Loading...
11-24-1997 - Special/Workshop ....... ....., CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MEETING/WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 24, 1997 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Special 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 Interim City Manager Kenneth Hooper Interim City Attorney Nikki Clayton 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. Supervisor of Election's report on uniform election dates Deanie Lowe, Supervisor of Elections, presented the history of the Uniform Municipal Election Act for Council. Ms. Lowe informed Council she has given City Clerk Wadsworth what they are proposing as an amendment to the bill which would cause the cities to have elections in October and November. Ms. Lowe informed Council she is available to answer any questions Council may have about the history, what they have been doing, and what they are proposing to do. She hopes they have Council's support on this. Councilwoman Lichter questioned the elections in Edgewater being in October and November. Ms. Lowe stated the Primary would be held in October and the General would be in November. Ms. Lowe briefly spoke about problems cities have had with the elections being in September and October. Ms. Lowe asked Council to take a formal vote on the proposed changes within the next month. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to support the amendment to go with an October Primary and November General election, second by Councilman Roberts. The motion CARRIED 5-0. City Manager selection process (Tabled 11/17/97) Interim City Manager Hooper presented an update on the City Manager selection process. He informed Council we are up to approximately 117 applications. Norm Hickey, Range Riders, informed Council of what the Range Riders do. Councilwoman Lichter asked Mr. Hickey what he would need from Council other than the applications. Mr. Hickey informed Council they would stay strictly within the guidelines and standards Council sets. He informed Council there is no charge for this service. ..... ...." Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council what he has supplie~ the Range Riders up-to-date. Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council he would like a motion to approve the process. It.-.......'-.....~...- Interim City Manager Hooper would like Council to hold a Special Meeting on December 10th to put together the short listing of people to interview. It was the consensus of Council to hold a Special Meeting on December 10th. Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council they will need to bring their list of ten most qualified individuals. Councilman Roberts asked Mr. Hickey how long it the Range Riders to put their results together. stated they would have theirs done within three They will also be ready by December 10th. would take for Mr. Hickey or four days. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to use the Range Riders to help in the City Manager selection process and in the end the Council will make the final decision, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. outsourcing of City Attorney's position Interim city Manager Hooper presented a comparison to Council of the cost for an in-house attorney as opposed to outside legal counsel. Interim City Manager Hooper predicted the City would probably save in the $50,000 to $100,000 range by contracting for legal fees versus filling the position from inside. Donna McIntosh, Stenster McIntosh law firm, informed Council her law firm represents at the current time five cities. She went over their bills to the city of Oviedo over the past five years. Their bills run $100,000 to $125,000 without extraordinary legal expenses. Ms. McIntosh stated their law firm is one of many law firms in the Central Florida area that specialize in representing local government. She feels if the City goes out for a request for proposal for legal fees, there will be a large number of firms responding to that. Ms. McIntosh feels probably the biggest benefit of not having in- house counsel is having a private law firm behind the City. Ms. McIntosh elaborated on the attorneys in her firm and what they specialize in. Ms. McIntosh elaborated on the benefits with having a law firm as opposed to having an in-house attorney. Ms. McIntosh spoke about a memo from Interim City Manager Hooper dated November 19, 1997. She concluded with all of the statements he is making she finds that his bottom line conclusion of a savings of approximately $50,000 to $100,000 to be a very conservative estimate in the event the City does not experience any extraordinary legal situations. Councilwoman Lichter asked when Ms. McIntosh's law firm represents a city, such as Sanford, do they need to go out for certain types of litigation beyond what that size firm can handle. Page -2- Council special Meeting November 24, 1997 ... ...", Ms. McIntosh elaborated on the sixteen years that they have represented Sanford and remembering only going outside the firm one time. Councilwoman Lichter asked if there would be a reason to have legal assistance from the legal department in city Hall. Ms. McIntosh elaborated on it being how Council structures it. In the five cities, they are currently representing, none of those cities have any in-house legal assistance. The liaison and gate keeper is the City Manager who needs to monitor the request for legal opinions and assistance. Councilman Roberts questioned the City Manager working as a screening operation so there wasn't a lot of wasted time on questions that weren't relevant to issues. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the Charter leaning towards in- house. It doesn't forbid the person that acts as legal attorney from living out of town but by making the stipulation that it would prefer that that's the correct way for all department heads of the town to live here. It even goes further and gives reasons. Interim City Attorney Clayton explained it also provides a process where you can consider that under the circumstance that would be a waivable requirement. If this is a process Council wants to follow and deal with a firm, then Council will address the residency issue when it is in due course because the Code also provides how Council would avoid that requirement were the circumstances necessary. She mentioned there not being a full service firm within the City that does municipal work. Ms. McIntosh informed Council if they select a firm that is a driving distance from Edgewater, they could look for a negotiated reduced fee on travel time and attempt to negotiate that all the way down to zero. Interim City Attorney Clayton stated they have talked her into that. Interim City Attorney Clayton asked Ms. McIntosh to describe some of the services provided to a City, questions that come up and boards they represent. Ms. McIntosh elaborated on this request. Interim City Attorney Clayton asked Ms. McIntosh to talk about preventive medicine and if they find times when the City Council and City Manager can be helped in preventive or sensitizing themselves in advance of issues that might come up. Ms. McIntosh stated that is probably one of the most rewarding areas that the firms that represent local governments like to be in because they like to solve the problem before it even starts. Interim City Attorney Clayton thanked Ms. McIntosh for coming. Councilwoman Lichter questioned response times and if an emergency happens, can the City get through and how many hours do we wait to hear back. Ms. McIntosh feels that is a critical issue and she encouraged Council, if they aren't getting the response times they need, to get a new attorney. Councilman Roberts asked Ms. McIntosh about presence at meetings and if they have a certain amount of time that they guarantee for the different meetings. Ms. McIntosh explained it depends on what is negotiated. with some cities they represent, they have a flat fee with a scope of services and then after that it would be an hourly rate. Page -3- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 '-" ..." Councilman Roberts stated if they hire a firm that has a dozen lawyers that each specialize in different fields, would a different lawyer show up at the different board meetings or if the same attorney would attend all the meetings. Ms. McIntosh informed him whatever they want, and she went on to explain what they do. Councilwoman Lichter asked the ratio in Volusia County of in- house versus firms. Ms. McIntosh stated she is seeing in-house everywhere in Volusia County. There was a brief discussion regarding cities who have in-house attorneys as opposed to outside legal counsel. Councilman Roberts questioned the cities in Volusia County that have in-house legal counsel and how much they spend on outside firms and if they are paying a full time attorney and they are doing the same thing Edgewater went through by paying out more legal fees to outside firms, doesn't it make more sense to hire a private firm and handle it that way. Ms. McIntosh stated her experience is that when you hire a full service law firm you are able to negotiate a lower rate. She feels the average rate the Council will see for services is $125 per hour. Mayor Allman thanked Ms. McIntosh for coming. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they decide to go with outside legal counsel, how do they go about the process. Interim City Attorney Clayton elaborated on request for proposals which is similar to a bid process but you aren't competing on price, you are competing on qualifications and experience. Interim city Manager Hooper suggested bringing this back to Council. He would put this in advertisement form and define the selection process and schedule dates for it to be advertised. He will bring this back at the next regular meeting. Councilwoman Lichter feels there are pros and cons both ways. Perhaps the salary price in the past was rather high, but it was very clear that the past attorney was not going to do certain types of litigation. She further commented on the pros and cons of having in-house or outside legal counsel. Councilwoman Lichter doesn't feel trying something new is something they are locked into forever. Mayor Allman feels they should table this for now and come back at the next meeting with an advertising type showing Council what their options actually are. Interim City Manager Hooper agreed to place this on the agenda for the meeting on December 1st. Councilman Roberts commented on the concern about response time. He would think the city Manager would be able to contact and have communication a lot easier through e-mail and today's technology to keep up with an outside law firm just as quick as if they were in-house. He doesn't see a problem with this. Interim City Attorney Clayton explained there is no guarantee in terms of accessibility and responsiveness because there are always reasons why it is a little later than not. Firms specializing in local government practice recognize that timing is almost everything so they are going to want to protect their relationship they have with one of their better clients so they are going to be responsive or Council will be in the drivers seat. There was a ten-minute recess at this time. Page -4- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 ..... ....", Mayor Allman would like to start an application process for citizens who are interested in serving on the Charter Review Committee. Interim City Manager Hooper recommended each Councilmember appoint an individual. He feels a five person working group is a good size to come up with this and give specific direction. Interim City Manager Hooper suggested bringing back a resolution appointing members. Councilwoman Lichter stated in the past she has served on two Charter commissions and was against the City Manager form of government and was for the Mayor form of government but she has accepted this type of government. It was the consensus of Council to prepare a resolution and bring it back. Councilman Roberts stated if they are going to take advice from professionals as well as the committee established, would it be wise to figure out what they are going to do about a City Attorney, as far as a law firm, then they will have someone in the legal corner to consult with as well when it comes to revising the Charter that will be with the City long term. Interim City Manager Hooper stated it can be done that way or his memo addresses considering a budget allocation where money is set aside so the Charter Review Committee can call on an attorney on their own. Mayor Allman stated irregardless what is recommended, the voters will have the final say. Councilman Roberts spoke about Council approving the funds before they can be spent by the Charter Review Committee. Interim City Manager Hooper explained they could set up a designated amount or ask Committee to make a list of how they want to spend money and bring that back to Council for their authorization. BUdget/financial assessment of city Interim City Manager Hooper stated right now the City has a cash reserve that is very large. He recommended a cash reserve be 10 to 15 percent of a budget and recommended the city have a cash reserve of 15 percent of the general fund. He feels the City should have around $1 million in cash reserve. The cash reserve right now from just the general fund is about $2.4 million. Mayor Allman asked if this is what Councilman Hammond brought up some time ago and was chastised about. Interim City Manager Hooper stated this is part of the earlier discussion of where is the money, how much money and so forth. Councilman Roberts stated this is strictly unrestricted funds out of the general fund but questioned if there are also surplus funds through some of the enterprise funds. Interim City Manager Hooper informed him that is correct. Councilman Roberts asked if you had a certain enterprise fund that was building up extremely high reserve, then you could also reduce rates to the general public to cut the cost to the homeowner from water or stormwater fees. Interim City Manager Hooper informed him that is correct. Councilman Roberts feels since Edgewater has one of the highest ad valorem tax rates in the County maybe it would be wise to see if there is a way to ease the burden to the taxpayers with some of the surplus money. Page -6- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 ..... ~ Update on Charter Interim City Manager Hooper made a presentation regarding the procedures Council would need to follow to update the existing City Charter. Interim City Manager Hooper suggested Council appoint a committee with a specific schedule, a resolution defining what they want done, a schedule in which it would come back, outline areas the Council would like the committee to review, areas of concern in the Charter and let the committee go through the process and bring back to Council a proposed amended Charter for Council's review. Council would then hold a public hearing on it and then it is subject to going with exactly what is presented, modifying it to whatever degree Council wants to or totally saying they don't want to do anything with the Charter. Council would adopt a modified Charter amendment by Ordinance, assuming there is one, and then the ordinance is placed on a referendum in which it needs the majority of the citizens vote and then it becomes the new Charter. Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council of his memo where he outlined the steps the Council would have to take to amend the Charter and a listing of areas he feels they should address which he went over at this time. Interim City Manager Hooper referred Council to a model city Charter which he submitted for them. Mayor Allman stated the purpose of reviewing the Charter is not because he is in favor of a strong Mayor form of government. He believes the City Manager form of government is best for this city. Councilwoman Lichter referred to defining the role of City Manager and asked if this is the same as the administrative code that we never had. Interim City Manager Hooper explained what he is saying in the administrative code is the set of policy procedures, purchasing policies and purchasing procedures. Most cities would have a full listing of every department of policy and procedures on how that department works. Councilwoman Lichter feels they should do a terminology cleanup. Councilman Roberts suggested putting in the Charter that every so many years the Charter be reviewed. He feels it should be required that it be looked at every couple of years. Councilwoman Lichter commented on items she feels are missing from the Charter. She feels the Charter is very simplistic. Interim City Manager Hooper stated you don't want to have everything in the Charter. You want to address very large issues that are city-wide and mandated through the Council. Interim City Attorney Clayton asked City Clerk Wadsworth if there were professional consultants working with the Charter Review Committee five years ago. City Clerk Wadsworth informed her only the City Attorney. Interim City Attorney Clayton suggested Council might want to consider the professional consultant giving the Charter Review Committee input. Mayor Allman asked if they could have consultants and the Charter Review Committee. Interim City Attorney Clayton explained the professionals would be advisory to the citizens so the citizens would have some guidance. Page -5- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 ...... "W' Councilwoman Lichter feels some of the city's needs are critical. Interim City Manager Hooper stated typical of any city that has limited funds, there are several different ways to spend the money. There are some unrestricted reserve funds that are over and above what normally a city would need. Interim City Manager Hooper presented several projects where the money could be used. He feels this should be brought back to Council through budget and a public hearing to talk about how they want to reallocate. Councilman Gornto spoke about attending the budget hearings and one or two of the councilmembers were very concerned with the self-insurance fund having $600,000 in it and that it was supposed to be at a million dollars. He feels if the City is sitting on this kind of cash, it was unbelievable that the City didn't have money to even consider building a fire station or pave a road that goes into the recreation area but the City is sitting on $1.4 million that this Council is deciding how to spend. He is having a hard time reconciling the meetings they sat through and where they are at tonight. He applauded Interim City Manager Hooper for coming up with this. Councilwoman Lichter asked to hear from Mr. Munoz so they could hear more reasoning in order to make some sense of the surplus. Finance Director Fred Munoz elaborated on some reasons why they were able to add a healthy balance to last year's budget. He spoke about some of the savings from FY 96/97 being a result of expenditures that were not made. He spoke about interest gained on money because of delays in the paving program. Councilman Roberts questioned why the public was not informed about this money. He feels the public needs to be made aware because it is their tax dollars. Councilwoman Lichter feels now would be the time to get priorities in order. She feels they should look at priority lists from the department heads. Councilwoman Lichter stated she attended the budget hearings and got the same impression that Councilman Gornto did. She is happily surprised but knows they can't play that kind of game again. Councilman Roberts stated it is good to have a healthy city financially but to a certain point. Interim City Manager Hooper and Mr. Munoz both agree this is a healthy balance. The City still has a large sum of money to draw on in emergency situations where the city may need cash. Interim city Manager Hooper suggested Council look at doing quarterly reviews and mid-year adjustments to the budget. He thinks they are going to recommend to Council to phase out the self-insurance fund. Councilman Roberts suggested with the extra money in the general fund, he doesn't feel they should go on a spending spree. He feels they need to spend it conservatively. Interim City Manager Hooper stated he would bring back a budget and controlled list of some ideas with cost and call it a re- budget of a certain amount of money for capital. If you put it into recurring like positions, you are going to pay for it every year. He doesn't recommend Council do that. Page -7- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 ...... 'will' councilman Roberts asked about the money that was acquired by transferring the building on Mango Tree Drive to the Water Department. He asked if the money is included in this or if it is in the Fire Department's separate budget. Interim city Manager Hooper informed him it is in a separate budget. Councilman Roberts stated we could use that money plus what we want out of this money to put up a substation on the west side of the tracks. Interim City Manager Hooper stated that is correct. Councilwoman Lichter questioned if a substation was agreed on. Interim City Manager Hooper stated not a substation but whatever they come back with. The first fire station siting committee meeting is tomorrow. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they would be evaluated again in terms of their fire rating. Interim City Manager Hooper explained that is done at Council's request. Mayor Allman commended Councilman Hammond for having the foresight to see the money was there during the election and was told that it wasn't. Interim City Manager Hooper asked to bring back the capital budget on December 15th and see how Council wishes to appropriate it. It was the consensus of Council to bring this back on December 15th. Mayor Allman spoke about our Recreation Department being in dire straits and needing to do something for the kids. He also feels there is a paving problem on Mango Tree Drive that needs to be taken care of. He is very glad the money is there and that the City is not in as bad a shape as they were led to believe. Donald Price, 302 S. Ridgewood Ave, spoke about Councilman Roberts suggestion of giving the money back to the taxpayers. He feels if the money was given back to the taxpayers by applying it to next year's budget, it would do much more good and would go back to the taxpayers. He feels it would be unwise to make a cash refund of that surplus. He spoke about a tornado that went through Edgewater in 1986 and the one that recently occurred in New Smyrna Beach. He feels it might be a good idea to have more rather than less than the usual surplus as a reserve fund. Councilman Roberts explained he was referring to giving money back to the taxpayers in the form of a reduction in the ad valorem tax or user fees through the enterprise funds. Paul Jenkins, willow Oak Drive, spoke about unique circumstances that left the City with a little extra money this year. He feels that is more the issue of why they have all the extra money they didn't expect to have. Mr. Jenkins disagreed with having only five members on the Charter Review Committee. He feels they need to get more representation. He recommended each councilmember appoint three people and then another five people come from the Chamber and another business entity and other types of groups. Michael Yukon, 1853 Evergreen Drive, spoke about the City Attorney selection process. He finds it hard to believe there would be between $50,000 and $100,000 less by going with outside legal counsel. He recommended Council consider the City Attorney being under contract and being paid a relatively small amount such as in the city of South Daytona. Mr. Yukon spoke about response times. Any good attorney will return calls. He feels there is a benefit to having someone on hand. Page -8- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997 .. ...."., Andy Anderson, pine Tree Drive, presented reasons why he feels the idea of having an outside law firm is an excellent idea. He feels the City would save $75,000 by going with an outside firm and feels it would be a win-win situation. Ed Keenan, 1905 pine Tree Drive, stated the thing he hears the most gripe about is the utility bills. He suggested Council go across the board and reduce the water rate, the garbage, stormwater, sewer and maybe the ad valorem. Mr. Keenan feels if the City has too much money, the feds won't give any money to clean up a natural disaster. Candace Natoli, 35th street, stated she is interested in the Charter Review. She spoke about an experience she had at the Volusia County League of Women Voters meeting where a member of the Florida's Commission Review Committee spoke. In the State of Florida, each generation has the duty of reviewing the Constitution of the state to see that it suits the needs of the citizens. She feels it is a privilege to be in a state that believes that each generation has a duty to the generations that follow. Ms. Natoli stated the impression she got from the speaker was they felt it was a privilege to serve on the committee for Constitution review. She thinks that as things would have to go for referendum in the odd year anyway, considerations of Charter Review might better come about a year from now as we hear the results of this larger group, the Gold Standard Group. She feels the City could benefit from what they have to share. She feels it is not a bad idea as Councilman Roberts was saying about a regular review of the City Charter which is similar to a version of the State Constitution. Mayor Allman passed the gavel to Vice Mayor Roberts. Due to all of the turmoil over the last six weeks, city staff has put in a lot of extra effort and have worked hard. Mayor Allman made a motion to pass Friday off as a holiday as well as Thursday. Mayor Allman was informed staff already has off on Friday. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Allman stated since he has made a fool of himself and passed the gavel, he made a motion to adjourn, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. Minutes submitted by Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -9- Council Special Meeting November 24, 1997