ciocchetti Present Present Absent Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There were no minutes to be approved at this time. 3. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/PLAQUES/CERTIFICATES/DON ATIONS There were no Presentations at this time. 4. CITIZEN COMMENTS The following citizen spoke: Pat Card, 3019 Willow Oak Drive, stated in the absence of Mr. Vincenzi it was his desire to thank him for his service anyway. There have been many things he and Dennis have disagreed on but there has never been a time that he felt he couldn't find something in Dennis Vincenzi to respect. Page 1 of 8 Council Special Meeting November 7,2007 He read a quote written by Theodore Roosevelt a hundred years ago. He thanked Dennis Vincenzi, even in his absence, for his service to this community. 5. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilwoman Rhodes had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Lichter commented on an editorial written by Bill Hill. She further stated all you really need to know you should have learned in kindergarten. She feels this will help in politics. She feels what they should have learned in kindergarten applies to the City Council, the City and all their adult endeavors. She listed the rules that are listed in the book called "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten". It's not all serious. They have to be able to enjoy what they are doing up there. All of this is still true. No matter how old you are, when you go out in the world it's best to hold hands and stick together. Councilwoman Rogers stated if Councilman Vincenzi was there she was going to let him know she has enjoyed her time up there with him, she will miss him and she hopes he comes to the Council meetings and give them some wisdom. She has always found it interesting sometimes when things were going quick and she would speak very quickly that Dennis would rephrase some of the things she would say and he would make such perfect sense. She is sad that Councilwoman Lichter would be leaving. In as much as they have had their animosities, she does respect her. She looks up to her and she has always been taught to respect her elders. She wished Councilwoman Lichter good luck. She hopes she doesn't make herself absent at the Council meetings. In as much as through trials and adversity, you learn things, good and bad, no matter what side you are sitting on. It has been a pleasure to watch her. 6. CONSENT AGENDA There were no items on the Consent Agenda to be discussed at this time. 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. Res. 2007-R-15 ratifying the results from the City election held on November 6, 2007 and the Page 2 of8 Council Special Meeting November 7, 2007 results of the ballot question regarding the Charter Amendment Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti read Res. 2007-R-15 into the record. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to approve Res. 2007-R-15, second by Councilwoman Rogers. The MOTION CARRIED 4 - 0 . SWEARING IN OF NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS City Clerk Wadsworth swore in Councilwoman Gigi Bennington for District 2 and Councilman Ted Cooper for District 4. ROLL CALL Mayor Michael Thomas Councilwoman Debra Rogers Councilwoman Gigi Bennington Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilman Ted Cooper City Manager Jon Williams City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Assistant City Attorney Michael Ciocchetti Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present 8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS A. Mayor's consideration of his appointments/reappointments for Volusia Council of Governments (VCOG), Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) , Water Authority of Volusia (WAV) , & Southeast Volusia Community Board - Edgewater YMCA Mayor Thomas went over his appointments. Mayor Thomas volunteered to serve on the Volusia Council of Governments again with Councilwoman Rogers serving as the alternate. Mayor Thomas stated Councilwoman Rogers sits on that now and he is the alternate. He volunteered to be the alternate and he thought she wanted to volunteer to do that Page 3 of8 Council Special Meeting November 7,2007 again. She has been serving for two years and he feels they need her experience. Mayor Thomas volunteered to serve on the Water Authority of Volusia, replacing Councilwoman Lichter. Mayor Thomas stated since he volunteered to take over WAV he thought Councilwoman Rhodes volunteered to serve on the Southeast Volusia Community Board. Mayor Thomas stated Councilwoman Rhodes has also volunteered to serve on the General Employees Pension Board. Councilwoman Rhodes stated all of them attend a meeting but they rarely come back and give reports on what went on at the meetings they attended. She felt it might be important for them to make that a habit to do that from now on. She suggested they put it on the agenda as Board Reports. Mayor Thomas stated he thought they tried to do that. Councilwoman Lichter always gave a report on the WAV. He serves on the VCOG Smart Growth Committee and he always tried to give an update on that. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if they could make it an agenda item. Mayor Thomas informed her that was fine. There was further discussion regarding the Councilmembers giving a report from the meetings they attend. VOLUSIA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS Councilwoman Rhodes moved to appoint Mayor Thomas as the representative with Councilwoman Rogers as the alternate on the Vol usia Council of Governments, second by Councilwoman Rogers. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . VOLUSIA COUNTY METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION (MPO) Councilwoman Rogers moved to appoint herself as the representative on the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization with Councilwoman Bennington serving as the alternate, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . Page 4 of8 Council Special Meeting November 7, 2007 WATER AUTHORITY OF VOLUSIA Mayor Thomas stated he volunteered to be the representative on the Water Authority of Volusia. He asked Councilman Cooper if he would be able to serve as the alternate. Councilman Cooper agreed to serve as the alternate. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to appoint Mayor Thomas as the representative on the Water Authority of Volusia with Councilman Cooper serving as the alternate, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . SOUTHEAST VOLUSIA COMMUNITY BOARD - EDGEWATER YMCA Councilwoman Rhodes moved to appoint Councilman Cooper to the Southeast Vol usia Community Board - Edgewater YMCA, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5-0. B. City Council appointment for the General Employees Pension Board Councilwoman Bennington moved to appoint Councilwoman Rhodes to the General Employees Pension Board, second by Councilwoman Rogers. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - o. C. Vice Mayor Appointment Mayor Thomas passed the gavel to Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti and nominated Councilwoman Rhodes to serve as Vice Mayor, second by Councilwoman Rogers. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . Councilwoman Rhodes thanked Mayor Thomas for the nice things he said about her. 9. OTHER BUSINESS There was no Other Business to be discussed at this time. Page 5 0[8 Council Special Meeting November 7, 2007 10. OFFICER REPORTS A. City Clerk City Clerk Wadsworth welcomed the two new members on the Council and she was sure they would get a lot of work done. B. City Attorney Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti welcomed the two new Councilmembers. C. City Manager City Manager Williams also welcomed the two new members to the Council. He looks forward to working through some of the issues they have facing the City. He advised the Council that he has taken the liberty of scheduling an Executive Session for November 27th at 6:00 p.m. to allow the two new members an opportunity to discuss the issues that remain with the contract negotiations. 1) Tentative Agenda Items There were no Tentative Agenda Items to be discussed at this time. 11. CITIZEN COMMENTS The following citizen spoke: Jim Sylvester, 2209 Orange Tree Drive, welcomed Councilman Cooper and Councilwoman Bennington. They have two fresh faces, they have no height restriction on commercial buildings now. It is time to move forward. He is glad to see everyone smiling. He wants his taxes lowered by expanding the tax base, not by cutting jobs or services. They are on a good road to do that. One thing he noticed when he was here Monday he picked up a magazine called the Islander. In the back of that was an article about Restorations. It gives a very nice picture of what Restorations is planned to be. It was brought out to him this morning that Planning & Zoning and the Building Department has no way of putting any teeth in any of these plans. A developer can paint a beautiful picture but then he doesn't have to deliver. That picture showed walking paths, bicycle paths, nature trails, wind forms for free Page 60f8 Council Special Meeting November 7,2007 energy and he thinks they need something that will allow them to ensure that the developer does that. He thinks they need to go back and review their master plans and make sure when a developer advertises he is going to do something like this that he does actually do it. Not too long ago they did a preempted strike in case someone wanted to open a sex store in the City. It was many pages of documentation to make sure nobody opens a sex store in downtown Edgewater. He thinks they need to make a preempted strike to make sure no developer in the future advertises one thing and delivers something else. He thinks they all had a handful of that with Florida Shores and they built all these lots and all these houses and didn't put in the infrastructure for it. Let's be sure that in the future when a developer promises something they have the teeth in the codes to make sure he does it. Mayor Thomas stated in response to that, that is one of the reasons he ran. He patrolled and hunted that for 30 years and it upset him when he saw it being sold and going to be developed. He thought 40% was wetlands out there. You can't hide from development and you can't stop it but you can make sure it is done correctly. They have already changed their name. He sat down with Mr. Mears and he has already changed the plans again and he was sure they would change again. He guaranteed it would be done correctly. Mayor Thomas congratulated Councilman Cooper. Councilman Cooper stated this has been a humbling experience. He thanked all the people that supported him. He thinks the people that are taking an effort in their City did get out and vote and make a statement. He feels the Council is about to put a new face on things and he feels they will see good things come forward. He spoke of setting up a Committee that will be headed by City Manager Williams and bring the developers in and start to hold people accountable with things in writing. He thinks they are going to see a lot of good things start to go forward. He thinks the Council is ready to have things go forward. He was very humbled and very honored to be there. Councilwoman Bennington stated it is a privilege to be sitting there. She appreciated the opportunity to serve the City again. She thanked all the people that voted for her and her workers. She couldn't have done it without them. She feels the City is now ready to go in a forward Page 7 of 8 Council Special Meeting November 7, 2007 direction. She agreed with Mayor Thomas and Councilman Cooper that the developers have to be held in check to their word and that was one of the things she promised. She will serve the City with the honesty and integrity that the City deserves. Mayor Thomas welcomed Councilwoman Bennington and Councilman Cooper. He hopes they can work as a team. He told them to never be afraid to give their opinion. He feels various opinions are very healthy and discussions are very healthy. Hopefully they can work as a team and compromise on a lot of things. 12 . ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Rhodes moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page 8 of8 Council Special Meeting November 7,2007