Loading...
06-21-2010 - Regular CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING JUNE 21, 2010 6:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MINUTES 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Thomas called the Regular 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 City Attorney Carolyn Ansay Present Present Present 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 A. Special Meeting of February 23, 2010 (continued from the May 17, 2010 meeting) Mayor Thomas asked Councilwoman Rogers if she solved her issue. Councilwoman Rogers informed him it wasn't her issue. It was something brought to her from a citizen and she guessed it was taken care of. Mayor Thomas had sort of a problem with the letter Mr. Capria submitted. He asked if they were okay. Councilman Cooper made a motion to approve the February 23, 2010 minutes, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . B. Regular Meeting of April 19, 2010 Mayor Thomas stated he met with City Clerk Wenzel on two occasions and read the minutes and listened to the audio. It was just about 1 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 verbatim. He has done a lot of research lately and according to Florida Statutes City Attorney Ansay said minutes should provide a reasonable summary of the actions which occurred at the meeting but are not to be a word for word transcript of the meeting. He read the portion of the letter submitted by Mr. Capria that he felt was almost an accusation. He felt somebody needed to apologize to City Clerk Wenzel. Dominic Capri a , 606 Topside Circle, apologized to City Clerk Wenzel. After going over and over it again, it is on the CD. It was not in the minutes and he knows verbatim they don't have to put them in the minutes but he felt such an important issue should have been put in the minutes. He informed Mayor Thomas he was the one that threatened him. He didn't think he was being fair to all the residents. Some residents were let to go on and on and another resident he pushes the button. He apologized again to City Clerk Wenzel. Mayor Thomas stated that was what he was looking for and was satisfied with that. Councilwoman Bennington moved to approve the April 19, 2010 minutes, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . C. Regular Meeting of May 17, 2010 Councilwoman Bennington moved to approve the May 17, 2010 minutes, second by Counci~woman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 3. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/PLAQUES/CERTIFICATES/nONATIONS A. Video Growing "Smarter" in Volusia Mayor Thomas stated they had a video that was put together by the Smart Growth Committee that showed the various stages of the County and what the other cities were doing. He wanted Council to see the part about Edgewater. City Clerk Wenzel played the video for Council. After the part about Edgewater was seen, City Clerk Wenzel stopped the video. B. DUI-Zero Tolerance Saturation Police Captain Dave Arcieri presented an update on the Zero Tolerance Detail held on May 28, 2010. 4. CITIZEN COMMENTS 2 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 The following citizen spoke: Bill Glaser, 1703 Needle Palm Drive, was wondering if there was anybody in the City that knows what the affinity was their three block long residential street has for City trucks. He asks this question every three or four months. City Manager Barlow didn't think it was isolated just to City trucks. He commented on the alignment that has with Mango that attaches to Park Avenue and those coming into Florida Shores off Park Avenue that use Mango. He felt the City trucks were the most identifiable but he didn't think it was just germane to City trucks. Mr. Glaser stated when the City trucks are working east of the railroad tracks they drive right by the truck route. The truck route isn't marked as is required by State law so maybe they don't know it is a truck route. When they are working out west, when they come back they drive by all of the streets that go north back to Mango Tree to the City facility but they come down and use Needle Palm to go north. He was wondering if anybody knew what the affinity was that City trucks have for their street. City Manager Barlow stated the direct answer was no and he agreed to look into it. Mayor Thomas stated he spoke with Mike Tenney who was going to ask them not to go down that street if they could possibly help it. Mr. Glaser pointed out that they were driving 1/10 of a mile further and this being a cost to the taxpayers for diesel fuel. 5. APPROVAL OR CHANGES/MODIFICATIONS TO THE AGENDA 6. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilwoman Rogers stated at the last Council meeting they were presented the CAFR and they had not even had an opportunity to read the CAFR so they could ask the auditor questions. She would like to request that at their next Council meeting they have the representative from James Moore and Company come to their meeting and then they get to have a discussion with him. She has read through the CAFR and she spoke with City Manager Barlow today about it and there are some concerns. There were auditor notes that were brought up in the City CAFR. It is time the Council needs to realize they can be held personally liable for the finances and/or problems in the City. She asked the Council if they had an opportunity to review the CAFR. Mayor Thomas informed her no. Councilwoman Rhodes did review it and she spoke with Finance Director John McKinney about it. She felt it would be a great workshop. City Manager Barlow agreed to schedule a workshop. Councilwoman Rhodes stated obviously the auditors made some comments about some things that need to be corrected and done and she told Mr. McKinney to correct it and do it. Councilwoman Rogers pointed out it wasn't that easy because the comments were very involved. She spent time on the phone with an auditor today and felt what people had to understand was this City received an Award of 3 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 Financial Excellence but the financial excellence is based upon the presentation of the financials. That is not giving any level of an opinion or anything on the finances of the City has a whole. She presented an example of refinancing bonds in November of last year. Those bonds should have been paid off this year. If that was the case in their financials last year they should have accrued something because they would have been using funds this year to pay that off and she didn't see where that was in there. She made mention of speaking to Mr. McKinney about the sale of ParkTowne. She had a problem with this being listed under Other Financing Sources. She has spoken to two other government auditors that indicated to her that she was right and that should have been listed under Special Items, not Other. His explanation to her was a Blue Book which went over her head. She didn't know what a Blue Book was but she does now. It is nothing more than her US Master Tax Guide and her guide is a guide. She goes to the Codes when she is doing something. She feels they need to schedule a workshop to get this right before they get into next year's budget. Their General Fund, that budget is done on a Fund basis. She feels they need to get more detailed and do it on a department basis. They had over expenditures of $300,000 last year. It is recommended in the notes that they go back and amend the budget. She saw City Manager Barlow shaking his head and stated she knew when he said what he said to her today, 30 days into the next year, she spoke to the auditor and that wasn't what he said to her. She was going to believe him because he is the auditor and has been doing this for 15 years. This CAFR was not presented by the auditor. This CAFR was presented in-house with staff. She spoke with City Manager Barlow about having a governmental financial director who needed support staff. She saw in the future they were going to get him some more support staff that are qualified. If you can't delegate work to people under you to do something, if they don't have the level of knowledge and expertise, they aren't helping him and he can't possibly do this by himself. She again suggested they do a workshop and look at this for three or four hours. It needs to be exhausted because the Councilmembers, including incoming Councilmembers, need to have an understanding. This is the most important issue they have that will make or break this City. Right now they have serious issues with the Water/Sewer Fund. The funds from Water/Sewer revenue were pledged to pay the bonds. When they did the transfers that was illegal. They should have done loans and at the same time, even that wouldn't have been correct because it was never recorded. They have to address this. Councilwoman Rhodes felt the concerns Councilwoman Rogers had should be itemized before the workshop takes place and should be given to Mr. McKinney so he has the information needed. Councilwoman Rogers informed her the auditor notes were it. That was the place where they could start. City Manager Barlow stated the audit was presented by James so he did do the presentation at the last meeting, which he felt was pretty 4 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 favorable. There are notes and it isn't uncommon for a CAFR. A new auditor can come in with a fine tooth comb and he appreciated them for that but many of those findings, practices or issues were prior to anyone on Councilor currently any staff in the positions today. There are some on-going issues. He then commented on the Action Plan that Mr. McKinney is working on and is about half way through that would address each one of the auditor comments. Each department that has some kind of relationship with some of those concerns has provided comments to Mr. McKinney as well. It is a team effort. They have fingerprints on the solution to make these better going forward and to correct some of the concerns. He spoke of offering to each Councilmember the opportunity to sit down with James, the auditor who made the presentation, one on one as well as Mr. McKinney. To date they have not had any requests. If they wanted to have a workshop prior to the next Council meeting they could schedule it for 3:00 p.m. He asked for Council direction. Councilwoman Rhodes would rather the workshop take place when the Action Plan was finished. City Manager Barlow felt they could have the Action Plan put together by the next Council meeting. Councilwoman Rogers stated she fully understood what City Manager Barlow was talking about. She didn't pick on things that were in the past. There was more there. This is stuff that has happened in the last two years. There were many things that were not done correctly. She felt they needed to have the workshop before the Action Plan was completed because there could be things gleaned from it that could help him with the Action Plan. She made mention of only one other Councilmember reviewing the CAFR and pointed out she was the only Councilmember that contacted the auditor. It was the consensus of the Council to hold a workshop separate from a Council meeting. City Manager Barlow asked Council to land on a date at the conclusion of this meeting. Councilwoman Bennington also wanted to see Mr. McKinney's Action Plan. She understood she hadn't had a chance to read the CAFR because she has had a whole bunch of other things and has been on vacation but for Councilwoman Rogers to imply that the rest of the Council doesn't know what is going on with it is irresponsible on her part. She has been an elected official in this City for ten years counting the other terms she has served and Councilwoman Rhodes has been here for eleven years. Councilwoman Rogers stated she didn't read it. Councilwoman Bennington stated she didn't have a chance but it doesn't mean she isn't going to read it before she needs to. Just because Councilwoman Rogers jumped on it doesn't mean they have to jump on it when she thinks they should. She resented Councilwoman Rogers implying that they don't know what is going on. She felt the workshop was a good idea and had no problem with that. 5 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 Councilwoman Rhodes agreed with Councilwoman Bennington. Councilwoman Bennington reported that at the last Volusia League of Cities Dinner they had the three finalists for City Manager of the Year. City Manager Barlow came in second and got the Silver Star Award. He was robbed. He should have been first. They are very proud that he has done the job for such a short time and has done such a great job. She thanked City Manager Barlow. Councilwoman Bennington stated they have other cities begging City Manager Barlow to come and work for them. Councilman Cooper reported on the YMCA. The Smart Growth Program for the children has been going strong. They are going to come up a little short on their goals this year. The pool is open and has been a great success. The swimming lessons are going great. Councilman Cooper stated they are still waiting for their latest RCC meeting and they haven't gotten any new foundation on that as yet with the issue outstanding there. Councilman Cooper stated the MPO meets tomorrow. There is still a website he needed the citizens to go to, VolusiaCountyMPO.com and fill out the survey. The survey is very important for the future of the roads, rails, buses and bridges. Councilman Cooper thanked everyone that attended the Memorial Day ceremony at the Edgewater Cemetery. They had over 200 people there. 7. CONSENT AGENDA A. Award the bid for Eastern Shores Water Quality Monitoring to Environmental Consulting and Technology Inc. in an amount not to exceed $43,650 and authorize the City Manager to execute all associated agreement documents B. Award the contract for Environmental Consulting Services to Zev Cohen, ESI and Biological Consulting Services and authorization for the City Manager to execute all associated agreement documents C. Award the bid for Emergency Green Waste Hauling and Disposal to Ceres Environmental Services, Inc., and authorize the City Manager to execute all associated agreement documents D. Approval of the disposal of Fixed Assets from the property records in the Finance Department Councilman Cooper moved to accept the Consent Agenda, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. 6 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 8. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. 2nd Reading, Ordinance No. 2010-0-09; An amendment to the City Charter by Amending Section 1.01(a) City Attorney Ansay read Ordinance 2010-0-09 into the record. City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. Mayor Thomas asked for public comment. The following citizen spoke: Leo Towsley, 2828 Unity Tree Drive, stated when they said east of U.S. #1 what about companies buying the commercial properties on the east side. He questioned why they didn't make the height limit only on Riverside Drive. Councilwoman Bennington felt he had a good point but they didn't do that. Councilwoman Rhodes commented on bringing up the same arguments as Mr. Towsley at the first reading. Councilman Cooper stated the original from the Committee was brought forward that they remove it completely. The compromise was east of the centerline of U.S. #1. Councilwoman Rhodes stated it is not their job to get that amendment passed. It is their job to take it to the voters and let them decide what they want to do with it. Mr. Towsley commented on Riverside Drive being the part that everyone complained about. Councilwoman Bennington stated they basically agree with Mr. Towsley but they had to compromise to get it on the ballot. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Rogers made a motion to approve Ordinance 2010-0-09, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . B. 1st Reading, Ordinance No. 2010-0-14; Amending the Future Land Use Map from Low Density Residential with Conservation Overlay to Commercial with Conservation Overlay for 1.8~ acres of property located at U.S. Highway No. 1 north of Edgewater Lakes Boulevard City Attorney Ansay read Ordinance 2010-0-14 into the record. 7 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. This went before the Planning & zoning Board on June 9th and they gave a favorable recommendation for approval. Councilwoman Bennington stated as long as it was before the Planning & Zoning Board and they agreed. Councilwoman Rhodes pointed out it was on u.s. #1 and should not be residential. Due to there being no public comment, Mayor Thomas opened and closed the public hearing and entertained a motion. Councilman Cooper moved to approve Ordinance 2010-0-14, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . C. Resolution No. 2010-R-11i supporting the rail component of the FEC Corridor Project (in the form of Amtrak Service) from Jacksonville to Miami City Attorney Ansay read Resolution 2010-R-11 into the record. The following representatives spoke: Blair Elliott, Friends of Historic Canal Street, commented on working with FDOT and Amtrak to generate grass roots support for the reestablishment of passenger rail on the existing FEC rail line. She spoke of tying together the historic cities along the east coast. She made mention of federal stimulus money and needing a lot of local people to say they want the project. She then commented on the organizations they have received local support from so far. They have pledged to the coalition 1,000 letters of petition support. They have 666 and needed 334 more by the end of June deadline. Skip Byrons, Friends of Historic Canal Street, left some petitions if anybody wanted to sign it and support them. Councilwoman Bennington was looking at the proposed new stations with the closest being in Daytona and Titusville. She asked what the advantage was to Edgewater. Ms. Elliott explained the cities that were going to receive stations had been working on the project a minimum of ten years, with some as long as fifteen years. She commented on if they help get the first round of funding there would be a second round of funding which is when New Smyrna hopes to qualify for a station. She made mention of New Smyrna having already started their planning process. If they do not get the first round of funding there will not be a second round. Councilwoman Rhodes questioned if this would have an effect on the high speed rail. Ms. Elliott explained it would help them gain access 8 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 to the high speed rail. Councilwoman Rhodes felt the rail from the east coast to Orlando is more advantageous for the people that live here. Mr. Byrons pointed out this would lead to a lot more in the future and that this was just the beginning. Councilman Cooper felt this opens up many new avenues. He expressed concern with the $268 million in stimulus money not being anywhere near what the cost of this is going to be. He hadn't seen any projections on the overall cost and where that money is going to come from and the operational costs and what it means to the taxpayers. Ms. Elliott informed him the $268 million was what the project would cost and further explained what this would cover. Councilman Cooper again asked about the increased operational costs by Amtrak which would get passed back to the citizens. He asked where that money would come from and what the projection would be that they would have to find a way within their cities to get that money. Ms. Elliott informed him it came from two sources, tickets and cost. She further commented on Amtrak being federally subsidized. Councilman Cooper explained in the MPO nothing can go forward unless they have the operational money raised or a way to show they have it raised. What is the overall cost going to be and what were the suggestions from the Committee on how they are going to raise that money? Ms. Elliott commented on having the statistics from Amtrak. She spoke of Amtrak backing out and that being the reason it was not funded in 2001. Amtrak in regard to this project is financially set to do this project. She agreed to forward any information she has to the City. Councilman Cooper wants this to happen but he doesn't want it to be like the Votran situation. Councilman Cooper asked her to keep him updated on when the August or October meeting would be where they would explain how this would all be funded because he would like to attend. City Manager Barlow asked Ms. Elliott to provide any information to City Clerk Wenzel who would then provide it to the Council. Due to there being no public comment, Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Rogers moved to approve Resolution 2010-R-ll, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . Mayor Thomas recognized Joie Alexander, Volusia County Councilmember who was present at the meeting. There was a ten-minute recess at this time. The meeting recessed at 7:01 p.m. and reconvened at 7:11 p.m. 9 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 D. Resolution No. 2010-R-12j Establishing Policy to temporarily reduce fees for Annexation of non-residential property City Attorney Ansay read Resolution 2010-R-12 into the record. City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. He then identified sections of the zoning map. He felt they were pretty shy as it related to commercially zoned and industrially zoned properties. He also explained the 2009 Final Tax Roll, Taxable Value by Property Class, which was laid out on a pie chart as well as a spreadsheet. He then went on to describe the Market Value compared to the Taxable Value from years 2003-2010. City Manager Barlow then commented on Council's direction in the past for him to go out and start working towards some incentives to try and bring in more commercial property. He then identified for Council an initiative to take the burden off of the residential properties. He spoke of working on the enclaves and bringing those into the City if it is non-residential. Councilman Cooper commented on being for industry and looking for clean and green industry. As they offer incentives and start to give tax breaks, he expressed concern with having the danger of flipping it the wrong direction where the residents will be paying a larger percentage when he is trying to incorporate industry. He spoke of bringing each situation forward rather than make an outline plan and looking at them on an individual basis. He spoke of there being a point where they would have to cut off the incentives because they need the tax base. They need to find a way to not be the highest ad valorem for the residents in the whole County every year. He realized this was only good until October but he knew City Manager Barlow would come to them again in November and ask for a renewal. That was what he was afraid of by adopting these types of resolutions. City Manager Barlow reminded Councilman Cooper this only had to do with annexations and was only for one year. At the last meeting a majority of the attending Council gave him direction to bring this back because they don't want to see them on an individual basis and want more of a defined program. He addressed Councilman Cooper's concerns by identifying there was an expiration date and Council being able to elect to extend it an additional year. He then addressed the concern of taking some of that money out of the impact fees. Councilman Cooper agreed with doing it but his immediate concern was putting money away. He felt they needed to keep an eye on this every month no matter how long the resolution is for. City Manager Barlow commented on part of the incentive being to attract these properties to come in and that is just one year of ad valorem taxes. Every year 10 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 thereafter, they would now have them in the City and would appreciate. those taxes. Mayor Thomas commented on shifting the tax burden from the residents who are paying a majority of it now. Mayor Thomas asked for comments from the public. The following citizen spoke: Bob Overton, 631 Starboard Avenue, asked what the dollar impact was. He asked how many annexations they would have and how much money they were talking about in terms of funds that are not going to be coming into the City if they approve this. How much more money is he going to have to pay in taxes to make up for that? City Manager Barlow commented on most of those costs being absorbed in-house. There is no direct dollar figure because they don't know how many annexations are going to be requested. These are all properties they aren't appreciating any taxes on today. He presented an example of the storage facility that recently annexed that was estimated about $10,000 additional of ad valorem taxes they received. They waived it for a one year period but every year thereafter they will appreciate. Mr. Overton asked who decides on the annexed properties how much is going to be alleviated in the annexation. City Manager Barlow commented on taking the taxable assessed value and applying it against the current millage rate. Mr. Overton commented on there being a formula identified in the resolution. Councilman Cooper commented on the agreement and stipulation they made with DCA for Restoration they can't annex any large residential properties. Councilwoman Rhodes stated this only affects non- residential and had nothing to do with residential. Restoration had no impact on this at all. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Bennington moved to adopt Resolution 2010-R-12, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 4-1. Councilwoman Roqers voted NO. E. Resolution No. 2010-R-13i Adopting the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Plan for the purpose of long-range economic growth City Attorney Ansay read Resolution 2010-R-13 into the record. 11 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. Councilwoman Rhodes felt they did an excellent job. They not only identified the problem but created a map to solve the problem. Councilman Cooper moved to approve Resolution 2010-R-13, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5-0. F. Indian River Self Storage, LLC requesting conceptual site plan approval for a 38,000~ square foot expansion of the existing mini-warehouse facility as well as an additional RV parking area located at 3515 U.S. Highway 1 (This item was continued from the May 17, 2010 Council Meeting, Item 8J) City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. He spoke of Council having concerns with the conceptual plan regarding the aesthetic barrier, fire hazard, number of RV parking spots and Packwood Drive status. Mr. Lear has resolved all of those presented before the Planning & Zoning Board and they have provided favorable review. Development Services Director Darren Lear started his presentation by addressing the concerns regarding Packwood Drive that was previously identified by Council. There was a brief discussion regarding Packwood Drive continuing to be maintained by the County until such time they were to annex properties surrounding the road, which they have in writing. Councilwoman Rhodes expressed concern with the parcel owned by J.C. Carder. She asked how this would impact this. She asked if he could stop travel through there if he wanted to. Mr. Lear didn't know what the document said on that deed for that parcel of land. It doesn't have any effect on this parcel. They would access from U.S. #1, not Packwood Drive. There was some misunderstanding regarding comments made by Mr. Lear regarding part of it being a parcel of land owned by J.C. Carder and he didn't know how that happened. Mr. Lear informed her Mr. Carder owned the property to the north. City Manager Barlow mentioned this being a recorded access easement and personally he didn't see how anybody could restrict access to all of those when it has been traveled for many years. There are prescriptive rights, etc. City Attorney Ansay explained for purposes of conceptual approval of this site plan she didn't see that it was really much of a concern recognizing he may indeed hold title to that property where Packwood Drive does go over it. 12 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 Mr. Lear commented on the proposed number of RV spots being 15. City Manager Barlow informed Council they would be used for storage only. Mr. Lear then commented on the concerns regarding the aesthetic barrier and the fire hazard. Staff recommends approval. Mayor Thomas asked for comments from the public. NoraJane Gillespie, 3588 Omni Circle, was pleased with the TRC and felt St. Johns took her formal complaint to heart. The stormwater has been corrected according to the engineer. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Bennington moved to accept this Indian River Self Storage LLC conceptual site plan approval, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS A. Planning and Zoning Board - Councilman Cooper's appointment due to the expired term of Robert McIntosh, who seeks reappointment Councilman Cooper made a motion to reappoint Robert McIntosh to the Planning & Zoning Board, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . B. Planning and Zoning Board - Mayor Thomas' appointment due to the expired term of Jean Kayat, who seeks reappointment Mayor Thomas nominated Jean Kayat to the Planning & Zoning Board. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to reappoint Jean Kayat to the Planning & Zoning Board, second by Councilwoman Bennington. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . C. Code Compliance Board - Councilwoman Rhodes' appointment due to the expired term of Ed Corn, who seeks reappointment Councilwoman Rhodes moved to reappoint Ed Corn to the Code Compliance Board, second by Councilman Cooper. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . D. Code Compliance Board - Councilman Cooper's appointment due to the expired term of Sherry Lester, who seeks reappointment 13 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 Councilman Cooper moved to reappoint Sherry Lester to the Code Compliance Board, second by Councilwoman Bennington. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . E. Code Compliance Board - Mayor Thomas' appointment due to the expired term of Ben Wagner, who seeks reappointment Mayor Thomas nominated Ben Wagner to be reappointed to the Code Compliance Board. Councilwoman Rogers questioned Ben Wagner being able to be reappointed since he was running for Council. It was determined he could not hold two offices and if he won the election he would then have to resign from the Code Compliance Board. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to reappoint Ben Wagner to the Code Compliance Board, second by Councilwoman Bennington. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . F. Economic Development Board - Councilman Cooper's appointment due to the expired term of William Wetherell, who seeks reappointment Councilman Cooper moved to reappoint William Wetherell to the Economic Development Board, second by Councilwoman Bennington. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 10. OTHER BUSINESS A. Approval of engineering design services for the 30th Street Sidewalk Project and authorization for the City Manager to execute a work order to Quentin L. Hampton Associates in the amount of $59,755 for engineering services related to said design City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. Mayor Thomas asked for Council Comment. There was none. Mayor Thomas then asked for comments from the public. The following citizen spoke: NoraJane Gillespie, 3588 Omni Circle, stated at the time they put in the 30th Street sidewalk Gates Castle was the City Engineer. The City did not own 30th Street from u.S. #1 to the railroad tracks. That was a County road and they were under negotiation and could not complete 14 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 negotiation before construction so the County put in that sidewalk where it exists now. The City put in a cross over for the kids. She further commented on the original plan and intent. Due to there being no further discussion, Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilman Cooper made a motion to approve the engineering design services for the 30th Street Sidewalk Project, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . B. Change Order #1 to McMahan Construction in the amount of $64,900 with an additional contract time of 45 days and approval of the work order to Quentin L. Hampton Associates in the amount of $8,000 for the construction of the New Water Supply Wells Brad Blaise, Quentin L. Hampton Associates, described for Council the reason for the Change Order with regard to drilling the wells and not getting the yield out of three of the four wells. He further commented on using an air bursting technology. They thought they would only need to do three of the four wells. Councilman Cooper asked what the malfeasance would be of looking at that due to looking for future demand. He asked money wise if it would be more advantageous to hold off? Mr. Blaise informed him the cost to do four of these would probably be what they would pay to do one later. There was a brief discussion regarding the extra needed funds still being available through the SRF Loan. Mr. Blaise explained when they did the original loan planning they planned on about $1.3 million. Bids came in just under $900,000. He further identified how the loan process works. Councilwoman Rhodes questioned what Quentin Hampton was doing extra that they were getting $8,000 for. Mr. Blaise informed her they weren't getting a penny and explained the money was for the geological sub consultant. They are administering the gentleman for the City as a professional service. Councilwoman Rogers commented on the notes they got on the amended change order about the contingency funds not being available. She asked how that would affect this if it is not available. Mr. Blaise elaborated. Councilwoman Rogers asked how much of that was the grant? Mr. Blaise informed her the money subject to the additional work was not a grant 15 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 eligible item and was a loan eligible item. Councilwoman Rogers confirmed they would be repaying this at 2.47% for twenty years. Mayor Thomas asked for comments from the public. The following citizen spoke: Justin Kennedy, 1005 Fernald Street, asked if the technology was going to yield the 350. He asked if there was a guarantee. Mr. Blaise informed him there was no guarantee. Councilwoman Rhodes informed Mr. Kennedy it was in there that they were going to do one and if that doesn't work they won't waste money on the rest of them. Councilman Cooper asked what the percentage was on them doing this in the past. Mr. Blaise commented on doing it in Deland in the past year and they basically got over a 50% increase yield out of that well. He further commented on it being a different formation. He would like to think they could get about a 30-50% increase from the yield. They were hoping to get another 100 or 120 gallons per minute per well. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilman Cooper moved to approve Change Order #1 to the McMahan Construction contract in the amount of $64,900 with an additiona~ contract time of 45 days and to authorize the Mayor and City Manager to execute the document and to approve Change Order #1 to Work Order #2007-13 for Quentin L. Hampton Associates ref~ecting the increase in the amount of $8,000 for geotechnica~ services, second by Counci~woman Bennington. The MOTION CARRIED 5-0. C. Award bid with bid alternate for the replacement of the Aerator and Stairway at the Alan R. Thomas Water Treatment Plant to C&S Technical Resources in the amount of $317,945 and authorizing the appropriate budget amendment City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. Councilman Cooper asked what the undesignated projects were and what they were taking money away from. City Manager Barlow informed him nothing. Environmental Services Director Brenda Dewees explained in the Renewal and Replacement Fund there is $250,000 set aside for undesignated projects just for this purpose. They have received comments from the Department of Health to have this infrastructure replaced. Councilwoman Bennington asked about $132,258 from undesignated projects says the repairs for this service. the budget amendment and moving and putting it into a line that Ms. Dewees stated it was moving it 16 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 from undesignated projects to machinery and equipment fund where the $150,000 was originally budgeted. Councilwoman Bennington didn't understand the $35,637 from the prior years' carry forward to this project. She asked where this was coming from. Mr. McKinney explained currently their assets exceed their liabilities by $5.6 million total in the Water/Sewer Fund. Part of the mid-year budget amendment which they have talked about doing would show those carry forwards. Councilwoman Bennington moved to approve the award of the bid to C&S Technical Services in the amount of $317,945 and authorize the City Manager to execute all associated agreement documents and to approve the budget amendment moving $132,258 from the undesignated projects and allocating $35,687 from the prior years' carry forward to this project, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . D. DRAFT Ordinance No. 2010-0-16; Establishing Policy to temporarily reduce impact fees for non-residential properties City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. He informed Council they would not be doing a motion and he was looking for consensus and direction from Council. City Manager Barlow wanted Council to talk about this and give him consensus if they like it. Councilman Cooper wanted it to be clear that this was only a one year deal. He questioned how they would monitor jobs. He then asked if it were a sizeable company if they should protect the City with some kind of verbiage that says it can never exceed what the impact fee would be. City Manager Barlow informed him it was in there that it could not exceed. Councilwoman Bennington was also going to ask how they monitor the jobs. City Manager Barlow informed her they have to fill out a form with the State and they would have to provide that to the City. Councilwoman Bennington questioned if they don't keep the jobs for the year, they have to pay the City back. She wanted to know and wanted to see it in the ordinance how they were going to make them pay it back and in what amount of time. City Manager Barlow informed her he and City Attorney Ansay were working on that. City Attorney Ansay explained they have already gone through and revised the version council had before them to provide some more meaningful standards. As the resolution points out once an applicant applies they will have an agreement that they will execute with the 17 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 applicant that will have even greater standards. The ordinance would have more information when it comes back to Council for first reading. Councilwoman Bennington asked what happens if the business falls before the end of the year and how they would collect money from them then. City Attorney Ansay commented on most places doing that as a lien on the property. They can either record the lien at the time of execution of the agreement or the lien can be recorded once they fail to meet some standard. She recommended they do the former that they agree up front to put that in there. Councilman Cooper suggested setting up an escrow account where they would pay the City the money up front and the City would reimburse the money back. City Manager Barlow commented on the City doing very good on lien satisfactions. City Attorney Ansay commented on the need for some flexibility. Councilwoman Bennington pointed out if the City collected the money up front why would anyone want to do this. Councilwoman Rhodes felt it would defeat the purpose of doing this to have an escrow. The whole point of this is to make it advantageous to locate here. Councilwoman Rogers believes this is premature that they are looking at this. They aren't even into this year's budget. They don't even know the impact of what their property tax revenue reduction is going to be. They need to wait until after they go through the budget and revisit this. Councilwoman Rhodes stated impact fees have no bearing on ad valorem taxes. Councilwoman Rogers stated in the CAFR notes it indicated where they had expenditures in excess of appropriations. When they suffer in one area, the General Fund is going to balance that area and the General Fund is where their property tax revenues are and it all does work interchangeably even though they don't want to address it that way. Councilman Cooper thought what City Manager Barlow was saying was by the time the language gets tweaked and they have now just brought a basic outline forward, they will almost be on the budget and would have that information. City Manager Barlow commented this being associated with those impact fees for future projects. He presented an example of purchasing the house next to the Police Department. Councilwoman Rhodes stated if they reduce the impact fees now for one year and assuming that somebody locates a business in this City and provides jobs and ad valorem taxes so then your tax revenue increases even though the impact fees decrease temporarily. She thinks it is a really good tradeoff. What they need in this City is business. City Manager Barlow stated and jobs. Councilman Cooper felt they should go forward with this and look at the language. 18 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 City Manager Barlow commented on needing this because it is an ordinance and he has to advertise this prior to so he needs that lead time. He could bring this back for first reading at the July meeting. Councilwoman Bennington wanted to see the completed draft before it came back to them for first reading. City Manager Barlow stated then they would do the first reading in August and the second reading in September. City Manager Barlow pointed out they had one project waiting. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if they could, based on the formula, help him or at least vote on him and then move forward with this. City Manager Barlow stated now that they have an idea of what they think they want to do he can put that one project back on the agenda for July as well as what he thinks may be the final daft based on comments Council made tonight and they could do August and September for the ordinance. City Attorney Ansay recommended that they approach any project that comes to them before passage of this ordinance and the manner in which they approach the other case by case projects as opposed to this formula. This is involving agreements and things along that nature which they won't have in place. To try to do it with someone who is coming prior to passage would be cumbersome. E. DRAFT Ordinance No. 2010-0-17; Establishing Policy to temporarily defer applicable Sidewalk, Fire/EMS, Police and Transportation/Road Impact Fees City Manager Barlow made a staff presentation. There was a brief discussion regarding this ordinance not having anything to do with jobs. This is something that would be adding to our commercial tax base here by bringing business here. Councilman Cooper expressed concern with it being over a three year period. He liked one year. He didn't want to see it deferred if they run into financial difficulties, they aren't going to get a dollar. He commented as they bring in more industry and more people they are going to need the sidewalks and fire and police. City Manager Barlow pointed out this was only deferring. They are also going to get an additional 5% which is probably more than they are making on their impact fee money today. He then suggested one year from completion of construction. Councilwoman Bennington commented on it taking a business approximately three years if it is starting from the bottom before it starts to turn a profit. She felt 5% wasn't a bad deal. 19 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 Councilwoman Rhodes suggested maybe they could do it in such a manner that after a year, they could make payments on it instead of having the full amount at the end of the year, maybe give them a 5% interest rate on it and pay it off over a three year period of time. Councilman Cooper suggested keeping it to a year and then relook at it and keep the two ordinances close together. City Manager Barlow stated there was no penalty for early payoff which he would encourage because it is 5% on whatever is owed. City Manager Barlow asked for Council direction if they wanted one year or three years. Councilwoman Rogers stated this wasn't something she would vote and say to do. She was against impact fees being omitted. She doesn't see every municipality doing this and do they have businesses knocking on our doors right now wanting to come into the City of Edgewater. City Manage Barlow informed her he was negotiating with a couple. Councilwoman Rogers told him to share it and tell them. Councilwoman Rhodes stated if they can compete with other cities they will come knocking on our door. It was the consensus of Council to go with one year. 11. OFFICER REPORTS A. City Clerk City Clerk Wenzel informed everyone that qualifying for the upcoming election ended on Friday at noon. They would not be having a primary election in August. They would only have the General Election in November. Councilman Cooper asked her if she could state the candidates. City Clerk Wenzel reminded Council they were also available on the website. The candidates were: Mayor Thomas and Dennis Vincenzi for Mayor, James Brown and Justin Kennedy running for District 1 and Mike Ignasiak and Ben Wagner for District 3. Councilman Cooper asked if they were going to mandatory set a debate. Councilwoman Bennington informed him the City isn't involved with that. Councilman Cooper then asked if they were going to give each individual the opportunity to come up and state their credentials. Mayor Thomas thought the Chamber would have a forum. B. City Attorney 20 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 City Attorney Ansay stated last month they conducted the Restoration DOA hearing at City Hall. It has concluded and they were now waiting for word from the administrative law judge. She expected to hear something in the next week or two. It went really well. The administrative law judge who conducts hearings allover the State of Florida said he received the nicest welcome, the facilities were wonderful; and that City staff did a tremendous job in making his stay comfortable and his time in the hearing productive. She thanked the staff that went overboard in having water and snacks. They had the hearing conducted in two days. The judge contributed $5 towards all the expenses associated with anything he consumed. He refused to do it on the City's nickel for fear that it could be used against him so he did financially contribute. C. Ci ty Manager City Manager Barlow wanted to set a date for the CAFR workshop. The first preliminary budget workshop was on July 12th. He was going to ask Council if they wanted to also do a budget workshop at 5:00 p.m. on July 12th to establish the maximum millage rate. It was determined the CAFR workshop would be held on July 7th at 3:00 p.m. pending the availability of James or someone from James Moore & Company. City Manager Barlow asked the Council if they wanted to do a Special Meeting at 7:00 p.m. directly after the 5:00 p.m. workshop on July 12th to establish the maximum millage, which would take it off the July 19th agenda. The Finance Director would be out of town the week of July 19th. City Manager Barlow then reminded Council of the Budget Workshop on August 16th at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the General Fund budget. If they have time they will get into the Enterprise Fund budget. If they run out of time, they have a tentative Budget Workshop scheduled for August 30th at 5: 00 p.m. On September 13th they will have the first public hearing on the proposed millage and on September 27th they would have the second hearing on the adopted millage. Councilman Cooper asked if there was any way they could find out the number of homes that they won't be able to collect tax revenue from. City Manager Barlow informed him they only do that when they are gone. Councilwoman Rogers stated the Finance Director is aware of these things because he gets the feed from Volusia County and he will record it as deferred tax revenue. Finance Director McKinney stated when they set the millage they anticipated to collect $4.9 million in ad valorem this year. He has collected $4.7 million. He has only under collected $240,000. He spoke with the tax collector on Thursday and they will get the remainder of that money the end of this week or 21 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 beginning of next week. Out of $4.9 million only $200,000 is left uncollected and that went to the tax deed sale on May 28th and May 30th. City Manager Barlow reminded Council of the 4th of July festivities. Councilwoman Rogers apologized if the perception of what she said was attacking or accusing. All she was wanting to do was the City CAFR was dumped on them and they didn't have a chance to talk about it. There is no way that any of them could understand everything in there unless they do specifically ask the auditor. 12. CITIZEN COMMENTS The following citizens spoke: Joe Martin, has owned property in Edgewater since 1988, primarily what he owned was industrial property and he served on the Industrial Development Board. Over the years he has seen a lot of things come and go in terms of trying to do something to put a little more of a tax base off of the residential and onto the non-residential. If they want to look at doing something like that, some things they need to consider are the differentiation between commercial and industrial. He felt they had great opportunity to do a case study. He spoke of his property being in the County as well as other properties around the airport. The City wasn't getting any revenue from those properties. They entered into an annexation agreement with the City that they would come into the City if the City would put in water and sewer. That happened. This was a cost to the City. They didn't get any exemptions for fire impact fees and things like that. At the time the water and sewer system was put in he got the Utilities Department to prepare the actual cost that the City had to upfront to bring those people in on the ad valorem tax base. He felt this was a good opportunity for the Economic Development Board to do a study and look at the tax records from 2004 forward at how much money they have actually gotten to offset the cost. Justin Kennedy, stated in regards to the ad valorem waivers and whatnot you never really know how it is going to work out. Right now the times are a little different than they were in 2007. None of them have a crystal ball and they do what ultimately feels right at the time of the decision. In terms of the deferment issue with the sidewalks and stuff he suggested they amortize it, not waive it and add it to the water bill every month. City Manager Barlow informed him that was more of an assessment. Mr. Kennedy felt if they were going to have these tax breaks and incentives to bring in businesses, just like a company would unveil a new product he felt that was a good product for them to be unveiling. He felt they should follow up these ordinances and waivers with a marketing campaign and bring it to the commercial realtors in the area 22 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010 and other people like Joe Martin that know people influence in industrial and any type of business. commented on marketing this to businesses. and have a circle of He further Councilman Cooper stated on July 4th all of the Fraternal Organizations in the City were hosting barbeques and banquets. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Cooper moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:46 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Attest: APPROVED: City of Edgewater, Florida Bonnie Wenzel, City Clerk Michael L. Thomas, Mayor 23 Council Regular Meeting June 21, 2010