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05-20-2002 - Regular '-' "... CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEE TING MAY 20, 2002 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Schmidt called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Donald Schmidt Councilman James Brown Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Manager Kenneth Hooper City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Deputy City Clerk Lisa Bloomer Legal Assistant Robin Matusick Present Present Excused Present Present Present Excused Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF MINUTES There were no minutes to be approved at this time. PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/PLAOUES/CERTIFICATES/DONATIONS A. The Children's Home Society to present a Certificate of Appreciation to all their neiohbors who help their children Anne Stratis, Children's Home Society, presented Mayor Schmidt with a Certificate of Appreciation for the help the City of Edgewater gives them. B. Employee James Martin to present a Certificate of Appreciation to the City of Edoewater from the Department of Defense National Committee for employer support of the Guard and Reserve James Martin, Employee, presented Mayor Schmidt with a Certificate of Appreciation to the City for employer support of the Guard and Reserve. He commented on the missions the City has supported him on. Mr. Martin also presented Mayor Schmidt with a certificate for Parks and Recreation Director Jack Corder, who was on vacation. CITIZEN COMMENTS Edward Orsulak, 2816 Willow Oak Drive, stated he built a new home and moved into it in July of last year. He has had no problems with the reclaimed water until about a month ago. He has a problem with paying $5 a month and not getting the service. He has called numerous times and has been told the northerners have gone back up north and they don't have sewage they had. He doesn't understand tie-ins being done during the time they are supposed to get the reclaimed water. He asked if they can schedule the tie-ins during the daytime so they will have pressure in the early mornings and evenings. ~ ~ city Manager Hooper explained the tie-ins are occurring around the clock. He further commented on the expansion of the Plant. city Manager Hooper spoke about the SR 442 widening project that is severing quite a bit of connections to the south. They have advertised and they continue to put out that information. It is an inconvenience but there is no real good time to do it. city Manager Hooper spoke about users that abuse the system and the north end uses more water than can get to the south end. That will be corrected when there is sufficient storage. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if the tie-ins are occurring as the road crews are getting to them. She asked if that is the hold up or is it that it takes this long. City Manager Hooper informed her it takes this long. He further commented on having two separate construction contracts. DOT is putting in the underground utilities. While that is underway, they have at the Plant intermittent interconnections. Both of those events are occurring now. Councilwoman Rhodes stated two of those projects combined are causing this problem. City Manager Hooper stated and also the people that are using more water than they are supposed to. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if the two events that are simultaneously, could they not occur simultaneously. Manager Hooper stated not really. The road contract year contract and the City has absolutely no say so. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if we can wait until they are finished putting in their utilities and doing what they are doing that is holding up the water and then do what we need to do. City Manager Hooper explained that would extend the time period you would be without water. occurring City is a two Councilwoman Lichter mentioned people paying the $5 for reclaimed water and not having access to it and asked if interconnects can be done by sections. City Manager Hooper stated no, it is a grid layout. When you sever a line, the whole thing comes down when you sever it. Councilwoman Lichter stated all the way from the south part of the town to the north part of the town comes apart when you sever that line. City Manager Hooper explained really south of SR 442, east and west. When they sever certain lines that cross, the major lines, it all shuts down and that is what is occurring. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about picking the peak season of water shortage to start the project. City Manager Hooper explained it would be a year no matter what. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about people using the reclaimed water on the wrong days. The people that use reclaimed water can water for three days but the people with City or well water can only water two days. She asked about Code Enforcement checking closer to make sure that people aren't watering on the wrong days. City Manager Hooper informed her that is correct. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they limited the reclaimed water to two days might they have water. City Manager Hooper explained it wouldn't really change. What is occurring is a limited amount of water and it is being used so much and so quick and it is being abused that the only way it will be able to do anything different is by sending out violations. They are sending out the first violations now. Page -2- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 '-' ...... City Manager Hooper further commented on the fines for violations. We have people that are in the second violations and those are starting to be issued. He spoke about there being an extreme drought and there being two construction projects underway. Councilwoman Rhodes stated all of that doesn't change the fact that they are paying money for water they aren't getting. Mr. Orsulak stated he has seen violations over the past couple of weeks. He also seen in the newspaper that the City is giving 50 tickets a week. You can not water anywhere in Volusia County on Friday. He spoke about the people that water on Fridays and questioned where the people are that are enforcing it. City Manager Hooper stated all two of them are working trying to write the tickets and keep up with it. Mr. Orsulak asked what their working hours are because during regular working hours there is no watering. Councilwoman Lichter questioned there being three people doing the enforcing due to one of Terry Wadsworth's people also using one person. City Manager Hooper stated we have even more. There are two full time folks that do it, utilities folks are adding on to it so they have a number of people that are out and switching to weekends. Mr. Orsulak spoke about paperwork he was given by Don Walter of the utilities Department regarding when you can water. He understands when he can water but questioned what about the rest of the people. Mayor Schmidt wanted to hold some discussion on this because maybe it would answer some of the questions before hand. Mayor Schmidt felt the article in the newspaper was a very good article. He feels the only way it seems to get through to people is through the pocketbook. He feels they need a Code person in the middle of the night looking for wet spots in the street. City Manager Hooper spoke about meters and rates that say the more you use the more you pay. Councilwoman Rhodes feels they need to solve the problem of people paying for water that they aren't getting. She questioned if it is going to take a year to do this, are these people looking at a year that they are going to pay for water that they can't get. city Manager Hooper stated they are looking at the two to three months of high usage. He spoke about having the same problem last year around this time but when the rains started in June, it generally went away. He spoke about connecting into the pond last year and using water to augment our systems. That is still going but there just isn't enough water for the heavy demands that are out there. Councilwoman Rhodes questioned why they keep signing people up for reclaimed water if the City can't provide it. City Manager Hooper stated they only signed very few and that is in the Shores area. Councilwoman Rhodes feels they shouldn't sign one person if they can't provide them water. City Manager Hooper explained we do ten months of the year is the issue and they want it the other ten. The two months it is a problem is when they get very vocal. Councilwoman Rhodes feels they shouldn't be charged for the two months they can't get water. Page -3- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 '-" ,...., Mayor Schmidt feels they owe it to the people that are hooked up to give them some sort of relief. He feels for the months of June, July and August, they need to put to every reclaimed water customer at least a credit of ~ of the $5 they are paying. He feels they need to show some good faith by giving them back some of the money for a service they can only use on a limited basis. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested putting a moratorium on signing anybody up for reclaimed water until the repairs are done. Councilwoman Lichter questioned if the north part of Florida Shores is getting water. City Manager Hooper stated he thinks it is SR 442 south that is not getting the water. Mr. Orsulak stated he had good pressure yesterday and his neighbor on the other side of the street seemed to be getting good pressure today. City Manager Hooper explained that was because of the rain yesterday and not having as many users. Mr. Orsulak asked why the water gets shut off during his time of watering in the morning. City Manager Hooper stated part of that is the City's reaction to try and limit the hours so pressure is on between the watering hours only and then they shut the system down. Mr. Orsulak stated the system is shut down in the middle of his watering cycle. City Manager Hooper stated at that point, they are out of water. Mr. Orsulak stated why did you run out of water then but you didn't run out of water when it rained yesterday. He feels that doesn't make sense. The reclaimed water is coming from the sewage. Councilwoman Rhodes stated but you have a certain amount you can store. Councilwoman Lichter stated that is what they are enlarging. Mr. Orsulak stated he had good pressure yesterday during both watering periods. City Manager Hooper stated that is because nobody else was using the water because it was raining. Torn Ingram, 2729 Kumquat Drive, stated he has been down here since last May and May and June of last year he had excellent pressure in his system. For the last nine weeks, he has had no water pressure. The only day he had pressure was last Thursday. He noticed on Thursdays in his area there is always sufficient water. He asked why they are being charged a sewage fee for the recycled water when it is not going into the sewer but into the ground. Mayor Schmidt stated you aren't being charged a sewer fee on reclaimed water. City Manager Hooper stated there is a water fee, sewer fee and flat rate reclaimed water fee. Mr. Ingram stated for the past nine weeks he hasn't had any water. Today, he had a tremendous amount of pressure. City Manager Hooper stated that is because of the rain yesterday. Mayor Schmidt feels they need to make examples of the people that leave the system on that water all night. He has turned in some people that keep their sprinkler systems on all night. He is not afraid at this point to turn people in because it's not right to everybody else. Mr. Ingram stated he was an inspector in New York and he did Code Enforcement and they were very strict up there. He questioned if the City needs additional help. He would be willing to do something like this on a voluntary basis to see that it is enforced. Counc~lwoman Lichter stated she received a call from a Mr. Gallagher who also stated he was interested in helping out and checking around places. Page -4- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ...... ~ Lisa Saunders, 3326 Needle Palm Drive, stated she just built a new house and have new sod. It is less than four weeks old and completely brown. She doesn't mind paying the $5 fee or the $200 connection fee. She even inquired about getting a second meter so she could use City water. She feels they have a two-fold issue here. The first is they are paying for a service they don't receive and the second is people are perhaps abusing it and she feels these are two totally separate issues. The issue of paying $5 a month and not receiving the service is a bigger problem than people abusing it because you shouldn't pay for a service you don't get whether somebody else is abusing it or not. She feels if they don't have enough people to go out and adequately fine the people abusing the water and adequately police that, then maybe the fines need to be higher so when the people are hit, they are impacted. She feels if the fine was $100 right off the bat that might put some kind of deterrent on it since we don't have the manpower to police all of Florida Shores. She asked the Council had any further suggestions about what will be done in terms of not paying for a service they aren't getting or how to improve policing it. Mayor Schmidt stated the City is in the process now of training more people and getting more people out there. He also doesn't have a problem going higher on the fines. Mayor Schmidt feels if you solve one of the problems that will solve the other one. Ms. Saunders disagreed. She thinks when people are paying for a service they don't get, they don't care why they aren't getting it. City Manager Hooper explained if the ability to get the people that are violating strong enough, there will be plenty of water. Ms. Saunders asked if a Committee has been formed to address this problem. Councilwoman Lichter informed her it will be up to the Council. Councilwoman Rhodes spoke about when people fill their swimming pools they can contact the City to get the sewer portion waived. She asked if there is a way this can happen for people with new sod. City Manager Hooper stated he thinks so but needed to get that answer from somebody from the Billing Dept. Ms. Saunders stated she was told no when she called. City Manager Hooper stated he thought there was and agreed to find out. They waive for breaks in the system, leaks in the system and for swimming pools. Bill Stultz, 3123 Travelers Palm Drive, agreed with most of what has already been said. He did not agree with only being credited half of the $5 charge. He feels it should be a full fold thing. He hasn't had pressure for seven weeks. Tonight when he got home he had all kinds of pressure and questioned why. City Manager Hooper stated because of the rain. Mr. Stultz spoke about people that water during the rain. He has no pressure at 4 a.m. He crosses over 26th Street and both sides of the street are watering. He questioned where the water police are. He goes down there every morning and they use it every day. He has turned two people in. He spoke about one guy that watered seven days in a row and he called on five of those days and nothing was ever done. Page -5- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ..... ,., Mr. stultz mentioned people not watering on Friday. He has called City Hall and asked why they can't water on Friday and he was told if the water is on you are allowed to water. Councilwoman Rhodes stated that needs to be looked into. City Manager Hooper asked Mr. stultz if he was calling City Hall. Mr. stultz stated he is calling 424-2460. The lady that answers the phone told him you can use the water if it is on. City Manager Hooper stated that will be taken care of. Mr. stultz stated he feels they need the whole $5 credit until they can get water. He feels if they aren't getting what they are paying for the City is forcing them to use it. They made a contract with the City when they put it in and if they breach their contract with the City water, the City is shutting them off but the City is breaching the contract because they aren't supplying what they already pay for. Mayor Schmidt stated he believes it is in the contract that it is supply and demand. Mr. Stultz stated when they first signed up and he was one of the first ones, he was told $200 to sign up and $5 a month unlimited. City Manager Hooper stated that was the original intent when the reclaimed water was put in. At the time, it was thought there would be plenty of water. That is not a rare occurrence. He spoke about when you have a flat rate and people use all they want you are going to run out of water. City Manager Hooper stated for a two month period people aren't getting water but for the other ten months there is reclaimed water and good pressure. It is during the droughts when you have everyone on the system is when it fails. That is what they are trying to solve. Councilwoman Lichter stated the new rules in terms of the wells is they have to have a water sensor. She asked if there is some type of water sensor so that when it rains enough the reclaimed water can automatically cut off. City Manager Hooper stated it is the same sensor on any automatic sprinkler system. Councilwoman Lichter feels Code Enforcement and the Water police also need to see if people have their sensors. City Manager Hooper stated those are new rules in effect. The new houses have been the previous year and now it is in effect that all systems do. Mr. Stultz stated he agreed with the raising of fines. He feels a lot of people out there don't care and have money to burn. He has heard statements from people that they will water any time they want to. Mayor Schmidt feels after a few fines on certain people it comes to pulling the connection, then they pull the connection. Mr. Stultz suggested increasing the fine. Instead of a warning, $25 and $50 shoot it up and make it worthwhile. Make them pay for it and then they will leave it alone. Mayor Schmidt feels staff should look at the level of the fines and bring it back to Council. Councilwoman Lichter stated she wouldn't mind a special meeting if they don't come to a decision tonight. Page -6- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 .... ....., Robert Rice, Travelers Palm Drive, stated he started a petition of the people who are sick of the pressure of the reclaimed water. He got over 180 signatures. He turned the petition over to Deputy City Clerk Bloomer. Mr. Rice stated he doesn't think the meters on the reclaimed water are a good idea because people like his parents signed contracts and wouldn't you be breaking the contract by putting meters on the reclaimed water. Legal Assistant Matusick stated you aren't breaking the contract unless you charge an additional cost. Mayor Schmidt stated so if we put the meters in we would pay to put the meters in. Mr. Rice stated what he was understanding is they were going to charge people more for each gallon they use. Mayor Schmidt stated they could adjust the rate schedule for those people that use all the water to where they are paying for what they are USlng. Gary Boucher, 2704 Pine Tree Drive, suggested everyone that gets fined should be published in the newspaper. He is an obeying citizen that lives by the rules. If you have rules and don't enforce them, you might as well not have them. Mayor Schmidt stated every address he has written down has been 2700 block and beyond. He mentioned possible booster pumps on that end of town. City Manager Hooper stated until we get some storage and more water, nothing is going to change because there is nothing to boost. City Manager Hooper informed the Council if they wanted to have an emergency situation declared, they can modify the schedule of fines. If they wait and have a special meeting or wait until June 3rd a lot of this will be over. When the rain starts, it will change drastically. If Council wants to decide to escalate those fines, they can do that tonight. They can also put more people out issuing citations. Wayne Baehre, having house built at 2631 Woodland Drive, stated he has a problem with the reclaimed water. When he took out his building permit, he signed up for the reclaimed water. No one ever told him there was going to be any type of construction going on or that there were any problems that would occur that they wouldn't have water during certain times and months. He will be putting in his sod in a month. He has already gone to the Utilities Commission and informed them he doesn't want it and to go ahead and take it out. He was told to come to the Council to get his $200 back. He questioned who approves that, who does he talk to or where does he get his $200 from. City Manager Hooper asked Mr. Baehre to give Deputy City Clerk Bloomer his phone number and he would contact him to tell him how to get his $200 back. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they are going to have to put a halt on installations. City Manager Hooper feels the people need to be told and they make the decision. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she feels it needs to be that way until everyone south of 26th Street is getting water. Page -7- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ... "WI Terry Davidson, 3425 Umbrella Tree Drive, stated on 35th and Umbrella there is a hydrant for reclaimed water and up until a couple of months ago he sees this blowing water continuously. He has seen it go all night long. He doesn't feel the problem is people wasting the water. He feels the problem comes back to the storage of the water. Mayor Schmidt stated we are in the process of building a 3 million gallon tank. We are using the old tank right now and with 2500 customers, you burn through that real quick but the tank is under construction. Mr. Davidson stated there are also in-ground storage areas you can put for reclaimed water such as ponds. Councilwoman Rhodes stated we have a pond that they are pumping out of now. City Manager Hooper stated they put in a pump originally to increase the size to get more water. It didn't fail. We put one in and increased the size for even more once we got the permit to do that. Councilwoman Lichter stated she gets complaints on this and there is supposed to be a certain time in the day that the maintenance guys turn it off. City Manager Hooper stated it is probably a surge and is bleeding off air that gets trapped and goes to the end of the system. He agreed to look into this. Mayor Schmidt asked what a reclaimed water storage hydrant is. City Manager Hooper stated this is a first for him too. Tonight is the first night he has heard of that. Councilwoman Rhodes stated if the water is going out of the hydrant how come it can't get out to the sprinklers all along the way. City Manager Hooper agreed to look into this. Mayor Schmidt feels if people aren't getting pressure then whatever this relief valve, is it shouldn't be blowing its top. Kay Billick, 2528 Lime Tree Drive, stated they do not have pressure on that side of 26th Street. Yet on 19th and Pine, they have more than enough pressure, which is south of SR 442. Ms. Billick stated when she put her system in in 1999 they promised then that it would be corrected then because they were having problems with the same months. Every year they say it is going to be corrected. It has been going on for along time. Mayor Schmidt asked City Manager Hooper what he needed from the Council for the emergency enactment. City Manager Hooper stated if they want to change the level of the penalties, he needed them to make a motion and do that. City Manager Hooper stated right now the 1st offense is a warning, the 2nd offense is $ 50, the 3rd offense is $ 7 5 with the disconnection of the reclaimed services and a $25 reconnection fee and the 4th offense is $475 with $25 reconnect ion fee. City Manager Hooper feels if they double the 2nd offense to $100 and the 3rd offense to $150, that would probably get some attention. Page -8- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ~ ~ Councilwoman Lichter feels the $475 is way off from the rest. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested tripling the fines. Councilwoman Lichter suggested they double the 2nd and 3rd offense and see how that goes. City Manager Hooper spoke about the numerous complaints they have received from both sides. Councilwoman Rhodes stated when someone gets a warning or a fine, do they check those people. City Manager Hooper stated they go back and recheck those. They target repeat offenders first. The fines will appear on their utility bill. It gets very serious very quick. Councilwoman Lichter asked if these matters go to Code Enforcement or are they taken care of by the enforcers. City Manager Hooper stated we are taking care of them right now by the utility billing. Councilwoman Lichter stated one action is to increase the fines and questioned what the second action is. City Manager Hooper mentioned waiving some fees for a period of time. A gentleman in the audience asked about the moratorium. Councilwoman Lichter feels they should let the people know the situation before they put up the $200 connection fee. She feels people have to be given the option but have to know the fact. City Manager Hooper recommended the Council look at the $100 for the 2nd offense and $$150 for the 3rd offense. Councilwoman Lichter stated when they get the warning, they will get a list of the fines. City Manager Hooper informed her that is correct. Mayor Schmidt asked if this takes effect immediately. City Manager Hooper informed him they would bring it back in a formal resolution at a later date. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to use their 1st offense with the warning listing the subsequent fines, the 2nd offense being $100 and the 3rd offense being $150 with the 4th offense remaining at $475 and this is being done because they are declaring an emergency water situation in the City of Edgewater, second by Councilman Brown. The motion CARRIED 4-0. Mayor Schmidt asked if any of the other Councilmernbers had any of their own thoughts regarding the waiving of fees. His originally was to cut the fees in half for June, July and August. There has been recommendations that they cut them out for a couple of months. City Manager Hooper recommended a credit being this is the simplest way to deal with it through an accounting process. A credit of the $15 which is the three months times five is the easiest to deal with from an administration and being able to implement it. From a staff point, they don't have a problem with making that occur if that is what Council wants to do. Councllwoman Lichter feels that is fine for three months but feels the situation has to be reevaluated to see if they are giving the product they are selling. Page -9- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 '-' 'WI' Councilwoman Rhodes made a motion to give three months credit to all users of the reclaimed water, second by Councilman Brown. The motion CARRIED 4-0. Mayor Schmidt stated third on his list was the possibility of not doing anymore new hookups right now. He asked if they want to address that now. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if they need a motion to do that or can that just occur. City Manager Hooper stated they can inform anyone that has a building permit application that there is a problem and they probably won't get water until the rainy season starts. They will put something with the application that specifies the problem and the expected solution time period or they can not take anymore which puts a burden on the people to come back at a later date and have that plumber come back out once they have already installed a house. Councilwoman Rhodes stated that works fine for her as long as they receive written notice. Mayor Schmidt stated as long as they know it is a good educated statement they are given that they understand. city Manager Hooper stated they will write that and there will be a copy in each of the Councilmember's mailboxes as to the way that is worded. Mr. Orsulak asked if the three million gallon tank is going to take care of all of their problems. City Manager Hooper stated yes. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she promised she would vote that they won't pay for water they don't get but she can't promise this system is going to relieve all of the problems. Mayor Schmidt stated they are making an investment of $2 million into the system so it is their obligation to make sure this is going to work for the citizens. Councilwoman Rhodes stated if it doesn't they will try something else. City Manager Hooper stated they are also going to do a second modeling effort. The distribution system the pipes that are in the ground, they are going to remodel those and be able to prove, on paper, everything works. with what is occurring on SR 442 and the changing of the sizes, they are just going to remodel the system which hasn't been done in a few years. That will occur In time so that before next year they can have some booster pumps or additional storage south. Councilwoman Lichter mentioned the two new developments going in the City. She questioned if only Florida Shores has the reclaimed water. City Manager Hooper informed her that is correct. Mr. R+ce stated what about the people that are using their City water. What about not charging them a sewer fee. Mayor Schmidt stated City Manager Hooper was going to look into that to see what the possibilities are. Mr. Rice asked how. Say on your normal sewer bill is $60 and it jumps to $80, how about waiving the $20 additional dollars. City Manager Hooper stated he is a tough kid to negotiate with. He is going to look at what we have on our books as far as what we can and can't waive. Part of those are connected to long term finance obligations of the City when they bonded the system and he isn't sure they can do that but he agreed to look at it. Page -10- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ~ ~ Chuck Rutty, 3113 Orange Tree Drive, stated he appreciates what the Council is doing. He stated he hopes City Manager Hooper stays around for a while because it seems like they just have these things change. This problem starts back in the 2000 area. He spoke to Mr. Wadsworth back in 2001 and a lot of it was about fines and Code Enforcement and it didn't work. He sees the Council is doing something more and he hopes it does something. He asked if revamping the system will service the new divisions we will have further south. He imagined the City would be serving them with reclaimed water. Councilwoman Rhodes stated only Florida Shores. City Manager Hooper stated they have no plans to expand the system because we do not have enough water. Mr. Rutty stated the engineers messed up along time ago. City Manager Hooper stated they underestimated the consumption. Most places in Florida have said okay they are going to put in reclaimed and most customers say they can use some and the big fear is it wouldn't all go and they would have to put the wastewater elsewhere. It never happens that way. You use every bit you can get. Engineers have learned that over the last few years and they are better at estimating at how much is there. There is no plans to expand the reclaimed system in any direction. The only way that would occur is if they get water from the County who has a plant further south from us and they have talked about getting water to us but that is a ways off. Councilman Brown asked if they are going to put more people out there and if so when. City Manager Hooper stated we are going to make use of the staff we have. Mayor Schmidt stated hopefully with the steps they took tonight they have answered a lot of the questions. Hopefully this might make up a few of the people that aren't doing what they should and hopefully they can get the enforcement and the other things going real quick. Mike Visconti, 316 Pine Breeze Drive, stated being that Memorial Day is headed our way and we have a Veterans Park that we have not used for the past three or four years. He asked if they are abandoning Veterans Park and why they aren't having the ceremonies there. Councilwoman Lichter stated they are having a ceremony at Edgewater Cemetery on Monday at 11 a.m. It is up to the VFW Group, Post 5432. They make the decision. They may change at a different point when SR 442 is finished. The Cemetery offered them a grand package. When the new owners came in, they gave them the Statues, the Flags, the reception and the group decided that would be a good thing to do. Mr. Visconti asked who puts it on for Sea Pines. City Manager Hooper stated they are combined right now. Councilwoman Lichter stated they have not been invited to Sea Pines ceremony. Mr. Visconti stated last year they had the eleven o'clock and then went to Sea Pines. Councilwoman Lichter stated that had nothing to do with the city. They were invited to both ceremonies. City Manager Hooper stated this year they have talked and coordinated and he believed it was together and they asked to rotate it between the two cemeteries from here on. They didn't ask the City, they asked the VFW to coordinate with those two on rotating it so they can have a better service with more attendees. Page -11- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ... ..."" CITY COUNCIL REPORTS Councilman Brown commented on a meeting he had with Congressman John Mica and the Rail Commission last week and they discussed the rail system they are going to try and implement in Florida and they are going to attempt to put in, starting next year, a 55 mile stretch which will go from Ormond Beach almost to Orlando. There is supposed to be six terminals between here and there. Mayor Schmidt had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Rhodes had nothing at this time. Councilwoman Lichter feels by going to meetings at Florida Shores Clubhouse and Edgewater Landing to have their professionals to discuss the place for City Hall is not sufficient. When she talks to people, she generally gets a different viewpoint on the siting of City Hall. They are more apt to say they like it where it is. She suggested they put something in the City newsletter asking where people see it and give a few suggestions such as the present site, on U.S. #1 or on SR 442. She feels they should get more input than just the same crowd that shows up at meetings. Councilwoman Lichter feels if they are going to look beyond this spot, she would like to look beyond the McCallister property and look up and down a little more on U.S. #1. There are some parcels that look pretty good to her. She feels they shouldn't limit themselves to one piece of property. She doesn't think that is good business. She wants to hear from more people. City Manager Hooper stated the current schedule is on June 24th for the public hearing on the site selection. If the Council is interested, they could move the site selection into July to give time to notice that or they could put a small note on the utility bills. It could say attend the June 24th meeting to voice your opinion on City Hall so anyone that gets a bill could be noticed that there is a public hearing on that date to talk about it. They have one more meeting on June 6th with Edgewater Landing. Mayor Schmidt and Councilwoman Rhodes would like it put on the water bills. Councilwoman Lichter stated she hopes they would look at a few more sites on U.S. #1. City Manager Hooper stated the intent is this site, or U.S. #1 south. It is not just the McCallister property, it is that area. Later on he is going to ask the Council if they want him to get an option on the McCallister piece that binds them to nothing. It just nails down he can't or won't sell it to somebody else because in the interim they have been talking short period the school site, the one adjacent to that has already got a contract on it. Instead of avoiding trying to have that come up, he is going to ask the Council on his report if they would like him to get an option that has no binding effect on the Council It is just an option of first right of refusal that if Mr. McCallister chooses to sell, they have the first right. It doesn't have anything associated except that the City is first in line. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the Southeast Volusia Senior Advisory Meeting she attended. She had a flyer to hang in City Hall regarding a presentation for elder citizens with regard to wills, etc. This lecture will be at New Smyrna Beach Library auditorium on Wednesday, June 26th at 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Page -12- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 --.. ....., Councilwoman Lichter spoke about a book that has come out from the local AARP. The biggest fraud going on right now for Seniors is on home loans. If anyone wants a copy, they can contact her and she would get them one. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the Indian River Task Force meeting she attended. Since the articles have appeared in the newspaper about the mercury levels in the fish and the Indian River and the diseases on the dolphins and the turtles, she pushed at that meeting to get an accurate up-to-date rundown on the mercury levels in the river. Councilwoman Lichter informed Mr. Visconti at the last Water Alliance meeting, they were taken to a gentleman's house who has perfected the system of the rain barrels previously mentioned by him. He had rain barrels attached to his drain pipe, covered properly so there are no bugs, with a rain spigot put in from a hardware store. She has started collecting water and will water some of her things with this water. Councilwoman Lichter spoke about the 1500 "Keep Edgewater Clean Report Littering" bumper stickers purchased by the Chamber for Edgewater. The Police Chief is going to take the bumper stickers to the 4th graders in the two elementary schools and give them out. There was a ten-minute recess at this time. PUBLIC HEARINGS, ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A. 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 2001-0-76, amendinq Articles XIII (Subdivision) and XIV (Historic Preservation) of the Land Development Code City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Legal Assistant Matusick read Ord. 2001-0-76 into the record. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Schmidt opened and closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve Ord. 2001-0-76, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. B. 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 2002-0-06, amendinq the Official Zoninq Map from County B9 (General Office) to City B3 (Hiqhway Commercial) for .61 acres of property located on the northeast corner of US 1 and Palm Breeze Drive City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Legal Assistant Matusick read Ord. 2002-0-06 into the record. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Schmidt opened and closed the public hearing. Councilman Brown moved to approve Ord. 2002-0-06, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. C. 2nd Readinq, Ord. No. 2002-0-07, amendinq the Official Zoninq Map from County B9 (General Office) to City B3 (Hiqhway Commercial) for .65 acres of property located on the southeast corner of US 1 and Palm Breeze Drive alonq with two (2) vacant parcets to the east Page -13- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ....... ...." City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Legal Assistant Matusick read Ord. 2002-0-07 into the record. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Schmidt opened and closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve Ord. 2002-0-07, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. D. 1st Readina, Ord. No. 2002-0-08, amendina Articles XV (Airports) and XVI (Fire and Hazard Prevention) of the Land Development Code City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Legal Assistant Matusick read Ord. 2002-0-08 into the record. Councilman Brown asked if we have a program of installing new fire hydrants in some of the older sections of town where fire hydrants are too far apart and do not fall within the legalities of this. City Manager Hooper stated we have a program of installing hydrants in areas that are just vacant of hydrants. They have set aside dollars and budget 15 per year in areas that do not have hydrants. Due to there being no comments, Mayor Schmidt opened and closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Rhodes moved to approve Ord. 2002-0-08, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 4-0. City Manager Hooper made a presentation regarding the Land Development Code. He spoke about the Committee that was formed to discuss boats, trailers and canopies and this being a recurring subject. He spoke about issues that are difficult to enforce, issues that are not quite clear or issues that are in conflict with what the Committee had done. He would like to have a Work Session and have the Code Enforcement Officers, the Fire Chief and his staff show pictures that look like they are problems but in accordance with the Code they are okay. If it is okay with Council, he would like to schedule that for late June or early July after the City Hall siting. Councilwoman Lichter asked about there being other things that haven't worked so well that need tweeking other than just Code Enforcement issues. City Manager Hooper stated they are doing that right now. They have a meeting every two weeks to discuss areas of the Land Development Code that have problems. Councilwoman Lichter feels there may be some things the Planning and Zoning Board would like to talk to them about. City Manager Hooper stated they can be invited and be a part of the Work Session. He has no problem with having a joint work session. E. Res. No. 2002-R-12, Rodnev Jones, applicant, reauestina abandonment and vacation of a portion of 16th Street lvina northeasterly of and adlacent to Lot 456, block 16, Florida Shores and a portion of Guava Drive lvina westerly of and adlacent to the westerly line of Lots 450 throuah 456 inclusive, block 16, Florida Shores City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. Page -14- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ..... ,...., Legal Assistant Matusick read Res. 2002-R-12 into the record. Chief Planner Darren Lear also made a staff presentation. Rodney Jones, applicant, stated he has an industrial complex directly across the street from this unit that he is planning to put up. He is trying to add to the tax base of the City. Councilwoman Lichter moved to approve Res. 2002-R-12, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. BOARD APPOINTMENTS A. Firefiohters' Pension Board (2) - Councilwomen Rhodes and Lichter's appointments to fill expired terms Councilwoman Rhodes to move reappoint Martin Tse, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 4-0. Councilwoman Lichter moved to reappoint Laura Reilly, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. CONSENT AGENDA There were no items to be discussed on the Consent Agenda at this time. OTHER BUSINESS A. Special Activity Permit - Edoewater Fire Rescue Association, Inc. reouestino a Special Activity Permit to hold a 4th of July Celebration alono Riverside Drive 1) Waiver of Noise Ordinance - staff reouestino waiver to allow for live bands to entertain at Menard-May Park and a fireworks display over the Indian River Mayor Schmidt informed the Council this item has been pulled and will be on their agenda in the beginning of June. City Manager Hooper informed the Council they just implemented the rules about special activity permits and it had notice requirements of everybody along there and it didn't get met in time and will now go back out. B. Enoineerino Services - staff reouestino authorizino the City manaoer to execute Work Order #3 with Gierok Enoineerino, Inc. to provide enoineerino services relatino to the Final Desion for Phase II of the ParkTowne Industrial Center for a lump sum of $152,418.00 City Manager Hooper made a staff presentation. He disclosed that in the Phase II design it has the drainage work being done as a subconsultant by Professional Engineering Consultants, the firm that he is related to. Katie Gierok, Gierok Engineering, introduced herself. Mayor Schmidt asked if they are finding anymore rock. Ms. Gierok stated there is lots of rock. They are finding more. It will be coming in on a pay request that she is supposed to pick up this evening. She spoke about a 280' X 140' pond they dug that was five foot thick with rock. Page -15- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ..... ." Mayor Schmidt asked what they are doing with the rock. Ms. Gierok stated they are using it as well as the contractor. She has told them not to get rid of any of the rock. Some of it they are using as road base due to it being coquina shell. She plans on using the large chunks of rock for erosion control in the canals and in the ponds. Councilwoman Lichter asked if coquina rock can be used in walls and structures. Ms. Gierok stated concrete is much more efficient than trying to grind up the coquina rock and reform it. Ms. Gierok further spoke about erosion control and protecting the value of what you have bought. She is planning on using as much of the rock as they can on the site. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested if there is any left over to let the citizens come and get it. City Manager Hooper explained when they bid the prices, they bid it as dirt. They didn't have any other additional information to tell them there was this much rock so that is why there is a difference in time and the cost for removal as far as labor. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if there is rock allover and questioned if it would have been more economical to move the pond to a different location. City Manager Hooper informed her no. Mayor Schmidt asked if there is something to learn from this project and do some drilling ahead of time. Councilwoman Rhodes suggested bidding counting on it being rock and then when it isn't everybody is happy. City Manager Hooper stated what you try and do is save money. If you bid it if it is rock he is going to give you the higher price and then you are stuck. Councilman Brown moved to approve Work Order #3, second by Councilwoman Lichter. The motion CARRIED 4-0. OFFICER REPORTS Deputy City Clerk Bloomer had nothing at this time. Legal Assistant Matusick had nothing at this time. City Manager Hooper informed the Council that Legal Assistant Matusick and Chief Planner Lear are going to City Attorney Cookson's office tomorrow to meet on almost 100 rezonings that are compliance with the Comp Plan. They are going to go through and see if they can streamline the process and have one ordinance that will re-adopt a new map instead of having 100 different zonings that go with it. They are also looking at the methodology for starting to sell the lots in the FIND project. They have six or seven people waiting to buy the first lot. They will be looking at that and bringing it back. City Manager Hooper asked for Council's opinion and direction on the McCallister parcel. He spoke with Mr. McCallister this week and he has two or three people discuss with him buying that and turning it into a single family or multi-family project. It has 283 feet of frontage. It has about 36 acres with two houses on it and both houses belong to him so it is a willing seller. He has indicated they could buy any or all. Page -16- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 -- ,.." City Manager Hooper proposed an opportunity to enter into right of first refusal that if there is a contract to be done that this would hold it in abeyance until after their June 24th meeting so if they selected that or another site along there they would have the ability that nobody would be in front of us trying to enter into that contract. It doesn't bind the Council to anything including the obligation of any dollars. It is just a right of first refusal that in an essence says he won't sell to anybody else until the Council tells him yes or no. He asked the Council if they would like him to negotiate such and bring it back to Councilor to just enter into such. Mayor Schmidt feels it seems like an awful short time span. He asked if there is any way they can do until the end of July. City Manager Hooper stated he was open to any of that he was just trying to get past the next meeting so they could give him some indication. He doesn't want to hold him up if he did have a buyer and we picked somewhere else. He is open to that. He is a very willing seller and proud of the fact that his property could potentially be City Hall. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they are checking into the status of the property at the horse farm on SR 442. City Manager Hooper stated SR 442 has an existing contract and Mr. May would notice the City if it did not close. Councilwoman Lichter would like to go and look at the property. She feels a City Hall is not just a building to place any place. She thinks a city Hall is something to be very proud of. She wants to get a feeling of the property. If there are more properties available on u.S. #1 she would like them to be looking. City Manager Hooper stated they are looking at a number of lots. This is a particular lot that meets most of the criteria. If all of Council wants to tour, they can set that up. They would notice it so the Council could go and the press could go. It was the consensus of Council to move ahead with that letter. Councilman Brown moved to allow City Manager Hooper to enter into an agreement with Mr. McCallister, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. The motion CARRIED 4-0. 1) Reminder, reoular meetino of June 17th moved to June 24, 2002 Mayor Schmidt reminded the Council that the June 17th meeting has been changed to June 24th. City Manager Hooper reminded the Council of the joint meeting of the four cities on May 30th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Councilwoman Lichter asked if they have heard anything else about the situation with Oak Hill. City Manager Hooper informed her no. There have been a number of citizens that have written to the Attorney General voicing their opinion. They sent a copy of a letter that was sent to the Attorney General to City Attorney Cookson and the staff of Foley & Lardner reviewed it. They are going to talk some more about that. Page -17- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002 ....... ...., City Manager Hooper informed the Council we have a number of annexations that are in process with applications along that corridor. While there is a lot of debate, annexing is occurring. City Manager Hooper stated we haven't used the road. The contiguity issue of making it contiguous to the City, our promise to the County, and when the Mayor went over and made the presentation to the County, when they did not appeal, and when they didn't appeal part of what they said was we would not use the road as the means to show it is connected to the City. It had to be connected by other annexations and that is certainly how it is occurring. CITIZEN COMMENTS/CORRESPONDENCE There were no citizen comments at this time. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Rhodes moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page -18- Council Regular Meeting May 20, 2002