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10-14-2005 - Workshop CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP OCTOBER 14, 2005 10:00 A.M. NEW SMYRNA BEACH /EDGEWATER CAMPUS DAYTONA BEACH COMMUNITY COLLEGE MINUTES WELCOME, INTRODUCTION OF ATTENDEES AND FACILITATOR MARILYN CROTTY - STEVE DENNIS Steve Dennis, Executive Vice President of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce introduced himself. They have taken the opportunity to try to put the cities together to address a number of critical issues in our area that they believe they should be able to talk face to face on. The following participants introduced themselves; Bruce Mowry, Executive Director of the Water Authority of Volusia, Pat Card, City of Edgewater Planning & Zoning Board; Oscar Zeller, City of Edgewater Economic Development Board; Bob Lott, Chairman of the City of Edgewater Economic Development Board; Chris Balmer of the City of Edgewater Economic Development Board; Susan Wadsworth, City of Edgewater City Clerk; Darren Lear, City of Edgewater Director of Development Services; Kenneth Hooper, City of Edgewater City Manager; Judy Lichter, Vice Mayor of the City of Edgewater; Jim Brown, Edgewater City Council; Harriet Rhodes, Edgewater City Council; Jim Vandergrifft, City of New Smyrna Beach Mayor; Lynne Plaskett, New Smyrna Beach City Commission; Shannon Lewis, Business Development Director, City of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater for governmental affairs; Frank Roberts, City of New Smyrna Beach City Manager; Bill Rogers, New Smyrna Beach City Commission; Bob Rodi, General Manager Chief Executive Officer of the Utilities Commission; George Steindoerfer, Port Orange City Council; Cindy Downs, New Smyrna Beach; Jim Russell, New Smyrna Beach citizen; Montye Beamer, Volusia County Growth Management Commission; and Doris Massey. Mr. Dennis went over the agenda for the day. Terry Roberts, General Manager of New Smyrna Beach Speedway, told the audience of future events coming up. 1 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 Mr. Dennis also informed the audience that Mr. Roberts also serves as Chairman of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Committee. A representative from New Smyrna Beach expressed his appreciation for what the cities of Port Orange and Edgewater do for them. Mr. Dennis explained they contacted all the cities to come up with some topics. He asked all the cities to offer something they would like to make a presentation on. They decided to instead go with some topics in general. TOPICS - FACILITATOR - MARILYN CROTTY Mr. Dennis introduced Marilyn Cross, Director, Institute of Government, University of Central Florida. Ms. Crotty feels by coming together to talk about some common needs, common interests and ways they might interact with each other will really benefit everyone. She stated intergovernmental coordination and cooperation is kind of a buzzword that is used all the time and it is written into lots of legislature and it is the hardest thing to have it actually happen in her experience of observing. She presented an example of how this is working in a community near here that she has been privileged to participate in. She stated for the last four or five years they have set up quarterly intergovernmental meetings. They build a common agenda for each meeting of things that are of interest and concern to all the jurisdictions and then they actually do something. They have a joint legislative agenda that they put together and they jointly fund a lobbyist to work on those issues that they all agree are priorities for the County and they have been able to make something happen by banding together. Ms. Crotty wanted the group to establish some guidelines for the day that would make it a really productive time. She asked them to talk about what they would like to accomplish. Mr. Roberts commented on the City Managers getting together to discuss the possibility of identifying areas where they are coming together, where the cities are growing together and where their boundaries are going to touch and ways to 2 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 be able to provide compatible land uses and development patterns and also the issue of transportation. He commented on items the cities are involved in together such as the Regional Communication. Councilwoman Lichter stated it would be very helpful when they get past the presentation of Smart Growth if the two maps could have some identification like main avenues and main streets. It is hard to not only work with two cities but to try to figure out when you've got a planning issue where the open space, green space and large farm areas are. Mr. Card stated he would like to hear a little bit about how in Smart Growth and especially when they are doing the clustering, how they bring communities together. How do you build a community where there is no community involved? You are saying in Smart Growth to have everything in walking distance like small towns. When small towns were originated they had cultural bonds with one another in a small town, which was part of what made them work. He would like to see whether they have looked at that and how that is going to be encouraged. Councilwoman Lichter feels they have to talk about cooperatively evacuation centers. There has to be some more discussion about this even in terms of what happens on the other side of I -95 with these big places might they be able to accommodate. What can our citizens here do? A representative of New Smyrna Beach commented on discussion regarding the new New Smyrna Beach High School being an evacuation center. VOLUSIA SMART GROWTH IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE FINAL REPORT OVERVIEW - GLENN STORCH Ms. Crotty introduced Attorney Glenn Starch, who was appointed by the County Council to serve on the Volusia Smart Growth Implementation Committee. She commented on the other representatives that served on the Committee. Attorney Storch is now serving on the Volusia Charter Commission also. Attorney Glenn Storch, law firm of Storch & Morris, spoke on Clay Henderson going to various cities and giving a more formal presentation. He is hoping that they have some 3 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 discussions and he will give them some rough ideas of what happened, how they got to this point and what the main ideas are they will be discussing. Attorney Storch presented a history of how Smart Growth came about. He stated when the first group got together there were a number of different views among the people as to how to deal with these growth issues and the Smart Growth issues especially. He commented on having almost a unanimous vote that said this was something they needed. He further commented on the Committee determining what their goal was of Smart Growth. He stated growth will be here and they have to learn how to deal with that. He spoke of looking at it as it is right now, what is it they want to preserve especially from an environmental standpoint. He referred to Map A, which showed areas that were extremely important to preserve. He then commented on how they get to the point where they can actually preserve these areas. He spoke of clustering and preserving large areas of green space. Attorney Storch then commented on Map B, which are large areas they would like to find a way of preserving our quality of life but they aren't as critical as Map A. Attorney Storch then spoke about encouraging preservation. Attorney Storch spoke about how to minimize and resolve disputes between the County and the cities or cities and cities. He mentioned providing water and sewer to clustered areas but not providing it to other areas. Attorney Storch spoke on encouraging areas of influence with regard to areas each City would service. From an environmental standpoint far better. From a resource standpoint far better. Once they have these areas negotiated out they have no reason to play games. He commented on utility service being a moneymaker. He spoke of encouraging urban service areas. He further explained in the Smart Growth recommendations there are primary and secondary service areas. Attorney Storch commented on dealing with annexation issues. He spoke of reconstituting the Growth Management Commission into a different form. The bottom line is what do you want to put in its place. He spoke of having an 4 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 arbitration board, which is made up of three County Councilmen, three members of VCOG and one School Board member. He then spoke about how to implement the recommendations. Many of these recommendations can only be done by Charter Amendment. Attorney Storch spoke of much growth coming in and needing to plan for this growth. Ms. Plaskett asked if the Committee discussed densities in different cities. Ms. Crotty mentioned they all need to agree on the future development of that area whether it be in the cities or the County of what it should look like and they develop it doing planning agreements. In order to change it, all of those governments would have to agree to it. Attorney Storch mentioned looking at densities, architectural standards and gateway standards. A gentleman in the audience commented on liking the clustering concept but unfortunately in Florida there's a lot of wetlands. Councilman Brown commented on trying to do clustering in Edgewater and it being difficult to get the people to accept the houses so close together. He feels there needs to be more education informing the public why they are doing this. Attorney Storch commented on the market supporting it. He spoke of the large green areas around clustered areas. Mr. Card feels clustering creates enclaves and people don't feel a part of the community. It changes the culture of your community. Attorney Storch spoke of methods to preserve in the rural areas. Mr. Card spoke of Turnbull Hammock being preserved and developing enclaves and how to govern that. There was a discussion regarding how Deltona was developed and when Edgewater Landing was first put in. Councilwoman Lichter spoke of not being able to build on wetlands. Attorney Storch informed her they could build on wetlands if it is permitted. What they want to do is discourage and the permitting process presently does 5 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 discourage that. He mentioned having an incentive to make people to go through the process of Smart Growth. A gentlemen expressed concern regarding homeowner's associations having authority to control individuals verses control of local government. Another gentleman expressed concern over a homeowner's coalition being a nightmare and the group consisting of volunteers trying to run everything. They have good intentions but when they have residents that want to do what they want, these people argue in faith and take the abuse. He commented on then other people not wanting to serve on the Board. Attorney Storch commented on having to have a homeowner's association. Councilwoman Lichter spoke of moving to Edgewater and feeling like there were three divisions; the retirement developments, Florida Shores and Riverside Drive. One of her goals has been to pull this together and show them the common denominator but all cities have that. Mr. Lott commented on having a vision of what they would like to achieve. He spoke of talking a lot about clustering but wanted to speak about the transfer of development rights. He asked Attorney Storch to speak about the mechanics of transfer of development rights and how it facilitates clustering, which he did at this time. Ms. Crotty commented on this being a tough issue all over the State of Florida. She spoke of this being an issue that won't go away that is only going to get worse and something that everyone in the County is going to have to address. There was a brief discussion on incentives related to workforce housing. Ms. Crotty then commented on densities. Attorney Storch commented on the issue of education and educating the children being a major issue. He presented examples of being in better shape than any area around Florida. Ms. Crotty commented on the Smyrna mode of traffic being an ongoing conversation in Volusia County and particularly if the Charter Commission picks up on any of these issues and puts them on the ballot. She suggested the Councils' and County when designing their work schedules look closely at 6 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 these and how they might impact their city. What they like about it or what they don't think looks right. The cities can either get behind it or try to modify the things they think might be problematic for them but she feels they need to be players and get involved and really understand what the effort is all about. Ms. Crotty was interested in their reactions to the ideas about the primary setting out of these urban service areas and only having one provider and negotiating agreements for areas that butt up against each other and then sticking with them because jurisdiction is bound by that agreement and they can't make any changes unless all parties agree to it. City Manager Hooper felt in the three cities represented at the meeting that it was in place and was increasingly working well. Councilwoman Lichter commented on having the Middle School and High School in common as well as the College and this being a unified factor. She also commented on having the river in common. TRANSPORTATION Ms. Crotty wanted to move into discussion regarding Transportation. She asked what the issue was in play and she wanted them to focus on what they could do cooperatively to try to deal with the issues. City Manager Roberts referred to the Transportation Study. He spoke of New Smyrna Beach being in the process of putting it all together. He felt it would be finished by the end of next week and would go out to see if they could get some qualified companies to take a look at it. They have completed the policies, goals that have been adopted by the three cities. That would need to come back together. Ms. Crotty made mention of New Smyrna Beach being in the process of putting together the RFQ and that would go out for bid and jointly they would do the selection. The goal was to have the study completed by August 2006. It would then come before the local government for approval and funding. City Manager Hooper explained part of the study 7 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 was to have the consultant come up with a fair share portion of payment, something besides just the impact fees that were there now and have been that divided amongst the residents. He spoke of New Smyrna taking the lead and the other cities participating at this point on making sure it is for the whole region. Commissioner Rogers asked if the study focused primarily on roads. City Manager Hooper informed her it did. Councilwoman Rogers pointed out that most growth was a result of development. City Manager Roberts commented on the funding issue as far as the cities were concerned. He further commented on needing a traffic signal on State Road 44. They may recognize that is needed but that doesn't necessarily mean it would be provided. City Manager Parker commented on having a special assessment to build roads. So far the development community said they liked the idea. He felt it was real clear that transportation had always been one of the items. He spoke of having a methodology and then looking at various funding options that were available to them to accomplish those job tasks. He made mention of this being the first multijurisdictional effort that is not only looking at planning where the corridors need to be but also looking at how they fund those improvements across a multijurisdictional boundary. Mayor Schmidt asked if they had an update on how the east beltway stood and what the progress was in New Smyrna and the County with regard to the path of that road. It is a topic that keeps coming up because people want to be able to move from our City to Daytona and things like that but trying to get there with having U.S. #1 in essence doesn't really work. Mr. Dennis confirmed Mayor Schmidt was talking about the Williamson Boulevard extension. There was a brief discussion regarding the alignment of the Williamson Boulevard extension. Councilwoman Lichter confirmed this would be part of the study. Mr. Dennis informed her it was part of the whole package. He spoke of 8 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 there being three options for the alignment when it was originally brought to them. Mention was made of the Airport Road extension. Councilwoman Lichter commented on needing an east -west group transportation that could get residents to areas such as Deland and Orlando. Mr. Dennis pointed out they could take a bus to Deland but they better have a lot of time to do it. Ms. Crotty asked if anyone had any input or comment on additional mass transit plans or proposals or needs. Commissioner Plaskett commented on 10 Street and Myrtle Avenue and the new High School being open before the road was built. She further commented on the impact of the traffic on 10 Street. She spoke of the County purchasing additional property to put in additional stormwater. She felt there needed to be better coordination. City Manager Roberts commented on New Smyrna as well as the other cities trying to sit with the school system as development occurs to identify school sites and have them take a look at it and agree to the location and preserve it. He commented on getting pre -site approval as development occurs. City Manager Hooper commented on the School Board being exempt from concurrency. He spoke of the middle piece of 10 Street being developed when they don't have the two ends connected to another major road that won't be developed for a few more years. That part of the system gets corrected in future years. Mr. Card commented on if the middle school goes in at Air Park Road and SR 442 in Edgewater. He asked what was being done to increase the availability of easy access to it. He asked if SR 442 would be the only access. He asked if anything was happening with this and if this was part of the study. City Manager Hooper stated they would be looking at either expansions or new alignments for north - south, east -west corridors. 9 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 City Manager Roberts commented on doing the planning but not doing the physical work of putting the roads in prior to the development. The development comes and forces them to put the roads in after the fact. They need to do it the other way around. He spoke of putting a mechanism in place. Ms. Crotty asked if as part of the study there would be an implementation strategy. City Manager Hooper informed her there would probably be some funding. Right now most of the road building is being done with impact fees, which they don't receive until the development occurs. He then spoke of Seminole County passing a 1 cent sales tax to build roads in advance of the requirement to and this being pretty rare. He spoke of a special assessment being one way. They are asking the consultant to list other fair share and funding options. Mention was made that it would take the cities and County to force the State to pass implementation rules for funding mechanisms to put the roads in in advance. Mayor Vandergrifft referred to those that sat on the MPO and commented on it not going in that direction but going in the other direction based on legislation that happened last year. They have less input and get less funding. Mr. Card expressed concern with moving toward County and State groups that control what is occurring. He spoke of having less control over the last 10 years of the need for this money at local levels. If they continue to shift this control into higher level control of what occurs at the local level, they have less control and people have less input. Ms. Crotty asked Mr. Card if he was talking about Smart Growth, which he was. Ms. Crotty clarified that group was a final resort and wasn't meant to replace any City or County Council or any other in place local decision making body. It was only when there was a conflict that could not be resolved between two or more jurisdictions. She didn't think it was meant to try to overtake or overrule. Councilman Brown commented on the County having slated to do half of Old Mission Road and when it was brought to 10 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 their attention that by doing half of Old Mission Road and not four landing the whole way at the same time they were doing this, that cut off one more corridor for the people picking up kids everywhere else. He spoke of funding being taken from that and being put on 10 Street to get more of it done instead of messing up Old Mission Road and 10 Street at the same time. Ms. Crotty assumed there was a staff person within each City who was in constant communication with the County, DOT and the schools when they are developing in their community in case an issue needs to be resolved. Ms. Crotty commented on gas prices continuing to go up and the need for more public transportation. Mr. Dennis informed everyone lunch was ready. Mr. Dennis introduced everyone to Rosemarie Kerche who was Secretary Treasurer and was going to speak to everyone about the "Relay for Life." On April 7 th and 8 th they were having the Relay for Life at the Manatee Park on Riverside Drive. Last year they raised $170,000 that went to research. She had flyers to handout. She wanted to see some of the cities compete and do a team within the City. She also commented on their first kickoff meeting being October 24 at the Coronado Civic Center. The meeting recessed for lunch. WAV RECAP - BRUCE MOWRY Bruce Mowry, Executive Director for the Water Authority of Volusia (WAV), commented on all of Volusia County pulling all of its water from one aquifer, one source of water. He spoke of discussion a number of years ago regarding there being a finite amount of water that they could supply and that demand was constantly being increased and that at some point the ability to support the demand would come to an end. They wanted to plan for the future by working together. Mr. Mowry commented on the St. Johns River Water Management District being the regulator that issues the permits and the keepers of the aquifer. He spoke of programs they have 11 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 to monitor, manage, fund and give assistance. WAV is not replacing that position. Mr. Mowry commented on the miscommunication and the misunderstanding of what WAV is and what their purpose is. He commented on there being misunderstanding because of prior organizations that had different missions. WAV's mission is different than the previous organization, the Volusian Water Alliance, which was a planning organization that had no authority. Mr. Mowry further commented on how WAV was created. Of the 16 cities in Volusia County, 13 cities as well as the County joined WAV. It represented 98% of all the water used by the public utility supply, which pump about 50% of all of the water being produced out of the aquifer compared to agriculture, industrial, commercial and individual wells. WAV was also limited to the point of saying they shall only be responsible to supply future water and that everything they presently had today was protected. He made mention of WAV having the authority to purchase infrastructure only if it is offered to them. He referred to the interlocal agreement which defined the restrictions and limitations, which was available on WAV's website. Mr. Mowry then commented on handout he passed out regarding the Strategic Plan 2004, which identified the Vision, the Mission, the Goals and the Strategies. Mr. Mowry explained in the interlocal agreement it had a requirement that within the first two years of the organization being created, February 19, 2004, they are required to have a Master Facility Plan. Mr. Mowry then identified some of the outcomes and issues they were talking about and some of the things they were developing with regard to their Goals - Planning, Providing, and Preserving. Mr. Mowry further commented on the Master Facility Plan, which is over a million dollar study. They are getting about a million dollars from the State and are only having to match 25 %. CDM, Camp, Dresser and McKee were selected to do the study. 12 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 Mr. Mowry then identified what should be included in a Master Facility Plan. He encouraged the different cities to speak to their representatives on the WAV Board, Councilwoman Lichter, Mayor Vandergrifft and Councilman Steindoerfer. Mr. Mowry stated he does not make policy. He educates the Board, informs the Board and tells the Board the options. The representatives of the cities on the Board vote to create policy. When policies are created, he implements them. Mr. Mowry commented on having above average rainfall over the last five years. He then identified where the existing demands were. Growth has been occurring but because of the rain they haven't really recognized demand. Mr. Mowry then commented on the Consumptive Use Permit (CUP) which says how much groundwater the cities can withdraw. CUP's can also apply to surface water and other supplies. He estimated if they look at their CUP's and don't get any more capacity but they are maintaining their CUP's then around 2015 countywide they will run short of water. Mr. Mowry then commented on the Water Supply Plan being done by the Water Management District in Palatka showing that in 2025 Volusia County will be 25 million gallons per day short. Mr. Mowry then commented on the flow and water level at Blue Springs. He further commented on the CUP's in Volusia County being reduced. All of the wellfields will be reduced because of Volusia County sharing the same aquifer. Mr. Mowry further commented on not being able to predict growth and anticipated demand in the future. Mr. Mowry then spoke about portfolios. Mr. Mowry commented on looking at trying to get the maximum out of their present sources of water, the fresh water aquifer, by taking care of it better by managing the water levels, by recharging it and trying to offset demands with recycled water. Right now there is $87 million in Volusia 13 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 County set aside just to do what they presently have to keep what they have permitted. Mr. Mowry elaborated on four portfolios with regard to alternative water supply. Mr. Mowry pointed out there was more water flowing out of Blue Springs than all the water being produced, which is only one spring in this whole county. One environmental demand exceeds all of our demands. Mr. Mowry identified the total cost for Portfolio 2, Portfolio 6, Portfolio 8 and Portfolio 9. Mr. Mowry then identified the cost per 1,000 gallons for water to be delivered with regard to the portfolios and surface water, supply water. Mr. Mowry commented on why the WAV Board selected Portfolio 8 as a direction given to the consultant to develop. Mr. Mowry then elaborated on the Water Resource Charging Area. Mr. Mowry spoke about new minimum levels being set on four lakes in Volusia County. He felt Edgewater would be impacted but Port Orange or New Smyrna wouldn't due to their wells not being close enough to the lake. He made mention that the impact could change some of WAV's philosophies of what they are going to do. Mr. Card asked Mr. Mowry to help him understand the difference between shallow well impacts and deep well impacts which Mr. Mowry explained at this time. There was a brief discussion regarding artesian wells and St. Johns having an artesian well capping program. There was also a discussion regarding salt water intrusion into the aquifer. Mr. Mowry spoke of the long time it takes to clean up an aquifer. He referred to what was happening in California and Tampa. A gentleman suggested in order to save the aquifer they could limit growth. Mr. Mowry referred to a situation in 14 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 Santa Barbara with regard to how growth affected their water supply. Mr. Mowry commented on living in California and land now being sold out there for $1 million an acre. He briefly commented on smart growth and clustering of homes. Mr. Mowry commented on WAV not making any decisions on growth. They are a utility and treat all of their members equally and fairly. He further spoke of WAV not being a perfect organization. He spoke of enforcing the policy of the WAV Board. There was a discussion regarding one of the WAV members, Daytona Beach, feeling they should be able to do a larger control because they are one of the larger members. Mr. Mowry spoke of having three big members that control 46% of the revenue of WAV on the present assessment. He made mention of as little as 25% of the vote blocking any action of WAV. He spoke of anybody having the ability to veto any action of WAV. There was then a discussion regarding the location of the eastern brackish water plant and brackish water plants not having to be on the waterfront. A brief discussion ensued regarding how deep they have to dig for a brackish plant. Ms. Crotty asked if there were any other particular water issues that they thought could be discussed amongst the four governments that they needed to work together on. Councilwoman Lichter made mention of conservation. She spoke of working with Deborah Green on conservation issues before Mr. Mowry came on board. No matter how much they do and what they do with conservation they will still have this problem. She commented on standards set by the County with regard to watering restrictions. She felt enforcement was an issue that needed to be worked on. There was then a discussion regarding what would happen if WAV wasn't able to fulfill their obligation to the cities with regard to alternative water sources. Mr. Mowry explained if a city needed to build a plant immediately and WAV couldn't fulfill that requirement, the city would be 15 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 allowed to do it with the understanding WAV would reimburse them and it would become a WAV facility in the future. Mr. Mowry commented on one of the big problems he runs into with WAV being they have no track record with regard to producing water. They have no credibility and no utility. There were questions asked regarding a meeting that was held last night with regard to power plants and other technology with regard to producing water. Mr. Card asked if the Miami Corporation had a current license for water production of significance. Mr. Mowry informed him they didn't have a CUP for water production. They set up a private utility through the PUC but they do not have a CUP. They can only get a CUP if they show a need or a demand. Ms. Crotty referred to a list of the things that were identified in the beginning that they wanted to talk about today. She mentioned evacuation centers. Councilwoman Lichter commented on Edgewater taking in land on the west side of I -95 and a developer providing the land to build an evacuation center. Mayor Vandergrifft mentioned a portion of the high school being used as an evacuation center and the additional funding that was needed. Mayor Vandergrifft referred to ACLF's. He also commented on big subdivisions that have clubhouses making their clubhouses evacuation centers. He spoke of keeping people off the roads in an evacuation. City Manager Roberts commented on an evacuation center being out of the 100 year floodplain and the roadway being accessible at all times. He spoke of requiring the clubhouses to service themselves to have food and bedding if it was going to be an emergency facility. City Manager Parker commented on having their first one come in that had made their clubhouse an evacuation center. Councilman Brown felt they also needed to look at evacuation routes and pushing for more east west roads to 16 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 get them out of here. In our area, they have SR 44 and that is it. He mentioned extending SR 442 out to SR 415 to get people out of the area. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned living in a manufactured home and having to evacuate before everyone else. She mentioned Maytown Road being an option. She felt SR 442 would be extended further west than I -95 once the development goes in there but it wouldn't go all the way to SR 415. Ms. Crotty asked City Manager Hooper if they were looking at evacuation routes as part of the transportation plan they were doing and putting dollar figures on the enhancements they need. City Manager Hooper informed her not in this one they were talking about. He felt it was a response to development growth. Ms. Crotty mentioned adding something to the study and if it had any merit. Councilman Brown stated he didn't know that they had any plans for school buses or anything to be used for those that don't have transportation. City Manager Parker mentioned the Volusia Plan did and that Votran and school buses are an integral part of it. Councilman Brown felt they needed to get the information to more people so they know it is available. Councilwoman Lichter stated they weren't just talking hurricanes and referred to the wildfires in 1998. She spoke of new people that had moved in not knowing where SR 442 was. She felt education and communication was one of their problems. Ms. Crotty mentioned Oak Hill being invited but not being present at the meeting. She asked each of the three cities present if there was anything they were currently engaged in, working on, or thinking about that could be enhanced, improved, made better or easier, if they had some cooperation, coordination or assistance from one of their sister cities in the room. Commissioner Rogers felt in the overall socket of things, the four cities cooperated very well together. 17 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 City Manager Roberts mentioned utilities being an issue. Ms. Crotty asked if he was talking about water or sewer. City Manager Roberts said yes. Mayor Vandergrifft mentioned specifically reclaimed water and always wanting to get all of the reclaimed water out of the river. He mentioned having an interconnect between Port Orange and Edgewater to share with each city to eliminate dumping the reclaimed water into the river. Mention was made of putting the reclaimed water back into the recharge area and funding being an issue. Mayor Schmidt commented on Edgewater spending $3 million on storage tanks in the last couple of years and trying to get the system better without really having an adequate supply of water. Ms. Crotty suggested the three City Managers get together and discuss the feasibility of an interconnect for the reclaimed water. City Manager Parker made mention of stormwater issues and regional parks. City Manager Roberts commented on fire hydrants. Councilwoman Lichter thought sometimes in terms of recreation that the ones that give out grants don't encourage cities working together and want them to go their separate way. She spoke of the shuffleboard courts they wanted to share with New Smyrna Beach if they would have gotten the money from FEMA. They couldn't get it done that way. She felt that was so with other types of grants as well. Councilman Brown commented on trying to figure out a way for the last five years to protect the islands adjacent to Edgewater and get them under some kind of control. Mention was then made about a much needed interchange at Pioneer Trail. Mention was then made of cities providing cable service. 18 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005 Ms. Crotty stressed to the cities about cooperating because individually it may not be as feasible as if they could do something together. Ms. Crotty mentioned they were going to make some commitments or agreements that something would happen as a result of meeting today. She suggested the County be invited to another meeting of the group. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the Summit of the Cities meeting adjourned. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer, CMC Deputy City Clerk City of Edgewater 19 Summit of the Cities October 14, 2005