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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-01-22 - City Commission Special Meeting Minutes1 u City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1993 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Friday, January 22, 1993 at 10:00 a.m. in the Conference Room #1 of City Hall. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Irving Katz Councilman:- Joseph Schreiber John P. Kelly, City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Karen Jackson, Secretary 1. -- Any member of the public may speak to any issue which is on this meeting notice. Speakers will be limited to three minutes during this item. There will be a thirty (30) minute aggregate time limit for this item, and speakers are encouraged to sign up in advance with the City Clerk prior to their participation. Mayor Bender OPENED and CLOSED the Public Participation with no response. 2, regarding the Charter Board lawsuit. The agreement presented to City Council regarding the Charter Board lawsuit was not approved. Mr. Kraft said as of January 20, 1993, he received a copy of a letter and attachment from Michael Burke, special counsel for the City of Tamarac. He said Mr. Burke had received a proposed settlement agreement from Paul Novack, attorney for the Charter Board. Mayor Bender asked if Mr. Kraft had responded to this proposal and Mr. Kraft said this is pending Council's review and direction. C/M Schreiber said this is a proposal created by Mr. Novack which indicates that both sides should dismiss with prejudice and each one should pay their own fee; however, in a separate paragraph, Mr. Novack talks about the City agreeing to commit to reimbursing the Charter Board for reasonable attorney's fees in the amount of $2,000 and costs expended in the amount of $295.25. C/M Schreiber said the City has no business paying these fees. He said this is a lawsuit which was initiated by the Charter Board despite the recommendations of their attorney. He said this should be considered as a frivolous lawsuit and the City should not pay their attorney's fees or expenses with the residents' money. C/M Abramowitz said he is opposed to this litigation. He said there were two portions of this litigation, one in which the City was sued on behalf of the individuals and the other was on behalf of the City. He said there was previous language involved, whereby the City should debate the merits of the Charter Board. He said it makes no sense to continue this litigation. He asked if there is any indication as to the cost of the litigation to date. City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 2 Mr. Kraft said Mr. Burke sent him an interim bill which indicated through January 15, 1993, the special counsel fees would be $1,294.80. C/M Abramowitz said it is in the best interest of the City to settle this litigation, paying court costs. V/M Schumann said the litigation was instituted by the Charter Board and the attorney was retained by the Charter Board. He said the City does not owe their attorney any fees and the City has its own defense costs in the event that this is litigated. He said the City should not pay the Charter Board's attorney fees with taxpayers' funds. C/M Katz said there was an interoffice memo sent to the Charter Board members from City Manager Kelly dated November 17, 1992 advising them that the Charter Board has no authority to maintain lawsuits against the City or incur costs for legal services and that the City is not financially obligated for expenses incurred in contravention of the Charter. V/M Schumann said to settle this suit on their demands would take away from the residents. Mr. Kraft said he is looking for direction from Council to either discuss further with Mr. Novack the settlement of this lawsuit on the terms of this agreement or to continue the litigation. V/M Schumann said he is not in favor of this stipulation. C/M Schreiber said if they want to settle or withdraw with no cost to the City, then the City can settle. C/M Katz said there was an article in the Miami Herald stating that the Charter Board had voted to withdraw their suit. C/M Katz MOVED to NOT ACCEPT the proposed settlement agreement and that the City has no legal responsibility to pay Mr. Novack's bill or their costs, SECONDED by V/M Schumann. VOTE: C/M Abramowitz - NAY C/M Katz - AYE V/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE 3. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE &CTiON on MAS (Municipal Administrative Services) audit of Florida Power & Light. SYNOPSIS Off" ACTION: APPROVED directing the City Attorney to make additional provisions to the agreement with MAS, subject to Council approval at the next Council meeting. C/M Abramowitz said the City received some notification from Continental Cablevision disputing some facts from the report by MAS. He said Mr. Kelly was instructed to send a letter to MAS requesting them to comment on the remarks made by Continental Cablevision. He asked if the City has received a response back from MAS. Mr. Kelly said MAS stands by their report. He said MAS reported that Continental Cablevision owes the City $600,000 plus other monies. He said it was not expected that Continental would accept this without a dispute. 1 Mayor Bender said MAS had stated that the City is supposed to receive a certain percentage of the gross revenue. He said Continental Cablevision responded that there was a third party revenue and the City's franchise does not cover third party. He City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 3 said some attorney needs to review this to determine the validity of what the City claims versus Continental's claims. Mayor Bender said MAS stated that they feel they can do better on the Florida Power & Light audit than they could do with Continental Cablevision. He said this proposal was forwarded for review to the City Manager, the City Attorney and the Finance Director for recommendations. Mr. Kraft said this agreement includes revisions suggested by Staff. He said there has been input from Assistant City Manager Dina McDermott, City Manager Kelly, Finance Director Mary Blasi and everything sent to MAS has been incorporated, such as a work plan and an hourly rate schedule. Mr. Kraft said there are provisions whereby if there is a failure to collect or certain contingencies take place, MAS would be under an hourly rate, which is included on Page 5, Section 11, last paragraph. He said this means that if the City does not collect the money due to the City, the City does not delegate MAS the authority to collect the money that is due them and then the City would have to pay them on an hourly basis. C/M Abramowitz said if the City hired MAS before and MAS has handled certain items in which a difference of opinion had arisen, he would expect them to react to the letters sent to them regarding Continental Cablevision prior to giving them more business. Mr. Kelly said Continental Cablevision is contesting the report by MAS and MAS is rechecking their calculations and at this point, nothing else can be done. Discussion was held regarding MAS and the Continental Cablevision settlement. C/M Abramowitz requested that MAS be contacted to have them send written verification regarding the cable situation. Mr. Kelly said Ms. McDermott is bringing the letter received from MAS on January 6, 1993, which states that they are standing by their figures and they want to find out what Council wants to do at this time. C/M Abramowitz asked how the City stands at present with the cable survey. C/M Katz asked what will be the cost to the City if MAS assists the City with proceedings regarding the cable survey. Ms. McDermott said there are several options, but her first concern was to get Council direction as to how this should proceed. She said Continental Cablevision has requested a Council workshop to discuss their rebuttal. She said the City contracted with MAS to provide an audit of Continental and they did the audit. She said she sent MAS the rebuttal and they responded to her at no charge. She said if MAS were to come back to Florida to help the City in the negotiations with Continental Cablevision, they will charge the City for time and expenses. Mayor Bender said prior to Council making any decisions on this matter, all of the facts should be gathered and then it can be voted upon. Discussion was held regarding the amount of money being contested by Continental Cablevision. Mayor Bender said the City contracted with David M. Griffith and asked what David M. Griffith has to say about all of this. Ms. McDermott said David M. Griffith used the auditing firm of MAS to do the physical audit and when the rebuttal by Continental Cablevision was received, she contacted the Chief Auditor and Project Manager for them to review and provide the City with a response. City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 4 Mayor Bender said he is uncomfortable with David M. Griffith being bypassed through this procedure. Ms. McDermott said the City should be prepared prior to discussing this with Continental Cablevision. TAPE 2 C/M Abramowitz suggested that Mr. Kelly or his designee meet with Continental Cablevision and David M. Griffith to attempt to get some answers prior to Council continuing with this. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED C/M Katz referred back to the proposal by MAS to handle Florida Power & Light and the possibility of MAS charging the City an hourly rate for their work. Mr. Kraft read from the proposal, "The City may elect to pursue collection or may delegate collection authority to MAS or its assigns as agents of the City for no additional fees or costs." C/M Katz said this will cover the City on the item where it states that they are entitled to an hourly rate. C/M Abramowitz asked if this means that for a maximum expense of $2,500, MAS will conduct this survey and after the survey, if it is found that FP&L has not paid the amount of money that the City is due, the City can either sue FP&L or delegate that authority to MAS and there would be no further expense to the City. Mr. Kraft said that is the intent. He said he will write an additional provision which makes it clearer. He said the language will generally read, "The maximum expense to the City for the performance of the duties under this agreement... For the maximum expense of $2,500, MAS will conduct an audit and after the audit, pursuant to the work plan contained in this agreement, it is found that FP&L owes money to the City, FP&L will either delegate authority to MAS, in which case, no other further expense, other than the 33-1/3% will be paid to MAS, in the event of recovery." He said this is draft language that will be perfected prior to being submitted. C/M Abramowitz MOVED to APPROVE giving direction to the City Attorney to make provisions to this agreement regarding FP&L subject to Council approval at the next meeting, SECONDED by C/M Katz. VOTE: tA.I)An"# *. A 91W.V 4. DISCUSSION AND PACJJQX1 regarding a delegation request for Kings Point plats. +AXKQPSIS Or ACTION4 Agendized by Consent. Discussion was held. C/M Katz MOVED to AGENDIZE Item 4, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE Mr. Kraft suggested that no action be taken on this item until Lennar is present, but it may be discussed. Mr. Kelly asked if there is an urgency for this item at present. Kelly Carpenter, Director of Community Development, said there is a concern that Pine Island Road will be tipping into concurrency and tying up these plats. She said there is no reason of expedience to discuss this at present, therefore, Lennar may be present. City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 5 Mayor Bender requested that Council discuss this at present in order to receive whatever information is available without taking action. Ms. Carpenter said Stipulation 26 authorizes the City Manager on Page 9 to sign off on delegation requests that Lennar puts through to change the notes on the face of the plat. She said the reason for this was that Lennar did not want to take minor changes in the number of units on individual plats back to the Council, wait and then proceed to the County. C/M Katz said this was introduced so that they would not have to come before Council for plat changes which referred to senior dwellings which would change the impact fee that had to be paid to the schools. He said this was one of the prime reasons Council approved the latitude to make delegation requests. Ms. Carpenter said the settlement allows Mr. Kelly to do this, but it does not require him to sign off on delegation requests. She said this request was received from the attorney for Kings Point and it was discovered that they had increased the unit count by 169 units over what is in the Settlement Agreement. She said Staff is very uncomfortable having either the City Manager or the Council sign off on that delegation request because it is believed that the City would be vesting them for a number of units which exceeds the density of the Land Use Plan and exceeds the number of units that are in the Settlement Agreement. Ms. Carpenter said their attorney has provided language with which Staff is uncomfortable. She said Lennar is proposing language which states that the City's response to the County should be conditioned stating that nothing in this letter authorizes the applicant, which means Lennar, to exceed the total number of residential dwelling units permitted by the Stipulation and Settlement Agreement entered into Lennar Homes, Inc. v. City of Tamarac, Case No. 9113696-14. She said Lennar is saying that they will not exceed the 5,471 that is in the Stipulation Settlement Agreement. C/M Schreiber questioned whether Lennar is violating the contract of the residents in Kings Point. He said they are attempting to crowd into an area that is no bigger than the prior area and it makes it difficult for parking. He said they are exceeding above and beyond in Granville with the four-story buildings. He said there is no more room in Granville than there is in Fairfax and yet the parking is going to be a horror. Ms. Carpenter said her recommendation is for Council to formally consider this at the next Regular Council meeting. Mayor Bender asked for Ms. Carpenter's recommendation and Ms. Carpenter said her recommendation will be for denial of anything that would vest Lennar for more units than what is in the Settlement Agreement. Discussion was held regarding the number of units specified in the Settlement Agreement. C/M Abramowitz asked if the City can deny Lennar from building 5,471 units and Mr. Kraft said if it is in the Stipulation, then, no. C/M Abramowitz asked if they have the right under the Stipulation to build over what is specified and Ms. Carpenter said this is the switching around. Ms. Carpenter said once this happens, all Lennar would have to do is bring in site plans in accordance with the plats. C/M Abramowitz asked if they have the right to switch and Ms. Carpenter said under the Stipulation, they do, as long as the City City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 6 signs off on the delegation request, which is the reason for this discussion. C/M Abramowitz said when Lennar came before Council previously, they said emphatically that they would not build one more unit other than what the Stipulation says. He asked how does Lennar come to 5,640 if the Settlement Agreement states 5,471. Ms. Carpenter said Lennar needs to present their case to Council. She said it is her understanding that Lennar is trying to vest a maximum number of units on each site, but not build to the 5,640. She said Lennar is stating that they have not decided where all of the four-story buildings are going to go. C/M Abramowitz said the legal number of units Lennar is permitted to build is 5,471 and Ms. Carpenter agreed. C/M Abramowitz said they would have to come to the City for permission for any more units than the 5,471 and Ms. Carpenter said that is correct, unless the Council approves this delegation request. Discussion was held regarding the four-story buildings. Ms. Carpenter said with this delegation request, Lennar would vest for the 5,640 rather than the 5,471 and then they would have some basis to come back to the City requesting that the City amend the Stipulation Settlement Agreement because they would be vested. Mayor Bender said Lennar is preparing themselves for sometime in the future to have something to use. He said he is uncomfortable with this. Ms. Carpenter said if Council fails to comment on this, Lennar can take that comment to the County and state that the City failed to comment, therefore, it would be okay. She said Council needs to comment on this item. C/M Schreiber asked what the time element is and Ms. Carpenter said they cannot take it to the County until they hear from the City and they are in a hurry. C/M Katz suggested that a workshop meeting be held with Lennar for discussion regarding this. Mr. Kelly requested a Council workshop to discuss the prioritizing of the beautification projects throughout the City. Mr. Kelly said he will meet with the Council members individually regarding the Sea Coast negotiations following his meeting with that company. 5• regarding the appointment of three legislative aides to Mayor Bender for the purpose of cable franchise investigations. SYNOPSIS OF ACITON, Agendized by Consent. APPROVED the appointment of Leo Platz, Marc Sultanof, and Ben Sonkin as legislative aides to the Mayor. C/M Katz MOVED to AGENDIZE Item 5, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE Mayor Bender said there is a need to establish either a group of individuals identified as legislative aides or a committee to review the cable television franchise. He said he has chosen to select legislative aides in order to explore this prior to proceeding with the establishment of a board or committee. He said he has selected the following; Leo Platz, District 1, Marc City Council Special Meeting 1/22/93/KJ Page 7 Sultanof, District 3 and Ben Sonkin, District 4. He said these individuals have knowledge of the subject and have been involved with the franchise within the community. C/M Schreiber objected to one of these individuals, based on that person running for Council. C/M Abramowitz MOVED to APPROVE the Mayor's recommendations, SECONDED by C/M Katz. VOTE: C/M Abramowitz - AYE V/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - NAY, due to Mr. Sultanof running for Council and has no objection to the other two recommendations. C/M Katz - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE Mr. Kelly said Staff has extended the Request for Proposal for the golf driving range. He said the one holdup that the City had was that the City was unable to reach the golfing community. He said action is pending advertising time from a magazine which will assist the City. Discussion was held regarding the rumors about the golf driving facility. C/M Abramowitz said in the Interlocal Agreement with Broward County that 24 of the 28 cities signed, the stipulation is that it ends at a certain period of time, as long as there is no indebtedness due. He said this was a 79 million dollar bond issue to build the incinerators. He said the stipulation states specifically that at the end of that period of time, the Interlocal Agreement falls away and the cities will no longer have any responsibility. C/M Abramowitz said the basis for placing the loan was the income from resource recovery, solid waste, from the 24 cities who signed the Interlocal Agreement. He said Broward County has, under the guides for looking for a lower interest rate, refinanced and extended the term of the indebtedness beyond the original date. He said this means they can do this forever. C/M Abramowitz said the attorney to take action TAPE 3 C/M Abramowitz referred Broward League has instructed their immediately to protect the cities. to the Interlocal Agreement. With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:30 a.m. WH L. BEND R MAYOR CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK - CITY Ole TAM.ARAC APPROVED AT MEETING OF