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07-17-1995 - Regular .. ..,., CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR 'VEETING JULY L' 1995 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Hayman called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the community Center. ROLL CALL: Mayor Jack Hayman Councilman Danny Hatfield Councilwoman Louise Martin Councilman Michael Hays Councilman David Mitchum city Attorney Krista storey City Manager George McMahon City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The invocation was delivered by Reverend Boldt, Edgewater Alliance Church. There was a pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Reqular Meetinq of June 19. 1995 City Clerk Wadsworth informed Council on page 2 under Article A, The motion CARRIED 5-0 was left out but it is reflected in the original minutes. Councilman Hatfield moved for approval with that correction, second by Councilwoman Martin. The motion CARRIED 5-0. CITIZEN COMMENTS REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS ONLY (Other than pUblic hearinqs) Mayor Hayman asked for a special exception to allow some special guests to speak but not regarding an agenda item. He explained vic Vandergrifft and Susan Goodrich would comment on the matter of the net ban initiative in the area. There were no objections from Council. vic Vandergrifft commented on trying to help the displaced commercial fishermen. He asked that a contribution be made to the net ban fund. New Smyrna Beach donated $1,000 to that fund and he requested Edgewater match it. He introduced Susan Goodrich and stated Barbara Cox was also present from the united Way as well as Peggy Wolsfelt, a business woman from New Smyrna Beach. Susan Goodrich presented her background in the fishing industry. She explained due to the constitutional amendment passed November 8, 1994, the commercial fisherman of the State of Florida are all out of a job. She commented on legislative bill 1317 providing for retraining and re-education of the commercial fishermen. She asked the Council to help the fishermen this affects in Edgewater. Mayor Hayman asked the amount that has to be met by each fisherman. Ms. Goodrich explained each fisherman has the opportunity to qualify for 26 weeks. Each 13 weeks is $189. ...---..----- ,... ...., Councilman Hatfield asked Finance Director Munoz how much is in the fund used for donations. Mr. Munoz explained their fund had been depleted. City Manager McMahon stated on the contingency in the budget, not much has been expended from that. If a transfer was made to the contributions fund of the Council from that, that could be accomplished that way. Councilman Hatfield made a motion to donate $1,000, second by Councilman Hays. Councilman Hays stated he understands the people's rights who placed this on the ballot last fall but he feels the ball dropped in not providing a better umbrella for the people affected by it. Mr. Vandergrifft commented on restaurants and fish markets being affected. They are going to screen the neediest of the needy for these funds because they won't have much to work with. Mr. Vandergrifft stated anyone who wanted to donate any amount to the fund, they could make their check payable to united Way Net Ban Fund which could be dropped off at the united Way Building, 515 Canal street. He stated they are also looking for staple goods to help feed these families. Councilman Hays asked this information be included in the next newsletter. city Manager McMahon stated the next newsletter would be out in August and if there is something special they would like written up to get it to him. Mayor Hayman commented on a report in the newspaper about the shortcoming of the money. He hopes the community will pull together and helps these unfortunate individuals. Mr. Vandergrifft stated he is not a commercial fisherman. He is retired from the state Department of Juvenile Justice. City Manager asked in the motion that the contingency fund be designated as the area the money will come from in the budget. The motion CARRIED 5-0. City Manager McMahon asked Mr. Vandergrifft to get an article to him as soon as possible. Joann Heeb, 115 N. Riverside Drive, expressed concern regarding the proposed 29.4% increase in the taxes to cover the capital funds improvement. Every time an estimate is made on the improvements, you seem to make drastic mistakes which you cover up by increasing taxes. How much do you think we can take? She is very alarmed and angry by this. She doesn't feel the Council is considering the entire City. Tom Kane, 2031 S. Riverside Drive, feels the same way as Ms. Heeb. He stated he went to City Hall six to eight weeks ago asking to have a streetlight installed for four different residences. Mr. Kane commented on the people in Florida Shores purchasing cheap lots on dirt streets with no sewer. Now the rest of the town has to take up the slack for them. Mr. Kane stated he was informed today there was no way he could have a streetlight. I pay my fair share of taxes and when you ask for something that small and can't get it and then the City asks him to pay the increase in taxes. Something is not right. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 ,... .."" Mayor Hayman agreed to help Mr. Kane find out why he cannot get a streetlight. Mr. Kane commented on reuse water on Riverside Drive. He was told they will probably never get it there. He feels the people in Florida Shores are benefitting from it and their assessments should be raised on their property so they can pay their fair share. Cliff Clark, 1818 Evergreen Drive, spoke on the history of paving back to 1983. He feels this is too much to put on the taxpayers back. Mr. Clark spoke about paying his assessment up front and stated he understands Evergreen Drive is included in the last section to be paved and he might not be around to see it paved. Mr. Clark commented on paving 12th Street and Willow Oak Drive first. He asked Council to think about the heavy trucks that will be traveling on the newly paved road. Doris Hill, 112 Lincoln Road, asked if raising the taxes tonight will be discussed or will it be done at budget time. Mayor Hayman explained they would be talking about a tentative millage figure and establishing the highest possible ad valorem tax figure. Ms. Hill is in favor of the road paving but she didn't think the taxes were going to go up. She thought the $3 extra was supposed to pay for the City's share of the 1/3, 1/3, and 1/3. She thought over the last year money was being put into a fund and now there is no money. Councilman Mitchum explained the $3 extra was not to pay the City's share. The $3 extra was supposed to pay for stormwater improvements because they were separated from the paving. Mayor Hayman stated back in January they deliberated and discussed the necessity to increase the stormwater and they also talked about the shortfall in funding the project at the preliminary cost. That shortfall was in the neighborhood of $408,000. It was discussed that was the amount of money that the taxpayers of Edgewater across the board would have to meet. They also discussed the savings that would be garnered from eliminating the east-west and north-south streets that are scraped. City Manager McMahon explained the City has gone back on more than one occasion to try to reduce the cost. He spoke about the annual debt service and increasing the millage rate. They will not know the ultimate effect on the general fund until these bids are reviewed and approved by Council. Ms. Hill feels the City should pull in their reins on spending and put every cent they can get their hands on on the roads and get them finished. Dominick capria, 606 Topside Circle, agreed with Ms. Hill that the $3 stormwater fee and the approximate $200,000 savings on the shell roads would pay for the City's cost. Mr. capria read part of a letter he received back in 1990 from his developer. He feels residents of Florida Shores purchased their lots at a reduced price because improvements were not included and they should pay for their utilities the way he had to pay for his. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 ,... .""". He feels if the Council votes for an increase in taxes they are not representing all of the people in Edgewater. Ben Vasquez, 2807 Needle Palm Drive, stated he is concerned about what he has heard. People are knocking Florida Shores as though we are a separate entity. Mr. Vasquez stated Florida Shores is indeed the City of Edgewater and as such everyone is responsible to pave the roads in Florida Shores. Mr. Vasquez spoke about the people of Florida Shores having to pay the assessment up front due to money not being allocated to pave the roads which in his opinion is illegal. He feels the whole City should have been taxed and then a certain amount of that money allocated for roads in Florida Shores. Mr. Vasquez feels the City has been split in half. He doesn't feel it is fair or right to have Florida Shores pay for all of the paving. Mr. Vasquez stated he is sure and as positive as he can be that the sewer program is illegal and this tax is nothing but a cover up to make it appear that the entire city contributed towards Florida Shores. CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Hatfield Councilman Hatfield had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Martin Councilwoman Martin had nothing at this time. Mayor Havman Mayor Hayman had nothing at this time. Councilman Hays Councilman Hays commented on soliciting donations from New Smyrna Beach for the 4th of July fireworks. He was presented with New Smyrna Beach's contribution to the fireworks next year in the amount of two cents. He asked this be put in the budget for next year. Councilman Hays commented on the articles in the newspaper regarding Volusia County's position on the Water Co-op. He hoped if anyone had concerns they would express those to the County Councilmembers. He is not happy with some of the dialogue he has read in the newspapers. Councilman Hays spoke about emergency medical services and the right of cities to transport patients. He feels cities should be able to transport or at least be reimbursed by the ambulance service for the emergency medical staff that ride on the ambulances to the hospital on a routine basis. Councilman Hays would like to see the Council and City Manager enter into some dialogue with the County powers that be to address this. He asked for Council's support on this issue. Mayor Hayman stated Mayor Jim Ward of Port Orange at the last VCOG meeting asked that each of the cities consider doing Councilman Hays' suggestion. He feels Councilman Hays would be the best person in our City to help spearhead this to help formulate a position. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 v .."",. Mayor Hayman stated the County Council has been very receptive to going back to re-look at this. Councilman Hays stated a few years ago we really didn't have the qualified staff on hand to deal with the patient load but that is not the case now. Councilman Hays agreed to help with this matter. Councilman Mitchum Councilman Mitchum had nothing at this time. city Attornev city Attorney storey had nothing at this time. city Manaqer City Manager McMahon explained that we are preparing to go into the budget discussions. He asked Council by consensus if they wish to go out for bid to consider any private enterprise services to do the services the City is now doing. The typical and most appropriate probably is in the area of our sanitation or trash pickup. He explained there is a lead time that is necessary to get appropriate bids in and compare it to City's cost. city Manager McMahon asked Council if they wish to look at this or not. Mayor Hayman stated several weeks ago he suggested that solid waste would be an area that needed to be looked at. We can't focus solely on residential waste. The commercial waste has to be combined as well. He feels the City is doing what we can do with the resources in the most cost effective and efficient manner. If the expenses of providing the levels of service to the community rise, then the city must look at other measures. Mayor Hayman stated there are three courses of actions: 1) to raise taxes, 2) cut back levels of service or 3) privatize. Councilman Hays stated one of the things the Council has worked very hard on over the past few years is the quality of service provided for solid waste. They are starting to see people putting garbage out instead of throwing it on vacant lots and dumping it in canals. He does not feel privatizing will be a good service. The City owns its own equipment. He is not interested in privatizing. Councilwoman Martin stated for a few years when she moved here she was serviced by a contractor and it was very bad service. She feels the public service has been perfected since then and we should stay with the City. Councilman Hatfield feels they should look at the financial concerns. He feels they should give more than five minutes worth of discussion to this matter. His problem is the timing. He feels it is something that should be looked at but this is not the proper time. Councilman Mitchum shared Councilman Hatfield's views. He also feels the timing is bad. He would not support this at this time. Mayor Hayman commented on the Ormond Beach contract and them just changing over to a private entity. He feels they would be remiss if they didn't look at privatization. Page -5- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 --- ...., Councilman Hatfield suggested staff look at Ormond Beach and other cities and see what they are getting from their contracts and bring it back to Council within the next two weeks. City Manager McMahon stated likely he would not be able to put it together much before the budget workshop due to the first meeting being in August. He agreed to bring it back to Council during the workshop. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. Public hearinq re: request to transfer control of Cablevision Industries of Central Florida. Inc. to Time Warner Inc. city Attorney storey explained the reason for this transfer request. Mayor Hayman read Res. 95-R-10. Mayor Hayman opened the public hearing. Rich Gunter, Director of Government Relations for the Florida Region of Cablevision Industries, 1655 SR 472, Deland, explained Cablevision and Time Warner are merging. The franchise will remain with Cablevision Industries but the control of the franchise will eventually fall to Time Warner Inc. The rates will remain the same. Councilman Hays asked how much money is made from this. Mr. Munoz stated $45,000 a year which is 3% of the cable franchise. Councilman Hays questioned why the City can't run their own cable services. He feels they need to start thinking along those lines. This could be used as a revenue source. Councilman Mitchum asked how long this contract is for. City Attorney storey stated we have a fifteen year franchise agreement which was executed in 1984 so it would expire in 1999. Mayor Hayman spoke about the Internet and the use of fiberoptic in the living room and within the next year at Volusia County you are going to have public information network and government information network and then probably within eighteen to twenty- four months there is no reason it can't be going through your lines. What is the possibility of that? Mr. Gunter explained when Cablevision Industries rebuilt its system over here, its backbone system was built using fiberoptic technology. The backbone that is set up over here could support any type of system like that. He further explained Time Warner is experimenting with a full service network that provides more services than just cable television. Mayor Hayman stated he was going to save Time Warner several hundreds of millions of dollars by them coming to Edgewater and introduce the experiment here with very little cost. Mayor Hayman closed the public hearing. Councilman Hatfield made a motion to accept Res. 95-R-10, second by Councilwoman Martin. The motion CARRIED 3-2. Councilman Hays and Councilman Mitchum voted NO. There was a five-minute recess at this time. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 'W" .""", B. Res. 95-R-09 Reaardina Financina of the Florida Shores Road Improvement proiect City Attorney Storey explained the purpose of this resolution is to authorize the City Manager and Finance Director to go forward with the financing in terms of either a bond issue or the bank qualified loan. City Attorney Storey introduced Sandy MacLennan, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. city Attorney Storey commented on the changes in Res. 95-R-09. The staff recommendation is to adopt Res. 95-R-09 so the process could go forward in terms of the proposals of financing. Mayor Hayman read Res. 95-R-09. Councilman Hays made a motion to approve Res. 95-R-09, second by Councilman Mitchum. The motion CARRIED 5-0. CONSENT AGENDA A. Police Chief's request to purchase computers. monitors and printers from Law Enforcement Trust Fund B. FEC agreement authorizina citv to lower invert elevation of five existinq culvert pipes within FEC riaht-of-way north of Park Ave. and East of Manao Tree Drive C. ICMA Retirement Corporation 401A Plan IRS compliance amendments D. Confirm Special Council Meetina on Thursdav. Julv 27. 1995. at 7:00 p.m. in Community Center for award of bids for Florida Shores road improvement proiect Councilman Hays asked Chief Schumaker if these computers are compatible with the system that we bought into at CET. Chief Schumaker informed him they were. Councilman Hays made a motion to approve the consent agenda, second by Councilman Mitchum. The motion CARRIED 5-0. OTHER BUSINESS A. Status report of road improvement proiect bids and consensus of maximum proposed millaae rate city Manager McMahon explained the proposed maximum millage rate is the amount necessary to accommodate possibilities for awarding the final bid on the road project. We feel the bids will be able to be reduced somewhat as a result of discussion with the consulting engineers. He went on to comment on the road improvement project bids. Councilman Hatfield made a motion to approve, second by Councilman Hays. The motion CARRIED 5-0. B. Enaineerina proposal from Hartman and Associates to respond to Dept. of Environmental Protection's request for additional information for wastewater treatment plant operatinq permit. which is impact fee eliqible City Manager McMahon corrected what he believed may be some misinformation and that is he is requesting they spend $28,000. He would rather they didn't have to spend a penny but this is a required study, not a requested study. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 ....... ..., utilities Director Terry Wadsworth explained the request from DEP for additional information for the wastewater treatment plant operating permit. He commented on the hour breakdown for the engineers in their proposal on Page 5. Mr. Wadsworth introduced Hal Schmidt from Hartman and Associates. Hal was with DRMP at the time we went through part of this process and is the primary designer for the treatment plant we have now. He has been through the development of the entire project up to this point of application. Hal Schmidt, Hartman and Associates, explained the study was something that came up recently through legislation. There is no specific criteria that DEP is looking for. He commented on the scope of the proposal. Mr. Schmidt stated he had Tom Odham with him who is a Water Quality Specialist who would be doing most of the work for them. Mr. Schmidt went on to explain they are basically reducing the load to the river. All they are looking for is to be granted the 30% discharge to the river. Councilman Hays asked what volume is being put into the river now. Mr. Schmidt stated they are putting in less than 30% on an annual average basis. Councilman Hays asked over the past year, how many instances have we had where that 30% has been hit. Mr. Schmidt explained during the rainy season. Councilman Hays asked if DEP has any evidence that what we are doing is making a negative environmental impact on the ecosystem in the river today. Councilman Hays stated he doesn't understand why they are spending $28,000 to someone in Tallahassee who doesn't know what he wants. Mr. Schmidt explained it is due to the recent legislation. There was a brief discussion regarding what would happen if the city didn't obtain this permit. Councilman Mitchum questioned if we are the only entity being required to do this. Mr. Schmidt explained there are other entities but Edgewater will be the first City along the Indian River. Mayor Hayman would like to see a letter written expressing our concerns. He feels we are doing excellent as far as the effluent being dumped into the river over a year period. Councilman Hays had a problem with being left to prepare a document that has is no criteria. Councilman Mitchum stated they may be better off to go ahead and do this and then protest the fact that this is coming about. He feels to deliberately antagonize this same entity might be harmful to us. Mr. Wadsworth explained when you get to the third stage of the study that is only 30 hours and that is when it is submitted, and if possible then we go ahead and sit down with them and express the City's concerns at this point. Mayor Hayman feels this is an opportunity for an engineering firm and city staff to point out to them how ridiculous this is to us and possibly suggest some standards they could use. Page -8- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 .. ..." City Manager McMahon asked Council to remember during budget time he doesn't like $28,000 studies. Councilman Mitchum made a motion to approve reluctantly, second by Councilwoman Martin. The motion CARRIED 4-1. Councilman Hays voted NO. C. Award of bid to Davis Meter and SupplY Co. of Orlando for Palm Breeze water line materials Mr. Wadsworth commented on taking a look at doing in house the water line in Palm Breeze. He asked Council to approve this amount so they may order the materials at an amount of $12,554.60 and get started with the project. Councilman Hays made a motion to approve, second by Councilman Mitchum. The motion CARRIED 5-0. D. First Union National Bank Master Agreement and authorization for city Manaqer to siqn aqreement Councilman Hays moved for approval, second by Councilman Hatfield. city Attorney Storey stated this needs to read authorization for the Mayor to sign the agreement as opposed to the City Manager. The motion CARRIED 5-0. E. Discussion of Economic Development Board's suqqestion to recoqnize Coronado Paint Company for excellence in recent plant expansion Philip Fong, Chairman, EDB, explained this is pursuant to Recommendation #4 of the Business Climate and Supplier Linkage Study. He feels there is good opportunity to recognize Coronado Paint in their recent expansion of their plant. Mr. Fong asked Council to consider adopting the proclamation of excellence as a formal award entity, to approve Coronado Paint as the recipient of the award, and to determine a date for the award presentation. Councilman Hatfield moved for approval, second by Councilwoman Martin. The motion CARRIED 5-0. August 7th was the date decided on to award the proclamation. F. Desiqnation of votinq deleqate at Florida Leaque of cities Annual Convention at Kissimmee August 17 - 19. 1995 Councilman Hays nominated Councilwoman Martin, second by Councilman Hatfield. The motion CARRIED 5-0. GENERAL CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE Tom Kane, 2031 S. Riverside Drive, asked why on Ocean Avenue the one ton limit signs were taken down. City Manager McMahon stated Ocean Avenue was never technically directed by the Council in ordinance to have the weight limit on it of one ton. The signs were never erected legally. There was a brief discussion regarding which signs need to be erected by ordinance. Page -9- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995 .- ~ Doris Hill, 112 Lincoln Road, commented on an article that was in the newspaper titled "Law strikes Down Limits on Ex-Parte Interaction." She called Mr. McMahon and asked him to see that Council got a copy of the article. She did not appreciate this. She commented on an LDRA meeting she attended. She was not satisfied with the way that meeting went. Ms. Hill spoke about not being able to talk to the Mayor. She feels they have been dictated to by Mr. Karet and by City Attorney Storey. Ms. Hill stated when Mayor Hayman got back to her he informed her there was going to be a small change made in the format but there really isn't anything wrong with it. There was something wrong with it and there has been all along. The legislature has changed that. How come we didn't know about it. She asked that this be looked into. City Attorney Storey explained the article she is referring to deals only with the ex-parte communication, it does not deal with the process of a quasi-judicial proceeding. Those are two separate issues. The new legislation allows the City to develop a process where the ex-parte communication can be relaxed. The Council would be required to disclose any information. We can make that change. The bill was adopted sometime after the middle of June. That does not deal with the process or designation of small scale rezoning as quasi-judicial. City Attorney Storey stands firmly behind the procedures that were followed to protect the City's legal interest. She informed Council a resolution would be brought before them for their consideration. Ms. Hill also asked Council to consider looking at the B-4 Zoning at the end of Boston Road. That is the only B-4 zone in this City and it is causing a problem. OFFICER REPORTS Councilman Hays commented on bringing an ordinance to Council regarding tobacco use by minors. He commented on the Food and Drug Administration taking the position that nicotine should be treated as a drug. He would like to wait and see how this falls out on a federal level before he brings anything before Council. There were no other officer reports. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilman Mitchum moved to adjourn, second by Councilman Hays. The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Kruckmeyer Page -10- Council Regular Meeting July 17, 1995