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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-11-24 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1993 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Wednesday, November 24, 1993 at 1:00 p.m. in Conference Room #1 of City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida, PRESENT: Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Irving Katz Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber ALSO PRESENT: Dina M. McDermott, Interim City Manager Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Thelma Fagelbaum, Acting Finance Director Irene Zander, Secretary ********************************************************************** 1. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: - 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. There was no public participation. 2. MOTION TO APPROVE a from General Fund Berkowitz Litigation 1993/94. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED budget transfer in the amount of $100,000 Contingency Account 001-872-588-975 to Fund Account 001-872 514-33E for Fiscal Year Interim City Manager McDermott, explained that this transfer will pay for legal fees associated with the Berkowitz litigation matter and that additional supporting material refers to different expenditures - to date that need to be reviewed. C/M Schreiber suggested that perhaps another method of outside counseling should be considered to avoid a possible half million dollars in further expenditures which could easily be incurred without outside litigation. Attorney Kraft explained that $100,000 was expended in 1992/93, that there is another outstanding bill of $50,000, the case was originally set for trial in October and many of these expenses were agendized in anticipation of the case going forward to trial. Attorney Kraft said that many of the expenses resulted because of the experts, i.e., planners, lawyers, traffic engineers, appraisers and others that had to prepare for trial. Therefore, there were pre-trial matters and extension depositions. He said as this case currently stands, the Judge has granted the City motion to summary judgment, but it has not yet been reduced to a final order, nor has the Judge ruled on a pending motion to dismiss the latest complaints. Attorney Kraft said many of these expenses were agendized in anticipation of this case going to a full jury trial and the City's exposure was quite extensive in this case. C/M Schreiber said that although not opposed to transferring the money for the bills, he wants the Council to consider other ways to handle cases like this one in the future in order to avoid being snowed under City Council 11/24/93/IZ Page 2 Special Meeting with outside attorney. litigation expenses, such as hiring an additional Further discussion was held concerning investigating alternative methods, perhaps reassessing the entire legal process. Mayor Bender said that right now the funds must be provided for payment on all legal fees being incurred. C/M Schreiber said that in-house handling may prevent excessive expenses to a point. Mayor Bender said most expenses are incurred because of the meetings with outside attorneys and experts, so even if handled in-house, by the time the City finishes reviewing with the person who will actually be litigating this, the costs, which are based on $100-$150 per hour will use up any possible savings. C/M Schreiber disagreed because the statement indicates services for Saturday and Sundays and is above and beyond what it should be. * C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE Item 2, SECONDED by C/M Schumann. VOTED: ALL VOTED AYE 3.a. MOTION TO APPROVE a budget transfer from Data Processing Services 001-872-519-59A of $87,000 and from Fleet Maintenance Services 001-872-519-59E of $49,300 to Contingency Account 001 872-588-975 totaling $136,300 to transfer surplus 1992/93 funds to 1993/94 General Fund Contingency Account. b. MOTION TO APPROVE a budget transfer from Data Processing Services 425-371-536-59A of $63,000 and from Fleet Maintenance Services 425-371-536-59E of $35,000 to Contingency Account 425 371-588-975 totaling $98,700 to transfer surplus 1992/93 funds to 1993/94 Utilities Fund Contingency Account. c. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION regarding other budgetary transfers. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED 3.a. and 3.b. 3.c. APPROVED to move $125,000 from FP&L Escrow account and place into General Fund. a. Ms. Fagelbaum, Acting Finance Director, explained the surplus of equity improved cash, with the revenues exceeding the expenditures with cash available. She said surplus comes from explained surplus funds. A discussion was held regarding these funds and the surplus. Ms. Fagelbaum proposed reducing the contributions from this year's budget so that the surplus can be used as resources available in the beginning of the fiscal year. V/M Katz questioned the City taking the time and trouble for workshops and fact finding for four months to determine this. Ms. Fagelbaum explained that instead of having contributions from General Fund and Utilities West matching the expenditures, resources available at the beginning of the fiscal year will be used. Discussion was held regarding the mechanics of these transfers and Ms. Fagelbaum explained that by reducing the contributions for this year and using the balance of revenue surplus from last year, revenues and expenditures will match this year. She said anything budgeted for fiscal year 1993/94 will have revenue matched to the expenditures and anything that was not budgeted will not be there. C/M Schumann asked what would happens if a problem occurs with Fleet Maintenance or MIS and they are in need of revenue for a problem. u J City Council Special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 3 Ms. Fagelbaum stated that 10W of the budget would be left in the MIS and Fleet Maintenance funds. C/M Schreiber said he is concerned that the money that was dedicated in the budget for a specific need or use where the revenue is going to be applied goes to that specific fund and not the general fund. C/M Abramowitz said he is concerned about trial balance monies staying full enough to handle an unexpected problem. Ms. McDermott explained these monies are available for a major catastrophe and it is council's choice to decide whether to transfer these funds. She said there was a consensus of three Council members who said they would like to proceed with the items at hand, so this information was provided for Council to act as necessary. C/M Abramowitz disagreed with removing these funds from a line item and placing it into a general fund contingency account to spend in any direction because if a problem arises, taking this money out will prevent the department from functioning properly. * C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE 3.a., seconded by C/M Schumann. VOTE: C/M Schreiber --AYE ,C/M Abramowitz - NAY C/M Schumann - AYE V/M Katz - NAY Mayor Bender - AYE b. C/M Schumann discussed his concerns regarding the necessity of transferring funds into a large pot. * C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE Item 3.b., SECONDED by C/M Schumann. VOTE: C/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE C/M Abramowitz - NAY V/M Katz - NAY Mayor Bender - AYE c. Ms. Fagelbaum explained that the City can use $125,000, which is not presently in the budget and there is no revenue account set up for --- it. She said it is necessary to amend the budget but the Florida Dept. of Revenue informed us that we do not have to do anything as long as we are not changing the millage rate. Ms. Fagelbaum said Broward County Revenue and our certified public accounting firm also said all we need to do to is comply with the Charter by getting Council's approval to amend the budget. She said the money is there if Council wishes to add it to the budget to have it available for expenditures. C/M Schumann said he read City Attorney Kraft's contract and explanation, and according to the contract signed, if they did comply with permits and site plans, eventually the City would not be able to use the money. He explained that if the money does not happen, the money goes back to FP&L. Attorney Kraft explained the contingency paragraph that allows the City to have access to those accounts based on the site plan for the Utilities as approved in January, 1991. Ms. McDermott explained that no one can spend contingency fund money unless it goes to the City Council. Ms. McDermott advised that Staff is currently working with FP&L and a status report should be received by the end of next week. V/M Katz asked when they would pull the permits. He said the permit City Council Special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 4 for removing one building has not been pulled yet and is not expected to be pulled until sometime at the end of this year which means the last $125,000 cannot be touched until they pull the last permit. V/M Katz recommended the money be placed into the General Fund, and if the money is needed for the Contingency Account, the money should be transferred from Escrow/Reserve to the General Fund. Attorney Kraft led a discussion regarding the contract limitations. In further discussions, it was understood by all that this proposal authorizes the City Manager and City Attorney to give five days notice to FP&L to transfer $125,000 in funds from the Escrow Reserve Account of FP&L to the General Fund Account. Ms. McDermott stated that several members of the City Council asked about the possibility of taking the unappropriated fund balance from the 1992/93 Fiscal Year budget as resources available to transfer to the 1993/94 budget. She further stated that without all of the revenue in, it is not known if all revenue will meet the expectations and anticipations of the budget because this information will not be available until the end of the year. Ms. Fagelbaum stated that we need to keep a little extra money in the General Fund Account in anticipation of the revenues for 1993/94 not being sufficient because the City estimates the anticipated revenue, but has no way of predicting the estimate will be accurate. She said a little surplus at the beginning of the fiscal year will prevent raising taxes or affect to what degree taxes are raised. Ms. McDermott stated that under proper accounting standards, the City anticipates, plans and forecasts for the budget, all of which are key strategies in budgeting. She said the City has an unappropriated fund balance that can be carried over. She said if there is a year end available balance, that is used to budget for the following year and taxes are lower. Ms. McDermott further stated that the City has been very successful in forecasting the budget, because a great deal is based on the previous Finance Director's ability to forecast revenues, however, our economy is constantly changing and we do not know specifically if we are going to receive every revenue dollar that we planned on. C/M Abramowitz expressed his concern for the City's reasons to move money from this account because it does not save the citizens any money but it could be spent where it was not intended to be spent. Ms. Fagelbaum said that none of this money can be spent without Council approval. C/M Abramowitz stated that if the money is identified and cannot be spent without approval, then what difference does it make where the money is kept. C/M Schreiber said that he would like the City to hire an auditor or an accounting firm that has no connections in Broward County to receive an honest reporting of where the money is. He said the various Directors that have left the City were involved in handling funds. Ms. McDermott stated that since it is the last year of the contract with Grant Thorton, the City in the very near future, plans to conduct very extensive procedures for requesting proposals. In further discussions, it was identified that the City has $390,000 that will roll over for use in the 1993/94 budget. 4. MOTION TO APPROVE the expansion of in-house waterways treatment program. City Council special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 5 SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED Scenario IIB for in-house waterways treatment consisting of: Additional Chemicals at a cost of $50,000.00 and one additional licensed sprayer at a cost of $25,000.00 totalling $75,000.00. APPROVED a budgetary transfer of $72,048.00 from Drainage Improvement Contingency Fund #410-872-588-975 to Chemicals Account #410-417-539- 527 and Regular Salaries Account #410-417-539-120 to provide funding for the in-house waterways treatment program. Meeting was recessed at 2:20 p.m. and reconvened at 2:25 p.m. with all members present. Ms. McDermott said information relative to the options discussed several weeks ago by the Council with regard to the treatment of waterways within the City included: The first option was bringing Broward County in for intervention and assistance in helping treat Tamarac's waterways. Ms. McDermott said the second option was specifically to go out for bids to see what outside contractor costs would be for this treatment. She said the third option was to have the Staff prepare a report listing the expenses for expanding in-house City services for treatment. She continued to explain that the comprehensive analysis distributed to Council in the meeting, listing the suggestions and their costs. Ms. McDermott said the map the Council received several weeks ago identifies the areas which have the high growth and problem areas that should take first priority. Broward County presented the surveys and has since accomplished the work. She said the letter from Broward County relative to their services indicated they could not assist the City in the spraying and intervention at this time. Ms. McDermott introduced Alan Levine, Public Works Operations Manager, and asked him to provide further details relative to the bid procedure, the in-house procedure and his report on the expanding in- house City staff. Mr. Levine explained the six areas of main concern; the area that Broward County sprayed for the City, the area dying out and the areas - that have been covered and are rescheduled to be covered again in the first, second and third weeks of December. Mr. Levine said that all of these areas are main priority areas that were listed for Council about one month ago and all have been done and will be treated again probably within the next two or three weeks. Mr. Levine further stated that when the Mayor and Council asked them to review the aquatics program, it was recommended to go out to bid, which the City did. He said the City received two bids, one for $91,200, and a second bid for over $500,000. He said after reviewing these bids with Engineering, they did not feel it was feasible to consider any of them. Mr. Levine said after reviewing the bid for $91,200 which includes assisted supplementation to the City's spraying program, his Department decided to conduct an intense review and analysis of the current aquatics program. Mr. Levine stated that his recommendation, based on discussions with others, is in lieu of his opinion concerning the use of a contractor. He said he feels confident that the City staff and one additional licensed sprayer, as requested, will resolve the matter within a six month period and that beginning in April, the City can have a follow up maintenance program, however, now is the time of the year to complete this work. Ll City Council Special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 6 C/M Schumann asked if this was seasonal work or would the City be maintaining the canal all year round. Mr. Levine stated that this is a continual, year-round project and from November to April, the growth becomes dormant making it the best time to accomplish this work. C/M Schumann asked if there was sufficient personnel to complete this work because the aquatics presentation report indicates that the problem can be completed in several months since they have ten people to work on the project as opposed to the City's staff of about six people including the additional sprayer. C/M Schumann said he does not feel the City should make the mistake of neglecting the canals as they did the past several years which probably contributed to the canals present condition. C/M Schumann said that the City, based on the premise of the situation, had a $2 storm water management fund created and now the City is asking citizens to pay $2 to have the canals cleaned up. He said the City's cost estimate of $75,000 is minimum when the fund is supposed to raise over $825,000 in one year. C/M Schumann said if the City can anticipate getting the revenue necessary, we should not worry about expenditures but should make certain the City does the job right and eliminates the public's concerns. He asked Mr. Levine if he believes this proposal will do the job. V/M Katz explained that the $2 fee also covers drainage and the canals were previously treated with chemicals not as effective as the new chemicals. He said the restrictions limited treatment to one half of the area, so the City was unable to legally complete the entire job when they used those chemicals. He said between the use of the new chemical and the six people as well as the new boat and trailer, the City is confident the situation will be handled very well. V/M Katz stated that Mr. Levine should not be embarrassed to approach the City for extra assistance before a trouble situation occurs. C/M Schumann stated that one of the original bidders of the job four months ago is one of the biggest companies and was just cited for using improper chemicals. He said the City would not have a problem - if we had used Dursban, but this man was just cited. He said although it is not easy we have the money and the people do whatever needs to be done to keep the canals clean. V/M Katz said the City should not let the citizens down and the Council members should evaluate the City's estimate. Ms. McDermott asked the Council to look on page three of the report and review option one, which awards the bid for $91,200 for an outside contractor to supplement the City of Tamarac's existing crews and services. She said Public Work's recommendation is to obtain an aquatic crew leader to monitor the chemicals that are used for spraying and treatment. She said that the amount of money for this recommendation would be $107,850. Ms. McDermott stated that the second option would be to purchase additional chemicals and add an additional licensed sprayer to spray the chemicals for an amount of $25,000 and that the chemicals would cost $50,000 for a total of $75,000, which would be in addition to the present existing budget. Ms. McDermott stated that the third option is a combination of all of the above. She said the Public Work's recommendation is to select option two, which will add the additional chemicals and one licensed sprayer. V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE 4 Item 2.b., SECONDED by C/M Schreiber. City Council Special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 7 I Ms. Fagelbaum explained the Motion was to do a budget transfer from the Drainage Improvement Contingency Account 410-872-588-975, in the amount of $72,048, which was budgeted. * V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVAL, SECONDED by C/M Schumann. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 5. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #6595 establishing an Equity Study Committee and appointing seven (7) members to make recommendations to amend the occupational license classifications and rate structures. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION TABLED Attorney Kraft read Florida Statutes 205.0535 relative to establishing an Equity Study Committee to make recommendations and amend occupatiopal license specifications. C/M Abraiti6a tz asked if there was a time limit involved for presenEatao+- to the State. Ms. McEYrirott stated that this Resolution should be presented before March, 19-94. She said in May of this year, the State of Florida Statute,were enacted to encompass the occupational license equity tax studies. She said all the municipalities in the Counties have until March, 1994, to review their occupational license fees and determine whether they need to increase or decrease the fees. She said if the City misses the opportunity of this window, the City cannot adjust payments higher or lower for two years. Ms. McDermott said the Code Enforcement Division, under the direction of Mike Vonder Meulen, researched and put together a package and developed a time frame for action. She said the reason for asking the City Council to designate today, in accordance with the State Statute requirements, is that individual committee members will be made up of local- business leaders from a category on page three of the memo report. C/M Abramowitz said he wanted to review this list before making a ---- decision because he only had five minutes to review. Ms. McDermott stated that the time frame must be finished before March, 1994, so the City needs to establish a committee of designees selected by City Council. Ms. McDermott said this issue can be agendized at the next meeting and the names are suggestions that came from the Chamber of Commerce. She said the Council can add other names into the category, however, the State has said specifically to look at professional categories, i.e., real estate agents, attorneys, medical, retail, etc. * C/M Abramowitz MOVED to TABLE Item 5, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 6. DISCUSSOIN AND POSSIBLE ACTION regarding complimentary Disney trip for Helen and Joe Sobel. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: Agendized by Consent. APPROVED appropriating $596.00 to send Helen and Joe Sobel on a three day, two night trip on the Senior Citizens Disney Trip, not to be construed as compensation for work done on the Social Services Board, but as a gift of appreciation for services to City. City Council Special Meeting 11/24/93/IZ Page 8 Relative to the City sponsored trip to Disney World, a discussion was held regarding investigating provisions for providing gifts of appreciation and other alternatives for issuing Helen Sobel and her husband two complimentary tickets the City received from Disney World. Attorney Kraft suggested that Council has to make the decision as to the procedure. C/M Abramowitz MOVED to APPROVE Item 6, SECONDED by V/M Katz. VOTED: ALL VOTED AYE With no further business, Mayor Bender adjourned this meeting at 3:00 p.m. H . L ' ENDER MAYOR CAROL A. EVANS, CMC r CITY CLERK, � CITY OF TAMARAC " AP PR CD AT MEETING OF ice/-�9g City Clerk J