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03-16-1998 - Regular ~ ....", CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER MARCH 16, 1998 REGULAR MEETING 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Randy Allman Councilman James Gornto Councilman Myron Hammond Councilman Gary Roberts Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Attorney Nikki Clayton City Manager Kevin Grace City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The invocation was delivered by Rev. Dr. Bill Sharp, Christian Life Center. There was a pledge of allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Allman read the Council meeting procedure. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Special meeting of February 9, 1998 Councilman Roberts made a motion to approve the February 9, 1998 minutes, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. CITIZEN COMMENTS REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS ONLY (This is the time for the public to come forward with any comments they may have on any agenda items other than public hearings. Please state your name and address, and please limit your comments to five minutes or less.) Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, spoke about retaining Item 6A - Dean, Ringers, Morgan and Lawton sounds like they have been hired and want to be retained or do they want to be hired. He wasn't sure which it was. Mayor Allman explained it is to be retained for their legal services to represent the City and Officer Frazee. They have not been hired at this point. Mr. Capria spoke about the termination of the City Attorney after the last election because of spending too much hiring outside attorneys. He is concerned that the City is taking the same approach. He is not against hiring an attorney but he is concerned with the amount of funds they are going to be spending. city Attorney Clayton explained the hourly rate of the attorney that is being suggested is $95 per hour. Dean, Ringers, Morgan and Lawton is a firm that is experienced and specializes in what is called tort defense which is a false arrest against the Police Department and this firm specializes in this type of law. city Attorney Clayton stated if there is anybody who is sensitive to the fact that the criticisms that were leveled at the legal services of the past, she would have to say she is extremely aware of the concerns of the City and will do everything she can in the supervision of any other legal representation to assure the City is not being double charged and that they are getting economical representation that is required. ...,. ...., Mr. Capria asked where we stand with the advertisement of a possible in-house attorney. city Manager Grace stated the Council has not directed him to do that. They selected an outside firm and then decided to keep City Attorney Clayton on board until some of the outstanding litigation is resolved. At that point, they will then negotiate a contract with the selected firm which is stenstrom, McIntosh. Mr. Capria disagreed and thinks the Council did direct to advertise for a possible in-house legal counsel. Mayor Allman stated Council did direct staff to advertise, not for in-house counsel but for a firm. They interviewed the firms present and listed them in order. They decided it would be more economical to keep City Attorney Clayton on board up until such time that the litigation with the News Journal and with the former City Manager is over with. When the litigation is over they will then reconvene and go from there regarding an in-house attorney or a firm. We haven't even made up our mind as to which way we are going to go with that yet. Right now, this is probably the most economical way they could do this for the City. Had we not had these frivolous lawsuits filed against us, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Doris Hill, 112 Lincoln Road, stated maybe the City wouldn't have had the problems we were having in the first place with the other attorney if it hadn't been for frivolous lawsuits. She has a big problem with this attorney and the attorney that has been hired to represent her to keep her out of hot water when she was just hired. She asked if the City has received any bills from him. Mayor Allman asked who is hired to represent City Attorney Clayton. Ms. Hill stated she believes his name is Mr. Kornreich. Mayor Allman explained Mr. Kornreich is not representing City Attorney Clayton. He is representing Mayor Allman, Councilman Hammond and Councilman Roberts. Ms. Hill stated he is doing that because she couldn't. Is that right? Mayor Allman explained she is a witness in the case and it would be a conflict of interest. Ms. Hill wants to know how much it is costing for City Attorney Clayton and Mr. Kornreich. She feels it is a lot more than Krista Storey was getting. Mayor Allman stated they are doing a lot better job. Ms. Hill stated maybe it would be a good idea to ask Finance Director Fred Munoz if he has had any billings. She has tried to find out but she can't find out anything. Cliff Clark, 1818 Evergreen Drive, spoke about money he has put into his house. He questioned if the widening of S.R. 442 is going to be delayed. He was informed this meeting is to consider four or five lanes. He spoke about a retention pond being placed where his home is. Mr. Clark went on to speak about improvements he has made to his home and why they chose to move on Evergreen Drive. He spoke about this being the highest elevation along S.R. 442 and if they put a retention pond there, how are they going to drain the water from lower property. Mr. Clark went on to speak about the meeting at the Library on February 4th pertaining to the widening of S.R. 442 and questions he asked. Councilwoman Lichter intends to ask some of the questions of DOT that were just presented by Mr. Clark. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ~ '-" Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, explained the Beautification Committee is very interested in the widening of S.R. 442. He questioned why it has to be a five-lane highway. He spoke about the thirteen homes being taken to make the retention pond. He feels there are other alternatives to put retention ponds along S.R. 442. He spoke about empty lots along S.R. 442. Mr. Visconti spoke about losing thirteen homes and losing the 36 trees in the medians. He believes this artery being the only one into Edgewater from 1-95 should be beautified. Mr. Visconti spoke about Dunlawton Avenue in Port Orange. Mr. Visconti hopes the Council considers thirteen families having to relocate and finding another location for the retention pond. Ron Prekup, 1829 Lime Tree Drive, feels they need to take care of each other. He spoke about there being property around the railroad tracks that could be used for the retention ponds. He feels there has to be alternatives. He would like Council to give some consideration to keeping the medians and block off every other street rather than having a five-lane runway. Karen Havink, 1814 Evergreen Drive, stated she would have never chosen her property if she would have known it was going to be made into a retention pond. She appreciates what it takes to get funding to make the road improvements and widening, but she takes this personal because it is going to be her home that is lost. Ms. Havink stated she was told by DOT that the first location for a retention pond was at u.S. #1 and S.R. 442 and was immediately turned down by the City of Edgewater. She feels the area of Evergreen and Fern Palm was a target area. She feels this is unfair and would like to see more consideration taken. If she could understand the need for this, maybe she could understand it better. She does not understand the need for five lanes or for a retention pond that size on this side of u.S. #1. Andy Anderson, 1730 pine Tree Drive, spoke about why the five lanes came into existence for consideration. He thinks the beauty of S.R. 442 could be addressed along the sides to make it more aesthetically attractive. Cliff Clark, 1818 Evergreen Drive, stated he has been living there since 1984. He feels what is happening is all a mystery to him. He feels there are other places to put the retention pond. Tom Havink, 1814 Evergreen Drive, spoke about when he purchased his house it was an eyesore and he has been working on his house for three years which he is very proud of. He questioned where low lying water will go and why they would put a retention pond in an X-zone area. He spoke about DOT being able to do anything they want. This is a situation where they are taking thirteen homes and scattering families, neighbors and friends. He thinks there is another choice and asked that this be researched. Jeanne DelNigro, 3130 Tamarind Drive, feels City Attorney Clayton is doing a good job. She doesn't believe these people should be losing their homes. There is other property on S.R. 442 that is vacant where retention ponds can be made. She asked if DOT ever thought of having the five lanes and having a turn-off lane for every single street instead of shutting some of them off. There was a brief discussion regarding all roads remaining open if they go with the five lanes. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ..... ..., Mayor Allman stated they would be going to Item 7B and return back to the agenda after they are finished with this item. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the unpaved roads in Edgewater. She feels there needs to be an identification of these streets and see if they can work out a formula for paving. She feels they should look into this while the recreation complex and Air Park Road are being done. City Manager Grace thinks it makes sense if they are doing a project to let the people around there know. He spoke about the paving of roads being a topic of discussion at the next goal setting session. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about enhancing the beauty of the community. She spoke about doing murals on buildings depicting the history of Edgewater around the City. Mayor Allman had nothing at this time. Councilman Gornto spoke about the emergency preparedness program in New Smyrna Beach. He feels they need to look at our emergency preparedness and be sure the citizens of Edgewater will have a workable plan. City Manager Grace stated we do have an emergency management plan that is being updated. There is a drill coming up in May that the City will be participating in. He wants to incorporate the Council into this as well as staff. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the CERT program. She spoke about the mobile home parks in Edgewater. Mayor Allman feels if they get hit with a Level III hurricane, they will have enough time to get out of there. Councilman Hammond spoke on the unpaved roads. City Manager Grace explained he and City Engineer Kyle Fegley are trying to get a data base together so they know the conditions of all the roads out there. Councilman Roberts had nothing at this time. PUBLIC HEARINGS. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. Ord. No. 98-0-02 Amending Article IV (Tree Preservation & Protection) Mayor Allman read Ord. 98-0-02. Acting Community Development Director Lynne Plaskett made a staff presentation and recommended this ordinance be adopted. Mayor Allman opened and closed the public hearing. Councilman Roberts made a motion to approve Ord. 98-0-02, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. CONSENT AGENDA A. Retaining Dean, Ringers, Morgan and Lawton in re: to Robert Edward Belz vs City of Edgewater, Florida, and Officer Raymond Frazee B. satisfaction of lot clearing lien Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ...... ,..." OTHER BOSINESS A. Presentation of City audit for fiscal year ending 9/30/97 John Vodenicker, Ernst & Young, presented the City's annual financial report for FYE 9/30/97 Mr. Vodenicker informed Council of the year 2000 bug regarding computers and anything that has a chip in it because of only recognizing two digits rather than four digits in the computer chips. The current system is not year 2000 compliant. The City will have to get a new computer system. He informed Council they need to be supportive of this because of the business risk issue involved with it. He feels the City needs to develop an overall plan for compliance with year 2000. Councilwoman Lichter asked Mr. Vodenicker about the debt service which is high because of the road project. She asked if it would be wise to lower it with a large sum of money. Mr. Vodenicker questioned if she was talking about paying it off early. That certainly is one way to do it. In the case of both stormwater and road improvements where there is an assessment associated with it, the revenue is going to come over a period of time for that piece of it. They are locked in on that side of it. On the city's side that would be a budget issue to be dealt with as to whether they want to try to pay principle early and try to pay it down. The City has some pretty large annual debt service paYments, both in the general government and the water, sewer and stormwater. City Manager Grace stated they have been looking at refinancing and taking advantage of lower rates. So far it looks fairly limited with where interest rates are today. We do have some limitations on what can be paid back early. They are exploring every possibility to try to reduce the annual debt service. Councilman Hammond questioned General Government Days Fund Balance and a good average time. Edgewater can operate 97 days without any revenue and New Smyrna Beach can operate for 222 days. He asked what a good average is. Mr. Vodnicker explained to have a rainy day fund at 20 to 25 percent, which would equate to a little bit less than what they have right now. If the City is setting money aside for R & R or replacement in some sort of a replacement fund, it may be that it could be a lower number. Overall in the 20 to 25 percent range is adequate. He went on to speak about R & R funds in New Smyrna and Ormond Beach. City Manager Grace informed Council they need a motion accepting the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Councilman Roberts moved to accept the FYE 9/30/97 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. B. Florida Department of Transportation S.R. 442 widening project final design City Manager Grace commented on a letter received from DOT requesting its final direction and input with regard to the design of this project. He spoke about either keep the medians and close off some of the streets or keep the road connections and lose the medians. From a beautification standpoint, he spoke to Mr. Snyder from DOT, and if we stay with the five-lane section he verbally committed that DOT would mitigate the loss of the median and the trees up to $100,000 worth of landscaping at the edges of the rights-of-way. They are willing to work with us from the beautification angle. Page -5- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ~ .... City Manager Grace explained the retention pond will occur regardless of whether it is a five-lane section or a four-lane divided. The decision in front of Council tonight is whether they want to stay with the five lanes and keep the street connections open or revisit the issue of closing off some of the streets and maintaining a median. Councilwoman Lichter presented a background of the feel of the community when this was brought before the previous Council. She questioned if this is a necessary project for the betterment of the City of Edgewater. She is convinced we need a widening and is feeling DOT has been rather patient with the changes the City Council went through. She is pleased with the $100,000 worth of landscaping at the edges of the rights-of-way. Councilwoman Lichter feels this is a necessary project that has to have the least impact on the community. She hopes they can make some leeway on where they want the ponds to go. Mayor Allman feels the beautification aspect of this should be placed on the back burner. He is worried about the people losing their homes and their property. He feels there has to be some alternative rather than taking thirteen homes from people. He feels taking one home is too many. He thinks it is great DOT is going to give the City $100,000 for the trees and $52,000 for a house. something doesn't ring true there to him. He knows they need this and it is going to have to happen but can they do it in such a way that they don't take people's homes away. He feels if this is high ground and it is a retention pond he doesn't think they are going to get any water in it. City Manager Grace feels it would be appropriate to have them come up and see if there is any flexibility with regard to the location of those ponds. Council is basically to the point where they stop dead in their tracks and don't approve the infrastructure or they have to disrupt people's lives. He feels Council has to focus on trying to minimize that. He doesn't think they will be able to do this project without affecting some people. He spoke about the people being compensated for their homes. The laws in the State of Florida with regard to valuation of property are very much on the side of the property owner, not on the condemnation authority as far as the price you get. Councilman Roberts feels they are being asked to choose from two unpopular plans. No matter which one they go with, they are going to have to store the water somewhere. He thinks if they find a way for DOT to store stormwater other than in people's homes, it might lessen the impact of the widening and make it more acceptable to people. Instead of one large pond, they could have a dozen small ponds scattered about to ease the impact. He spoke about the people on Indian River Boulevard that are going to be affected by the loss of their front yards. He feels if DOT could find alternative ways to store that stormwater, they would find the people of Edgewater a little more accepting on the widening of the road. Councilman Roberts feels to cut off side streets would be a nightmare. As much as he would like to see beautification done, he feels they need to take advantage of what money they can get to beautify the perimeter of the road system and the entrances into the City and utilize median space there for landscaping. Steve Homan, Public Information Officer, Central Florida District of the Department of Transportation, explained alternatives were looked at regarding retention ponds and in the original plan there were multiple water retention areas and at least three were in residential areas and would have affected homes no matter what. Another was where Eckerd is being built. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ....... ..., Mr. Homan explained the City appealed to them because of the value of that property to the city. They asked DOT to affect one area. Mayor Allman asked if he had record of who asked that the retention pond be in one area. Mr. Homan agreed to find out from Mr. Snyder. Mr. Homan explained the size and capacity of the water retention areas are dictated to the Department by the permitting agency, being the Department of Environmental Protection, whose agent actually is the st. John's River Water Management District. Mr. Homan believes there would have been at least thirteen homes acquired, only some in that area and some in other areas so basically you would have had at least three different neighborhoods represented here as opposed to one. That is unavoidable. He knows it was reviewed by a value engineering team for the district and maybe some of staff or Council would like to meet with the drainage engineer on why that site will work. Mr. Homan presented background information on the original typical section design. Mr. Homan explained if the current design continues, they would be signing an appraisal contract in December of 1998. The appraisals actually would begin in early 1999. We are to have all the property acquired, have the title conveyed to the Department and have the right-of-way certified as clear by August 2000. They would open bids in January 2001 which means it would be under construction in May 2001. Basically, three years from now. City Manager Grace asked when they would anticipate making offers to the property owners. Mr. Homan informed him December 1998 through March 1999. He explained the process and schedule as it stands right now. Councilman Roberts mentioned the location where Eckerds will be going. He was not aware that was taken into consideration for stormwater collection. Mr. Homan explained that was one of three or four retention areas proposed for the original plan. Councilman Roberts asked if that was used, how many houses could they save. He could do without another drug store to save some homes. Mr. Homan explained it used to be vacant land and now it is not, and it is zoned commercial and it would cost a fortune. Councilwoman Lichter asked if there is any chance of underground piping. Mr. Homan explained drainage is not his area of expertise but they could pump water but you would be adding considerable cost and now you are not only buying the property, but you also have to buy the easements to get the water there. He explained he was assured by Mr. Snyder that all of the alternatives were looked at which impacted on residential property. Councilman Hammond asked about a 16 ~ foot median strip. Mr. Homan explained it is within the same typical section. That is the minimum they would be willing to accept. He has every confidence the Federal government wouldn't accept it which means they couldn't get federal funding participation in it which means they would have to fund it 100% with state funds. Councilman Hammond expressed concern with people trying to walk across a street with five lanes. He spoke about putting a commercial road through a residential area. Mr. Homan spoke about getting criticism either way they go. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 '-" ....", Mr. Homan spoke about changes that have been made due to previous decisions by Council and the additional costs involved when plans are changed. He again stated residential areas are going to be impacted one way or the other. The reason it is concentrated in that area is because that was in response to the City's request from a previous Council. They are trying to be as accommodating as they can. They do have a production schedule that sooner or later they have to adhere to. There was a brief discussion regarding people crossing Indian River Boulevard. Councilman Roberts feels the most serious problem is the relocation of the families. Jackie Tuttle, DOT, explained they will be going over the 60% design plan and the water retention areas on March 26th. They are looking for a closure on the five-lane typical section so they can move ahead. Councilwoman Lichter asked if DOT wants a decision if they want to go with five lanes or four lanes and a median. Ms. Tuttle stated at the conclusion of this meeting, they are waiting for a letter from the City with approval to move ahead with the five- lane section. Councilman Roberts asked if they give their blessing regarding going with the five lanes, could they still ask DOT to find alternatives for stormwater management. Mr. Homan explained they would be more than willing. He briefly spoke about having a full understanding of the need for the retention ponds. City Manager Grace stated he has been working from a pretty strong assumption that the widening of S.R. 442 is needed. If Council decides it is not, then that changes that. He feels it is an extremely important project from a traffic, infrastructure, and safety standpoint. Councilman Roberts feels it is important for the future of the City. It is hard to approve this because of the impact it has on the families that will be affected. He feels there is no easy answer. Councilwoman Lichter stated she is for the concept of the project. Bill Hylwa, 3014 pine Tree Drive, asked when the decision was made to turn the property into commercial where Eckerds will be built. Mayor Allman stated it was not done with this Council. Mr. Hylwa doesn't remember it being made with the previous Council either. Mr. Hylwa spoke about the blocking of the roads and a petition that went around. He would rather see medians left. He feels the Council needs to look into when the Eckerds deal was made and that it would be a good idea to put retention ponds on the corner. Mayor Allman explained unfortunately the decision is not going to be popular no matter how it is made. vincent Vecchi, northeast corner of Evergreen Drive, stated no one is even mentioning the fifty something homes that are going to have to live on an interstate. Page -8- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 ,..... ...., Mayor Allman asked why can't they widen it to the normal size of a highway, put a turn lane in the middle and forget five lanes and go with three lanes. Let it go to four lanes out to the interstate after it reaches County. He feels this road being twenty-one feet from someone's door is ludicrous. He feels three lanes would make more sense. Councilman Roberts asked if the state would fund a program of three lanes. Mr. Homan explained the roads they design now are designed to accommodate the need twenty years from now and the projected traffic indicates the need for four lanes of highway. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to accept the plan as presented the night at the Library and as the last known acceptance of the last City Council as is with the five lanes, second by Councilman Gornto. The motion CARRIED 3-2. Mayor Allman and Councilman Hammond voted NO. There was a fifteen-minute recess at this time. C. Councilman Roberts appointment to Board of Trustees of Police Pension Plan due to expiration of term Councilman Roberts appointed Ron Prekup to the Board of Trustees of Police Pension Plan. He thanked Ferd Heeb for his time serving on that board. D. Community Development Block Grant Funding Allocation for FY- 1998/99 and five-year projection period update Acting community Development Director Plaskett informed Council this year staff has recommended the paving of West Turgot Avenue as the entrance to the new recreational complex and it was also one of the provisions when the County sold that property to the City that they would pave that portion of the road, Hart Avenue CIP Project regarding drainage problems in the Connecticut Avenue and West pine Bluff area. The amount requested for Turgot Avenue is $49,500. That budget will not be approved until October of this year by Volusia County so we wouldn't get the money until next year. The Hart Avenue Project cost anticipated is $175,000 with approximately a $25,000 windfall from last year's project. City Manager Grace thinks they need a City Council authorization to submit this proposed CDBG budget. Councilwoman Lichter so moved, second by Councilman Roberts. The motion CARRIED 5-0. E. Name change of City newsletter City Manager Grace explained there has been some sentiment to change the name of the City newsletter. City Clerk Wadsworth informed Council she had given each of them a newsletter from 1958 with the name of the Shorelines. Councilwoman Lichter commented on dividing the City with the name of Edgewater Shorelines but she liked the choice of Edgewater Tidings. There was a brief discussion from Council regarding possible names for the newsletter. Councilwoman Lichter feels this item needs a little more time. Mayor Allman agreed they should table this until the next meeting. Page -9- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 '-' ....." GENERAL CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE There were no citizen comments at this time. OFFICER REPORTS City Clerk Wadsworth had nothing at this time. city Attorney Clayton informed Council Katie Reischman from the law firm of stenstrom, McIntosh was present concerning a lawsuit filed by the Associates of Meadow Lake and a developer here in town. The City retained the stenstrom firm at the time the matter was under litigation to represent the City. There was a set of stipulated facts upon which the trial judge rendered an opinion and that set of stipulated facts was appealed by the developer, who lost at the trial court to the 5th District Court of Appeals. The 5th District Court of Appeals rendered a decision recently that was adverse to the City and because of the fact there might be some concern about the appearance of conflict, she is advising the Council that she has represented Mr. Barrett in the past and will be unable to advise the City in this matter. She asked the Stenstrom firm to send an attorney to bring the City up to date and inform them of the alternatives and to advise them. Katherine Reischman, Stenstrom, McIntosh law firm, updated Council where they are in the Whistle stop Park case. They recommend the City appeal the decision made by the 5th District Court of Appeals to the Florida Supreme Court. Today they have filed in the 5th DCA a notice to invoke the discretionary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. This notice will be immediately withdrawn by appropriate pleading if Council decides it does not wish to proceed at this point. Ms. Reischman explained if they do not appeal this case, they would have to start allover which could become quite costly. If they do appeal this case, they would have to first file a jurisdictional brief which is where you state exactly why you feel the Supreme Court should accept jurisdiction. They estimate the most this would cost the City is about $4,000 in attorney fees to file this brief which is due in ten days. If the Supreme Court accepts jurisdiction, they have to file additional briefs. They could be looking at as much as $10,000. They have a saving grace in this matter because the South Florida Water Management District has already offered to file a brief in support of the City and the Florida League of cities and the Florida Association of Counties would also be willing most likely to file briefs. This will help keep the costs down. They will do everything in their power to utilize these other groups more than their own resources to keep the bill as low as possible. It is highly unlikely this case could be settled at this point for less than $14,000 which is about what the Council is looking at. She strongly urged they appeal this case to the Supreme Court. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they have been involved in this case up to this point. Ms. Reischman stated their firm has been involved since the inception of the case. Councilwoman Lichter asked if it is customary in law cases to discuss them at this juncture in the case in a public forum or would this be done in privacy. Ms. Reischman informed her if they are contemplating settlement they do have the right to a private closed session but otherwise they would discuss matters in a public forum. Page -10- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 .,. ." City Manager Grace suggested allowing the law firm to keep their appeal rights alive for the next few weeks and in the meantime they will get more information to the Council and discuss it in more detail. He would like more information on a settlement alternative if Council did not want to proceed. Councilman Roberts doesn't think they should be so concerned with protecting other cities and municipalities. They have an issue where the City built a park and screwed up. None of the parks have proper water management. Obviously this situation caused flooding on private property. The City has to face the facts that they made a mistake. cities and counties have to take responsibility for their actions. City Manager Grace stated he is not familiar enough with the situation to know if the City made a mistake or not at this point. Councilwoman Lichter feels they need more facts. Mayor Allman asked what the possibility would be of Special Meeting next Monday night to discuss this. they should know what they are talking about before it. calling a He agreed they discuss city Manager Grace asked what the critical time lines are on this. Ms. Reischman explained they have filed the notice to invoke discretionary jurisdiction and then they have ten days to file their jurisdictional brief. Ms. Reischman explained they are talking about not saying they don't want to compensate a property owner for a temporary flooding but we are talking about how do we do it. Mayor Allman wants the opportunity to weigh the situation. He feels they need to be informed before they make this kind of a decision. Councilman Roberts feels besides protecting the City's interest we have to look at the property owner's rights. A lot of government agencies tend to take the opinion that we need to protect strictly the government and they don't seen to care about property owner's rights. He has seen where the City has made mistakes in the past and it is time to stop making those mistakes. If we have made a mistake, we need to face up to the fact and compensate these people fairly for things that were done wrong to their property. Ms. Reischman explained the appellate decision didn't say anything about whether or not they had made a mistake. They haven't even started the process in looking at that. The suit was just filed. We went through a legal question of whether it was inverse condemnation or whether it should be properly a tort. There has been no evidence to show the City did anything wrong. Mayor Allman feels if the Supreme Court doesn't hear this case, they would be throwing $14,000 away. Ms. Reischman explained they would only be spending the additional monies should they accept jurisdiction. They go through an initial procedure to see whether they will accept jurisdiction. If they accept, they would then file additional briefs. It was the consensus of Council to hold a special Meeting on March 23rd. Page -11- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998 --- ..",,; City Manager 1) Report on minimum monthly utility bills City Manager Grace referred to his memorandum regarding the utility bills. It would be very difficult to administer a program like that due to losing revenue which they would have to make up somewhere else. Councilman Hammond asked about contractors and meters being taken out and they are still being charged. He spoke about people having pretty heavy bills that don't even have a water meter there. City Manager Grace agreed to have a meeting with those folks. city Manager Grace spoke about computer needs in the Building Division. The proposal to implement the new system would be $7,318. He asked for Council's authorization to proceed with this. Councilman Gornto moved for approval, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. city Manager Grace presented a FIND project update. He spoke about a call he received from the Economic Development Administration and the negative vibes he has been getting from them as far as their disposition toward our pre-application. He spoke of a letter of support received from Senator Bob Graham. There was further discussion regarding what aspect appeared to bring out negative reactions from the EDA. City Manager Grace explained they are trying to finalize the reimbursement agreement with FIND and the contract with the engineer. He is hoping to have these on the agenda for the first meeting in April. City Manager Grace informed Council his office is trying to develop a report that will track all of the projects they are working on that can be updated every couple of weeks to give to Council so they have a good idea what the status of a given project is. city Manager Grace informed Council of a goal setting workshop to be held on March 30th at 7:00 p.m. Councilman Hammond asked about the owner/renter situation. City Manager Grace explained that is basically a collection issue. The City has adopted a policy of only dealing with property owners. Councilman Hammond suggested the renter put up a deposit. City Manager Grace explained the owners could do the same thing. It is easier for the City to deal with the owners then to deal with the renters. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Lichter moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -12- Council Regular Meeting March 16, 1998