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11-17-1997 - Regular ~ """'" CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 17, 1997 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 Interim City Attorney Nikki Clayton Interim City Manager Kenneth Hooper City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE At this time, there was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Regular Meeting of November 3, 1997 Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to approve the November 3, 1997 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.) Mayor Allman reviewed the agenda procedure for the meeting. Ferd Heeb, 115 N. Riverside Drive, informed Council his matter is not on the agenda. He read a petition in support of appointing Fred Munoz as the Acting city Manager. Mr. Heeb presented his petition to Mayor Allman. Mr. Heeb asked if they would be acting on it shortly. Mayor Allman informed him they acted on this at a previous meeting. Councilwoman Lichter stated actually they had a motion at a previous meeting and there was no second but they did not vote on that situation. Mayor Allman stated that could be brought up again at any time. Mr. Heeb stated he understood Council had deferred taking action that is why they got the petition together. Mayor Allman stated it wasn't deferred, the motion was brought up and died for the lack of a second. Mr. Heeb would like Council to state its position regarding the appointment of Fred Munoz as Acting City Manager. He would like to hear specific reasons why the Acting City Manager wasn't made the Interim City Manager in anticipation of finding a new city Manager. '-' .."", Mr. Heeb stated no offense to Mr. Hooper but he is an additional cog that personally he doesn't think the city needs at this time when there is already a qualified candidate on the payroll. Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, stated he is amazed that this matter was brought up due to the fact there was a lack of a second of that motion. He feels the fact that Mr. Munoz was not appointed as Acting city Manager is City council's prerogative per the Charter. Mayor Allman suggested holding this until the general citizen comments at the end of the meeting. This space right now is for items on the agenda. Doris Hill, 112 Lincoln Road, spoke about Item 70 - City Manager Selection Process. It is her understanding the Interim City Manager has suggested three different ways for Council to make their selection for the top ten. His preference would be to make up a committee of the Council, himself and the attorney's secretary. She thinks the Council is being self serving. She feels Council is politicizing the process. She feels it is time they get the politics out of it. She isn't going to sit there and watch the city go down the tubes. Ms. Hill stated in the past they have always looked to the League of cities to scan the applications and come up with what they believe are the best choices and then it is up to Council to make their choice. She would hate to think that Council would not avail themselves of the League of cities or if there was some other body or process where knowledgeable people would be making that selection. She doesn't think Council should be the ones to do it. Councilman Roberts stated the City Charter clearly states that the city Manager works at the will of Council. It is up to the elected officials to decide who will be City Manager. It has nothing to do with petitions or the League of cities. This is the way the City Charter reads. If you have a problem with that, then you should review the City Charter. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Gornto spoke about during the budget hearings, the previous Council asked the City Engineer for a study to be done regarding roads that needed to be paved or repaved and to prioritize that. He wondered what the status was of that report. City Engineer Fegley stated he has sent a report to Interim City Manager Hooper defining some of the capital improvements needed within the City which delineated some of the areas that aren't sewered, some areas that are unpaved. It did not include the resurfacing and it did not prioritize all of the existing paved roadways. He has used formats he has gotten from other cities and now they have to examine each roadway. Councilman Gornto asked City Engineer Fegley if he will be coming back to Council with a report of roads that are damaged and where the money should be spent on roads. City Engineer Fegley explained right now he is looking at the technical criteria. Recently he met with Mr. Munoz and they are trying to establish a sound budget on an annual basis that would be required to specifically take care of the roads. They are still in the process of the financial and then actual evaluation of the roadways. Interim City Manager Hooper asked City Engineer Fegley to give Council a schedule. City Engineer Fegley stated by January so he has time to get a good analysis of every roadway. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 ~ ~ Councilwoman Lichter asked about three small streets off of Riverside Drive that are not paved at all. She feels they need to look at the unpaved streets even if they are not well populated. city Engineer Fegley agreed. councilman Gornto asked about the boat that is in the river south of Menard-May Park. He feels the boat should be removed. He feels they should notify whoever is responsible for getting it out of there and let's get rid of it. Police Chief Schumaker informed Council it was a derelict boat and the Coast Guard came down and anchored it to keep it from floating into the channel. They specifically said that no one is to touch that boat. Numerous calls have been made to the Coast Guard station in Jacksonville with little or no results in getting the boat removed. Chief Schumaker stated as he understands it, the gentleman that owns it insists that he is going to refurbish the boat. The boat, correct or incorrect, belonged to Ernest Hemingway. He is surprised it is still above the water line after all these months. Chief Schumaker felt a letter from Council to the Coast Guard couldn't hurt in trying to get the boat removed. Interim City Manager Hooper stated it would be good to get a motion and second and vote on it. Then he could draft some letters to the Coast Guard, the State and House Representatives and the Senate just to put some pressure to make something happen. He feels that is how it is going to get done. Councilman Gornto made a motion to do everything in their power to get the boat removed including the letters. Chief Schumaker stated six to eight weeks ago a gentleman that wasn't familiar with the city was driving down Riverside Drive and thought the boat had capsized and people were drowning. The gentleman called 911 from someone's house to report the boat. Mayor Allman stated we have a motion by Councilman Gornto that the proper authorities be notified by mail by Mr. Hooper concerning the removal of this boat in the Indian River, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Councilman Gornto asked if from time to time the police do surveys with the radar, rather than giving tickets, such as on Indian River Blvd., regarding what the average speed is. Chief Schumaker explained they have in the past, at request for anticipated problems, run traffic surveys. Not surprisingly to them, the surveys usually show that the traffic speed is very reasonable. He elaborated on a survey recently done on Riverside Drive. Chief Schumaker stated they issue well over 300 speeding tickets a month. Councilman Hammond had nothing at this time. Councilman Roberts stated in regard to the FIND project, at the last meeting, they gave approval to have two engineering companies that the City had worked with to give us proposals. He feels they should open that up to other engineering companies, possibly local companies, and put it out for bid. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 '-" ...... Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the agenda saying citizen Comments Regarding Agenda Items Only and it not saying that in the Charter. It just makes room for citizens to comment before and after the meeting. She feels they are limiting their citizenry. She spoke about citizens waiting to all hours of the night to speak where by the Charter all types of comments can be made before and after. She thinks the last Council decided on that format themselves and she feels they should give it some thought. Councilwoman Lichter stated based on the petitions that have come in this evening and based on Fred Munoz's request, she asked that two weeks from tonight the item of Fred Munoz taking over as Interim City Manager, which duties are incorporated in his position right now, be put on the agenda. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the last meeting when this item was discussed, a Councilperson left for whatever reasons and there were four members present. She feels it should be put on the agenda with a full house and she again requested it be put on the agenda two weeks from tonight. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the cost to repair vandalism. She suggested the Parks & Recreation commission could bring up this subject. She asked about there being no column on the police report pertaining to vandalism. She was informed there was. Councilwoman Lichter suggested putting something in the newsletter informing the parents of children of the vandalism in Edgewater. Mayor Allman commended the American Legion and Jack Corder for the Veterans Day celebration. He was proud to be a part of that. PUBLIC HEARINGS. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS There were no items to be discussed at this time. CONSENT AGENDA There were no items to be discussed at this time. OTHER BUSINESS A. Firefighters Pension Board's recommendation to reappoint Patricia Richards. whose term has expired (Postponed 10/20/97) Bill Vola, Chairman, Firefighters Pension Board, asked Council to give consideration to reappointing Patricia Richards. Chief Vola spoke about trying to resolve issues with the State of Florida over the structure of the pension board and of their investments. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to reappoint Patricia Richards, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. B. Appointments to proposed fire station siting committee Councilwoman Lichter spoke about Chief Vola's request to make the Firefighters Pension Board a seven member board with a recommendation to appoint Joseph Daly. She asked if it would be in order to do that now or if they should bring it up at the next meeting. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 ~ ...... Interim City Manager Hooper explained last week at the work session Council requested a fire station siting committee be appointed. Council appointed staff members and Carmel Shearer from the Firefighters Association. Council requested three other names and in the audience were two individuals that offered their time, Mr. Dick Jones and Mr. Ron Prekup. Those names are on the agenda as well as Chief Vola's request to appoint Joseph Daly. Tonight Council could appoint a third citizen as well as approve the ones that were appointed at the work session. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about receiving an application from Bob Garthwaite, Vice Chairman, LDRA. Chief Vola explained his request to have seven members was for the fire station siting committee, not the Firefighters Pension Board. Chief Vola made a staff presentation regarding appointments to the fire station siting committee. He spoke about the application received from Bob Garthwaite. He spoke about advisory boards being made up of an odd number to eliminate any possibilities of any tie votes. He recommended Council consider putting an active duty Volunteer Firefighter on the fire station siting committee. The name that came to mind was Joseph Daly who is a long time very active volunteer firefighter. Mayor Allman questioned if they would have to appoint six this evening and do something about the seventh member at the workshop Monday night. Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council they could do that tonight because they have enough names in front of them. Interim city Manager Hooper informed Council if they desire to add to the list Volunteer Joseph Daly they could certainly do that tonight. He informed Council they will receive the first progress report by December 15th. Councilman Roberts made a motion to change the fire station siting committee to a seven member board, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Councilman Roberts feels they should bring other people in Bob Garthwaite is already serving on a board. He also has name Larry Carson who he would like to see on that board. feels Mr. Carson would be an asset to that board. since the He Councilwoman Lichter feels they should have someone who is involved with planning and knows the future plans of the City to be incorporated into this position. Mayor Allman asked Chief Schumaker if he is the designee for his department. Chief Schumaker informed him yes. Councilman Roberts asked if it states in the Charter a person can only serve on one board at a time. Councilwoman Lichter asked if this is an investigating ad hoc committee that isn't recognized as a permanent committee. Interim City Manager Hooper stated it is a committee appointed by council and he would assume it has any standing of any other committee. The Charter designates you cannot have more than one person on more than one board. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the permanent boards having by- laws. The following is a list of the people interested in serving on the Fire station siting Committee: Chief Bill Vola, Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker, Carmel Shearer, Dick Jones, Ron Prekup, Bob Garthwaite, Joseph Daly and Larry Carson. Mayor Allman stated they would do motions on all four individuals. Page -5- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 ., ""'" Councilman Roberts made a motion to nominate Larry Carson, second by Councilman Hammond. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to appoint Robert Garthwaite, second by Councilman Gornto. Councilman Roberts made a motion to appoint Ron Prekup. Interim City manager Hooper informed Council at this point they have Chief Vola, Chief Schumaker, Carmel Shearer, Dick Jones and Ron Prekup appointed from the work session. Councilman Roberts made a motion to appoint Joseph Daly, second by Councilman Hammond. On the motion to appoint Larry Carson, the motion CARRIED 4-1. Councilwoman Lichter voted NO. On the motion to appoint Robert Garthwaite, the motion DIED 2-3. Mayor Allman, Councilman Hammond and Councilman Roberts voted NO. On the motion to appoint Joseph Daly, the motion CARRIED 5-0. C. Request for proposals to retain engineering services to design/ permit and oversee infrastructure improvements associated with Florida Inland Navigation District project Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council they are seeking approval of this. Councilman Roberts feels they should open this up to other engineering firms for bidding. He spoke to several people and Interim City Manager Hooper and he felt it would not delay the project at all and give them another opportunity to get different proposals and prices on engineering services. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the boats getting dirty from the lack of paved roads. Interim City Manager Hooper explained that is part of the grant application. Councilman Roberts made a motion to put this out for proposals for the engineering for the FIND project, second by Councilman Hammond. Councilman Gornto stated this is a reversal from Councilman Roberts position the other night at the work session. Councilman Roberts stated after talking with several people, he decided if it wasn't going to slow the project down then why not get several more bids. If it doesn't cost the city anything, it may save the City money. Councilman Gornto stated it was a feeling that these engineers that we have would be very competitive and very quick to respond and time was of the essence. He agreed the FIND project has to move as soon as possible. He questioned if the City really thinks we will qualify for the grant. He feels they should be working on alternative funding for Phase II. Interim City Manager Hooper feels the City is in a very good position for the grant. He stated you are going to turn out one of the smaller communities in an area that has distressed economy. Oak Hill also has a request to support this. He believes the city is in as good a condition as the city can be to receive at least partial funding from that grant. Interim City Manager Hooper explained the city will receive proposals and the end results will be the engineer will be selected in the necessary time. Going through the advertising is longer than going to the two the City has. He further elaborated on this process. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 ~ ~ There was a brief discussion regarding staying with the two firms the City has already contracted with or go out for bid involving local engineering companies within Volusia County. Councilman Gornto stated he was under the impression the grant would come second. FIND told us at the work session that they were going to spend their money first and if and when we got the grant, and would start using those dollars for the project. He stated if it takes a month longer to get engineers, and FIND is ready to spend money why can't we let them spend it as soon as possible. Councilman Roberts stated he was under the impression they couldn't move until we got approval on the federal grant. Interim City Manager Hooper explained FIND is going to spend money but on their own improvements and their engineers. Councilman Roberts stated the City can't move on the park project until the federal grant money is approved. Interim City Manager Hooper clarified or unless FIND turns loose additional money to the City to start. Community Development Director Mark Karet explained FIND has money and they are ready to spend it right away. They are going to hold it up though because we are having discussions with EDA. The EDA grant works on a matching basis. They will hold it until such time as the match is secured from the federal government. Then they can spend their money. Interim City Manager Hooper explained the only part they may spend is what they have to do on their site where they are having their own engineers come in from Jacksonville about the bermed site. Mayor Allman asked if the grant would be going for Phase II. Interim City Manager Hooper explained the grant funds take Phase I dollars and match Phase I dollars to get money to do Phase II. Interim City Attorney Clayton stated she is not clear on whether the intent is to limit the advertising to firms within Volusia County or whether they want to give some type of preferential treatment to local firms, all other things being equal. Usually the Consultants Competitive Negotiation Act will make it available to engineering firms from Alaska. The question is if Council wants to limit the CCNA advertisement to Volusia Engineering firms or whether they want to provide point allocations in the rating of firms that respond from wherever to differentiate for those that are local firms, all other things being equal. Councilwoman Lichter questioned this eliminating the firm that the city has been dealing with out of Orlando. Interim City Attorney Clayton clarified it would eliminate the firm out of Orlando. Councilman Roberts stated if they put it out for open bids anywhere in the state, we would also get a number of local firms. That would give us a little bit larger selection of local companies to consider within Volusia County. He suggested they put it out for bids openly and then see what comes in from local companies. Interim city Manager Hooper stated they would put in the advertisement a local preference for Volusia County firms. Councilwoman Lichter feels they have got to get the best. If the best doesn't reside nearby, she still feels they need the best for the job. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 ... ,..", City Engineer Fegley feels Councilman Roberts has a good idea and it is used very often with other cities within Volusia County. He elaborated on what they look at when choosing a firm. The motion CARRIED 5-0. D. city Manager selection process Interim City Manager Hooper made a presentation regarding his recommendation for the process of hiring a new City Manager. He recommended the City Council pose as a Screening Committee to review all of the applications. Councilwoman Lichter stated she asked Interim City Manager Hooper to put this on the agenda because she feels particularly strong on a couple of the subjects. She feels strongly about going with suggestion number three. She doesn't see that number three precludes using number four. She feels there can be a combination. Councilwoman Lichter stated they have not used the Range Riders in the past but used the League of cities. She commented on research she has done regarding the Range Riders. There was a brief discussion regarding the City being members of the ICMA. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the process done by the Range Riders and this service being free. She stated that does not preclude the Council from looking through the applications and also coming up individually and trying to get to a composite. She spoke about why she would like to see what the professionals have to say. She feels it is a pure and objective method of selection. Councilwoman Lichter feels they should use number three and four in combination. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about reference made earlier regarding the Charter. She feels they are not experts in everything and should turn to the experts for help. Mayor Allman stated he is not opposed to having these people look over the applications however, he feels the Council needs to go through on an independent basis and pull ten qualified candidates they all agree on and go from there. Councilman Roberts stated input from the Range Riders would be appreciated but the bottom line is the Council has to decide who is going to manage this City. Mayor Allman clarified that the Council would still go through the applications and pullout ten and compare it with what the Range Riders find. Councilwoman Lichter suggested having Tom Kelly come and speak to the Council about what the Range Riders do next Monday night. Mayor Allman recommended tabling this until Monday night. He is going to call Monday evening a special Meeting and they will table this item until that time. Interim City Manager Hooper agreed to contact Mr. Kelly to see if he can attend. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council he has given them 65 applications and every Monday he will give them the up-to-date applications. Page -8- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 'w' ...., GENERAL CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, read a prepared statement regarding what Council has done since they have been in office. Paul Jenkins, willow Oak Drive, spoke on the procedure for council meetings. He spoke about the line reading the applicant or appellant and supporters will be heard first and the opposition will be heard next. He expressed concern due to those in opposition can raise fact or fiction and then there is no chance for the applicant to come back at that. He feels the applicant should go last. Mr. Jenkins clarified that once a motion has been made and seconded, discussion will be closed to the floor meaning the citizens and Council will still have discussion about the motion made. Mayor Allman informed him that is correct. Interim city Attorney Clayton stated what Mr. Jenkins is referring to is rebuttal in legal parlance and it is the chair's prerogative to allow for rebuttal when you have a situation where you have the applicant and an opposition and quite often there will be information that hasn't been addressed by the applicant but by the opposition. The chair has the prerogative to ask for rebuttal or any further comments the applicant may wish to make. Its not that the process is foreclosed. This is an outline of the steps that will be followed and the order it will be followed which is the normal order. Andy Anderson, Pine Tree Drive, feels the reason the city got into some of the problems it has gotten into over the years is because the applicants for some of the big jobs in the City weren't screened properly. He suggested looking at that a little more closely. He spoke about contracts and sweetheart deals. He feels that should be looked at too. He feels there was some of that going on with the past leadership. Mr. Anderson spoke about being political regarding the applicants. He doesn't feel it is political at all. He feels it is a matter of the Council and Mayor making a choice which is their job. Interim City Attorney Clayton clarified Mr. Visconti said something with respect to a decision that has not yet been made by Council regarding the united Taxpayers of Edgewater. There has been no recommendation or decision made by Council to dismiss anything. Doris Hill, 112 Lincoln Road, asked Councilman Hammond when the question came up about Fred taking over the duties of the City Manager, he said he had to think about that because he had heard some things that he was checking into. She understands a couple individuals called him and asked him to make a motion to move Mr. Munoz into this job. She understands he said the reason that he could not vote for Mr. Munoz was because he heard certain things about him on the morning of the day after the night he made his decision. She spoke about Councilman Hammond or someone being told certain things by a police officer. Whatever it was he heard, there is a very good explanation for it and someone is feeding Councilman Hammond a lot of bull. Sooner or later she is going to find out what it is and who is doing it. Someone went to the Mayor and told him about it. Mayor Allman asked what he was told. He didn't know what Ms. Hill was talking about. Ms. Hill told him he knew what she was talking about. Mayor Allman stated he had no idea what she was talking about. Ms. Hill questioned where Councilman Hammond heard it because he made a statement to this person that he got the information indirectly from Mayor Allman. Page -9- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 .... ....., Councilman Roberts stated this is not a court of law and hearsay is strictly non factual. Ms. Hill stated there is a conspiracy going on here. Mayor Allman stated he has sat back and listened to where this has gotten comical. We are being sued for something we didn't do. We did not do anything wrong. And if you want to know why the City can't move forward, it is because every time we turn around we are getting another lawsuit thrown at us. We are trying our best to get this thing moving. If people had a genuine concern about Edgewater, they would talk to people about these ludicrous lawsuits. Ms. Hill stated she is praying someone does something with these lawsuits. Mayor Allman stated these lawsuits are going to be proven. We are going to be exonerated and he has no doubt in his mind. You can't prove a lie. Ms. Hill stated she was speaking to Mr. Hammond. Mayor Allman stated unless Ms. Hill wants to make herself clear there is no way he can answer a hearsay question. Ms. Hill stated she will not say more this evening but she will say more at the next meeting. Councilman Roberts feels one of the reasons the City is divided is because the people who opposed what they did keep dragging this thing on. You are beating a dead horse. Don't tell me that you aren't getting representation from two districts. The fact is that there was overwhelming victories in all the polling stations and the absentee vote for people that wanted change. Councilman Roberts spoke about people submitting petitions and there being approximately 11,000 registered voters and only 100 or 200 names on it. He is sorry but that just doesn't cut it. You have thousands of people out there that wanted change and that is what we are trying to do. If you just give us a chance, we can create a decent City to live in. He is tired of listening to rumors and all this garbage about these lawsuits. We haven't done anything wrong. We are going to try and run this City the right way and get a new City Manager in here to put the pieces back together. Mayor Allman stated Councilman Roberts is right. It is the same people with the same old junk. Councilman Roberts informed Ms. Hill if she wants to do something good for the community to put it to rest. Dominic Capria, 606 Topside Circle, thanked Interim City Attorney Clayton regarding the UTE suit never being brought up. He doesn't know why it was mentioned and it shouldn't have been. He feels they should give this Council a chance. Donald Price, 203 S. Ridgewood Ave, commended Council on their decision to use the Range Riders to help review the city Manager applications as well as the Council reviewing the applications. Dick Jones, 1530 Sabal Palm Drive, stated he moved here in 1991 about the time the last City Manager and City Attorney were being selected. When he saw the contracts that were approved by the last city Manager and City Attorney he was appalled. He spoke about the severance pay and the City Manager and City Attorney telling the Council their salaries. He doesn't want to see that again. He would like to see a reasonable contract put out for these people. Page -10- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997 .'W' ...., william Muller, 17 wildwood Drive, spoke on the raise that Mr. McMahon wanted to give to Mr. Munoz. Mr. McMahon informed Mr. Muller that Mr. Munoz should be earning $300,000 and he could earn this if he went to another city. He asked Mr. Munoz to come up and tell him why he is staying here when he is not making $300,000. OFFICER REPORTS city Clerk Wadsworth had nothing at this time. City Clerk Wadsworth stated Chief Schumaker is requesting a chair be appointed to the site committee so they can get a report back by December 15th. Mayor Allman suggested they call a meeting and elect the chair. He doesn't want to appoint one. Interim City Manager Hooper stated they would call the meeting and convene as soon as possible. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed Council of a suit in federal court by George McMahon. We have referred it to our insurance company because this particular suit does allege monetary damages. Council should have received a copy in their packets. Interim City Manager Hooper had nothing at this time. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to adjourn, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:33 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -11- Council Regular Meeting November 17, 1997