Loading...
11-10-1997 - Special/Workshop .- \ ~ ...."" CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MEETING AND WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 10, 1997 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Allman called the Special Meeting and Workshop 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 There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APpointments to Veterans Advisory Committee Mayor Allman read Res. 97-R-Veterans in its entirety. Councilwoman Lichter asked Parks and Recreation Director Jack Corder if the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 145 is no longer in existence. Mr. Corder informed her that is correct. Councilman Lichter stated Council received an application tonight from Sam Mancino who has previously served on this committee as past commander. Mr. Corder informed her that is correct. Councilwoman Lichter stated her first choice was going to be at- large and then she thought they could put in a gentleman like this. She wondered if they picked any other local Veterans organization if that would be in terms of the County organization that one of the applicants work with or would that be outside that parameter. Mayor Allman asked what Councilwoman Lichter meant by County. Councilwoman Lichter stated one of the applicants has been in the service for twenty years and works for the County's Veterans Administration. She would not, to her knowledge, fall in one of these posts but she wondered if she could be placed as a member for any other local Veterans organization. Mr. Corder stated that would be at the discretion of Council. There was a brief discussion regarding the organizations the members need to be a part of. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to follow through with the drafted resolution, Res. 97-R-Veterans, and make the third appointment an at-large one. Mayor Allman pointed out the Resolution clearly states that the member would be an at-large member. Councilwoman Lichter questioned if they could make motions at a workshop meeting. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed her they are in special meeting at the moment and they are considering whether to adopt the proposed resolution or some other format. .....,. ....., Councilwoman Lichter stated she would like to adopt this resolution but there are three other possibilities mentioned on page one and in her own reckoning if they do it at-large for the third person that could include the other appointments. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to go with an at-large candidate. Mayor Allman asked if Interim city Attorney Clayton understood what Councilwoman Lichter was saying. Interim City Attorney Clayton stated she thinks what they have is a motion for adoption of the resolution as it stands as opposed to having any other version of appointing that fifth member. She explained Councilwoman Lichter was saying there are other organizations that could supply a member of a Veterans organization but they could just as easily come from an at-large appointment as opposed to naming another organization. Councilwoman Roberts questioned the at-large candidate coming from any of the other organizations that are affiliated with Veterans organizations in some way. Councilwoman Roberts seconded the motion. The motion CARRIED 5- o. Mayor Allman entertained a motion to appoint Mr. Blickenstaff and Mr. Heck seeing it appears they are the only two with the criteria for the organizations listed in the resolution. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to appoint Mr. Blickenstaff and Mr. Heck, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Mayor Allman turned the gavel over to Vice Mayor Roberts. Mayor Allman made a motion to appoint William Muller as the at- large candidate, second by Councilman Hammond. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to appoint Sam Mancino. The motion DIED for lack of a second. There were no further nominations. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Vice Mayor Roberts returned the gavel to Mayor Allman. Councilman Roberts nominated Mayor Allman due to him being a Veteran of the vietnam war. Mayor Allman declined and stated he believes there is another Veteran on the Council. Councilman Gornto seconded Councilman Roberts' motion. Mayor Allman again passed the gavel to Vice Mayor Roberts. Mayor Allman nominated Councilman Gornto for the position, second by Vice Mayor Roberts. Vice Mayor Roberts could not make a second due to having the gavel. Councilwoman Lichter seconded the motion. Councilman Gornto stated he would be honored to serve. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Mayor Allman listed the five members as being Councilman Gornto, Jack Corder, Michael Blickenstaff, Walter Heck, and William Muller. Page -2- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 '-" ....." Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) project Community Development Director Mark Karet made a presentation regarding the current status of the Edgewater Industrial and Research Park also known as the FIND project. Joe Martin, Ex-Chairman, Economic Development Board, elaborated on FIND agreeing to allow the EDB to redesign the configuration for them. He spoke about the problems with crossing the rail spur that parallels Park Avenue on the North Side. He spoke about FIND agreeing in principle to putting in an industrial quality road. He elaborated on this being a two phase project and explained what each phase entails. Mr. Martin stated FIND has already done a very extensive survey of this area. What remains to be done is getting the environmental specialist in to flag the wetlands and things of that nature so we know exactly how much land we have. He estimated we have approximately 80 acres of useable land. Councilwoman Lichter asked about access and roads. Where do we envision this going. Mr. Martin explained this is entirely within the corporate limits of the city of Edgewater. Councilwoman Lichter stated when you have an industrial park you also think in terms of main highways for truck access. Mr. Martin explained trucks would go west on Park Avenue and South on Mission Road to SR 442 and west to 1-95. Councilwoman Lichter asked if there has been talk about some other road north-south in between U.S.#l and 1-95 which started in Daytona Beach and has come as far as Port Orange. Mr. Karet explained there has been discussion of essentially a belt line. That configuration has not been settled. Councilman Roberts feels they don't need to worry about a belt line right now. He feels they need to get this project underway. It has been sitting on the drawing board too long. He doesn't see where road planning would hold up this project at all. He feels it is time to get this thing going. He asked about the grant situation and what they are waiting for. Interim city Manager Hooper elaborated on the grant process. The grant application should go in Friday or early next week. It is broken up into two phases, each costing approximately $1 million. Councilwoman Lichter addressed Councilman Roberts because she doesn't want the implication that she is trying to hold up this project. She spoke about road access and planning for the future. She feels they need to keep in mind and look at the situation when there are traffic meetings that involve the area and that they be aware that further west wouldn't be as good for us as further east. That does not imply in any way that they should hold up this project for one second. Mayor Allman stated point well taken but he doesn't believe Councilman Roberts meant to imply that Councilwoman Lichter implied anything. Councilman Roberts stated he is just anxious to get the project under way. He feels it is critical to get this thing going. Mr. Karet further commented on the funding for each phase of the FIND project. Mr. Karet referred to a letter included in the packet from Peter Truslow, President, EdgeWater Power Boats to Oscar Zeller regarding the progress being made with the paved road behind their plant. Page -3- Council special Meeting November 10, 1997 ..... ..", Mr. Karet informed Council the city will need to apply jointly with FIND to the EDA and provide the design, permitting and construction management services associated with the paved road, the stormwater and utility improvements. These are things that FIND normally does not do in the course of their business. Mr. Karet Council. the Mayor grant. explained there are four items being brought before He elaborated on the first being the authorization for to sign the joint pre-application letter for the EDA Mr. Karet elaborated on the second item being authorization for staff to publish the RFP for the design services. Mr. Karet further commented on the third item being to begin negotiating separate development and infrastructure agreements with FIND. Mr. Karet explained the last item being authorization to submit the grant application to the EDA. Mr. Hooper explained Mr. Webster, representing FIND, is also available. Councilman Roberts asked about the roads that would connect into DBCC's project. He asked if we have an agreement with the college to tie in access roads for that industrial land. Mr. Karet explained the only thing the City has with DBCC is a little bit of excitement about the concept. Councilman Roberts asked if they are willing to sign an agreement to let us access off their property as soon as possible. Daniel Webster, Coble, Woods, Webster, Busch, Clayton and Tiel, Daytona Beach, explained they also represent DBCC as its general counsel. He explained they have met with construction staff and the president of DBCC and reviewed the site plan concept. They have no objections to it. The president has written a concept paper and draft which is proposing DBCC would like to expand and emphasize its focus on the marine and the environmental aquaculture programs. They are looking forward to proceeding with the project. Councilman Roberts asked about the first $1 million from FIND and if it is possible to get the project underway with those funds prior to approval of a grant for matching funds. Mr. Webster stated that would be the hope. Mr. Karet explained they do have some indication that might be a problem with EDA. Mr. Webster explained the hope is right now this grant application is going to proceed. The basic idea is the City is going to hire the engineers and FIND is going to pay for it. Once the design is complete, the City is going to put it out for bid for the construction of the road, water and sewer for Phase I. Hopefully by the time the design is being completed, we will have some idea as to whether or not we are on a track for the grant application. Councilwoman Lichter asked who is applying for the grant to the federal government, FIND or the city. Mr. Webster informed her both, it is a joint application. FIND is putting up the land necessary for the roadways and the utility infrastructure and the funding for it. The city is a participant to the extent that we are doing it the way the City would like to see it developed and after the construction is completed or somewhere in the process, FIND will turn around and dedicate that land back to the city. The City will actually hold the title to the roads and utilities. There was a brief discussion regarding funding for Phase I and Phase II. Page -4- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 ~ ....." Councilwoman Lichter presented a worst case scenario of the City getting involved with Phase I and being obligated to have the money and not have the grant. Mr. Webster stated the City has no obligation financially to fund the construction. He explained Phase I is going to proceed with or without a grant. It has conceptually been approved by the FIND board. Councilman Roberts asked about the time table to get the engineering done and everything approved in order to be able to start Phase I. Mr. Webster informed him as soon as the Council authorizes staff to proceed with the application and RFP process, then FIND will review the RFP and get it approved and establish the infrastructure agreement, which is basically going to say the City will contract for these services in accordance with laws and the usual procedures and they will either advance the money or reimburse it on a monthly basis as necessary so the City doesn't have a cash flow deficit to meet these expenses. Interim City Manager Hooper explained it is about two or three months to go out on the street with an RFP and select an engineer. From that point, it will take four to six months to design it. He briefly spoke about the infrastructure agreement and development agreement that entitles FIND to do what they need to do. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about there being three possibilities for design services. She asked what Mr. Karet recommends. Mr. Karet feels the quickest way would be to ask two firms, who we have contracts with now, for a cost estimate and figure out which is cheapest to go with. He informed Council it is entirely up to them as to how they want to approach that. Councilwoman Lichter asked about the four items they need to act on. Interim City Manager Hooper explained the first three items are action items. When they are approved, the grant gets submitted. He informed Council of the three items they need to act on. Councilman Roberts made a motion to authorize the Mayor to sign the joint pre-application letter for the EDA grant, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to receive proposals of cost and design from the two firms that already have contracts. There was a brief discussion regarding the fastest way to receive proposals for the design services. Councilman Roberts asked if these two firms have been very competitive financially as far as what they have done for the city in the past. Interim City Manager Hooper explained these firms have done the capital improvements. Councilman Gornto seconded the motion. Mayor Allman asked if FIND is going to be paying for this service and suggested asking Mr. Webster how he feels and which way to go. Mr. Webster explained FIND is interested in proceeding with this in the most expeditious, cost effective manner. Councilwoman Lichter asked for an explanation from City Engineer/Director of Public Works Kyle Fegley. Mr. Fegley explained the two consultants were chosen for different reasons. Hartman & Associates is located out of Orlando. They were chosen because they are a much more diversified firm. They have a lot of in-house services that a smaller firm is not available to provide. He spoke about why Quentin L. Hampton was chosen. He believes both firms are capable of providing the services the City needs. Page -5- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 'w' ......, city Engineer Fegley recommended issuing the RFP to each of these firms. He feels if they advertise just the two firms, they will get a competitive and capable submittal by each one. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Councilman Roberts made a motion for the City to begin negotiating separate development and infrastructure agreements with FIND, second by Councilman Hammond. The motion CARRIED 5-0. There was a five-minute recess at this time. Fire station sitin9 and construction Interim City Manager Hooper explained the reason he requested this be discussed at a work session was to verify that all of the Councilmembers agree this is the station and site they want or if they need a new station and how they are going to staff it. Fire Chief Bill Vola presented a status report regarding the calls his department has responded to and the need for a new fire station. Chief Vola referred to maps pertaining to the four different districts in the city and the sites they have looked at. He spoke about criteria he was concerned with. Chief Vola elaborated on the proposed fire station site. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council they could either ask questions or seek input from the public. Councilman Roberts feels they should let the public speak and then have Council comments and questions. Ron Prekup, Lime Tree & Indian River Blvd., asked Council to look at the needs in the future as the city grows and make the decision based on that and not just having a station because we already have the property. He feels that mayor may not be the right location. George Ewing, 2923 Royal Palm Drive, stated he understands the city has only $35,000 invested at the present time. Interim City Manager Hooper stated that is very close to the amount. Mr. Ewing expressed concern with the location of the proposed fire station. He feels Council should consider a location west of the railroad tracks that would be centralized. Chief Vola explained this is not to replace the existing fire station. This is an additional fire station to protect the residents at the south end of the City. Carmel Shearer, 3020 Mango Tree Drive, spoke about Edgewater needing another fire station at the south end of the City. She spoke about a plot plan she has done regarding calls in District 57. She recommended the location of the property for the Fire Association. Dick Jones, 1530 Sabal Palm Drive, recommended Council pick a location along Hibiscus Drive, particularly at 26th Street. Mayor Allman asked what kind of zone Hibiscus and 26th Street would fill on that map. Chief Vola referred to a map regarding the coverage area if there was a station at Hibiscus and 26th Street. Councilman Roberts feels they need to look at a central location in Florida Shores because of the railroad tracks. He feels Hibiscus Drive would be a great location. Page -6- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 ~ ......, Councilwoman Lichter believes these designations were established outside the city. Chief Vola explained they were established internally. They are by actual measurement and actual miles as driven and measured. Councilwoman Lichter commented on the District 57 location. She seriously considered the Fire Association's location but because of the tracks it causes a problem. She spoke about properties abutting this property that the City would have to purchase. She feels the District 57 location would take care of three sides. Councilwoman Lichter asked Chief Vola if this will be the last fire house or does he envision one elsewhere. Chief Vola spoke about a proposed golf course community off of SR 442 of 1600 dwelling units. One of the requests he had during the development process was that as part of their development agreement they deed over to the City a fire station site by this community in order to be able to provide protection as the community were to build out. Councilwoman Lichter asked about there being a problem going to u.S. #1 on Volco Road over the tracks. Chief Vola stated eventually Volco Road will be paved. They will cross the tracks no matter where they put the station. They cross it on a daily basis multiple times every day now and they do get delayed by trains. Mayor Allman asked Interim City Manager Hooper the feasibility of forming a committee of the emergency services personnel and report back to Council their findings. Interim City Manager Hooper stated they could certainly have a committee to look at recommending a site. Councilman Roberts feels a committee would be appropriate and the city does need a fire station but they need to review several sites west of the tracks. He feels they should have a five member committee consisting of the Fire Chief, Police Chief, someone from the Volunteers, possibly the President of the Association, and then maybe two citizens at large. He feels once a site is selected, the building may need to be done in phases to keep the budget in line. He further discussed funding and having the station designed for expansion. Councilwoman Lichter believes there is a need for a second fire station. She suggested a committee come back by the first of the year. Councilman Roberts made a motion to establish a site committee. Interim City Manager Hooper elaborated on his memo referencing five items of concern that Council needs to make a decision on. Councilman Hammond spoke about the Firemen's Association being located down the road from him on Hibiscus. He feels the budget is pretty strong with what it is going to cost. He spoke about the association putting up a building for a rescue vehicle and fire truck. He feels that is a way to go right now because of the budget and this could give the City time to build up money. He asked for input regarding this. George Barlow, Edgewater Volunteer Fire/Rescue Association, stated he came forth with a plan with the city Manager, Chief Vola, Mark Karet and Fred Munoz that the association would be willing to build a building jointly with the Council using their funds and the funds that were obtained from the utilities Department purchasing the Mango Tree Drive station. We were turned down. We have planned thus far a warehouse building to house their equipment in. Page -7- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 .... ....... Mr. Barlow informed Council they have an architect that is in their department and he works for an engineer so they don't have to pay those fees. They have a building design that is strictly for a warehouse which they have not decided on because they are holding off until they can see if they can work with Council on possibly enlarging this building and making a joint building. If we have a building that is housing some equipment and they have volunteers that are hanging around their building, you are going to have the personnel right there. The association would like to work with the new Council. Mayor Allman stated it sounds like a pretty good idea for a substation at this point in time considering the city has $178,000 available and the City needs $802,000 to go forward. He feels what Mr. Barlow is presenting is a very viable opportunity for the City to take advantage of at a very low cost. Councilman Hammond feels one of the problems someone is going to say is response time with the volunteers. Councilman Roberts stated three quarters of the firefighters are volunteers and they have done a great job. Councilman Hammond stated if they go with a full fledged firehouse, they are going to have to have it manned. Councilwoman Lichter stated it is ridiculous to say there is no money. She stated the last Council left them in a good situation financially with surplus money. Where that money has gone, she doesn't want to get into but we did start out with money. She feels the issue is do they need a full fledged firehouse. Every year you wait to get a full fledged accredited firehouse so that the insurance ratings are proper. Councilwoman Lichter feels the association property didn't look big enough to her for a full fledged firehouse. When Mr. Barlow presented his proposal to the last Council she asked if he had in mind a substation or a full fledged firehouse. Mr. Barlow explained what they had in mind when they talked with the other Council was building a building large enough to house at least one engine. Being an association building, usually you will find the guys will hang around their own building. The guys are already there. It is not that they have to go to that location. We had planned on having room for one engine, a drive thru bay and there would be additions that could be made to that very easily. Mr. Barlow went on to speak about the volunteers regular jobs being at different times during the day. He feels it is not the best situation but it is just about all the City can afford right now. He stated they now have seven lots and are going to build a building there but they are holding off until they find out what Council wants to do. Mayor Allman asked Councilwoman Lichter where they should get the money to build a new fire station. Councilwoman Lichter believes they had enough surplus in the community in the beginning and that it has been spent on an abundance of professionals and law cases. Mayor Allman asked Councilwoman Lichter how much has been spent on law cases. Councilwoman Lichter stated it is open ended and we had an insurance coverage. Mayor Allman asked Councilwoman Lichter if she is familiar with the insurance coverage. Councilwoman Lichter stated she read it. Mayor Allman informed her she read it wrong. Councilwoman Lichter stated she read it and believed it was in her packet and she would bring it up at Monday night's meeting. Page -8- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 ~ ~ Mayor Allman stated he wanted to discuss it now. Mayor Allman turned the chair over to Interim City Attorney Clayton and asked her to explain the insurance. Interim City Attorney Clayton asked for clarification if they were talking about coverage for certain liability exposure or Fred's memo. Councilwoman Lichter stated she is talking about an insurance policy called Florida cities Program Insurance Proposal for the City of Edgewater. She is talking about the fact that she did speak to Ms. Clayton about notifying that coverage. She asked the night of the Monday meeting were they notified and consulted. She believes her answer was no. Upon going into her office the next day and answering her, she said yes she notified them. She feels, if she reads this correctly, they are to notify them so there is a possibility that they could help cover the legal fees if the plaintiffs or accused complaints are found not to be justified. She feels it would have been appropriate to talk to them about fees and possible money that would come back to the town if the complaints are not justified. She stated she is not sure putting this together with other information she has received from sunshine and the Ethics Committee that even the principals involved should be voting on their own lawyers. She is not sure about that. She feels generally people put up the money for their own attorneys and then they are compensated if they are proven not to have committed a fault. Councilwoman Lichter stated she had no intention of bringing this up tonight but everyone was mentioning the free floating money at the first two meetings and of course, if your answer is where you go for money, you go to bonding and you go out and borrow it. That is how things are built. If the community needs something bad enough you go out and get it. Mayor Allman stated that is not what you were saying, you were saying we had the money available. He asked Interim City Attorney Clayton to explain the insurance. Interim City Attorney Clayton explained as far as the ability of the insurance to provide funding for the City in situations that we are talking about with the fire station funding, she doesn't know that there are any cases that she has seen currently that have been handled in the City Attorney's office where you could get insurance proceeds that would then make funds available for buying a fire station, if that is what they are talking about. Councilwoman Lichter stated they are not talking about that at all and they are crisscrossing ideas. She wants to completely keep the insurance policy out of this. She welcomed Mr. Munoz's words into this that it does seem we have some money to start this project. We have money from the sale of the Mango Tree firehouse. It does seem that there is a process for design that has gone into motion. If a need is established, a community finds a way to do things. Councilwoman Lichter stated saying today there is no need out of the mouths of some of her councilpersons, it is almost ironic to her in the way they have been spending money in the last month. She doesn't think this policy is going to give us the money but she feels this policy may have helped pay for some of the lawyers fees. Interim City Attorney Clayton stated something Council might want to ask is the availability of the response times in neighboring communities. What is the standard in the area and whether or not that is going to help Council make their choices of siting and manning and so forth. Page -9- Council special Meeting November 10, 1997 ...... ...., Interim City Attorney Clayton feels Council might want to have a pretty good idea of what New Smyrna or the County or other jurisdictions are offering to their citizens in the pricing so Council can see they are buying a serviceable idea for the City. Some of those questions might be more germaine to the subject tonight. Councilman Roberts stated it is obvious everyone agrees they need a fire station west of the railroad tracks. He feels it would be appropriate to set up a committee to locate a proper site with input from department heads and citizens at large. He feels if it is designed in phases, it could be maybe an unmanned station for a while as more funds are available and as the community needs to expand it, it could become a manned station. He feels that will work well with the volunteers and the permanent department. Councilman Roberts spoke about having some funds available and feels they should get the ball rolling. Councilwoman Lichter feels the idea of the concept of volunteer versus professional is very interesting. She would like to see that. She doesn't feel you can count on volunteers for manning a permanent station one hundred percent. She feels they are going to need professionals. Councilwoman Lichter asked if any design has come in. Chief Vola stated they haven't gotten to the point for a consultant to design a building yet because they haven't even hired a consultant yet. She feels Councilman Roberts' idea could work but she would like to put a time limit on it. She would like to see this activated within their two years. She feels a committee could meet and come back by the first of the year with a report. Councilman Roberts also feels they need to put a time limit on a site selection. As far as can we depend on volunteers, he would say yes. They have done a fantastic job. He sees no problem depending on these people. Chief Vola referred Councilman Roberts to the last page of his report. He does not disagree with him except to the extent that neither the volunteers nor the career personnel could do the job by themselves. Councilman Roberts spoke about getting a station started on a reasonable budget and getting it manned by volunteers to start and in time, as the station is expanded, they could add people permanently and turn it into a manned station. He sees no problem with phasing it in that way. He thinks it would be easier on the budget. Mayor Allman feels they need to find a site before they start discussing how to man it or how to build it. Chief Vola feels it would be an excellent idea to put a committee together to review sites and look into a solid proposal from the Firemen's Association. What sounds like a good deal may have so many holes in it or lack of a foundation that you may find it undesirable when you look at the total package. That is what occurred with the first offer that was made. There wasn't a lot of negotiation. It was an offer and when it was turned down that we would like to look at it and discuss it more the offer was withdrawn. Chief Vola stated if Council sees fit, the possibility would be to include the review of an offer of that facility as joint use facility and be assigned to the same siting committee that would give a well rounded opinion. Mayor Allman feels that is possible. Page -10- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 ..... "wIf1. There was a brief discussion regarding who to have on this committee. Mayor Allman suggested the Fire Chief, Police Chief, President of Volunteer Firemen's Association and two or three citizens at large. Interim City Manager Hooper informed Council they could bring back at Monday night's meeting some citizens names to add to staff. Councilman Roberts asked if the citizens should fill out an application the way advisory boards would. Interim City Manager Hooper advised Council to make the appointments from where they sit to get some input. Councilman Roberts made a motion to form a site selection committee and appoint citizens at large at Monday's meeting, second by Councilman Gornto. Councilwoman Lichter questioned if they should make some deadline for their formation and return of information. Allman stated once the committee is formed, Monday night could give them a deadline and go from there. kind of Mayor they Councilman Roberts included in his motion that the Fire chief, President of the Volunteer Firemen's Association, and the Police Chief or his designate, will also serve on the committee. Mayor Allman feels they should have three citizens at large to include Dick Jones and Ron Prekup. Councilman Roberts again stated his motion is to establish a site selection committee for the new fire station to include Fire Chief Bill Vola, Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker or a representative from the Police Department, a representative or president of the Volunteers Association, and three citizens at large involved in the committee and that once established they set a time table for them to come back to Council with their recommendations, second by Councilman Gornto. The motion CARRIED 5-0. Update on outstandin9 lawsuits Interim City Attorney Clayton presented an update of the lawsuits that are currently open in the office. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed Council in terms of the subject matter under litigation there are four improper terminations from four employees pending, two matters related to Code Enforcement which relate to fines on a false alarm on a certain property and a matter of a lien satisfaction and a mortgage foreclosure. These are matters that are very routine and not very controversial. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed Council of a couple property disputes in which City easements for Riverwalk have come under competing discussion by property owners who are arguing between themselves about who owns a particular lot on Riverside. The City really has no interest in who wins as far as the ownership because all of them have recognized the City's easement rights to Riverwalk. Interim city Attorney Clayton informed Council of a trip and fall which is being handled under the insurance policy discussed earlier in which the insurance attorney is not the one representing the City but the one who has been representing the City in many matters in the past under tort or claims of injury that the City is in some way responsible for. The City has not purchased a policy that has defense of the city as a part of its benefit unless they feel that their fund for liability payout is going to be exposed and then they may want to elect to put their own attorney on the matter so they can protect themselves better in their exposure. Page -11- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 ~ .....", Interim City Attorney Clayton informed Council of a drainage issue in which there is an inverse condemnation by a company called Associates of Meadow Lake in which temporary flooding of property by the city is being claimed and this is a matter that is on appellate review and oral arguments have been held in this matter. It doesn't look like it is a big dollar matter. Interim City Attorney Clayton informed Council of the lawsuit Keenan versus the city of Edgewater which had to do with the sewer assessments. The assessments were challenged, however the challenge was late. It was held by the court to be too late to be heard and it went from Circuit Court to an Appellate Court and then to the Supreme Court which did not entertain jurisdiction. The City had decided they wanted to file a motion for attorney's fees against the complainants which were united Taxpayers and three individuals who were separately named. The motion for attorney's fees is still pending and there have been discussions with a recommendation by the judge that it would be in the party's best interest not to come before him. There have been settlement discussions. We are talking about things in the neighborhood of letters of apology. It does not seem the city has really much exposure in its lawsuit arena. She will have a report with facts and numbers so Council will know what the past has held and what they can look forward to in the future. Councilman Roberts asked about the lawsuit regarding the united Taxpayers of Edgewater. He asked if it would be wise to drop everything and quit while they are ahead before they get too involved. If they have agreed not to sue the City anymore, shouldn't the City just back off and call it a truce. He feels that would be in the best interest. Interim City Attorney Clayton stated she thinks the explanation here is that the prior City representatives felt the matter was frivolous and that the United Taxpayers of Edgewater should be asked to put their money where their mouth is if they were going to be held to be frivolous in their lawsuit then they should be required to pay fees. The lawsuit never was heard because of technicality. It was too late to argue the point or merit. It is very difficult under those circumstances to argue about frivolity of one party over another in a lawsuit. Interim City Attorney Clayton operates on the principle when you get to litigation it should be the very last place people have to go because mostly reasonable people, even only very slightly reasonable people, should know better than to go to court. She feels the frivolity that would cause someone to seek attorney's fees against another party was not an element that could be established and if that is the case, she would have to answer the question yes, it probably could be dismissed because we don't have a person or association that brought a matter with a frivolous intent. She informed Council she would come back with a more reasoned historical perspective about what has gone on. Councilman Roberts would like to put this matter to rest. It is time to start working together with those people. Councilwoman Lichter stated she isn't sure that when it was established that it was frivolous. It was a matter of the date. Interim City Attorney Clayton explained the only reason you would seek attorney fees against the other side is if the matter is a frivolous matter and it is kind of to deter people who can go very cheaply to the court house. A motion for attorneys fees is a routine matter but they are never granted unless it is frivolous in the judge's or jury's eyes. Page -12- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997 '-., ....., Councilwoman Lichter asked Interim City Attorney Clayton to also find out the cost to the City in those endeavors also. Interim city Attorney Clayton stated that is exactly what she intends to provide. She will list the attorneys that have been representing the City. Much of this was handled outside the City Attorney's office. ADJOURNMENT Councilman Roberts made a motion to adjourn, second by Councilman Gornto. The motion CARRIED 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:28 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -13- Council Special Meeting November 10, 1997