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03-10-1997 - Workshop CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER WORKSHOP MARCH 10, 1997 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hayman called the Workshop to order at 7 : 00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Jack Hayman Present Councilman Danny Hatfield Excused Councilwoman Louise Martin Present Councilman Michael Hays Present Councilman David Mitchum Present City Manager George McMahon Arrived at 7 : 03 p.m. City Attorney Krista Storey Present City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Present Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker Present MEETING PURPOSE The purpose of the Workshop was to discuss the development of the proposed new fire/rescue station #57 . Fire Chief Bill Vola made a staff presentation by describing the wide range of things the Fire Rescue Department handles and the different tasks that were assigned to Fire/Rescue. Fire Chief Vola then spoke about the Fire Chiefs' Association standardizing a numbering system Countywide because of the confusion regarding which of the cities engines was to respond when working mutual aid calls . The four numbers assigned to Edgewater were 55, 56, 57 and 58 . The only area in the City that had protection within a four minute time period was the district marked as 55; the remainder of them were six to seven to eight minute response times . He further identified that district 55 was the busiest district and district 57 was the second busiest district. Fire Chief Vola then described a six year comparison of the number of incidents the Fire/Rescue Department had handled between 1991 and 1996. They expected a 13% to 15% per increase every year through the year 2000 . 1 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Fire Chief Vola then commented on fighting with the inability to respond to more than one incident with a single unit staff during the day and at night they were backed up by volunteers . They had 20 active volunteers, many who had jobs during the day. He spoke of the difficulty of trying to respond to multiple simultaneous incidents with a single staff unit and as many volunteers as they can call in. In 1996 there were roughly 240 instances where they had more than one emergency occurring at a given time. Fire Chief Vola then commented on comparisons that were done between New Smyrna, Holly Hill, South Daytona and Edgewater with regard to population, number of personnel and yearly budget. Mayor Hayman informed Council that Councilman Hays had suggested they dismiss the Police Chief for the evening. Police Chief Schumaker left at this time. Fire Chief Vola then presented a comparison of response times between district 55 and district 57 . He further commented on why the four minute response time was so important. Fire Chief Vola also provided a comparison of the number of patients they responded to in district 55 versus district 57 . Fire Chief Vola then commented on property loss due to fire. What they had seen over the last few years was that the amount of property loss to fire had gone up and the ratio of property that had been lost to fire versus what they had been able to save had also increased. Councilman Mitchum mentioned the City moving out towards I-95 with a couple of things but he wasn' t sure how long that would be. Fire Chief Vola identified 1 . 75 miles was about the driving time they could travel within a four minute time period. He spoke of doing the same thing that Daytona did with Pelican Bay by putting a Fire Station within the community. Mayor Hayman reminded the Council that starting next year DOT was going to begin the purchase right-of-way to widen SR 442 . He also mentioned they had begun deliberations with the Orlando MPO to increase the I-4 corridor and also to begin discussions with Orlando for connectivity between SR 442 and the Greenway. He spoke of the need to be prepared to accommodate the benefit widening SR 442 was going to bring to the community. City Manager McMahon felt the development west was going to occur before development south. He felt they would see Cory Estates want to annex into the City as well as other people wanting to come into the City. He felt they would also see an increase in accidents once SR 442 was widened. He felt eventually they would have to look at a station to the west and a station to the south. 2 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Mayor Hayman spoke of the interest in sewer, water, utilities and other services and the lack of fire protection south of the City. He also agreed they would need two stations and that it was a matter of which came first, 58 or 57 . He felt it would probably take two years to develop anything to the south or the west. City Manager McMahon felt Edgewater would probably be a City with 20, 000 residents by the year 2000 and 23, 000 to 25, 000 residents by the year 2005 and that the major population was yet to come . He felt after the development began to occur to the west that it would keep expanding to the west. Mayor Hayman commented on trying to fairly assess growth to pay its fair share. City Manager McMahon spoke of asking the Council in Maitland to impose an impact fee to build a future fire facility based on the benefits to be incurred by the people who would benefit from it. They were the first in the State of Florida to begin doing that. Instead of making them pay the full impact fee for the full development up front they said as the build out occurred for every square foot they would be assessed a fire impact fee at the time the building permit was issued. He felt Council needed to consider an ordinance before development exploded. Councilman Hays commented on the issue not being whether or not they needed to build another fire station but where they were going to find the dollars to do it. He felt they needed to be creative and find a revenue stream that would be there to meet the needs of the community. He felt they needed to plan for future capital equipment and that an impact fee or assessment may be an ideal mechanism for that. He felt they needed to have funds available in order to plan ahead. Councilman Hays then commented on the level of service of the calls the City responded to and the level of service changing with the training they were able to provide. He wasn' t sure why they were having more calls and if it was because of the aging population. He felt they needed to be able to put a mechanism in place where they could be reimbursed and bill for some of the services that the City provided, which he didn' t feel was totally unreasonable . City Manager McMahon spoke of a city that was seriously looking at providing emergency room services to its community. Councilman Hays then spoke of not being able to abandon a patient to respond to another call. He felt we were trouble waiting to happen. He didn' t have a single person in the community with a negative comment about the discussion they were having tonight. It was unreasonable to think they could continue with the level of service when the population continued to increase but it was a matter of finding the money for it. He felt they needed to redirect their 3 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 budget dollars and their focus and needed to take care of the area that needed it the most. He was proud of the level of service Edgewater provided and felt it couldn' t be beat anywhere . City Manager McMahon identified the top priority was making sure the level of service didn' t deteriorate. Mayor Hayman felt if they didn' t do something they would be pushing the envelope. Mayor Hayman identified they needed to reaffirm that the level of service was where they were going to stay and that they would be remiss if they did anything otherwise. He liked the idea of recovering the costs, which he felt they needed a mechanism in place to do. Mayor Hayman commented on the costs associated with officers and firefighters who respond to false alarms . City Manager McMahon identified that since Council had passed an ordinance that the number of false alarm calls had decreased by at least 60% and the City had obtained about $10, 000 . Mayor Hayman spoke of the County having a contract with an outfit that comes that were exclusive transporters and they have a recovery mechanism. The taxing district collects taxes ever year for the indigent and needy in this County and if there were some in the City he felt there should be a mechanism by which they can capture repayment for some of the services they were going to the emergency room for. City Manager McMahon felt the three most significant points were staffing, location and the revenue stream to support this . He felt the most critical issue was not where they were going to get the money for the fire station and that it was where they were going to get the money to annually support the budget for personnel . They had enough in the fund balance to deal with the building without taxing people more to get there. He estimated the cost of the building would be $275, 000 minimum. Councilman Hays pointed out for the public that the money for the building started when the Station on Mango by Public Works was sold to Public Works for the expansion of the Wastewater Plant. Councilman Hays commented on the fire insurance rating of Class 7 that the City had. He wanted to know what rating Fire Chief Vola suspected they would have and what type of savings a homeowner would have on their fire insurance. Fire Chief Vola identified what he had seen as a rule generally would not drop a community more than one point on any given rate. He expected they would go down to a Class 6 but identified what that meant to the average homeowner was dependent upon their insurance company. 4 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Councilman Hays felt there was no big expense unless they didn' t do it. Councilwoman Martin confirmed they had money available to start the project. Fire Chief Vola identified Council voted to allow the Utilities Director to purchase the old fire station for the Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion. Council earmarked that money for the construction of a new fire station at the south end of the City. Mayor Hayman commented on the proposal to man a new fire station at a cost of about $300, 000 for eight new employees . Mayor Hayman felt there were other things they could do to capture some of the cost to looking at the demand and needs . If they had new growth he felt the growth should be correctly assessed for the services they receive in that area. He felt there was nothing wrong with asking a developer to build a fire station and there was nothing wrong with taking the area that needed ex-number of personnel and working out a mechanism to defray all or part of the cost for those personnel . Mayor Hayman wanted a detailed analysis done for every department to re-justify every position and see if there weren' t some positions they could consolidate. City Manager McMahon considered that a function of their budget activities anyway. He considered fees and recovery costs a bonus . He asked Council to allow him six to twelve months to create a public safety concept unique to the public safety tradition. City Manager McMahon felt current employees that were willing could be trained and certified and used as an available response team under Fire Chief Vola. This was not a replacement for full time people but filling in the gaps until they got to the point where they had established fee recoveries that could support financially the full- time people they needed. Mayor Hayman commented on speaking with other Police Chiefs and Fire Chiefs throughout the State and he only found one that supported the public safety concept. He further commented on the difficulties involved with merging the Fire Department and Police Department since both fields had become so technically oriented and specialized. Mayor Hayman wasn' t sure how many of the employees would want that responsibility. After speaking with some of the professionals in the field, he couldn' t endorse that. 5 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Councilman Hays pointed out that people choose their careers by their education, training and abilities . He felt there was a special spark in people to do that and not everybody was cut out to be in health care as it related to other employees serving as a response team. They needed to evaluate that in the personnel first. Before they think they can do it he suggested they see if they had the people with the ability and the desire to do it. City Manager McMahon didn' t disagree and recognized that because of his own personal circumstances . Councilman Hays felt there were a whole lot of problems they could create . City Manager McMahon identified that three current Fire Department employees used to work for the Parks & Recreation Department and used to respond. He felt these were valuable people. He wouldn' t put somebody out there that didn' t have the proper certification and training. There was a five-minute recess at this time. Mayor Hayman recessed the meeting at 8 : 00 p.m. and reconvened at 8 : 05 p.m. Fire Chief Vola pointed out on a map the proposed location of a fire station with respect to some additional annexations and growth to the south area of the community. Fire Chief Vola spoke of having an opportunity to have the developer provide the facility for the future impact they would create with that development. He felt a fire station should be west of I-95 so they could get the maximum coverage area without a lot of overlap. Councilman Hays identified they should plan for a site at the entrance to the Water Plant where in cases such as hurricanes it could be used as a headquarters . The Water Plant was currently used as the Command Post. City Manager McMahon pointed out they had an offer on the table to purchase 40 acres of ground that was very close to the Water Plant for a very reasonable sum of money. He had Mr. Wadsworth evaluating it and wanted to get a real estate appraisal on the land. He would then come back to Council . He also spoke of developers inherently making concessions on land to site a fire station, which would enhance their development plan. Mayor Hayman identified if they built the right kind of facility, it could be converted for other uses as well . City Manager McMahon then pointed out that 95% of the calls were not fire calls and that most were advanced life support emergency rescue, which he felt they may need a different type of facility for than for a complete fire operation. He also felt they needed to look at the type of facility as there was also a great need for storing equipment. 6 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Mayor Hayman felt they had reached the point where they understood what the issue was, what the City' s interests were and they had reaffirmed what their response time would be in this City. The two issues that still needed to be refined were the proposal for public safety verses some other options . He then identified what those options were with regard to additional staff that was identified in a memo from City Manager McMahon to the Council dated March 10, 1997 . Mayor Hayman felt they needed to look at not only recouping reasonable costs for advanced life support but also look at the use of making growth pay for itself and how that would work with regard to creating fire fees or an assessment district. Mayor Hayman summarized where they were by identifying the two distinct questions as being identifying a near term location for the next fire station 57 and if it should be in that zone in Florida Shores or should they consider other aspects . He felt they also needed to look at creative funding mechanisms and any other resource of revenue to help garner $300, 000 to start off with for the employee costs . Councilman Hays commented on when our guys go on a medical call they may start an IV. When EVAC gets to the scene and transports a patient to the hospital they get back the IV fluids but EVAC then generates a bill to the patient for work that was being done by the City' s EMTs and he felt the City should be able to bill for their services. They needed to be able to generate charges for the services they provide . He spoke of EVAC collecting the profits and the City' s EMTs were doing the work. If they can' t bill the patient they need to bill EVAC for the work the City was doing for them. He then mentioned reading that EVAC had only collected about 50% of its billing which he felt was pretty poor. He also mentioned that EVAC was subsidized greatly. Fire Chief Vola informed Councilman Hays that they were in the process of getting a Medicare/Medicaid provider number. He was of the understanding that all it took was amending the existing resolution dealing with fees that were on the books for fire services that would authorize them to pursue additional charges . There was a brief discussion regarding the fees to be charged being whatever the reasonable and customary fees and charges were in this district. Councilman Mitchum confirmed they were talking about future growth in district 58 and identified the growth was already in district 57 . He felt there was no decision over where the next fire station needed to go and that district 57 needed the fire station. 7 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 Fire Chief Vola identified there was an increasing number of small communities that were going through creating a fire district and they assess an annual fee on every building within that district in order to get the cost of emergency services off of the ad valorem tax rolls and reflect the actual expense of every part of that emergency service. City Manager McMahon pointed out that Port Orange was looking at a dedicated amount of assessment for every property. If Council were to go that direction he suggested they proportionately reduce the millage rate to the amount of assessment they would have if they do that. Hereafter instead of making that part of the General Fund and the assessed millage rate that would become a special assessment and be billed the same way the taxes were. Mayor Hayman pointed out that they would still be short $300, 000 in that assessment district for the additional needed personnel to man a new fire station. Mayor Hayman spoke of advanced life support people becoming more involved in preventive medicine as well as family practice issues . He felt there was a change taking place in the Fire Department and that they would find in the future the firefighters, advanced life support personnel were going to be an integral part of emergency medicine, family practice and preventive medicine as well. Mayor Hayman again identified the two issues were location and funding for eight additional personnel. He then summarized the discussion that had taken place up to this point and the items staff was going to look further into. It was determined there was a need for a fire station in district 57 and that they needed to proceed with a building. City Manager McMahon informed Council they had the money to move ahead with the facility and he wanted them to authorize himself and Fire Chief Vola to procure the architectural engineering services . City Attorney Storey identified the Council had already done that at the previous meeting by approving moving forward with an RFP. City Manager McMahon asked Council about a timeline for the next meeting for them to get this together and suggested they do this sometime toward the end of April . Councilman Hays asked if they could go ahead with the building structure itself and proceed with that. Mayor Hayman informed City Manager McMahon to put it on their next Council meeting agenda. City Manager McMahon identified they would have it on the next agenda to move ahead with the construction of it after they got the RFP. He wanted to come back to Council in 30 days with a developed report for them. 8 Council Workshop March 10, 1997 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Martin moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8 : 40 p.m. Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer, CMC 9 Council Workshop March 10, 1997