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12-18-1978 - Regular r ., -~~' . u u l~0~ ~ e"." ~'? .~.-f....., - , ..~~~ 'li..Y:/4/' 9"f+. . lj~'. ~...,r<R1.$f)'. . 'iJ .11. F.JJ ~~ CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDGEWATER REGULAR MEETING December 18, 1978 Mayor Christy called the meeting to order at 7:20 P.M. in the Community Center. ROLL CJI.LL Mayor Robert H. Christy Councilman Louis J. Rotundo Councilman David C. Ledbetter Councilman Walter B. Sikes Councilman Neil J. Astinq City Attorney Judson Woods City Clerk John Wharton Police Chief Earl Baugh Present Present Present Present Present Excused Present Present INVOCATION There was a silent invocation. SALUTE TO THE FLAG APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilman Sikes made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 11, 1978 Council meetinq. Councilman Astina seconded the motion. Upon roll call the moti~n CARRIED 5-0. - BILLS AND ACCOUNTS Councilman Ledbetter made a motion to approve the payment of bills totaling $10,398.10. Councilman Rotundo seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. COMMUNICATIONS The City Clerk read a petition from residents of Air Park Road. The petition stated their opposition to the use of the landfill for a 9un club and skeet range. Mayor Christy said that he had talked to Mr. Brown who originally asked the Council to approve this use for the landfill. . Mr. Brown has said that he does not wish to disrupt the residents in that area and would withdraw his request. Councilman Asting made a motion to accept this petition and not consider the use of this land for a gun club. Councilman Ledbetter seconded the motion. Councilman Sikes said that we cannot determine the use of this land because it is in the County. It is possible that in the future we may be able to work with the County to use this as a recreation area. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. The City Clerk read a letter from Mr. M. Kenneth Sanborn. Mr. Sanborn stated he was resigning from the Zoning Board. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion that the Council accept Mr. Sanborn's resignation. Councilman Asting seconded the motion. ~ o Q Councilman Sikes asked if we had a resolution appointing Mr. Sanborn? Mayor Christy said that we had appointed him recently to the Zoning Board. Upon roll call the motion to accept Mr. Sanborn's resignation CARRIED 5-0. The City Clerk read. a letter from Briley, Wild and Associates. Councilman Asting interrupted the City Clerk and said that he wished to comment on this letter. It was written through a mis- understanding and it concernS some pumping equipment that we have no intensions of using the specifications for, at this time. Mayor Christy said that if there were no other comments from the Council that they would delete this letter from discussion until further notice. ' The City Clerk read a letter from Brown1s Air Conditioning which specified the location of the car lot that Mr. Brown wishes to open up next to the Air Conditioning business. Councilman Asting said that they had a letter from the City Clerk to the Zoning Board regarding this matter. Mayor Christy said that they were going to bring this up under the Coordinators reoort unless Councilman Asting would like to discuss this now. ' The City Clerk read the letter to the Zoning Board which requests a recommendation from the Zoning Board as to whether or not the Zonina Board would recommend makina the sale of automobiles a permitted use in B-3. - Councilman Asting made a motion that the Council table this until they have had an answer from the Zoning Board. Councilman Sikes seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. The City Clerk read a letter from the Edgewater Missionary Church extending appreciation for the dedication service on Nov. 26, 1978. The City Clerk read a letter to the Council from the Town of Pierson stating that their land use plan was open for comments. These letters were for Council information. There was no action taken on them. The City Clerk read letters from Mr. Wetzel and Mr. McGinnis giving the City permission to use three (3) feet of their property (the southern boundary of Mr. Wetzel's property and the northern boundary of Mr. McGinnis's property) to install a storm sewer. Mayor Christy explained to the Council that the ditch is already in there to drain off the water but water flowing onto the property floods the property. The City wants to put some pipes in there to remedy this situation. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion to table this until we can study it further. This is putting taxpayer's money into private property. Councilman Asting said that they were just giving us permission to use the land not giving the land to us. Councilman Sikes seconded Mr. Ledbetter's motion. Uoon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. The City Clerk read a letter from the City Attorney Judson Woods. Mr. Woods stated that because the"Council had expressed a lack of confidence in his decisions, he was resigning his position as City Attorney effective January 1, 1979. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion to accept the resignation of the City Attorney. Councilman Asting , seconded the motion. I 2 i .' o Q MrSi Woodard, Orange Tree Dr. stated that the City of Edgewater has purchased a set of law books for the attorney and they should be returned to the City. She did not feel that the City should provide any attorney with a set of $2500.00 law books. The taxpayers paid for them and not the lawver. (There was a problem with the microphone and it was necessary to transfer some batteries to make the microphones ooerative.) Upon roll call the motion to accept the resignation of the Attorney CARRIED 3-2. Mayor Christy and Councilman Sikes voted NO. The City Clerk read a letter from Layne Atlantic Co. The Mayor requested the letter be included in the minutes in its entirety. TO: Honorable Robert Christy Re: Water Improvement Program - Water Treatment Plant Please be advised that on the subject contract, the City of Edgewater is currently in arrears to Layne Atlantic Company, in the amount of $184,410.53. The beginning of the arrearage dates back to June of 1978. (Please see attached partial oayment schedule.) As general contractors, we feel we have diligently pursued the construction of this project and are due the approved compensation. In addition, a partial pay estimate has been issued this month for $129,789.00 and is due and payable within (10) days after engineering approval. I would like to bring to your attention that Para. 19.7, of the general conditions of the contract documents, provides that a maximum legal interest rate (15% per annum) be assessed to all payments (30) days in arrears. At your earliest convenience, please advise the City of Edgewaters. intended disposition of this matter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Respectfully yours, Dale R. Hanson District Manager Mayor Christy said that the City had not received the attached payment schedule so that he did not know if the Council could take any action on this matter at this time. The City Clerk said that Mr. Sikes was going to get the $72,000.00 on Tuesday or Wednesday. The difference would have to come out of pooled cash and we may have to attach a CD to have enough money. Councilman Ledbetter asked what the pooled cash was1 The City Clerk said that is where all the funds and the cash money of all funds are put into a pooled account and each fund carries what they call an equity in this pooled account. Councilman Ledbetter asked if the money for general government and water and .sewer are all pooled together or is it a different category? Mayor Christy said it was all pooled together. Councilman Ledbetter said that he thought that you couldn't pool or intermingle money in the revenue sharing. Mayor Christy said that State Law says you must do this but the books still show that the Water and Sewer are separate. Councilman Sikes said that Layne Atlantic has submitted about $92,000 in bills that have been approved by the engineers and the Farmer's Home Administration. Layne Atlantic is in error when they say that we owe them a total of $184,000. Councilman Asting said that Layne Atlantic was not in error. 3 o o (The followinq section from Tape 1 Side B is submitted as accurately as the tapes can be transcribed per a request by the Mayor) Councilman Sikes: Up to this point we have not had Farmer's Home approval on that amount of bills, based on the engineer's recommendations. Councilman Astinq: I would like to ask the City Clerk if we have had engineer's approval for the other $92,000? Mr. Wharton: It has to be approved tonight. Councilman Asting: But we have had approval from Briley, .Wild. Mr. Wharton: We have had the engineer's approval. Councilman Sikes: As of November 8, 1978, we had approximately $90,000 approved but there is a big difference between that and $184,000 so they are in error on that. Councilman Astinq: I would like to read a statement. On November 6, 1978, the former-City Council voted to pay bills amounting to $105,930.29. Approximately a little over $13,000 of that amount was for engineering fees which would make the $92,000 we owe Layne Atlantic and some of these bills date back to June. These bills were for the construction and engineering fees for the new water plant. The present new Council members, in trying to organize and assemble these bills for payment and to determine the accounts and funds from which payment could be made, received practically no help. On December 14, 1978, when pressed, the Mayor finally accompanied the City Clerk to the bank where certain papers were signed by the Mayor and the Deputy Clerk. The City Clerk, who was present, was not briefed as to what had transpired and was not given full know- ledge as to what the Deputy Clerk had signed. The next day it was learned that the papers that were signed were for the release of $72,000 which was the remainder of $144,000 Federal Grant for water plant construction. I think some people remember this $144,000 grant. Previously, when we had inquired about this grant, we were led to believe that all but $1,000 had been expended. Therefore, I make a motion that the Mayor prepare a true and accurate statement listinq all City Accounts, and their locations, and all funds available and the purposes for which they are to be used. Further that each Councilman be given a copy and that copies be posted for public examination. This statement should be made available at the next regular Council meeting. Mayor Christy: The City Clerk has all that information. Councilman Asting: We did not know anything about this $72,000 fund. In fact, as far as we can determine, only three people knew that the fund existed. That was you, the Deputy Clerk and Mr. Sikes. That is a dangerous situation, according to the auditors, because I questioned them on that today. Mayor Christy: Councilman Sikes has the floor. Councilman Sikes: First of all, the bills that date back to June there is a $7,200 balan.ce. These were submitted to us by the enqineers and were forwarded to Farmer's Home and Mr. Gordon and he-approved them. So were the others of August 28, for $10,000 but that is still a far cry from $184,000. We paid them when we have been authorized to do so by Farmer's Home. Now the only reason that we didn't know about where and what we owe, and I didn't know until about ten days ago, or have a copy of all the bills that Mr. Wharton couldn't find and you couldn't find them you had them down at the water plant and you had them scattered allover. I got Debbie to get me a copy of all the bills that have been paid, those that have not been paid and after I got them, Mr. Whorton comes up and hands me a copy of the bills and a breakdown of what had been paid and what has not been paid. Now, 11m not throwing off any blame on him, but I do know that whenever the last meeting we had where we approved payment of these bills, they were all together in one folder that was left right up here with the necessary arrangements and information to go to Security to get the money to pay those bills. 4 .' o o Now this $72,000 that we have $1,000 and some odd dollars left. The Mayor has written a letter today that is carried into an account and this is the money that is left out of the orginal $700,000 loan. I think that it is $1,025 and some cents. Mayor Christy: Eighteen cents. Councilman Sikes: The only person who can sign a check out of that money is Mr. Gordon of Farmer's Home and that is all that is left out of the $700,000 loan. We have set up various accounts, based on the recommendations of the auditors, for investment purposes. We have several time certificates and every Councilman has a copy of this. Dave, I'm sure you have one, I know Mr. Wharton prepared them and I know Mr. Asting has one. You do have two separate funds that were set up by Ordinances that you have to keep monies for your Ordinance. One of them is the Debt Service Reserve in which we have $100,000 that is required by the Ordinance that is set up in a time certificate especially for that. The other is the Replacement and Renewal Fund that requires a minimum of $50,000. We have that set up in a special time certificate. All the other monies, we have several others like Federal Revenue monies. If he thinks anybody has been sitting down on this, he is wrong. Before we had a City Clerk that acted as Finance Director, Personnel Director and City Clerk. Mrs. Blackwell told me that one thing we needed to do before the end of the year, is to file for the remaining monies that were just released in October because it was tied up on this minority thing. The $72,000 was just released and we got everything together and Mr. Wharton and Mrs. Kinsey and the Mayor and then I stepped over there and Mr. Wharton was fully aware of what we were doing. Isn't that right, Mr. Wharton? Mr. Wharton: No. Mayor Christy: You were shown the papers. Mr. Wharton: You were at the other end of the table and I was not shown the papers. Mayor Christy: Will you please be quiet. (To the audience.) Councilman Sikes: You weren't authorized to sign the papers at that time but you were there and you saw the papers. Mr. Wharton: I didn't see the papers. You were at one end of the table. MayorCChristy: You were sitting night alongside of me. Councilman Sikes: I did sit down and I did explain some of these things to you. Do you deny that? Mr. Wharton: Yes, I do. Councilman Sikes: Well, allright, okay. Mr. Wharton was fully aware of what was happenin~. Mayor Christy: That is correct and we have witnesses to that. Councilman Sikes: If we need to get Mrs. Kinsey in here then we can do that. Mayor Christy: Mr. Wharton sat on my right and Mrs. Kinsey sat on my left while the whole transaction was going on. Mr. Wharton: I didn't know what you were signing. Mayor Christy: I explained it to you. Mr. Wharton: No, you did not. Mayor Christy: In City Hall the people have to explain everything 5 o o to you about 15 and 20 times in order to get you to understand. There was loud disturbances from the audience in the form of booing and objections. There is so much disturbance at this time that it is impossible to understand what was said except by the Mayor. Mayor Christy: Will you please be quiet. (Disturbance continued) Will you please be ...Chief. Will you be quiet or I'll have you out. Chief, escort him out. Now, anybody else? You're not going to talk now, sit down please. Escort him out please, yes sir, out. A voice in the audience identified to be that of Mr. Frank Opal keptrepeattng "Point bfHOrder" then said "Are you putting me out?" Mayor Christy: Yes, sir I am. Same voice: File a complaint against me. Mayor Christy: I will Chief, give me the complaint and I'll do it. Same voice: Be sure you si9n it. Mayor Christy: I will sir. Will you escort him out Chief. (Voice overs make actual conversation at this point difficult to transcribe. There were still a number of people talking at the same time. Chief Baugh escorted Mr. Frank Opal from the meeting) Mayor Christy: And draw up the 751 form. Same Voice: You'll be sorry you did it. Mayor Christy: You're darn right you will be. Now, anybody else or can we go on with our meeting now. Councilman Asting: May I speak, Mr. Mayor? Mayor Christy: Yes, Mr. Asting. Councilman Asting: Shortly after the new Council took office, you moved everything out of the former City Clerk's office and put your office where the City Clerk was and you gave your office to Mr. Wharton as City Clerk. At that time, files and everything else was moved and jumbled up. We found these bills in three separate envelopes. It took us about two weeks to assemble them before we requested that we make arrangements for payment. Further, we were never informed about the monev that was available to us from this $144,000 grant. In fact, I w~s led to believe by the clerks in ------there, andmo one else seemed to want to enlighten me, that that money had been expended and all that was left was $1,000 in that account. I asked Mr. Sikes, at one time, where we were going to get the money to pay these bills and he said that we had a Farmer's Home Loan in the amount of about $300,000 from which we can draw to pay these bills. No mention was made of that $72,000 which was available to us and we should have been informed of it. Mayor Christy: I knew nothing about it until Mr. Wharton had asked me about the money. Then I asked outside to the girls. Councilman Asting: You knew all about it. Mayor Christy: I did not. Councilman Asting: You had to go down and sign the papers. Mayor Christy: That's right, after Mr. Wharton had approached me about the money. Then I asked the girls out side. Mr. Sikes. Councilman Asting: We have a motion on the floor. 6 o o Councilman Sikes: I did not know about this until the first part of December, along the beginning of it and then live been talking to May, Zima and I checked with Sue and we found out where the forms were. The moment that I found out about the forms was whenever I let the Mayor know about it. The fact is that the money is on the way and whenever I think that Mr. Asting first asked me, I wasn't aware of it. Mayor Christy: Do we have a motion on the floor? Councilman Asting: I made a formal motion. Mayor Christy: What was your motion? Councilman Asting: 1111 read it again. Therefore I make a motion that the Mayor prepare a true and accurate statement, listing all City accounts and their locations and all funds available and the purposes for which they are to be used. Further, that each Council- man be given a copy and that copies be posted for public examination and that this statement be made available by the next regular Council meeting. That is the second time I have made this motion. Mayor Christy: I have a motion by Mr. Asting do I have a second. Councilman Ledbetter: 1111 second that motion. Mayor Christy: Seconded by Mr. Ledbetter. Questions on the motion. Mr. Rotundo? Councilman Rotundo: No questions. Mayor Christy: Mr. Ledbetter: Councilman Ledbetter: I have a question. Now from that $700,000 loan there was supposed to have been a surplus from that left over is that right? Councilman Sikes: Only a $1,000. We've written for that. Councilman Ledbetter: Now that was on the first phase which was the expansion in the sewer treatment plant. Councilman Sikes: And part into the water. Councilman Ledbetter: The surplus from that was supposed to go to the water plant. Councilman Sikes: Thatls right. Councilman Ledbetter: Now 11m told that out of $700,000 that it wound up we only had a thousand dollars surplus left over from rejuvenating the sewer disposal plant. Councilman Sikes: Out of the original $700,000 loans that are guaranteed by bonds, we had a thousand dollars left out of that. We carried that into, welve asked for a check for that, Farmer's Home writes that check, any surplus that we had out of the construc- tion account. We do have monies in the construction fund of $55,000 that we are carrying but that is carried in pooled cash. The pooled cash, in order to get a better return on your investment. Beginning the first of the year at the end of each month we get a report that breaks down the various sums and it says you have this much in the Revenue Fund, this much in the water replacement fund and so forth. Now, all of those funds totals up to x amount of monies then we have monies in various time certificates that are invested that will represent the total of those funds that are broken down into separate categories, separate fund accounts. But the first of the year, as quickly after the first of January, May, Zima is sending John Vodenicker down here to go over all of this with us. Councilman Ledbetter: 11m not wondering about the pooled cash. 11m talking about the $700,000 borrowed to revive the sewer plant and you mean to tell me out of $700,000 that was borrowed by the people 7 o o of Edgewater. We've only got a thousand dollars left out of that? Councilman Sikes: We've paid everything on the water plant up to this point except what we owe. We haven't borrowed any money. That money, part of our grant money before, we were to use our grant money. Councilman Ledbetter: $144~000. -Council~an Sikes: We've qot $72,000 of that. We were to use all the monies available before we were to borrow any money. So we used the money that was left out of the $700,000 loan, that monies that was left over and above the contract, plus_ change orders, we've used that in the construction of the water plant. We've used $72,000, the first $72,000 of our EDA grant and we've used some Federal Revenue monies that was appropriated towards the construction of the water plant and up to this point we haven't borrowed a dime of the $300,000 that we applied for a loan for. So that money out of the original $700,000, r don't know the exact dollar amount, but some of it did go into the payment of the bills on the water con- struction. Councilman Ledbetter: There is paper work at City Hall to substantiate these change orders? Councilman Asting: That's true. Councilman Sikes: Mr. Mayor, you need to get May, Zima to break this down. Mayor Christy: I'll get hold of them in the morning. I don't know where all this stuff is ~yself. I Councilman Sikes: You can't be expected to know that's why we have a Finance Director. ~ Mayor Christy: That's right, I am not the Finance Director. There were no further questions from the Councilmen. Mayor Christy asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak. Mr. Walter Gross, 909 Lake Ave., said that for two years he had been asking what happened to the $700,000. He brought up about the money spent for the sewer system and what was left over was supposed to be held and not used and no interest was sUPDosed to be paid on it. Mr. Sikes, on at least five occasions' and Mayor Christy explained where the $700,000 went to and about a month or so ago, after the answers. I got from both Mr. Sikes and Mayor Christy, I said to Mr. Wharton: Are you satisfied with that? He answered no and I agree with him. I never did get a good answer and this has been going on for about two years. I would like for someone to tell me what is the Capital Improvement Account in the Southeast Bank and how much is it. Can you tell me that? Mayor Christy: Mr. Wharton has those figures. Mr. Gross: That account started with $125,000. set up by Mr. Dietz. (tape ended here.) Tape 2 Side A Mr. Gross: money that was used and drawn against from one month to the next. The account was Mayor Chftsty: That money can never be touched. That money has to be in the bank. It has to be there at all times until after all bonds are satisfied. Mr. Gross: Is that the Capital ImDrovement Account? Councilman Sikes: You are gettin9 ~ixed up with the Debt Service Reserve and Water and Sewer Replacement. We set up, at the 8 o o \ recommendation of the auditor, a Capital Improvement Account, two of them. One of them we did in re~airing the buildings. We had nothing set up in our budget to repair our buildinqs with. So we set that up in our budget, probably about three years ago. I think we used it all down to probably about a few dollars but it was only $25,000. So we have never' had $125,000 in any capital account. We did take some of our Federal Revenue monies as X excess monies and threw them into a water and sewer account that was to go to the construction of the water and sewer nlant of which we have $55,000 left of that in the water construction fund account. Mr. Gross: That is the account I am referring to. Councilman Sikes: But that was set aside specifically for the improvement of the water plant, this $55,000. Mr. Gross: What was it originally? Councilman Sikes: I don't remember that. Mr. Gross: It was quite a bit of money. That was money that was left over out of that $700,000. Mayor Christy: No sir. None of that, no sir. Councilman Sikes: We have a thousand and some odd dollars left out of the $700,000. Mr. Witzig, Queen Palm Drive, Is there a semi-annual or annual report put out by the City dealing with the finances as to what was expended, what comes in and what goes out? Mayor Christy: That is the Clerk's report. Mr. Witzig: Is it made public? Councilman Sikes: We get a monthly report on that. It has not been issued yet for November. We do get a Clerk's Cash Statement. Mayor Christy: It is posted on the bulletin boards. Mr. Witzig: Couldn't it be put in the newspapers. Mayor Christy: That would be quite expensive. All they have to do is come into City Hall and ask about the report. Mayor Christy called for a roll call on the motion by Councilman Asting to have the Mayor prepare true and accurate statements of the City's accounts. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. Councilman Rotundo said that the Council still had the question of the Layne Atlantic bills. Councilman Astinq said that the $72,000 will be used for partial payment of these'bills. These are the bills that were approved by the City Council on November 6, 1978. In addition, we owe another $91,000 which Mr. Wharton will brinq up for our approval or disapproval pending approval by Farmer's Home. According to the letter we got from Layne Atlantic today, we are $184,000 in arrears. We are subject to a 15% interest rate. Mayor Christy: I would still like to see that payment schedule that they did not send with their letter. Councilman Sikes: Mr. Asting, have the engineers presented us with an addition to the previous bills that were approved? Have they presented us with other invoices totaling $184,000? Councilman Asting: Yes, we checked that out this morning. 9 o o Mr. Wharton: We have bills from the contractor up to $100,000. Councilman Sikes: Do we have them in addition to the 92 olus the 12 or 13 additional Briley, Wild bills? Do we have $90~000 more or $80,000 more. Mr. Wharton: Absolutely, $91,609. They come to us from Briley, Wild. have done before, as Mrs. Blackwell be approved by you before she sends The engineers have approved them. Now, according to what you did, she brought these in to them to Mr. Gordon. Mayor Christy: The Council is to instruct me, whether they will or will not have them signed. It is up to the Council to make this decision. Councilman Sikes: They aren't brought to us until after the engineer's approve them. Mr. Wharton: I am requesting that the Council allow me to send these bills to Mr. Gordon. Mayor Christy: The Mayor has to be instructed to sign them first. Councilman Asting: I make a motion to have the Mayor sign these bills. Councilman Rotundo: I second the motion. Councilman Sikes: When did we get these bills in? Mr. Wharton: One report is for September and the other report is for October. Councilman Sikes: Whenever I go and I ask for all the bills, I haven't gotten them. Now those for September and October we have approval for payments in the $92,000. Let's just be careful that we do not duplicate payments on these bills. Councilman Asting: We've been very careful Mr. Sikes, we've gone over them and studied them for the two weeks. Councilman Sikes: I asked for them last week... Mr. Wharton: Mr. Sikes, the bills you approved on that last one from Mrs. Blackwell went to (voice over tape not clear). Councilman Sikes: I want to see some invoices. Mr. Wharton: But you say you've got Seotember. I say that you only got up to August. Councilman Sikes: There is approval for a period of 7/2/78 to 7/31/78 for $7200.81. Here's one from 7/31 to 8/28 for $10,000 a part payment. Here's one from August to 9/28 of $18.000. These were just brought to us a short time ago by the engineers. I haven't gotten any of those invoices. Councilman Asting: It was up to your Finance Director. Councilman Sikes: We don't have a Finance Director. Councilman Asting: You did, or supposedly you did. Councilman Sikes: They were all presented taus at that time and we approved them for payment when we were presented with them. Councilman Asting: No sir, you only approved, on November 6th, payments of $92,000. Councilman Sikes: Which was all that we had up to that point as submitted by the engineers. 10 \ o o Mr. Wharton: That was Nov. 11th that you got that. Now lIve been here since .. Councilman Sikes: Have we gotten any other bills from them? Mr. Wharton: This is Sent. and Oct. 11m presenting them to you now. I found them. Whether you got them or saw them or not they are right here. Councilman Sikes: I haven't seen them. Mr. Wharton: Who gives them to you? Do I have to bring them to you or something? Councilman Sikes: I should see them. If I'm the administrator I should know something about them. I've asked to get the copy of every bill and the Deputy City Clerk provided me with what she could find. Councilman Asting: Mr. Sikes if you would stop into the City Clerk's office and inquire about these bills, you know they are becoming due. Councilman Sikes: Well, I stop in and I expect to get copies of everything that comes in and I am not getting them. Mayor Christy: These were given to me and I said I would not touch them until after they were brought to the Council. The Council now has given a motion. Councilman Sikes: Just be careful they are not duplicate bills and that they have prior approval of Briley, Wild and then make sure that Farmerls Home approves them for payment. Mr. Wharton: Do you mean they are cheating and puttinq different numbers on the same bills. Councilman Asting: Mr. Wharton, let Mr. Sikes examine those bills. Mr. Wharton: These have different numbers. Councilman Sikes: I know how to read invoices. I haven't seen these invoices. Councilman Asting: Give them to him, Mr. Wharton and let him look at them. Mr. Wharton: Where did you get your copies? Councilman Sikes: I asked for copies of the bills that had been paid and that were due. Mr. Wharton: From who? Councilman Sikes: The Deputy City Clerk. Mr. Wharton: Does she have to have these? Councilman Sikes: I got the copies of the invoices and all from her that hadn't been paid. Mr. Wharton: Where did she get them from? Did she pick them up off of my desk? This should have been brought to me to handle. Councilman Sikes: I'm not questionin9 the statement of bills only that I haven't seen the bills when I asked for them. Mr. Wharton: Well I don't know who you asked. You didn't ask me. I don't think the Deputy Clerk in the computer room is handling any of this stuff. She has nothing to do with it. 11 o o Councilman Sikes: I asked Debbie as well as Mrs. Kinsey. Mr. Wharton: Well Debbie only handles the bills we put through to check un on and out them on the sheets. This is a seoarate thing from'what Debbie does. Debbie doesn1t even see these. Councilman Sikes: Who does see the invoices? Mr. Wharton: As far as I know, I get them and I am supposed to be trying to take care of them. The last couple of weeks we have been trying to find out where they were. We spent a whole day with Mr. Cross and Mr. Strang (Briley, Wild). Mayor Christy called for a roll call on the motion to have the Mayor sign the bills for the water plant that were presented by the City Clerk for approval. The amount to be approved was $96,661.69. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. The City Clerk read a letter from Mrs. Marie Nichols who submitted her resignation from the Planning Board. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion that the Council accept Mrs. Nichols resignation. Councilman Asting seconded the motion. Councilman Ledbetter and Councilman Asting both said that the only special interest group they belong to is the American Legion in answer to Mrs. Nichols statement that they feel indebted to a IISpecial Interest Group.1I Councilman Asting added that Marie Nichols when she was a member of the Board of Adjustments voted for a variance for the person she worked for and failed to fill out a conflict of interest form. It cost the City $750.00 in lawyer~s fees to defend her against an ethics charge. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. COORDINATORS REPORTS Councilman Rotundo said that Jan. 1, the CETA proqram will have to be cut by 25% and the Police Dept. will be hit" th~ hardest. We "may lose the dog catcher and the mechanic. Mayor Christy: We were not supposed to have gotten these positions under the CETA program. That is why they are taking those two off. Councilman Rotundo asked the Council for permission to hire the animal control officer for at least three days a week. It would cost the City 3644.00 per year. Total, with benefits would be $3907.46 per year. Mayor Christy suggested that they hire this person full time and the Chief could use her as a part time dispatcher. Councilman Rotundo made a motion that the animal control officer be hired full time by the City. Councilman Asting seconded the motion. Mayor Christy said that he wanted to clear up a misunderstanding that the dog catcher does NOT get paid $5.00 for each animal that is picked up. The officer gets paid a regular salary. People wanted these animals picked up and now they are complaining. There was a long discussion between the Council and the audience in reference to the subject of animals in Edgewater. Me m b e r s 0 f the a u die n c e i n c 1 u din 9 M r s. 0 pal, ~1 r s. I~ 0 0 d a r d, Mr. Wit z i q Mr. Walter Gross, Mrs. Rich and Mrs. Bowman spoke to the Council with questions about animals in Edgewater and various recommendations for handling the problem. 12 '-> o Upon roll call the motion to hire an animal control officer, who will also be used as a part time dispatcher, as a full time City employee CARRIED 5-0. Councilman Rotundo said that he would like the Council's permission to retire the car that Lt. McCall is driving it is a 1974 Plymouth. Chief Baugh said that they were going to have some repair work done and he would let them know if it could be fixed reasonably. Chief Baugh also added that he had spoken to Mr. Cole regarding the Truck Route running in back of his property. Mr. Cole is considering allowing the use of some of this land as a truck route. He will get in contact with the Chief. The City may have a problem in one area that belongs to Florida Power and Light. We have to check with them on the location of some of the poles that would interfere with the route. This would be an extension of Hibiscus back to 12th St. Councilman Ledbetter and the Chief will talk to Mr. Cole. Mr. Ledbetter will contact Florida Power and Light. Councilman Rotundo said that we had to set a date on the PBA negotiations. The Council agreed on 6:30 P.M. Dec. 19, 1978. They will meet in the Mayor's office. Mayor Christy said that we have to set a date to talk with the PBA. Tomorrow night will be just for the Council. Councilman Ledbetter had no report at this time. Councilman Sikes:said that he would like to ask the City Clerk a couple of questions. You acted under the authority of the City Council to write the letter to the attorney's office to ask them to check into the hiring of the private guard. I would like to know where you got the information you put in the letter. Mr. Wharton said that he had got it from the man who made the motion to write to the State Attorney's office. Councilman Sikes said that the letter contained information that was not correct. Councilman Asting said that they were informed that a meeting of the Council was called at Mr. Dietz's home the night of the incident. He asked Mr. Rotundo if he was notified of the incident at Mr. Dietz's house. Councilman Rotundo said that he went there. Councilman Asting asked Mr. Sikes and Mr. Christy if they were there. Councilman Sikes said that the City Clerk has perjured himself with the document. Councilman Asting said that he had not. Councilman Sikes said that there have been problems in City Hall with the employees. He has had calls from May, Zima and from the engineers and it is just a task that you can't expect a person to com e i n and do w hat i sex pee t e d 0 f him. He wanfed. ,to m a k e a mot ion that Mr. Wharton be relieved of his duties as City Clerk and that Connie Kinsey, Deputy City Clerk, be appointed temporary City Clerk. The motion died for lack of a second. Councilman Asting said that the ~1ayor must have gotten concurrence from the rest of the Council members in order to assume the powers over the police that he did. 13 o o Councilman Sikes asked Chief Bauoh if Mr. Asting's house was threatened or his life was threatened do you have to authority to put guards at his house? Chief Baugh answered yes. Councilman Asting said that we keep talking about the former City Clerk as being the Finance Director. What resolution appointed the former City Clerk as Finance Director for the City of Edgewater. Councilman Sikes said that her duties when he became a Councilman were Finance Director, City Manager and Personnel Director. Councilman Asting said that he had not been able to find any resolutions on this. He added that Mr. Vodenicker, May, Zima phoned Karen Rickelman to tell her that we have to transfer the money in the cash in the bank to a pass book account. Also the CD numbers 12841 and 12061 must be cashed when they mature and the money deposited in said pass book account. I think they are referring to the water and sewer sinking fund. Why was this message given to Karen Rickelman, a clerk at City Hall, and not given to Mr. Wharton who is acting City Clerk. Councilman Sikes said that he had talked to Mr. Wharton and told him that he was trying to get the bills together. He gave them copies of all the time certificates. He has been working to find out about what we owe and he has talked to May, Zima. I know exactly what to do and I even talked to you about it this morning. I asked Karen and I also asked Connie about the setting up of some of the funds. Mr. Wharton said that they were talking about transferring funds and this should go through the proper person to handle this not in a round about way that they are doing things in the office. You are trying to make trouble for me. Councilman Sikes said that he was not but that he is the supervisor. Mr. Wharton said that Mr. Sikes was not a supervisor he was only a coordinator. The code says that you are not. Councilman Sikes said that he was the coordinator for City administration. Mr. Wharton said that that did not make him the supervisor. Councilman Asting said that they were supposed to be advisors not supervisors. Mr. Wharton said that the bids for the rescue vehicle are due on Dec. 22. He asked when the Council would want to ODen these bids. The Council decided that the bids would be opened at the next regular meeting which would be January 8, 1979. Mayor Christy said that he had received information about a program for liability that would be similar to the workmen's compensation self-insurer's program that we have entered into. We have notified Caton that the Florida Municipality Insurance is now covering our workmen's compensation. We still have to do something about our liability insurance. We have to eliminate some of the equipment from this list and bring it up to date. Councilman Rotundo made a motion that we accept the liability insurance for another year with readjustments for equipment. Councilman Sikes seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 5-0. Mayor Christy said that the Community Action Agency of Volusia County have given us copies of information on assistance available 14 o o to those people who may be eligible for .food stamps or other help. Copies should be available at City Hall. The Mayor called a brief recess. Councilman Sikes was excused from the meetin9. He had another meeting to attend. RESOLUTIONS In the absence of the City Attorney, the Mayor read Resolution No. 78-R-26. A RESOLUTION APPOINTING JAMES MACKIE, SEBASTIAN SICILIANO, JAMES ENGLE, FRANK OPAL, M.F. WHEELER, JOHN D. GROSS, SR. AND CLAtR E. BOWSER TO THE EDGEWATER ZONING BOARD: REPEALING ALL RESOLUTIONS IN CONFLICT HEREWITH AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion that the Council adopt the resolution. Councilman Rotundo seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. ORDINANCES NONE OLD BUSINESS Mayor Christy said that it would cost approximately $600. to put a drop ceiling over~the stage in the Community Center. He has the employees to do the work. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion that the City instalr a drop ceiling over the stage in the Community Center. Councilman Rotundo seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. Date for PBA had already been set. Tuesday, 6:30 P.M. 12/19/78. Temporary Line - Juniper St. Councilman Asting said that the temporary line would cost $1752.00 and the revised estimate would be about $3500.00 for a oermanent line. It would not be as long as we had anticipated. He would like the Council to consider the more permanent line because a temporary line would end up being more costly because of maintenance and the possibility of having to change it again. It would be a waste of money to put in the temporary line. He made a motion that the Council approve the installation of the permanent line at the cost of $3500.00. Councilman Ledbetter seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 4-0. There was a discussion about payment of this installation. It is a correction we have to make to solve the problem. Mr. Gross asked if this would set a precedent for other people in the City who want free sewer. I I I I Mayor Christy said that we were trying to avoid a lawsuit and correct this situation. It would be cheaper than buying the house. MISCELLANEOUS There were no comments made at this time from th~ audience. NEW BUSINESS An application from E.A. Pilch for a home occupational license. This is a R-2B residential zone. Councilman Ledbetter said he was becoming concerned about all these home occupational licenses in residential zones. If you are ooeratinq a business in a residential zone that you might as well not have a separation of commercial and residential areas. He made a motion that the Council instruct the Zoning and Planning to come up with the criteria to separate commercial or business from residential 15 . '. o a areas and to review all licenses in the residential areas. We will table this application until we have an answer from these Boards. . Councilman Asting seconded the motion. Councilman Rotundo said that this man had been in business for years and he doesn't see where we should deny him a license. Mayor Christy said he is applying for a home occupational license. Councilman Ledbetter said that we could have home occupational licenses issued allover residential areas. Councilman Rotundo said that'the man wanted to use this as an office. Councilman Ledbetter said you might as well do away with the 880 for the simple reason that everything in town will be commercial. There were comments made from the audienceoconcerning individual complaints of business moving into residential areas. Mr. Cameron said that this is a model home that Mr. Pilch has built and it is a temporary place for an office until the house can be sold. Councilman Asting said that this would be in the category of a demonstration home. Mayor Christy said that we had problems with Belmont homes and we had trouble getting them out of the model home they used for over a year. Upon rollcall the motion CARRIED 3-1. Councilman Rotundo voted NO. The Council also had an application from Mr. Nuckel for a home occupational license for a plastering and dry wall business. This is a R-1B area. Councilman Ledbetter made a motion to table this until we hear from the Planning and Zoning Boards. Councilman Asting seconded the motion. Upon roll call the motion CARRIED 3-1. Councilman Rotundo voted NO. The Council discussed the hiring of another City Attorney. It was suggested that Council members make recommendations and it will be brought up at a later date. Councilman Rotundo made a motion to adjourn. Councilman Ledbetter seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned. Minutes Taken By: Linda Kirkendoll Nancy Blazi ATTEST: Q~~ ~~~' (:~},y C 1 e r k .~ m~@ /7__ ~ flu ' W 4-u Council~a / \ Approved this day of January, 1979.'~. ~ ' . Mayor ~ 16 \ \ ~- , ~ "f/A