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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. Page 1 of 4 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING April 16, 2018 COMMISSION UPDATE 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 Page 2 of 4 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING April 16, 2018 COMMISSION UPDATE 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 Page 3 of 4 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING April 16, 2018 COMMISSION UPDATE 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. r ` Patricia Teufel, C C City Clerk \\ �• A Rq �0 • c 9ro : ® - ®11,q AD .0 0\3, . Page 4 of 4 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING April 16, 2018 COMMISSION UPDATE