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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-07-02 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting 7/2/92/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SP$CIAL MZZTING THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1992 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Thursday, July 2, 1992, at 4:00 p.m. in Conference Room #1 of Tamarac City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber Councilman Irving Katz ABSENT AND EXCUSED: Councilman Norman Abramowitz ALSO PRESENT• Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Patricia Marcurio, Acting City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary 1. PUBLIC PA=j!Qi,P'l= - 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 CLOSBD the Public Participation with NO RSSPONSB. 2. MOTION TO ADQ]tT2gMR- ROSp- 96327 authorizing the appropriate City officials to execute an agreement with David M. Griffith and Associates, Ltd., for an audit of Continental Cable franchise. SYNOPSIS or ACTION; RESOLUTION R-92-123-PASSSD APPROVED. The audit will be from January, 1973 through December, 1991 and will begin on July 20, 1992 for an amount not to exceed $16,610.00. Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reno. #6327 by title. C/M Katz MOVSD to APPROV! Temp. Reno. #6327, SECONDRD by C/M Schreiber. C/M Schreiber asked which account the money was coming from and if the money was from refunded fees. Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager, stated that Account #001-115-513-340, Other Contractual Services has been identified for the purpose of services by the Finance Department. Ms. McDermott announced that on June 24, 1992, the City Council authorized the City Manager and the City Attorney to negotiate a contract to audit a cable provider and bring it back to Council. Ms. McDermott stated negotiations were conducted with David M. Griffith and Associates, Ltd. She said David M. Griffith and City Council Special Meeting 7/2/92/KJ Page 2 Associates had given the City a proposal in writing with several other vendors. She said David M. Griffith and Associates had the best price and the most reasonable proposal. Ms. McDermott said negotiations were conducted and an agreement had been presented for review and approval by Council. She said the contract is not to exceed $16,610.00 to audit the Continental Cablevision books in their entirety. Ms. McDermott said that there is a letter included in the backup which outlines all the specifics to be performed with Continental Cable including a copy of the agreement from David M. Griffith and a letter notifying Continental Cable that the audit will be conducted beginning July 20, 1992. Mayor Bender said that the dates covered for the audit should read January, 1973 through December, 1991 and the backup showing January, 1988 should be corrected, which stated the time when American Cable first acquired the Franchise Agreement. Mayor Bender said if a mistake occurred at any time back to 1973, then the current company is liable for it. Mayor Bender requested a review of all records back to 1973. C/M Katz asked if there was a Statute of Limitations and Mayor Bender said, no. Mayor Bender said the City could audit anything it wants. C/M Katz asked if the City can receive recovery. Mayor Bender said there is no Statute of Limitations on contracts. He said that Continental Cable by merging with American Cable assumed all the liabilities and assets. C/M Katz asked if money is due to the City, if there is a Statute of Limitations for the recovery of such money, and C/M Schreiber responded unless the City Council fails to make a demand for it within a specific period of time. Mr. Kraft stated that Statute of Limitations would be from the time the debt is found up to four years. Mayor Bender said he performed an investigation that prompted Continental Cable Company to take another look at the revenues they were getting on advertising. He said the cable company assured him that advertising was included as part of the gross revenue and the cable company inadvertently forgot to pay the City for a number of years, for which they then later proceeded to send a check. He said this will be an audit for conformance to make sure that the cable company has complied with all the franchise requirements to ensure that the City is getting its fair share. Mayor Bender stated he was disappointed since he could not get information from the Broward Property Appraiser's office. He said the Broward Property Appraiser's office would have to get the information from a year end Corporate Financial Statement which is confidential and cannot be released. Mayor Bender requested that the State Attorney look into it to see if it is necessary to subpoena the records so that Council can find out what the City is entitled to see. C/M Schreiber asked why MAS is involved in the agreement between David M. Griffith and the City and what the function is of MAS. 11 j City Council Special Meeting 7/2/92/KJ Page 3 Mayor Bender said that the contract is with David M. Griffith and Associates and that they are using MAS to assist technologically. He said there is no contract whatsoever with MAS. Ms. McDermott said a letter sent to Ms. Filipiak of Continental Cablevision explains that the cable company may be contacted by more than one person regarding the audit and that the City is legally responsible to notify them as to who will be contacting them and when. Mr. Kraft said the cable company will be put on notice of who may be contacting them. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYR Ms. McDermott verbally reported from Assistant City Manager Mike Couzzo regarding the status of the canals budget. She said if the City has a very rainy month in July, it may be necessary to lower the canals. She said there is only $5,000.00 left in the propane account due to the past months' rain. She said the City Manager may need to declare an emergency if there is a need for more propane gas to run the generators. Mayor Bender said there are Contingency funds available if there is such an emergency. With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURN$D this meeting at 4:15 p.m. H . BEND R :- MAYOR AROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK CITY OF TA M ARAC APPROVED AT MEETING UP _5- LP -9 a-;.