HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-04-16 - City Commission Special Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC
SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP
COMMISSION UPDATE
MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Harry Dressler called the Workshop of the City Commission to
order at 12.49 p.m. on Monday, April 16, 2018 in the Mango Room at the Tamarac
Recreation Center, 7501 N. University Drive, Tamarac, FL 33321.
ROLL CALL: Mayor Harry Dressler, Vice Mayor Michelle J. Gomez, Commissioner Julie
Fishman and Commissioner Debra Placko were in attendance.
ABSENT: Commissioner Marlon Bolton
Also in attendance were City Manager Michael Cernech, Assistant City Attorney Julie Klahr,
Assistant City Manager Kathleen Gunn, City Clerk Patricia Teufel, Information Technology
Director Levent Sucuoglu, Public Services Director Jack Strain, Human Resources Director
Lerenzo Calhoun, Financial Services Director Mark Mason, Parks & Recreation Director Greg
Warner, Fire Chief Percy Sayles, Assistant Building Official Pat Richardson, Community
Development Director Maxine Calloway, BSO Chief Neal Glassman, Public Information &
Media Specialist Elise Boston and Management Analyst I Laura Karpaviciute.
City Manager Cernech said the last time we met we talked about many things and as we
have been doing since January, we have been using these meetings to introduce items to the
-- Commission. Today we have two items to talk about; the first about Economic Development
in Tamarac. Staff has been working diligently with a number of groups to raise Tamarac's
presence and to make economic redevelopment more viable. We have also been doing some
research and follow-up on some of the things that Commissioner Fishman shared with us and
we have learned a lot about how cities deal with early childhood education. City Manager
Cernech said staff wants to share what we have learned and how to involve people in the
Community in the discussion and get feedback. City Manager Cernech said the Community
component is vital to any success in Economic Development and improving educational
opportunities in Tamarac and we need community buy -in and support. We also need to get
stakeholders in the community to provide feedback and support.
City Manager Cernech said we talked about Colony West and we need to get a meeting
together as quickly as we can. We have scheduled a Special Meeting for April 17, 2018 at
5:30 p.m. in Conference Room 105. Commissioner Bolton said he is not available for that
time but is available at 4:00 p.m.; however, Community Development Director Calloway has
several items before the Public Art Committee tomorrow at that time. The Commission
agreed to move forward with the Special Commission Meeting at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.
City Manager Cernech said he has spoken to everyone informally but in preparation for the
2019 Strategic Planning exercise, we have scheduled the SGR group to do a Commission
Management Retreat in late May or June. We have scheduled, on April 30th, one on one
meetings with Mike Mowery so that he can spend time with you to get feedback in order to
make the retreat a success which will be about "Servant Leadership". City Manager Cernech
said the Commission has always supported good governance and this is an opportunity to
strengthen this as we move forward.
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City Manager Cernech said we will have an election in November and we will have a new
Mayor and at least one new Commissioner. We will have a different dynamic and we will
bring SGR back in January to facilitate our Strategic Planning. This is a good opportunity to
set our sight on the future and re-evaluate the Strategic Plan and the Vision, Mission and
Values of the organization to make sure that the Strategic Plan is meeting your needs and
the needs of the Community. SGR does this work nationally and is well respected. SGR is
quite engaging, and it will be an opportunity for us to evaluate how we work together and to
work together better.
City Manager Cernech said we also talked about Broward County wanting to install a new
Radio Tower behind City Hall and we have provided Broward County with additional
information. We received an email back from Broward County and they want to proceed with
their original plan. City Manager Cernech said he talked with Assistant County Administrator
Alphonso Jefferson about advising the Commission that this is an important piece of the
Broward County Regional System and a big thing to ask Tamarac. City Manager Cernech
said this will not be well received by people living by City Hall, but at the same time we have
an obligation to be a good partner with Broward County. City Manager Cernech said he does
not think it is unreasonable to put other providers on the tower. City Manager Cernech
suggested that this would be a good time for the Commission members to talk with Mr.
Jefferson as we are at an impasse with Broward County.
Mayor Dressler said he wants someone to show the Commission the courtesy of what this
tower will look like, show the visibility of the tower from different distances and the anticipated
impact on the value of surrounding homes. Mayor Dressler said the Commission is entitled
to this information. City Manager Cernech said we have some information that we will share
with the Commission shortly and the visual impact to the residents in Woodmont will not be a
lot. However, the visual impact to the communities west of City Hall will be significant.
Commissioner Fishman said Broward County is acting like a bully and are sticking Tamarac
with this tower. City Manager Cernech said Broward County is ready to come and talk with
the Commission, however, we refrained from that until staff had something reasonable. We
are only asking them to consolidate the three towers into one tower. They have agreed to
take down one tower, but they refuse to let two commercial carriers co -locate on the new
tower and give us the ability to add one more carrier. Mayor Dressler said he wants to see an
environmental impact this will have on Tamarac.
City Manager Cernech said we have been trying to revamp our Economic Re -development
plans and are doing things we need to do to position Tamarac in a good place for Economic
Re -development. Our focus is on re -development, business attraction and retention and
giving businesses the ability to expand. Tamarac has been designated as a Platinum City by
the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Alliance and we are the first city to receive this designation.
Management Analyst Karpaviciute is coordinating with Chief Building Official/Director
Grande, Assistant Building Official Richardson and Community Development Director
Calloway to make sure that when someone wants to come in to Tamarac, we provide
concierge services and be successful.
City Manager Cernech gave a presentation, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's
Office. City Manager Cernech talked about outreach that Tamarac has done and said we
have a lot of opportunities for light industrial operations and it is important the Alliance knows
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this. We need to make sure that vacancies will be marketed, and we will sell Tamarac to
anybody who will listen, we will also be flexible and work with developers to get done what
they need to get done. Assistant City Manager Gunn talked about retention and bringing
businesses together, business expansions and the attraction of new businesses. Community
Development Director Calloway spoke about economic development and strategic planning.
City Manager Cernech said we have a vacancy in the Economic Development Manager
position and we will continue to look for someone to fill the position. City Manager Cernech
talked about the Tamarac Village project and the Colony West and Marriott Hotel project.
Mayor Dressler recessed the meeting at 2:12 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 2:33 p.m.
with all present as before.
City Manager Cernech said after the last meeting staff followed up with Commissioner
Fishman's Whole Child Initiative and we will continue to look at what we can do to improve
the education provided to Tamarac students.
Parks & Recreation Director Warner said for the next item we did have someone from the
School Board scheduled to be here. Parks & Recreation Director Warner gave a presentation
on Tamarac Education and Schools Improvement Strategy, a copy of which is on file in the
City Clerk's Office. Parks & Recreation Director Warner said Tamarac has eight elementary
schools: 2 A schools, 1 B school and 5 C schools; four middle schools, 1 B school and 3 C
schools; 4 High Schools, 1 B school and 3 C schools. Parks & Recreation Director Warner
talked about the financial cost to have the City run a VPK school as well as the challenges.
City Manager Cernech thanked Parks & Recreation Director Warner and staff for putting
together this information. City Manager Cernech said he spoke with Commissioner Fishman
last week and when this was brought forward we took this seriously because this is an issue
for our community. Good schools and education are lacking, and we need to fix this. City
Manager Cernech thanked Commissioner Fishman for bring this forward because it brought
to our attention things staff needs to know, and thanked Commissioner Fishman for taking
the time to do all the research. A lot of what Parks & Recreation Director Warner has put
forward really does hinge upon getting stakeholders involved. If our children are suffering,
there should be a better solution. This is just as important as the Collegiate Academy and
Charter School. Commissioner Fishman said staff did a great job and added that we really
need to get stakeholders involved. Mayor Dressler said he was surprised to hear a lot of the
data today and talked about the lack of funds to do this kind a VPK program. Vice Mayor
Gomez said it was a great presentation and noted that we need to get people in the
community involved. Commissioner Placko said it is vital to get the word out.
Commissioner Fishman commented that resources we have in Tamarac, like the Library,
have not been tapped. Vice Mayor Gomez said she just spoke with a gentleman in District 1
who was very excited that his child would be going Challenger Elementary. City Manager
Cernech said we need to recruit stakeholders and it is important that Commissioner Fishman
gets involved with this directly. There are a solid group of people in Tamarac that have the
resources we need. Both Vice Mayor Gomez and Commissioner Placko said they want to be
involved.
City Manager Cernech said Information Technology Director Sucuoglu is working on some
information on the tower and showed the Commission slides of what the tower would look like
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behind City Hall. City Manager Cernech said we will work on getting better visuals on 300 ft.
towers.
There being no further business to come before the City Commission, Mayor Dressler
adjourned the meeting at 3:35 p.m.
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Patricia Teufel, C C
City Clerk
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