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Home My WebLink About2017-05-15 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017 CALL TO ORDER: Vice Mayor Debra Placko called the Workshop of the City Commission to order at 9:40 a.m. on Monday, May 15, 2017 in Conference Room 105, City Hall, 7525 NW 88th Avenue, Tamarac, FL 33321. ROLL CALL: Vice Mayor Debra Placko, Commissioner Marlon Bolton, Commissioner Michelle J. Gomez and Commissioner Julie Fishman were in attendance. ABSENT: Mayor Harry Dressler Also in attendance were City Manager Michael C. Cernech, Assistant City Manager Diane Phillips, Assistant City Attorney Julie Klahr, City Clerk Patricia Teufel, Chief Building Official/Director Claudio Grande, Financial Services Director Mark Mason, Public Services Assistant Director John Doherty, Community Development Director Maxine Calloway, Fire Chief Mike Burton, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Moral and Fire Inspector Tommy Demopoulos,. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Vice Mayor Placko led the Pledge of Allegiance City Manager Cernech said part of the 2017 Strategic Plan is to do a better job of aligning the cost of services and the amount of money paid for the services we provide. —" Our tax base after property tax reform is solid but the services we provide exceed the amount of money we could collect. We decided to move to a cost recovery model where people pay for the services they use. If you get a building permit and inspections they should be stand-alone costs and not paid for by property taxes or out of the general fund. City Manager Cernech said there will always be a 10% millage cap and raising the millage rate to pay for services is not a good option. When we look at all the things we do like fire rescue services and building inspections we have tried to take those functions and tried to figure out how to make them pay for themselves. City Manager Cernech talked about the building permit process and said staff has tried to look at how we can create those functions to be stand-alone functions. We cannot be doing those functions and take money from other areas. City Manager Cernech said in advance of the budget process we want to present the findings of the fee study to the Commission to let you know why it is important that the services we provide pay for themselves. The City has to provide certain functions to the community, like police and fire protection, which have an impact on the community and we want people to know that these services are there for their benefit and if you need the services you are going to pay the bill. Our goal is to fine tune these funding sources so that they are paying for and covering those functions. Staff needs to present the recommendations to the Commission and have a conversation as this will have an impact on the amount of money we have to provide these services. We want to make sure we are charging appropriately for the services we provide and if you use the service you pay for it and if you don't use the service you don't pay for it. Page 1 of 3 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING May 15, 2017 Financial Services Director Mason appeared and gave a presentation, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's Office. Financial Services Director Mason talked about what a user fee activity is; the purpose and objectives of the fee study; the benefit of user fees; restrictions concerning user fee; the methodology used in developing the fees and —' the findings from the study. Assistant Fire Chief Moral gave a presentation on the Fire Rescue 2016 Fee Study, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's Office. Assistant Fire Chief Moral gave went over examples and comparatives and responded to questions from the Commission throughout the presentation. Community Development Director Calloway gave a presentation, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's Office, and went over the recommended changes to the fee schedule for the Community Development Department. City Manager Cernech said we are trying to get as close to 100% cost recovery as we can, however, there are some costs we cannot recover. We have to be competitive in some areas and in others not so much. We want the residents to pay as much of the cost as we can reasonably expect them to pay as we do not want to become unreasonable and we do not want to discourage development or redevelopment. Community Development Director Calloway continued with her presentation and responded to questions throughout her presentation. Financial Services Director Mason noted that Community Development fees are rarely at 100% cost recovery. Commissioner Bolton said he would like to see something built in for a small business grant to show that we are small business friendly. City Manager Cernech said one of the things we are in the process of looking at is taking a different approach to small business development. We are finding that small business owners rarely understand what it takes to open a small business. We are looking to help people start a business so that they are not wasting the capital they have. We want to try to educate people about navigating our system. Commissioner Bolton suggested putting together a workshop for small business owners in order to obtain a grant. Commissioner Gomez talked about discussions in Tallahassee relative to small businesses. City Manager Cernech said he met with the Ft. Lauderdale Alliance and they are looking at small businesses and working with cities to develop a program and they may have some resources available to us. City Manager Cernech talked about the difference of working with large businesses vs. small business perceptions. City Manager Cernech said staff will talk to the Commission more about this program in the future. Vice Mayor Placko recessed the meeting at 11:02 a.m. and reconvened the meeting at 11:12 a.m. with all present as before. Assistant Public Works Director Doherty appeared and gave a presentation, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's Office. Assistant Public Works Director Doherty responded to questions from the Commission. Chief Building Official/Director Grande appeared and gave a presentation, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's Office. Chief Building Official/Director Grande and Assistant City Attorney Klahr responded to questions from the Commission. There was Page 2 of 3 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING May 15, 2017 a discussion about legislation that could possibly affect our building fees. Vice Mayor Placko expressed her concerns that the fees for adding an addition to a home were cost �. prohibitive. Chief Building Official/Director Grande said the fees are slightly higher as this is all inclusive of all permitting and inspections; however, he has the ability to work with residents to alleviate some costs. Commissioner Fishman said she is uncomfortable with some of the fees but is okay to move on. Commissioner Gomez said she is comfortable with moving forward and Commissioner Bolton said it is probably necessary to revise the fees but felt some were over the top. City Manager Cernech this continues to be a balancing act to get the right fees for activities and it will continue to be more challenging. This will have impacts on the community as we have two fire stations as well as a police station to build in the future. Staff is trying to do this in a way that makes sense and not overburden people but be able to get things done. City Manager Cernech said we will have to talk about other options to get the things done that we need to get done. There being no further business to come before the City Commission for consideration, Vice Mayor Placko adjourned the meeting at 11:52 a.m. trilI �Ywtm,"w � `✓i - Patricia Teufel, CM �l �...... City Clerk a = : ESTABLISHED': 1963 � .a SEAL CO U Page 3 of 3 SPECIAL COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING May 15, 2017