03-29-2010 - Special
CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER
SPECIAL MEETING
MARCH 29, 2010
6:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
MINUTES
1. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Thomas called the Special Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in
the Council Chambers.
ROLL CALL
Mayor Michael Thomas
Councilwoman Debra Rogers
Councilwoman Gigi Bennington
Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes
Councilman Ted Cooper
City Manager Tracey Barlow
City Clerk Bonnie Wenzel
Assistant City Attorney Michael Ciocchetti
INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
Present
There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the
Flag.
Councilwoman Rhodes requested the City get a new flag for the
Council Chambers.
2. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Request to authorize the City Manager to proceed with the
non-revolving Line of Credit with Wachovia Bank, not to
exceed $750,000
Finance Director McKinney went through the attached Powerpoint
Presentation regarding the Wachovia Line of Credit and the
eligible grants from the General Fund. He pointed out to
Council he left out the Eastern Shores grant out of the
Powerpoint. He made mention of disputing the Initial Draw of
$200,000.
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
City Manager Barlow further commented on the Fire Station 55
Retrofit and what they had authorized and what they were going
to do. He informed Council they had not committed to the Fire
Station grant.
Councilwoman Rogers stated initially the design fees were
$145,000 and now Finance Director McKinney said $170,000 and
then he indicated that the grant was for approximately $1.4
million and the cost was $1.9 million. Finance Director
McKinney informed her the grant was for $1.14 million. They had
a potential change order that would have to come before Council
at the next Council meeting from the architect. He further
commented on how he came up with the costs questioned by
Councilwoman Rogers. Councilwoman Rogers estimated the cost to
the City for the Fire Station retrofit to be approximately
$800,000 after the grant. She felt that was what they had to
look at. She then asked when they anticipated the Fire Station
to be built. City Manager Barlow estimated it to be the first
of next year before they went into the construction phase.
Councilwoman Rogers stated so they were looking at having an
additional $800,000 hitting their budget this year and they
already know they are going to have some issues with tax
revenues. City Manager Barlow further explained for the Council
what would happen and their options.
There was a brief discussion regarding $158,000 that was spent
in design fees. City Manager Barlow explained that design stays
with the City and these being blueprints the City can carryon.
City Manager Barlow commented on if they couldn't do the Fire
Station this year because of the economy they could shelf the
plans and do the project later. He referred to New Smyrna who
held onto their plans for a while until the economy was right
before they built some of their stations.
Councilman Cooper asked if there was any offsetting money, such
as impact fees, that would help with the $800,000 indebtedness.
City Manager Barlow informed him no.
Councilwoman Rogers commented on City Manager Barlow making
mention that they could go through the process and if they
decided not to construct it now at least they would have the
design complete. That is great but that design would be based
upon today's Codes and if it was put on the back burner for two
or three years they would have to deal with the most recent
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
Codes that are going to be mandated. They may end up incurring
more costs at that time.
Councilwoman Rogers stated everyone would have loved to have a
new City Hall. She spoke of what has been done to City Hall and
it not being brand new but it is usable. It has given them some
additional life. She asked City Manager Barlow if he had looked
at that opportunity to do the same thing at the Fire Station.
City Manager Barlow stated unfortunately it was beyond a face
lift. The Fire Station was constructed in the 1960's or 1970's
and it wasn't constructed for the apparatus it is being used for
today. It would take more to retrofit that Station than it
would to bulldoze it.
Councilman Cooper asked if the grant had a drop dead time period
on it. If they only end up with the design plan, there would be
no grant money available for that and that it would be an
expenditure. City Manager Barlow informed him it would be an
expenditure out of the Fire Impact Fund which had no influence
on the ad valorem millage. He thought they had three years to
do the entire project from start to finish. Councilman Cooper
asked if they gave them any idea of if they started tomorrow how
long it would take. Fire Chief Cousins commented on the
construction taking 12 months. He further commented on the
estimate of $170 per square foot being a reasonable number and
there possibly being opportunities to shrink that down through
the bidding process. City Manager Barlow commented on
estimating prices being tough. He presented an example of New
Smyrna estimating the Riverside Drive project to be $600,000 and
they did the entire job for $290,000 and the pipe on u.S. #1 in
the area of Julia Street that New Smyrna did wound up costing
them triple of what they estimated. They just never know where
prices are coming in. He commented on the engineers tending to
estimate high because they want to look like the heroes when it
comes in low versus if they under estimate and get beat up
because not enough funds were allocated. He stated Finance
Director McKinney was trying to put in a worst case scenario of
what their financial picture would look like as they have to
float this money to take advantage of the grant opportunities
out there so they aren't too low.
Councilman Cooper asked Fire Chief Cousins
had an eighteen month to two year window.
stated they estimated another two or three
design would be completed so they could go
spoke of the bid process being a couple of
3
if he felt at best he
Fire Chief Cousins
months before the
out for bids. He
months. As they are
Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
working the budget for next year they would have a better idea
if and how much additional money would need to be funded. City
Manager Barlow commented on not moving any further until it
comes back to Council and they put their fingerprints on it as a
consensus and tell him yeah or nay. Councilman Cooper felt if
it came in lower it would behoove them to act accordingly
because right now things are low. City Manager Barlow stated
their goal would be to get the bids in at $1.14 million but if
not they have to sit down collectively and make that decision of
what they want to do.
Finance Director McKinney stated worst case scenario he
projected they had $1,947,952 in projects funded by the General
Fund over the next 24 months. He then commented on why he was
asking for the use of a Line of Credit within the General Fund
as it related to the General Fund Reserve and General Fund Cash.
Finance Director McKinney then continued his Powerpoint
Presentation by going over the Eligible Grants in Water/ Sewer
well as the Water/Sewer Reserves and Water/Sewer Available Cash.
Finance Director McKinney then commented on restructuring the
debt that was done back in October. He recommended that this
year they try and set aside some reserves within the Water/Sewer
Fund. They are operating on a 12% to 15% vacancy right now in
their Water/Sewer customers.
Finance Director McKinney continued his Powerpoint Presentation
by going over the Eligible Grants in Stormwater as well as the
Stormwater Reserves and Stormwater Available Cash. He spoke of
Council doing the right things the past year with the adjustment
of the charges for service that they aren't borrowing any money
from the General Fund to pay their debt service off.
Finance Director McKinney pointed out they did have some funds
available but if all of these projects for whatever reason had a
delay on reimbursement, they currently have including the Fire
Station $5,306,508 in grants they were currently working on and
all of them had a funding source for them.
Finance Director McKinney felt a Line of Credit of $750,000 was
more than enough based on their engineer's estimate of not being
out more than roughly $250,000 on a monthly basis.
Councilman Cooper asked if they had the total they would need as
far as the City's side for the projects they went over. Finance
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
Director McKinney informed him it would be two projects, the
amphitheater cover which would be approximately $40,000.
Councilman Cooper commented on this being paid for out of impact
fees. Finance Director McKinney stated the only thing they
would be out out of the City's pocket would be $144,629 for Lift
Station #2.
Councilman Cooper wanted to know the total out of the City's
pocket for the grants that required a match. Finance Director
McKinney informed him he hadn't added that up. Councilman
Cooper asked if $410,000 sounded close. Finance Director
McKinney informed him it did.
Councilman cooper stated so out of the $750,000 what he was
actually asking them for was they may be using $406,000 to
$410,000 of that to activate these grants. City Manager Barlow
commented on the purpose for the Line of Credit. With these
projects they have to pay the contractors and submit for the
reimbursement. When the City gets reimbursed they reimburse the
bank that they borrowed the money from on this Line of Credit.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated it would cost them $10,460 in order
to have money available to reimburse them should they not have
the money in the City's coffers at the time. Finance Director
McKinney commented on between May 1st and June 1st he expected for
the water supply, the storage tank and Eastern Shores an almost
$1 million draw.
City Manager Barlow commented on there being six very large
projects and it being rare that they have the opportunity to
address these all at once.
Mayor Thomas
contractors.
projects had
geographical
asked if they were going to try to use local
Finance Director McKinney informed him all of
already been awarded and they were within the
Volusia area.
the
City Manager Barlow then referred to the Purchasing Policy that
Council adopted and stated they are required to bid it out and
select those contractors by that Purchasing Policy.
Finance Director McKinney commented on the Fire Station. He
spoke of there being Fire Impact Fee money and other grant
opportunities that Fire Chief Cousins and Michelle Grenham have
looked at to absorb some of that cost.
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
There was a brief discussion regarding the $200,000 initial draw
and it costing $10,000 to do the Line of Credit.
Councilman Cooper asked about the 1.73% interest rate and
Finance Director McKinney feeling the offset of the $10,460 was
a value and worth doing it and that being his recommendation.
Finance Director McKinney informed him it was.
City Manager Barlow informed Council this was just commitment
giving them direction to go forward and the final agreement
would be back before them on April 19th.
Councilwoman Rhodes felt they had some opportunities that they
needed to take advantage of. She felt the $10,000 cost was
minimal in order for them to take advantage of the grants. She
felt it was worth the money.
Councilwoman Rhodes made a motion, second by Councilwoman
Bennington.
Councilman Cooper asked if they could amend the motion before
they got started. Councilwoman Rhodes asked him what he wanted
to amend it to. Councilman Cooper stated that it was
specifically used as presented by Finance Director McKinney,
that the money was specifically used for the projects listed.
He felt if they added that to the motion it couldn't go anywhere
but that. Councilwoman Rhodes stated that was the motion.
Councilman Cooper informed her he didn't hear that in her
motion.
The MOTION CARRIED 5-0.
3. OTHER BUSINESS
A. Discussion on Volusia County EMS Division's findings
regarding delayed transport
City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. He couldn't get
into a detailed discussion regarding this particular item based
on being uncertain where it may be going in the long run. He
gave Council a very large overview and presented to them the
opportunity to discuss this with him one on one. He commented
on an incident that occurred on January 8th whereas they had a
response time between 31 or 32 minutes from the ambulance
service to an incident our crews were working on scene. Early
into the incident they requested permission to transport and
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
were denied. The agreement the City had with EVAC to transport
was terminated in October of last year. On March 18th they had a
report sent to them by Mark wilcott from the Volusia County EMS
Division with his alleged findings. He commented on David
Byron, Public Information Officer for the County, e-mailing the
same report with a cover letter to the News Journal stipulating
this was a final report. They have reviewed the report. It is
their belief that there are many inaccurate findings and/or
statements within this report that Mark Wilcott had made. This
investigation occurred and nobody from there has yet to come
down to interview the crew that was on scene or the dispatch
center and makes a lot of assumptions in the report trying to
shift or point blame. He wanted to let the Council know they
had reviewed that incident and they didn't find any violation of
the Volusia County EMS protocols that the paramedic was
operating under at that incident trying to save that
individual's life. He personally looked at some of the
preliminary findings. Captain Danigel and Chief Cousins looked
at the patient care report in comparison as well and did not
find any protocol violations in there. As far as it stands it
is their understanding and their statement that the paramedic
crews did everything they possibly could and within the protocol
and did the appropriate thing by requesting permission to
transport that patient to the hospital.
Councilman Cooper commented on RCC having a meeting on this as
well and it being tabled until all the information and
documentation could be acquired and gone over with the entire
Governing Board before any statements were to be released.
City Manager Barlow stated not only have they done those
inquiries but they have also consulted with the City Attorney
Ansay and Assistant City Attorney Ciochetti, who was present at
the RCC meeting and City Attorney Ansay had since sent out a
public record request to get their information that they don't
have and they were going to evaluate that and continue their
inquiry and Mike and/or Carolyn would be sending a response to
Volusia County.
City Manager Barlow stated the whole incident turned out to be
concern with delayed transport. The first ambulance headed to
that incident was diverted to another call and then they sent a
second one and according to the letter had they known the
particulars of this call, which they did know and they had
evidence of that, the ambulance wouldn't have been diverted.
They weren't saying the call in New Smyrna they diverted to may
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
have been just as equally critical but the fact of the matter
was they had resources on scene to help the ambulance service
which was out of resources there and that was the only offer was
they made every attempt to assist them at a time when they were
inundated with calls.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked what would have happened if they did
it anyway. City Manager Barlow commented on when Deltona did it
several years ago. He felt for the individuals on scene that
were trying to do the right thing. They followed the letter of
the law and they requested permission but they did not receive
permission so they did not transport.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated everybody is pointing fingers at
everybody else but her guess was the lawyers would sort this one
out.
Councilman Cooper referred to a letter he had from the
Firefighters Professional union which was kind of a response to
the article and the documentation he had seen. He asked
Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti if they wanted to, knowing
that one of the responding parties was still waiting for total
investigation and now he hears City Attorney Ansay had a request
in for information, he questioned if they really wanted to
respond to the negative story that came out until they have all
the facts. Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti suggested they
wait until they have all the facts. City Manager Barlow
commented on the letter only being the Union calling for an
investigation. He doesn't work directly for the Union and he
understood and acknowledged their request but that was all that
was. Councilman Cooper stated so they weren't making a formal
response just yet.
Councilman Cooper stated he brought up at the RCC and he wanted
to bring it up at the meeting that there may come a time because
of his position with the City of Edgewater that he may have to
recues himself and he requested the City Attorney's advice when
they feel that opportunity was readily available. He asked to
be kept in the loop whether he should not attend a meeting or he
should be there.
City Manager Barlow request of Councilman Cooper and City Clerk
Wenzel because he doesn't necessarily get the agendas for RCC.
City Clerk Wenzel informed him she doesn't either. City Manager
Barlow asked Councilman Cooper that if he gets the agendas for
RCC and it is an agenda item associated with this call, please
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Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
advise himself and City Clerk Wenzel so they can let City
Attorney Ansay and Assistant City Attorney Ciocchetti know and
they could be present at the RCC meetings. Councilman Cooper
informed him what he understood from Dave Bubb was that they
were going to call them in either individually or in a group
once they had all the material and review all the material with
the RCC Attorney. He felt it behooved them that the particulars
were there as well including EVAC.
4. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Rhodes
moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 6:39 p.m.
Minutes submitted by:
Lisa Bloomer
Attest:
APPROVED:
City of Edgewater, Florida
Bonnie Wenzel, City Clerk
Michael L. Thomas, Mayor
9
Council Special Meeting
March 29, 2010
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