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09-18-1978 - Regular '. (.) u 'f ~ CITY OF EDGEWATER CITY COUNCIL REG U L A R t1 E E TIN G September 18, 1978 Mayor Christy called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 P.M. in the Edgewater Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Robert H. Christy Councilman Louis J. Rotundo Councilman Carl Shell Councilman Walter B. Sikes Councilman Calvin R. Dietz City Attorney Judson I. Woods City Clerk Sue Blackwell Pol ice Chief Earl Baugh Present Present Present Excused Present Present Present Present INVOCATION There was a silent invocation. SALUTE TO FLAG APPROVAL OF MINUTES' Councilman Dietz made a motion that the Council approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 11, 1978. Councilman Shell seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. BILLS AND ACCOUNTS Councilman Shell made a motion that the Council approve the bills for payment. Councilman Rotundo seconded the motion. Mrs. Martha Rich questioned the $6,000 order on pipe that was tabled last week, she was advised that this was a bid and not part of the bills. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. COMMUNICATIONS The City Clerk read a letter from Mr. Chuck Hetrick, Assistant County Manager, answering our letter to him regarding the Fire District. Councilman Rotundo stated that this would be discussed in his coordinator's report. Mayor Christy reminded the audience that the Fire Department had placed a notice in the newspaper explaining their position on this matter. o o COORDINATORS REPORTS Councilman Rotundo reported that he had a meeting with Chuck Hetrick, Joe Benedict and Russ Foster regarding the Fire District. Three alternatives are being reviewed and a decision should be forthcoming by the next regular council meeting. Councilman Shell had no report. Councilman Dietz gave the recommendation from Mr. Kuyk on the bids for the 1211 PVC pipe that came in last week. The low bid came from Southeastern Municipal Supply. This will be turned in as a change order and paid for out of our Farmers Home Administration loan. Councilman Dietz made a motion to accept the low bid from Southeastern Municipal Supply, Councilman Rotundo seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. Councilman Dietz stated that the old water plant is to be used for the draftsman and the chemist for the Utilities Department. The old equipment in this building is both hazardous and time consuming to use. He has found a man who will haul it away just for the scrap material. Councilman Dietz made a motion that this man be allowed to take out the equipment free of charge and that this be put in writing, Councilman Shell seconded the motion. Upon roll call, the motion CARRIED 4-0. Mayor Christy brought up the report from the New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater Humane Society. He introduced Mrs. Virginia Roache, who read the report to the Council. She recommended that the City of Edgewater and the City of New Smyrna get together with the County Council, who is now considering having an ordinance establishing an animal regula- tion department which is estimated to put into effect $200,000. She feels that they will not be able to implement this kind of a program alone, but perhaps a joint program will be effective. / Mayor Christy stated that he has contacted the CETA Administration to see what kind of aid we can get this way. He is also waiting for some paperwork from the Department of Community Affairs. He also stated that the State Humane Society may have some information in regard to grant monies for this. Mrs. Roache explained that they are looking into the 9rants and there are several possibilities. Mayor Christy and Mrs. Roache are to get together and go over the paper- work involved in this program. Mayor Christy stated that at the VCOG meeting they brought up about the draft on the continual planning process of the grant applications. They are going to ask the local governments to bring out the matching funds based on the populations. Edgewater's total grant would be $4,287.00 and our share of the matching funds would be $1,072.00. Mayor Christy asked Mr. Murphy, City Building Official, to speak to the Council at this time. Mr. Murphy explained that after last week's meeting he expected to see Mr. Loeffler and try to work things out, but.Mr. Loeffler left for New Jersey, and has taken employment at another place of business. He stated that he has contacted a master electrician who has retired d 0 w n her e, ~1 r. EdT 0 bin II e. s tat e d Mr. T 0 bin qua 1 i f i cat ion s to the Council. He said that he has planned a vaction next week and has asked the County to cover Edgewater for the week. This will be at no cost to the City. Mr. Murphy answered a few questions from the Council. It was decided that this is Mr. Murphy's decision and he is still responsible for his employee. -2- Q Q Mayor Christy stated that he feels we should do some investigating into our engineering firm. It seems that their engineer tells us one thing and we get letters from them stating something else. The City Attorney stated that the Council should take affirmative action toterminate the contract with Briley, Wild, if that's their pleasure, and notify them under the provisions of our contract. We are no longer controlled by this competative services act; we can solicit for professional engineering services. This is a decision to be made by the Council. It was decided that the City Clerk should notify Mr. Sikes of this discussion and it will be brought up again at our next meeting. RESOLUTIONS None ORDINANCES The City Attorney read Ordinance No. 1022 (Second reading) AN ORDINANCE REZONING LOTS 7,8 and 9, BLOCK 2, RIVER EDGE ACRES FROM B-4 TO R-4, REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Councilman Shell made a motion to adopt this Ordinance, bein9 seconded by Councilman Rotundo. Upon roll call vote said motion CARRIED, 4-0. At this time a ten minute recess was taken. Mayor Christy brought up a resolution on annexation of enclaves. The City Clerk read the Resolution No. 815: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF EDGEWATER, FLORIDA TO ESTABLISH MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION OF ENCLAVES. Councilman Dietz made a motion to adopt this Resolution, being seconded by Councilman Rotundo. Upon roll call vote said motion CARRIED, 4-0. OLD BUSINESS The City Clerk stated that she has a memo from Mr. Asting asking to address the Council at this meeting in regard to paving of roads in Flroida Shores. Mr. Asting was given the floor, he explained that he has been investi- gating the paving and sewerage system in Florida Shores. He stated that he has contacted the Halifax Paving Company of Daytona who de- scribed two types of road paving which would be suitable for residen- tial areas such as Florida Shores. He went on to describe both types of paving programs, the first of which would be a type of asphalt paving and the cost to each homesite to be about $5.00 per foot, the second being oil and chip paving; the cost to each homesite to be about $4.00 per foot. He explained that he has found out that if the City borrowed the money, the loan cost would be about 20%. The cost if the City borrowed the money for~the first method would be $4,688,640, the second method would cost about $3,750,912. He ex- plained that these figures are a little high, because some of the roads in Florida Shores are already paved, and he took the total footage for all the roads. He also explained that the average cost -3- -h o o to the homesite owner for the first method would be $480 for the second method $384. He went on to say that he is neither for or against paving in Florida Shores, but if the people of Edgewater vote for paving, he would be. for it. He added that tnese figures could be compared with Mr. Dietz's $5,000,000 figure and you will find that Mr. Dietz is talking about 44 miles of roadway, whereas these figures are for 74 miles, including the east-west streets. Councilman Dietz was given the floor, he said that Mr. Asting is either confused or misinformed. He did not make up any figures. The City Council was advised that they will have to have an amount on the ballot as to the highest price these figures could run. We don1t have any idea as to what prices will come back on the bids. The $ 5,000,000 figure is an estimate including the loan, the auditing, bookkeeping and everything that goes along with it. At this time there was some discussion between Councilman Dietz and Mr. Asting in regard to these figures. Mr. Asting stated that his figures are estimates just as Councilman Dietz's figures are, but they are less than his. Councilman Dietz stated that what we are trying to do is let the people of Edgewater have the right to determine as to whether they want to have their roads paved, and we are saying that the cost will not exceed the $ 5,000,000 figure. Mayor Christy asked Mr. Asting to go on to the next part of his subject. Mr. Asting said that Mr. Dietz has stated that we have to have a sewerage system in Florida Shores and we do not. He read from rules from the State of Florida Department of Health and Rehabili- tation Services where it states that subdivisions platted before January 1, 1972, will be considered on a basis of an evaluation of soil characteristics, water table elevations, history of flooding and records of service of existing installations in the same general area. Mr. Asting asked Mr. Landrove to elaborate on this for the Council. Mr. Landrove, Assistant Director of Environmental Health, Volusia County Health Department, added that what Mr. Asting has said is correct. He read from the Florida Administrative Code to give the people a little history and bring them up to date with this situation. He went back to 1971 when the rules in Chapter 1006 were changed to read that any subdivision recorded or unrecorded in the State of Florida prior to January 1, 1972 would continue to be issued septic tank permits on a lot to lot basis with regard to specifications of soil charactistics and water table. He went on to say that beginning January 1977 that there would be no septic tank permits issued on lots less than one acre in any subdivision in the State of Florida, irregard- less as to when it was platted and recorded. He explained that this caused a lot of calls to come in to them. In 1975 his department received a letter from the attorney representing the developer of Florida Shores, asking for clarification of the chapter which required establishing a schedule for central water and sewers. They answered this letter and were contacted by Briley, Wild stating that they would like to do a study as initiated by the Edgewater City Council for the water and sewer to comply with the section spelling out this require- ment. To his knowledge, the City of Edgewater was the only City in the County of Volusia to even file such a report. When the rules were changed in 1976, there was no longer a need for this schedule, because the requirements were taken out of the rule. At the present that is the way the rule reads, there is no cut off date for septic tank permits -4- o o to be issued, they will be issued on a lot to lot basis, with the only exce~tion being if there is a sewer available within 100 feet of the property. Councilman Dietz asked if he is saying that the soil is suitable for septic tanks in Florida Shores? Mr. Landrove said that when an application is made for a septic tank in Florida Shores, it is the responsibility of his department to determine whether the soil charactistic, the elevation and the water table are such that it will allow a septic tank. If it proves that it is not, and it can be made suitable, then the specifications are placed on the permit with the contractor and it is requtred that they be met for the septic tank installation. Councilman Dietz asked if he was aware of the surve~ that was made of Florida Shores by the Agriculture Department, and that there was a moratorium set on s~ptic tanks in Florida Shores by the Federal Housing Administation? Mr. Landrove said that he did not know that, and he does not know that their department was notified by the Federal Housing Adminis- tration that there was a moratorium. He added that his department works very closely with the Federal Housing Administration, the Veterans Administration and the Farmers Home Administration, and in instances where they have placed moratoriums, we are always noti- fied by letter. and they have not been notified about such in Florida Shores. Councilman Dietz stated that he can assure that the City of Edgewater has been. Also, we have been notified by the V.A. that they are going to work this on a per case basis, each individual one will be a basis. We have the report from the Agriculture Department, the Federal Housing Administration requested it, and FloridaShores does not have the soil suitable for septic tanks according to their report. Mr. Landrove stated that Florida Shores is a large area and there are parts of the shores that are questionable, but there are areas that are suitable for septic tanks. He went on to explain that a lot of these requirements are quite strict, and most of the cases have to be taken on a lot to lot basis. Councilman Dietz stated that this is what we are faced with. If they make this statement and every federal agency goes along with them, then we are out of business. Mr. Landrove stated that you are out of business if you want a federal loan, but on a conventional loan, you aren1t. Councilman Dietz stated that with the rates today, that is almost an impossibility. Councilman Shell asked Mr. Asting if he had included in his figures the cost for grading the roads in preparation for the paving? Mr. Asting stated that he did not think so, he got the figures from the Halifax Paving Company for the paving. He would hope the City could do the grading to prepare the streets for the paving. Mr. Asting stated that he would like to ask one other man to speak on the septic tanks in Florida Shores. He asked Mr. Critz if he has had any problems with the tanks and if he has had to turn any down? Mr. Critz stated that they have not turned down any lots in Florida Shores, there are some critical areas that we have corrected. -5- o o Councilman Dietz stated that he agrees that no septic tank permits have been turned down, but in the last six months the City of Edge- water received so many complaints with septic tanks in Florida Shores, that we have adopted our own ordinances to make it more strict and to get better septic tank operations in Florida Shores. At this time we are setting grade stakes and we are getting a better septic tank now. Mr. Landrove stated that you are getting just what you had before. Councilman Dietz stated, no we are getting a better grade. He went back to the meeting that we held with Mr. Landrove's superior, Mr. Page. Mr~ Page agreed with what we are now doing, and it is identical to what the laws in the book says. Mr. Landrove stated that he would like to clarify the ~Iealth Depart- ment's position on the ordinance that was passed. He said that they accept the ordinance inasmuch as it does not conflict with the Administrative Code, however there is nothing in the ordinance that would alter the fact of soil flat characteristics or water table. In other words if you have problems with installations in Florida Shores where soil characteristics have been the culprit, this ordinance is not going to rectify that. There was confusion from the audience as Councilman Dietz was given the floor. Mayor Christy called order to the meeting, stating that the Council can pass an Ordinance and go ahead with this, however they are trying to let the public decide, he would like for the audience to act like ladies and gentlemen. Councilman Dietz was given the floor, he stated that he will pass. Mr. Asting stated that he spoke with a banking institution and found out that their bank handles F.H.A. loans for homesites with septic tanks, if the City has 100% water installation in the Florida Shores area. He stated that he did not get a chance to check with theV.A. however Mr. Witzig has checked on it. Mayor Christy said that he bas spoken with Mr. Witzig and he asked him to get his information in writing and that the Council would bring it up next week, which would allow the Council to prepare themselves for the discussion. Mr. Witzig spoke to the Council, explaining that he spoke to Mr. Al Ferreira, who is in charge of condos and subdivisions in the State of Florida in reference to Veterans' commitments. He stated that a blank~t statement of the V.A. not allowing approval of mortgages in Florida Shores is not true. They take each application on their own merit. The information needed has not been compiled for all of the units in Florida Shores, but they have the information on Units 2 and 6, and they will take under consideration any V.A. applications in those units. Mayor Christy asked if this could be presented to the Council in writing,as agreed on before. Councilman Dietz stated that the City Council wants to give the people in Ela.Shoresthe right to decide whether they want to have the sewers and paving put in. We are not talking about prices, we are giving them the top dollar figure, which it can not exceed, and we are giving them the right to determine their own destiny. You can not be any fairer than to let the people to decide by ballot. -6- o o Mr. Witzig expressed his feelings that the facts that are being presented to the public are erroneous. There was confusion in the meeting. Mayor Christy called order to the meeting, and stated that he asked that this be brought up at our next meeting. He added that there is not any need in having this discussion any longer until we have things in writing: He asked for the next item on the agenda. Councilman Shell made a motion that we drop the whole thing as far as the Florida Shores program going on the referendum. The motion DIED from the lack of a second. Mayor Christy asked what the Council's pleasure is in regard to setting a meeting with Teleprompter. Mr. Phillips, 1850 Pine Tree Drive was given the floor. He stated that this is the second time he has been at a Council meeting. He spoke to the audience that the Council is trying to do their best, and he feels that everyone should be more Christian like and try to work with each other if anything is going to be accomplished. Mayor Christy began the discussion again about setting a meeting with Teleprompter. A date was set; October 4th at 6:30 P.M. Discussion on election questions: City Attorney Woods stated that he has reveiwed the Florida Statutes on elections, which went into effect January 1, 1978. Statute ~o. 97.041 Qualifications to Register a Vote, states that any person 18 years of age who is a citize n of the United States and who is a permanent resident of Florida, and of the County in which he wishes to register, is eligible to register when the books are open. 94.041 Paragraph 4, The following persons are not allowed to register or vote: Any person who is not registered is not allowed to vote He added that those persons who are not duly qualified electors under the election code would not be qualified to vote on the referendum question for Florida Shores. He said that he has found out that the City can limit the persons qualified to vote as to those electors in Zones 3 and 4. You can limit the referendum question to those who would be effected directly to the imposition of the special assessment. This could be done by having the people sign an affadavit at the poles. Mrs. Bowsman, 1914 Queen Palm Drive, asked if this is going to mean that the property owners would vote on this, or people who are renting in the Florida Shores area? The City Attorney stated that he has just explained the alternatives to the Council, and this will be up to them. They can allow the entire City to vote on this, or they can allow only those persons in Zones 3 and 4 to vote on it. Mrs. Bowsman explained that the property owners who may live in another area within the City, and rent a house in Florida Shores feel that they, the property owners,should be the ones to vote, since they will be the one to pay the taxes. This is why there has been so many arguments on this matter. Mayor Christy explained again that the Council is trying to be fair by putting this on a referendum to let the people decide. Mrs. Bowsman stated that the majority of the people agree that this should be voted on.by the people. -7- -- - . o o. Councilman Rotundo asked if there was any way of holding a straw vote at the Florida Shores Property Owners Association? Councilman Dietz stated that this was done once before, and the only way to get it done right and get it settled is to put it on the ballot. He added that it won't cost the City anything to put it on the ballot, because we are already paying for the election. Councilman Rotundo asked if its going to be put on the ballot so that the people will have a choice as to whether they want sewers or paving? Councilman Dietz stated that it would not be a good idea to pave the streets without putting the sewers in. Attorney Woods was asked to repeat the three alternatives again. There was discussion about who should be allowed to vote on this item. Councilman Dietz made a motion that we instruct the attorney to draw up a resolution reading that the election will be held by the people who are residents of the Florida Shores area, said motion DIED from the lack of a second. Councilman Rotundo made a motion that we place this on the ballot so that we have a chojce either for paving or for paving and sewerage or for neither, said motion DIED for the lack of a second. ADJOURN Councilman Dietz made a motion to adjourn, being seconded by Councilman Shell. Upon roll call vote said motion CARRIED. MINUTES TAKEN BY Sue Blackwell Debbie Sigler ~~/ ~ ~~ef?L~G --dv Approved this cZ~~ay of r- F ~ September, ~ ~1ayor cO~~i-.~~d / ~RJ/. ~co~nC;lman ~ &d 1L:cC::/ V ..... -8- .....