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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-11-18 - City Commission Special Workshop Meeting MinutesCOMMISSION RETREAT/SPECIAL WORKSHOP TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008 COLONY WEST COUNTRY CLUB TAMARAC, FL 33321 Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco opened the special workshop meeting at 9:10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at the Colony West Country Club, Tamarac, FL. PRESENT: Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco, Commissioner Pamela Bushnell, Commissioner Patricia Atkins -Grad, Commissioner Diane Glasser, and Commissioner Harry Dressler. ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Jeffrey L. Miller, City Attorney Samuel S. Goren, Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Michael C. Cernech, Assistant City Manager Diane Phillips, Fire Chief Jim Budzinski, BSO Chief Marc Duguay, Building Director Claudio Grande, Director of Utilities Ray Gagnon, Community Development Director Jennifer Bramley, Director of Parks and Recreation Greg Warner, Human Resources Director Maria Swanson, I.T. Director Levent Sucuoglu, Public Works Director Jack Strain, Public and Economic Affairs Officer Andy Berns, Assistant City Attorney Julie Klahr, Assistant Public Works Director/City Engineer John Doherty, Assistant Director of Utilities Jim Moore, and City Clerk Marion Swenson. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco led the pledge of allegiance. City Manager Miller welcomed everyone to the retreat/special workshop meeting and spoke about governance. City Attorney Goren spoke about elected officials, public meetings, fiduciary responsibility, and the City Attorney Office's role in our government. City Attorney Goren gave a presentation on the Sunshine law, Pubic Records law, and Ethics law and discussed e-mail and phone usage as it relates to public records and sunshine. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco questioned the acceptance of invitations when one pays out of the expense account allotted by the City or paying out of pocket, and City Attorney Goren suggested this discussion might be better served in another workshop setting. Commissioner Glasser questioned gifts or invitations to holiday parties from vendors where there is no cost for a ticket, and also questioned whether reporting is necessary if one is invited to an affair from a vendor who does not do business with the City. City Attorney Goren explained the gift statute. Commissioner Glasser also questioned whether there is an issue if one wears another hat and is invited to an organization's affair but there is no relationship to the City. City Attorney Goren said there could be a cross mix of information and advised any of the Commission to check with his office before accepting such an invitation. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco questioned blogs and City Attorney Goren said since we do not know who the Commission Special Workshop November 18, 2008 Page 1 of 5 blogger is, it perpetuates information that can not be defended. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco spoke of blast a -mails being used as a way to stay in touch with the residents and get information out and asked if the Mayor and City Commission are opening themselves up to unintended consequences. City Attorney Goren said one likely consequence would be if they received 500 responses. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco called for a recess at 10:20 a.m. and resumed the meeting at 10:35 a.m. with all present as before. City Manager Miller spoke about the Sterling Process, in particular what is high performance, and why it is important, as well as the seven major criteria in the Sterling process. City Manager Miller reviewed Tamarac's history over the past years in the Sterling process. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco asked where and when the Mayor and City Commission will get more involved in the final push and City Manager Miller responded there will be a retreat in the near future to review the Sterling process and Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is an area in which the Mayor and City Commission can assist staff the most. Assistant City Manager Phillips said the Mayor and City Commission are already involved; we are now at the point where we have internalized things under the guise of Sterling, so we no longer say we are doing business the Sterling way, but rather it has become the norm. One example of a new way to do business that came out of Sterling is the Neighborhood meetings, in which the Mayor and City Commission are already involved. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco said it would be helpful to be able to tell the constituents that we are doing something as a result of the Sterling process. Commissioner Bushnell questioned the benefit to the City if we receive the Sterling Award, and City Manager Miller said it is a side benefit to creating a high performance organization. When we receive the award it will show that Tamarac is not your average government. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cernech added that part of the process going forward and achieving the Sterling award involves the Mayor and City Commission, in terms of community outreach meetings and surveys. In terms of the Sterling award the value comes not in what things cost but how you spend your money in determining what your constituents want and the value of the service to them in terms of what they are willing to pay for these services. We have a system in place; we have surveyed the residents in order to learn their satisfaction level of the services and ask them what future direction they would like us to go in terms of the services provided. That information is deciphered and included in the Strategic Plan and ties the budget into the Strategic Plan goals. We all struggle with how to make the citizens understand the process and see the value in it. City Manager Miller said the last survey revealed four to five areas the citizens said they wanted, such as more walkways and pedestrian ways. As elected officials, you can say we surveyed the residents two years ago and the residents said they wanted more walkways and pedestrian ways. Since that time the City has gotten a number of grant applications going and we received $750,000 through FDOT, and we will be Commission Special Workshop November 18, 2008 Page 2 of 5 constructing these amenities. It took Coral Springs 14 years to achieve the Malcolm Baldridge Award and seven years to win their first Sterling Award. Residents usually do not care about the awards, but they do care about the quality of services they get from the City, and Tamarac residents are satisfied. Commissioner Bushnell spoke of limited survey responses from District 1 and City Manager Miller said he would review the survey results with Commissioner Bushnell. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco said this subject needs to be discussed more at a future date. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cernech said the City will be happy to go to District-1 and talk to the residents about; there is a great value in Sterling. Assistant City Manager Phillips gave a presentation on the Strategic Planning process, in particular what is Strategic Planning, Tamarac's history of Strategic Planning, and the future of Strategic Planning in Tamarac. Commissioner Atkins - Grad suggested placing notices or signs throughout the City regarding the City's goals. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cemech gave a presentation on the budget and the five-year financial forecast. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cernech spoke of property taxes no longer paying the bills in local government and said if we want to increase our property tax base we must pursue development and redevelopment. Commissioner Dressler discussed an article in Sunday's Sun Sentinel regarding increased costs for Fire/Rescue transports and said the article was misrepresented because the taxpayers are not paying for tax cuts but rather for services. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cemech continued with his presentation and discussed self supporting funds, the fire department, replacement funds and the CIP reserve. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cernech added the City of Tamarac is well seated for FY09 and FY10. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco called for a recess at 12:30 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 1:10 p.m. Val Gelnovatch, The Ferguson Group, gave a legislative update and spoke of upcoming legislative sessions and funding. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco questioned the fact that Congressman Wexler might be tapped for the Obama administration and how that might affect Tamarac. Ms. Gelnovatch responded there is a learning curve with any new transitional member and their staff, which happens a lot. Should Congressman Wexler be chosen, The Ferguson Group would immediately meet with the new person and establish a relationship with the staff members. Commissioner Dressler asked if the stimulus regarding infrastructure would include environmentally friendly transportation, such as mass transit, and Ms. Gelnovatch discussed MAP21 which will focus on mass Commission Special Workshop November 18, 2008 Page 3 of 5 transit. City Manager Miller questioned the availability of funding for parking garages and Ms. Gelnovatch said it has been difficult finding funding for parking garages in the past. The meeting was recessed at 1:33 p.m. and reconvened at 1:45 p.m. with all present as before. Director of Utilities Gagnon spoke of capital projects as they pertain to Utilities. Assistant Director of Utilities Moore gave a presentation on the R&R Fund and the five-year CIP. Commissioner Atkins -Grad said she toured other water plants and reuse plants and Tamarac is doing a fine job. Public Works Director Strain gave a presentation on active and proposed projects. Public and Economic Affairs Officer Berns welcomed the new commissioners and gave a presentation on Economic Development. Public and Economic Affairs Officer Berns discussed past and current successes, and spoke of the mixed use district (NW 57th Street Corridor). Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco questioned the status of the Economic Development Foundation and Public and Economic Affairs Officer Berns said he has been in touch with the group on a regular basis and he expects as we start to move forward with the 57th Street Corridor they will be heavily involved. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco asked what is being actively done to recruit businesses to the shopping centers around town and Public and Economic Affairs Officer Berns said the City is in touch with most landlords. Some are receptive to the City's help; sometimes we reach out to tenants or potential tenants. Commissioner Bushnell asked if the City is advised when businesses or shopping centers go under and Public and Economic Affairs Officer Berns said we are generally not advised. Community Development Director Bramley explained when we renew business licenses some businesses ask for refunds because the business closed before the end of the fiscal year; we have done exit interviews. Community Development Director Bramley gave a Housing and Community Development Update and discussed foreclosures and code compliance. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco asked if there is a way to get the actual code compliance process information to the public; perhaps in the Tam -A -Gram or on the website. There was discussion regarding the length of time it takes to go through the process and Assistant City Attorney Klahr explained Chapter 162, F.S. mandates due process before placing a lien on somebody's property. Mayor Flansbaum- Talabisco said she would like that information included when it is explained to the public and City Manager Miller said staff would look into designing something with the City Attorney's assistance. Commissioner Bushnell suggested sending the information to the homeowner associations and explained how District One tries to preempt citations by Code Enforcement by sending letters on behalf of the homeowners association. Commissioner Glasser spoke of the possibility of Commission Special Workshop November 18, 2008 Page 4 of 5 1 Tamarac putting a program in place to help those who are going into foreclosure. Community Development Director Bramley said there will be a foreclosure hotline on our website. Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco suggested also getting the information to the homeowner presidents and asking them to be conduits for information from the City. There was discussion about the area wide DRI and Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco said this needs to be discussed in a separate forum. Deputy City Manager/Interim Director of Financial Services Cernech gave a history of the 57th Street Corridor and spoke of the current economy vs. the previous economy. Commissioner Dressler agreed a full presentation of the area wide DRI needs to be made before the Mayor and City Commission. City Manager Miller explained the area wide DRI sets the framework for the developers to come in and it also gives them some flexibility. It is also a marketing tool for big developers to come in and look at us. Right now funding is very tight, and when things are tight we need to do a lot more planning. City Manager Miller said he appreciates the attention the Mayor and City Commission gave to the presentations and their involvement in the community. There being no further business to come before the Mayor and City Commission, Mayor Flansbaum-Talabisco adjourned the special workshop/retreat at 4:00 p.m. i Marion S enson, CIVIC City Clerk Commission Special Workshop November 18, 2008 Page 5 of 5