09-10-2001 - Workshop
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CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER
WORKSHOP
SEPTEMBER 10, 2001
6:00 P.M.
COMMUNITY CENTER
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Schmidt called the Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. in the
community Center.
ROLL CALL
Mayor Donald Schmidt
Councilman James Brown
Vice Mayor Dennis Vincenzi
Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes
Councilwoman Judith Lichter
City Manager Kenneth Hooper
City Clerk Susan Wadsworth
Legal Assistant Robin Matusick
Arrived at 6:10
Present
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Present
Present
p.m.
MEETING PURPOSE
vice Mayor Vincenzi stated the purpose of the meeting is to
discuss issues the City would like Mayor Schmidt to take to the
Florida League of cities Executive meeting in mid-September.
This Committee will decide what issues will go to the Legislative
Session in Tallahassee. City Manager Hooper stated it also
includes the local Volusia Council of Governments. When he comes
in, he is bringing Roy Schleicher from that group.
vice Mayor Vincenzi opened the Workshop for public comments.
There were none at this time.
vice Mayor Vincenzi stated he had two things he thought about
over the past couple of weeks. One was a priority that the MPO
and VCOG and other municipal organizations place on the
evacuation routes. It seems in their formula for rating new
projects, evacuation routes as a reason is rated fairly low.
This is one project we have been putting feelers out on and
trying to get attention paid to the extension of SR 442 out west.
This really hasn't gotten too much attention and hasn't been met
with much positive reaction. The first time it was up for
consideration they didn't even include it in the 20-year plan.
Now that Mayor Schmidt lobbied some very strong objection to
that, he believes they have it on the 20 year plan.
vice Mayor Vincenzi spoke about education. There is a vote
coming up for a ~ a penny sales tax increase, which will benefit
the schools. He doesn't have any objection to that in
particular. He has a problem with the State not doing more. He
feels that is a question Mayor Schmidt could bring up. The
Lottery was supposedly enacted to help with education and since
they have millions of dollars more coming in for education, that
is great but now they take money away from the schools regular
budgets. He doesn't see why they wouldn't do the same thing with
the sales tax. If the voters were going to approve the ~ penny
sales tax then they could know that their regular budget wouldn't
be affected and he thinks that would be fine but there is never
any guarantee on that when you are talking State levels.
Councilman Brown stated Time Warner has continually raised their
prices. He believes they have a way to put a cap on that and
tell them you can only raise a certain amount per year. We had
three separate rate increases this year alone if he is not
mistaken on that. Also on the Power companies, they have had
three rate increases on those. The telephone company has
increased the percentage almost 2% in the past six months. These
are things he thinks they need to talk about and get a little bit
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under control. Everybody he talks to is unhappy about Time
Warner in particular. We just got a little blurb from them that
they are going to raise it one more time for Roadrunner. He
thinks that is something Mayor Schmidt could talk about and we
might be able to get a little more control on it.
Mayor Schmidt arrived at 6:12 p.m.
vice Mayor Vincenzi passed the meeting over to Mayor Schmidt.
Councilwoman Lichter stated she has been working with the New
Smyrna Anti-Litter Committee and the Chamber on Anti-Litter
projects. They are going to talk to the State Representative
about a Bottle Bill on a State level. She stated when they
cleaned up portions of the City on CleanScene Day, cans and
bottles were the litter. This is not only for aesthetics but for
economic development. The Chamber will be writing us a letter
and they want to be co-sponsors with the two cities on a Bottle
Bill. Usually the negative response comes from the bottle
companies and not the people.
Councilwoman Lichter agreed with councilman vincenzi on the
education half a cent. People will question where lottery money
is. It doesn't seem to be specified specifically for definite
concrete things. She spoke about money teachers are taking out
of their own pockets. She was handed a list of the specific
projects that this money is definitely going to go for and
building in Volusia County is one of them.
Councilwoman Lichter feels they need to find out before the vote
if the State is going to cut the money Volusia County has if this
goes through. She feels that is a very important point.
Councilman Brown spoke about Indian River and the Mosquito
Lagoon. There are four different agencies that are involved with
keeping the Lagoon pure and the manatees and fishing. He
mentioned forming one group.
Councilwoman Lichter stated the County has been mandated by the
State to do something. Every County has that is on that river.
This County's Plan is going to be presented to the Council
tonight by Steve Kintner.
city Manager Hooper stated one of the things the Council may want
to talk about is somehow having that controlled by people that
are elected, not appointed people. They make the rules and those
rules do not go back through the Legislative Review process. He
feels the process itself would be a good topic to talk about and
have that done through the Legislature.
Mayor Schmidt introduced Roy Schleicher of the Volusia Council of
Governments and asked him to talk about Volusia Day, the Volusia
League of cities and the process of the lobbying up there.
Roy Schleicher, Executive Director, Volusia Council of
Governments, spoke about Volusia Day. He informed the Council
what they would like the cities to do to participate. They have
asked the cities to contribute 2 cents per person in Edgewater
towards the cost of putting this on. Their estimate is about
$13,000. The total contribution would be $373.00 for Edgewater
based on the population.
Mr. Schleicher went on to speak about the Volusia League of
cities and VCOG. They try to keep the VLOC separate from VCOG in
one significant way. They try to keep VCOG the body that deals
with the local issues and they try to use the VLOC as the arm of
the municipalities and County to address the issues on a State
level.
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Council Workshop
September 10, 2001
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Mr. Schleicher further spoke about the Executive Committee
meeting from the VLOC. It looks like they are going to have a
lobbying program in the Capitol during the session. The session
starts on January 22nd and is supposed to end on March 22nd. It
is going to be their plan to schedule each week of that period
one of their cities to be in attendance during that week lobbying
for the Volusia County issues. They will sit down with the City
the week before, try to bring the Council up to date on what the
big issues at that point might be and give them information on
who they need to see up there.
Councilwoman Lichter asked what week Edgewater will go. Mr.
Schleicher stated they will give them the choice of any week
during that period of time. It is a first come, first serve
basis. The schedule is coming out tomorrow to the cities.
Mr. Schleicher informed the Council the next VCOG Board meeting
will be held on September 24th at 5 p.m. At 6 p.m. on September
24th they are going to have a special Volusia League of cities
meeting. At that meeting, they are going to ask if the City has
a representative from the Council there with their list of
Legislative Action Items. The Florida League of cities will have
their own Legislative Agenda. Some issues the City may not agree
with. They will provide the Florida League of cities list of
items. On September 24th they are going to create this list of
Legislative Items for Volusia County for the Volusia League of
cities to take to Tallahassee and lobby. They asked all the City
commissions and Councils put together their individual list of
County-wide issues that they would like to see the VLOC support.
They are going to narrow the lists down coming in from all the
cities to probably five or ten items. They are askin& the
Council to have the list prepared by the September 24t meeting.
Mr. Schleicher recommended the City put together a list of
Legislative issues that pertain just to the City.
Mr. Schleicher commended City Clerk Wadsworth and City Manager
Hooper.
Councilwoman Lichter asked about redistricting and if the other
Counties that have one Congressional Representative are better
off in terms of clout in Washington because after all we are
doing the redistricting on a State level than us here that are
divided in three parts. Mr. Schleicher stated that is a very
difficult question to answer and he is not sure there is a true
answer. If you have one that is a good one, that is all you
need. If that one is new or not one of the movers and shakers,
that particular individual may not be able to do as much for your
as you want or need. By the same token, if you have three and
you get a couple of them that are good, you've got a lot of
clout. Councilwoman Lichter stated it all depends on the
individual.
Councilman Brown asked how well attended Volusia Day is by the
higher ups, such as the Governor. Mr. Schleicher stated they are
pretty hard to find. Some of the cabinet members were there last
year and there were a large number of Legislators there. They
had a very good turnout last year.
Mayor Schmidt thanked Mr. Schleicher for coming.
Mayor Schmidt stated a couple of the issues he knows are going to
come up on September 24th. A couple of the cities, Deltona in
particular, is getting ready to draft some information about the
Code process. They were talking last week at a meeting on how
long it takes once you do a lien, you'll never collect on some
and how you are restricted, not so much on the local level but
once you get to the State level on things you can do. They are
in the process of wording some ideas that can work into an issue
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Council Workshop
september 10, 2001
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Mayor Schmidt spoke about New Smyrna working on since the
Legislative people took out the 10 acre minimum for an enclave
that puts some issues at hand on trying to get rid of some
enclaves. They are going to try and address that through the
Florida League. Those two issues would benefit everybody County-
wide.
Mayor Schmidt stated the river issue could be a real interesting
one with Volusia County with having six cities right on the
river.
Mayor Schmidt feels evacuation routes are going to be on that
makes the top ten list. That is not just a City thing and when
they go up there he would think they are going to push the SR 442
and May town Road.
Councilwoman Lichter would like to add a shelter. The closest
thing to us is the fairgrounds or Port Orange. There has got to
be something that our residents could perhaps have use closer.
She feels there should be something more available for the
Southeast Volusia residents in terms of shelter. Mayor Schmidt
agreed.
Mayor Schmidt stated he has economic development issues. He and
City Manager Hooper can sit down and talk. There might be some
things they can address that the Florida League, with Volusia
County losing and gaining in different areas, maybe it is time to
hit the Legislators in Florida to come across with some creative
ideas and some opportunities.
Councilwoman Lichter feels our working well with the County now,
which certain has changed in the four years she has been on the
Council, working with them might mean very good combination. The
cities and County going up there and asking them. In a sense, we
are a depressed County economically in terms of what people are
getting paid, etc. They help other people that have needs.
Maybe there is a general need here.
Mayor Schmidt spoke about supporting the Florida League issues.
He spoke about some of the issues on the City list, County list
and the other lists being the same.
Mayor Schmidt feels over the next week or two they can come up
with a list and get it to everybody.
city Manager Hooper spoke about the ambulance issue, the local
ability to do dispatch and transport. He feels they may want to
think about that if they have a position that they want to be
staking it out to support it or not support it. That is a big
issue coming up.
City Manager Hooper mentioned the local option gas tax being a
big issue. In the next year or so, the old formula and the first
creation of how that distribution is going to be done away with
and a new formula put in place. There is a Managers meeting that
is wrestling for some of that. That is mostly, to be blunt about
it, those looking dollars. He feels the Council should be
talking and thinking of how they think a fair way to make that
distribution between themselves and other cities but also between
the County and the City.
Councilwoman Lichter stated she jokingly said to city Manager
Hooper today that she had a wonderful issue to get rid of the
County level of government.
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Council Workshop
September 10, 2001
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Mayor Schmidt stated through the County they are going to be
doing a Fire EMS Study to look at the counties and different
cities and how they go about with everything from EMS to
ambulances to fire dispatch. They picked a firm to do the study
to give a report on how the County is doing, what things can be
done better, interlocal agreements. That is going to be an
interesting study that hopefully when it gets done it gets used
and it doesn't become a doorstop for the County because there is
a lot of money being spent for it.
ADJOURNMENT
There was a five minute recess before the Regular Meeting. The
meeting recessed at 6:55 p.m.
Minutes submitted by:
Lisa Bloomer
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Council Workshop
September 10, 2001
- 'l"'HE CITY OF ED erE WA TER
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POST OFFICE BOX 100-EDGEWATER, FLORIDA 32132-0100
City Manager Kenneth R Hooper
City Attorney Scott A. Cookson
City Clerk Susan J. Wadsworth
Legal Assistant Robin L Matusick
Ass!. to City Mgr. Elizabeth J. McBride
Mayor Donald A. Schmidt
District 1 Councilman James P. Brown
District 2 Councilman Dennis A. Vincenzi
District 3 Councilwoman Harriet E. Rhodes
District 4 Councilwoman Judith R Lichter
TO:
FROM:
C.M. NO:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
EDGEW A TER, FLORIDA
Mayor and City Council . } )r.,
Ken Hooper, City Manager~,
2001-026
May 14,2001
Council Goal Setting
The City Council conducted a Goal Setting work session January 10,2000. A copy of the January
2000 memo is enclosed for your information. Council's consensus for FY 200012001 goals were
adopted as:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Economic Development
Financial Stability
Drainage Improvements
Comprehensive Plan Update
City Hall Siting
Several economic development enhancements have been implemented. The enhancements include:
1. Infrastructure - The City has taken an aggressive position of providing the
necessary public infrastructure to encourage sensible development where proper
planning and economics supports growth.
a)
water/sewer improvements have been completed in the corridors of Park
Avenue, Skyway Drive, Dale Street, Airpark Drive and south along US 1 to
the County's new wastewater treatment plant;
roadway improvements have been completed along Park A venue at Airpark
Road and Dale Street;
construction contract for FIND Phase I improvements has been awarded and
FIND Phase n design and permitting have been started.
b)
c)
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE
104 NORTH RIVERSIDE DRIVE
(386)424-2404 FAX-(386)424-2421
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Council Goal Setting
May 14,2001
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2. Annexations - The City is actively seeking economically-advantaged areas for
annexation and development within the City. The primary areas have been south
along US 1 and west along Park A venue. We have annexed over 800 acres of mixed-
use, industrial and commercial property since the January 2000 work session. The
City has updated the Edgewater Comprehensive Plan which includes adopting
preferred land use designations for over 2000 acres that have previously been
annexed since 1990 but were never included into the comprehensive plan. New
- annexations include:
a) Massey Airport area along Park Avenue, Airport Road and Skyway Drive;
b) Parcels around SR 442 and Mission Road;
c) Tim Howard parcel - 500 acres along south US 1 at Voleo Road.
3. Quality of Life - Economic development also includes quality enhancements to offer
an attraction for new projects, development, workers, residents and industrial
relocation. Since the January 2000work session, the following improvements have
been implemented:
a) New gymnasium /YMCA recreational complex has been completed and new
memberships are exceeding projections;
b) Improved public safety:
1) adopted fire impact fees
2) upgraded fire fighting vehicles and equipment
3) reorganization of poliCe department resulting in more officers per
zone per day. Also producing new community policing presence,
increased departmental moral, public awareness is growing
4) implemented vehicle replacement program for police and fire vehicles
5) developing consolidated dispatch services with New Smyrna Beach,
Port Orange and Oak Hill
c) City Hall Siting Committee has completed analysis, City to follow-up with
site alternatives;
d) In process of final adoption of updated City Comprehensi ve Plan for planning
of 20-year period;
e) Adopted unified Land Development Code resulting in improved site
development regulations, environmental protection, code enforcement
policies, zoning regulations and better community standards;
f) Streamlined development review process to reduce turn-around time for pre-
application, TRC review and building permit issuance;
g) Extended City Hall business hours to facilitate building/planning applications
. and residents doing business within City Hall;
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Council Goal Setting
May 14,2001
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The City has implemented several Financial Improvements concerning financial planning,
budgeting and reporting. The financial enhancements have been made to improve the fiscal
condition of the City and provide the means for improving City services. A summary of changes
since the January 2000 work session include:
1. 5-year capital improvement plan incorporated into City's updated comprehensive
plan;
2. Establish vehicle replacement fund to level the multi-year expenditures for vehicle
replacement;
3. Initiated Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) study and adoption to fund
infrastructure improvements in FIND Industrial Park and Massey Airport areas;
4. Implemented the process of "base" budget adoption and detailed review of proposed
service changes;
5. Implemented defined purchasIng system including strict controls and better review
and analysis;
6. Developed cost -effective professional services contract for legal review, engineering
review and code enforcement legal review;
7. Initiated review of all revenue sources to identify areas that may need update.
The City has initiated Drainage!Water Resources improvements which include:
1. Master drainage plan is near completion, currently we are having all structures
(inverts) surveyed. Upon completion of survey and hydraulic modeling, the City
will conduct public hearings and adopt a master drainage plan;
2. The City has initiated a major reclaimed water system expansion including reclaimed
water storage, pumping and distribution system improvements;
3. The City is participating with the Volusia Water Alliance to plan, develop and adopt
a 20-year plan for providing potable water to our residents;
4. The City has developed a regional partnership with Volusia County for providing
cost-effective water and sewer service in Southeast Volusia County t~rough
~Qlesale Master Utility Agreements;
5. Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach have developed an agreement for the
interconnection of an emergency potable water supply.
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Council Goal Setting
May 14,2001
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GOALS FOR FY 200112002
Based on the major improvements the City of Edgewater has made concerning Economic
Development, Quality of Life and Financial Enhancements, the following goals are suggested for
further improvements for the City:
Implement CRAfTax Increment Financing for FIND and Massey areas;
Coordinate with FOOT concerning the widening of SR 442 from 1-95 to US 1 and
maximize City's beautification efforts, utility relocation and utility upgrades;
Implement the consolidated dispatch system with Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach
and Oak: Hill;
Initiate planning, design and infrastructure improvements for western reserve area
(Park Avenue, Mission Road, SR 442);
Implement franchise service area agreement for commercial solid waste service;
Expand City's potable water capacity by adding new welles) in the vicinity of 1-95
and SR 442;
Expand resurfacing program from 12,000 ft. per year to 16,000 ft. per year;
Expand park system by adding ball fields, amphitheater and other amenities at Hawks
Park Complex and design and implement plan to develop cultural center on property
adjacent to park;
Maximize funding opportunities of Volusia Forever and ECHO programs;
Review and update revenue sources for increased financial opportunity;
Develop Joint Planning Area Agreement(s) with Vol usia County, New Smyrna
Beach and Oak Hill;
Initiate purchase of property for proposed City Hall Complex, develop funding,
design and construction plan for City Hall Complex.
KRH:ejm
Enclosure
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