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05-22-2000 - Regular '-' ...., CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING HAY 22, 2000 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Schmidt called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Donald Schmidt Councilman James Brown Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Manager Kenneth Hooper City Attorney Scott Cookson City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Reqular Meetinq of Mav 8. 2000 Councilwoman Rhodes made a motion to approve the May 8, 2000 minutes, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 5-0. PRESENTATIONS I PROCLAMATIONS IPLAQUES ICERTIFICATES I DONATION S There were no presentations at this time. CITIZEN COMMENTS Casper Mannone, 2729 Kumquat Drive, spoke about problems he has had with someone destroying his mailbox over the past three years. He spoke about what he has done to try to take care of this problem. He has gone down his street and his mailbox is the only one being destroyed. He asked what he can do. Chief Schumaker spoke about vandalism. He suggested Mr. Mannone get a post office box. Mr. Mannone spoke about the inconvenience to him if he got a post office box. He assumes it is some type of grudge because only his mail box is being destroyed. Mayor Schmidt asked Mr. Mannone if he had neighbors on all sides of him. Mr. Mannone stated the Electrical Inspector Frank Conrey lives across the street from him. Mayor Schmidt stated it sounds like someone playing a game. He asked Mr. Mannone if he has talked to his closest neighbors and maybe they have heard or seen something. Maybe this would heighten their awareness a little bit on Fridays and Saturdays. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if there is any way to put some type of alarm device on it that creates noise. City Manager Hooper stated he and Chief Schumaker would talk and see if they could come up with some other way to help. Mayor Schmidt suggested having an officer to go out and talk to some of the neighbors. Mr. Mannone stated he would agpreciate that. His suspicion is that it is someone between 28 h and 29th Street but he doesn't want to make any predictions or statements because he can't prove anything. ~ ~ Councilwoman Lichter asked how often this happens. Mr. Mannone informed her he has replaced seven mailboxes in three years. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, stated during the week he came in contact with some people in Oak Hill and the question was raised do they do any excess annexation from Edgewater from Roberts Road to Aerial Road. There are quite a few pieces of property there that people are interested in. He spoke to someone interested in putting in a trailer park on the left hand side just south of Hacienda Del Rio. They were very interested in annexation into Edgewater instead of Oak Hill. He was told maybe that Oak Hill wants to annex, coming north from Oak Hill, where Boston Whaler is. He asked if they are doing any annexations or if it is possible to annex south to Aerial Road. City Manager Hooper explained they have sent letters to numerous property owners between Edgewater and Oak Hill and asked if they would be interested in annexation. They have followed up with some individuals that have come in and met with Lynne Plaskett. They are active in the area. He suggested anybody that has a question about it should contact either him or Ms. Plaskett and they would be very interested in talking to them. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Vincenzi reported that he went to a Recreation/Cultural Services meeting a week or two ago. He feels they are a good group of people that are interested in a lot of different aspects that most people really don't even think about. He congratulated them and feels they are doing an excellent job trying to preserve any culture Edgewater has. Councilwoman Rhodes had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Lichter reminded Council about the Water Summit. The location has been changed. It is scheduled for this Thursday, May 25th, 8:30 a.m. to noon, at the Bill France Room on International Speedway Blvd. She has been attending the Water Alliance meetings for three years and it would be nice to have someone else from the Council join her. She further commented on what will be discussed at the meeting. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about First Call for Help and having a directory printed with every single service orgnaization in it that is non-profit. Our city doesn't have any copies of this directory. She suggested buying three copies for the Police Department, city Hall and the Fire Department. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the sample signs with the advertisements on top. She doesn't feel you can read the signs as you are riding by. She doesn't feel they are going to work. Councilman Brown read a letter he received from Royal Oaks. They wanted to thank Lynne Plaskett and her staff, Dennis Fischer, and City Manager Hooper. Councilwoman Brown stated he is trying to get the rest of the information about Manatee Park. Mayor Schmidt spoke about an Economic Development Board meeting he and Mr. Brown attended. They discussed having a workshop with the City Council to give them some guidance. He feels they all need to get together some time and talk about ideas. He suggested working out a date in the evening. He suggested get in touch with everyone to try and work something out. Manager Hooper asked if they were looking for some time in Mayor Schmidt stated yes. Liz City June. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 '-" """"" Mayor Schmidt spoke about a proclamation he read at the Coast Guard's kickoff for Safe Boating Week. It was disappointing because there weren't a lot of people there. He spoke with the Mayor of New Smyrna and a gentleman from the Coast Guard and they thought it might be a neat idea that next year?, about three months before, they all get together and possibly do some type of co-sponsorship. Right now it is the National Safe Boating Week. Starting next year, Canada will also be included and it is going to go to the North American Safe Boating Week. They are going to contact the Chamber also. Councilwoman Lichter suggested maybe the Indian River Task Force could get involved also. Mayor Schmidt spoke about reclaimed water. He asked if there is something they can do to improve the pressure. He spoke about people at the north end watering seven days a week. He asked if it involves more reminders. He asked what they can do for the south. City Manager Hooper explained currently they have underway a project to take lake water to add it into the reclaimed water but that is some time off. He and Terry will get together and talk about some valving situations you can do or fines if you are caught. There are ways to limit that water going to certain areas. They will report back at the next Council meeting. Mayor Schmidt stated he hates to see fines but there has got to be a way to get across to the north side that the south side would like some water too. City Manager Hooper stated the Water Management District is really pushing so that you put in meters and charge higher rates and you let nature take its course by having it metered. The more you use, the more you pay. That suddenly makes people have some control over what they are doing. New systems from now on are being required when they get permits to put in meters. Ours are not metered and it is a flat rate of $5 per month and you use all you want. They are talking of trying to do that. They will talk about this further at the work session coming over the utility rate structure. Councilwoman Lichter stated even if the amount of money on a meter was very minimal it would at least differentiate against whose got it and who doesn't. It's not even fair to pay $5 if you aren't getting it and if you are, it is certainly worth $10. City Manager Hooper agreed to get Council a report to let them know what they can do. PUBLIC HEARINGS. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. 2nd Reading. Ord. No. 2000-0-11. Amend Chapter 11 (Occupational License Taxes. etc.) Article II (Miscellaneous Taxes and Requlations). Section 11-34 (Reserved) bv enactinq the Bodv Art Code of Ordinances city Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. City Attorney Cookson read Ord. 2000-0-11. City Manager Hooper stated Paul Fell from the County is available to answer any questions. Mayor Schmidt opened the public hearing. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Schmidt closed the public hearing. Councilman Vincenzi made a motion to approve Ord. 2000-0-11, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 '-" 'Wf/I CONSENT AGENDA A. Purchase Item - Police Department reauestina approval to purchase 50 bike helmets from Bell Sports Discount Bike Helmet Proaram for a total cost of $349.50. funded by the Law Enforcement Trust Fund Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve the Consent Agenda, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 5-0. OTHER BUSINESS A. Massey Ranch Blvd. and Skyway Drive Water and Wastewater Extensions - Staff recommendina approval to authorize Quentin L. Hampton to perform enaineerina work to support the West Park Avenue corridor Phase II annexation. and to declare this work impact fee eliaible per Sec. 19-46 of the city of Edaewater Code of Ordinances City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Staff recommends approval. At this time they are finalizing pre-annexation agreements which should be before Council at the last meeting in June. Councilwoman Lichter asked about there being no financial impact but where the money comes from? City Manager Hooper stated the $48,000 comes out of the Enterprise Fund for water and sewer utilities. Councilman Vincenzi moved for approval, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 5-0. B. Air Park Road/Park Avenue Wastewater Improvements - Staff recommending approval to award bid for wastewater improvements to Proaressive Contractors for $590.688.88. City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. This is in the Enterprise Fund. We have money currently available but we are seeking and will be looking for some reimbursements. We are going to do some borrowing to cover some. of these costs at a later date. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they will be getting the money for Phase I or for Phase II. City Manager Hooper explained they are going to borrow more money to do the construction of Phase II. We are probably going to.borrow enough to reimburse the current fund of this $590,000, pay for the construction of Phase II, and then we also have some FIND improvements that will be lumped in there. We are borrowing or using these funds from Terry's Enterprise Fund, which comes from capital improvements of impact fees for water and sewer. They are legitimate funds but there is a portion going into the road building part so they are borrowing that from Terry and that is coming back from the bank borrowing they are going to do. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they are allowed to borrow for road improvements from Terry's money. City manager Hooper informed her yes. Councilwoman Lichter asked why would you borrow from a bank if we already have it? City Manager Hooper stated you have money but you are also going to have other improvements. He further commented on these improvements. Mayor Schmidt asked if he had any amount in mind? City Manager Hooper stated $2 or $2.5 million dollars. Councilwoman Rhodes stated you are killing me here. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 '-'" ..., Mayor Schmidt stated they had talked about a grant of $200,000 for the reclaimed water. City Manager Hooper stated that is correct. Mayor Schmidt questioned the $108,000 difference in the bids that were submitted and asked if this was normal. City Manager Hooper stated yes, right now times are good and contractors are busy. He explained the contractors that are busy will bid higher if they already have a lot of work. Another contractor may be finishing up a job and looking for another so they will bid lower. The economy right now is very good. Mayor Schmidt asked if they could be thinking if they get their foot in the door with Phase I they may have a shot for Phase II. City Manager Hooper explained they are always thinking along those lines. If a good client relationship evolves out of that, then there are ways to work with bidders. Mayor Schmidt asked if they have done local work in the area. Mr. Wadsworth explained Progressive Contractors did some work during the CIP in Florida Shores on the north end, which was the least troublesome for us. They did good quality work. They didn't have any call backs or anything with them. They have got a good knowledge of what goes on here and they have worked with most of the principles in the past. City Manager Hooper spoke about the spending of the money being near and dear to the Council's hearts. If you put the infrastructure in, you will have economic development coming in. When they discuss the budget, he has very good news to report on what is occurring with building permits. Councilwoman Lichter stated she thought the Enterprise Fund was restricted to come in and go out for those purposes related to it. City Manager Hooper explained in a technical sense, it should be spent on water and sewer. You can borrow from it. The City and other cities have in the past. By the time it gets to the audit at the end of the year, you are going to reimburse and put money back into it. You can front some money from it from a loan from it. That is not an unusual concept that is done all the time. . Councilwoman Rhodes stated if you know you are going to borrow money anyway, why would you not borrow it sooner than later. City Manager Hooper spoke about not being certain how much you will need to borrow. They are actually making more on the investments than they are paying interest on borrowed money. Councilman Brown asked is there any projected time on how long it takes before they start getting the money back on this. City Manager Hooper explained some of it is already there. He commented on buildings that are up and under construction. Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, expressed concern with going into projects for the coming year. He asked if this will effect the millage rates for the coming year before the returns kick in. city Manager Hooper stated no sir, the millage rates are set to maintain services. Councilman Vincenzi stated this is part of business and economic development and you have to put a little money in in order to make more money. Councilman Vincenzi moved for approval, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Page -5- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 -- ...""" C. Reauest for Donation - Edqewater Fire/Rescue Association. Inc. reauesting a $5.000 donation to offset costs of the annual 4th of Julv Fireworks' Displav City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. They are also requesting donations from New Smyrna Beach. Councilwoman Lichter stated they have been asking New Smyrna for eight years and for eights years they haven't contributed anything. City Manager Hooper stated he has talked to Frank and he is going to put it on the agenda and he feels Council will see an effort. Councilman Vincenzi stated there was some talk in one of the newspapers about New Smyrna becoming part of this. Carmel Shearer stated right now New Smyrna is working on a charity event. They made mention in the paper that they didn't want to interfere with the fireworks display that Edgewater is putting on because they are going to do it on the traditional July 4th. . Mayor Schmidt asked if this is a good time to get together and say to them let's make it an area event instead of just solely Edgewater. He wouldn't mind going to New Smyrna's meetings and delivering the letter. City Manager Hooper stated the best probable way to do that would be for the Mayor and himself to meet with the Mayor and City Manager of New Smyrna and talk. Councilwoman Rhodes asked what it is they are going to ask specifically. She asked if they are proposing a joint firework effort. Mayor Schmidt stated eventually he would like to see a joint event effort. He feels it is time to take a little bit of the burden off of us. Since we know a lot of people from New Smyrna and Oak Hill come, why not get them a little more involved. Mayor Schmidt asked if there are any concerns on the fires. Ms. Shearer stated personal fireworks will probably most likely be banned. If for any reason they go into an emergency state and fireworks are banned from a professional fireworks display, they would hold the display in October during Fire Prevention Week, like they did two years ago. Councilwoman Lichter asked the total cost of the fireworks. Ms. Shearer stated just on the fire works it is $15,000. That doesn't include the man-hours involved. This isn't just the Fire Department putting this on. It is an all out city effort. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if there is an option of getting private donations for this. She spoke about a phone call she received from a resident that doesn't want to see City tax dollars spent on fireworks, such as for a skateboard ramp. Ms. Shearer commented on different things they are doing to help raise the $15,000. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested possibly putting something in the newsletter or something of that nature. Mayor Schmidt stated or something in the newspaper. Councilwoman Rhodes also suggested putting jars in businesses to help collect for fireworks. City Manager Hooper spoke about it getting very difficult if a City takes donations. Councilwoman Lichter suggested passing the boot the night of the fireworks. Mayor Schmidt stated what if it is worded if someone wants to make a donation to the Volunteer Fire Department. City Manager Hooper stated that is correct. Ms. Shearer stated to put on the check for fireworks. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested the $5,000 given by the City be the last money used. Councilwoman Lichter stated she would be totally against that. Ms. Shearer stated the minimum amount they can spend on fireworks keeps going up each year. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 ~ ...., Councilwoman Rhodes stated so whatever you get, you spend. Ms. Shearer stated that is pretty much correct. They try to give the best show they can. They have had the same operators each year for the last three years. city Manager Hooper explained they have to make a contract with their folks so they have to sign on and agree that they have a certain amount. There is an obligation, once they sign on so they need to know what their contributions are going to be. Ms. Shearer passed out a flyer on the golf tournament. Paul Jenkins, willow Oak Drive, stated in the cooperative spirit with New Smyrna, it might be nice if the volunteers could pass the hat in New Smyrna and Oak Hill if nothing else. Ms. Visconti feels the Mayor has a good idea of incorporating two cities and making a day out of it. We have a perfect spot along Riverside Drive to have a parade. He feels it would be an asset to both cities to have it combined and save money and get monies from both cities and both enjoy the day. Councilwoman Lichter moved for approval for $5,000 and to pursue the cooperation of New Smyrna and Oak Hill, second by Councilman Brown. The motion CARRIED 5-0. D. Mid-Year Budqet Review - for the period October 1999 throuqh April 2000. City Manager Hooper presented the mid-year budget review to the Council and went over the budget printouts. He further commented on expenditures. He commented on three additional positions that are needed. In general, the budget is in good shape. He requested authorization from Council on the three positions. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if these staff positions are in the budget. City Manager Hooper stated no, they are not in the budget but there are dollars in the General Fund but they aren't budgeted per department. Councilwoman Lichter commented on why she feels the City needs a grant writer. Mayor Schmidt commented on an MPO workshop they attended where they spoke about a grant writer system they have. He asked if that is a source of information for us. Maybe some leads on grant writers. city Manager Hooper stated it helps. One of the problems is we are not a small city. There is major competition for the grants. He spoke about opportunities that we don't know about that just pass us by and a grant writer being able to track this. He mentioned some grants we don't fit or don't want to go for because of the strings attached to them. They have talked to Port Orange and New Smyrna of sharing some of that. That gets difficult because you are competing with the same guys. Councilwoman Lichter stated the County offers service too but they charge for them. They have so many cities they are dealing with. There was a brief discussion about hiring someone on commission. City Manager Hooper doesn't think you can do that with government and have it work or not create another relativitous problem throughout the rest of the employees. He feels their best bet would be to hire a consultant for a period of time and let them set up the software and the packages to track it and bring us the information on where to look and then look for a staff person whose got some level of experience and then pick up from them. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 ~ w Councilwoman Lichter asked if they need full-time or might it be half a position. City Manager Hooper explained the only reason you would do full-time is once you get the grant, there is the administration part of that which can be extremely time consuming. Mr. visconti thinks this is a good idea. He suggested getting a retired person that is knowledgeable of it and maybe offer him $10,000 a year plus a percentage of what he gets. He feels this would give more of an incentive. There are a lot of grants out there to be had and we are missing them all. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if there are legal complications with giving 10% of grant money. City Manager Hooper stated you can't. Most state and Federal grants have prohibition of if there is a state grant and we get it and bring it back to the City he can't take part of the grant but there is an incentive that some cities do that payout of the General Fund. Councilwoman Rhodes feels once the system is in place, there may be a retired person that would be willing to take that on. City Manager Hooper spoke about Gainesville doing this. Councilman Brown asked if they are going to advertise it this way, by looking for a retired person. City Manager Hooper stated he prefers to advertise for a person and he has advertised for a consultant. He has gotten four applications in and he has interviewed all four. There are two he is interested in following up with but he would like to advertise for an individual and see that comparison. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to accept the three positions recommended by City Manager Hooper, second by Councilman Vincenzi. The motion CARRIED 5-0. OFFICER REPORTS City Clerk Wadsworth stated after the last Council meeting she received a telephone call from Mrs. Jimmie Newell. She had been reading on the web page our minutes and she brought to her attention that we were referring to Jimmie Newell instead of Freeman Newell. She would like to make that change for the record. The address is the same. This is for any meetings between October 1999 and April 2000. City Attorney Cookson had nothing at this time. City Manager Hooper asked Chief to make his presentation to Council. Chief Schumaker presented a request to Council regarding Detective Sergeant Bennett attending the FBI academy. In the past, $300 has been approved to pay for uniforms once he is in the academy. City Manager Hooper stated he has already signed off on this. City Manager Hooper informed Council of the Budget hearings. We have scheduled now July 12th as a work session at 5:30 p.m. to go over the General Fund. He asked Council to let them know if this is okay with them. On July 13th, they will go over the Enterprise Funds. The public hearings are set for budget adoption on September 11th and September 25th. Those are somewhat subject to change. Those will be at 7:00 p.m. He commented on the budget books he handed out. He informed Council if there is anything they want to talk about regarding the budget, they could meet with either him or Michelle and they will go over the budget process and how it all works if the Council wants, one on one. Page -8- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000 '-' ""'" CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE There were no citizen comments at this time. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Lichter moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:21 p.m. Minutes submitted by Lisa Bloomer Page -9- Council Regular Meeting May 22, 2000