HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-12-03 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting
12/3/93/KJ
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CITY OF TAMARAC
CITY COUNCIL SPlCIAL MEETING
rRIDAY, DECRMSR 3, 1993
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on
Friday, December 3, 1993 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room #1 of
City Hall.
PRESENT:
Mayor H. Larry Bender
Vice Mayor Irving Katz
Councilman Norman Abramowitz
Councilman Joseph Schreiber
Councilman Henry C. Schumann
Dina McDermott, Interim City Manager
Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney
Thelma Fagelbaum, Acting Finance Director
Carol A. Evans, CMC, City Clerk
Karen Jackson, Secretary
1. POSLIC PARTICZEATUX w 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.
John Egan, resident, commended Pulte Homes on their proposal
for forming excess wetlands. He expressed his concerns
regarding the proposed blasting by Pulte Homes. He questioned
whether or not park area will be provided in this development.
C/M Abramowitz said during the last meeting of the South
Florida Water Management District, he questioned what
department handles blasting. He said it was found that the
blasting comes under the Department of Strategic Planning and
Growth Management. He distributed a letter from the Department
of Strategic Planning and Growth Management where it states
that the County cannot override the City and issue a permit if
the City refuses a permit application. He said it was also
determined that if the City were to issue a permit for
blasting, the County would do the same.
V/M Katz said the three acres of park area per thousand takes
in the entire City, not a particular development. He said each
time a developer asks to rezone a piece of property from
Commercial or Residential to S-1, Recreation, this inventories
the park acreage for the City. He said the City currently has
a surplus of park area which is designated in the City so that
any developer that comes in does not have to designate part of
his acreage for park area. He said the developer has the
option of paying to the City a dedicated amount of money in
lieu of designating park area in his development. He said
there is a more than adequate amount of park space within the
City at present.
C/M Schreiber asked what the City Attorney's response is in
reference to the blasting and Mr. Kraft said he would prefer
holding off on this until the research is completed.
Bernard Tudor, resident of Spyglass, expressed his
dissatisfaction over the amount of time it has taken for the
City Attorney to respond to whether or not the issuance of a
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blasting permit can be prevented. He asked if Pulte Homes can
be refused a permit until the actual changes are made if the
City immediately passes changes to the blasting law which
currently exists.
Sy Bauer, resident of Westwood 21, referred to Items 2, 5 and
7. He said Ms. McDermott has been the Interim City Manager for
over a month and by now, there should have been a
determination as to what her remuneration would be. He said in
speaking with Ms. McDermott on several issues, he found her to
be very knowledgeable of the subjects he was questioning her
on. He recommended that the City consider in-house personnel
for the City Manager's position prior to going outside for
applicants.
Mr. Bauer suggested that the City look for an auditor who is
not connected with the City in order to get a fair audit.
Mr. Bauer said there has been enough money spent on legal
action where the City Attorney has not been in the position to
represent the City which meant that the City hired outside
counsel. He recommended that no further action be taken on the
Glasser case.
7. DIS=SIQN AND POSSIBLE ACTION regarding the issue of
appeal of Glasser v. City, et al., consolidated.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION --
An appeal will not be filed in this case.
Mr. Kraft said Bruce Johnson was appointed as Special Counsel
on this case in February, 1992. He said Mr. Johnson has
outlined the position that he feels he needs to in the letters
that he has submitted for Council's review.
Mr. Johnson requested a decision from Council as to whether or
not to appeal this case. He said if the City does not appeal
by December 8, 1993, the City will not be permitted to appeal.
He said his firm was retained concerning this Charter
amendment. He said the Judge put in his ruling and his firm
believes that his ruling was in error and can be successfully
appealed. He said he represents only the City of Tamarac in
this action. He said it is believed that this also prevents
anyone on the Charter Board from running for Council. He
recommended the appeal based upon the legal analysis and the
principles that the Charter amendment should have been upheld.
C/M Abramowitz said he personally has filed an appeal on this
order. He said this goes much further than Abramowitz versus
Glasser or Abramowitz versus the litigants. He said Mr.
Johnson alluded to this briefly, but if it were examined and
if someone had the ability to remove the politics of the
situation, it would be understood what the order states.
C/M Abramowitz explained that a person who sits on the Charter
Board and has never sat on Council and has never been involved
in the decision making now is forbidden to run for either
Council or Mayor. He said C/M Schumann, at the end of his
term, is finished. He said if C/M Schumann wanted to run for
Mayor, with all of his expertise being on Council for two
terms, he can not. He said there is a quirk in the filing
requirements, where in order to file for an office, the filing
period would be over by the time the term is over. He said
this may cause a serious problem in the continuity of allowing
experienced officials to be involved in the running of the
City.
C/M Abramowitz said the Sun Sentinel and the Miami Herald, who
originally came out for term limitations, now state that this
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ruling does not make sense. He said if the Judge would have
stated that he could not run for either Council or Mayor, he
would have understood it, but the ruling does not state this.
He asked why he is permitted to run for Council again, but he
cannot run for Mayor. He said he has filed an appeal in this
ruling. He said the first thing that will go on the Referendum
following the upcoming election will be to remove this from
the Charter.
C/M Schreiber said he had requested information on the
expenditures involved on this case, but has not received it to
date. He said Judge Fleet's order is very specific. He said
the order eliminates the exception clause due to the fact that
he felt seat swapping is illegal. He said the only beneficiary
of any appeal action would be C/M Abramowitz, who has
indicated that he has filed an appeal. He asked why the City
should incur an additional expense in getting involved with an
appeal of this matter. He recommended that this be taken out
of the courts and let the public speak.
V/M Katz MOVED to DENY an appeal, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz.
VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE
2. DIAMASION AND POSSIBLE ACTION regarding remuneration for
the Interim City Manager.
8 11
Ms. McDermott said this is a followup to the October 27th City.
Council meeting where the Council appointed her as Interim
City Manager effective November 1, 1993. She said there was a
Council workshop held to discuss a possible salary adjustment
based on increased duties, responsibilities, fiscal and legal
accountability requirements of the Interim City Manager
position.
Ms. McDermott said during the November 1, 1993 Council
workshop, consensus of a salary adjustment was from $5,000.00
to $8,000.00. She said she handed out a list of her
accomplishments within the 30 days of her appointment and a
copy of City Manager surveys throughout Broward County. She
said this survey is a part of the City Manager Recruitment
Process Report.
C/M Abramowitz said Council has been in receipt of a lot of
very good information following their request to look for a
new City Manager as soon as possible.
Ms. McDermott said there are two issues. She said the issue
which is currently being discussed is to give her a raise. She
said on November 23, 1993, she gathered all of the information
for a City Manager Recruitment Process and provided it to
Council for review. She said she is prepared to discuss this
report upon Council's request.
Mayor Bender said he sent her a memo dated November 18, 1993,
stating that during the November 1, 1993 workshop meeting,
Council had requested that she proceed immediately to prepare
a job description and utilize the ICMA guidelines for
recruitment of a City Manager. He said what has been prepared
is how to select a City Manager. He asked why a job
description has not been prepared, advertise and then Council
can follow this Recruitment Process.
Ms. McDermott said Council needs to make a decision as to what
is desired in a City Manager. Discussion was held regarding
the requests by Council during the November 1 meeting.
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C/M Schreiber said Ms. McDermott has not provided the various
items requested by Council and Ms. McDermott said all the
information Council requested is in her City Manager
Recruitment Report.
Ms. McDermott said the report was issued to Council on
November 23, 1993. She said she followed the direction Council
gave to her and provided the information requested. She said
Council needs to decide what to do. She said she can only make
suggestions. She said the salary survey from 2$ cities was an
updated report which was provided to Council on December 2,
1993. Further discussion was held regarding this.
V/M Katz said the problem is that the Council members request
the information and then when they are furnished with the
data, the Council members either do not have the time or do
not take the time to read it. He said everything that he has
requested has been provided and is issued to all of the
Council members. He suggested that Council take a little more
time to do the research that is necessary to hold the office.
He said he has taken the time to read the report and is
prepared to discuss it.
V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE a salary increase of $5,000.00
retroactive to November 1, 1993, for Ms. McDermott as Interim
City Manager.
C/M Abramowitz said he had suggested $6,000.00 during the
November 1, 1993 meeting and that is not enough. He suggested
an increase of $7,000.00. He said Council needs to be present
at the meetings and participate. He said he is not going to
Second the Motion because he wants to give Ms. McDermott more
money.
C/M Abramowitz MOVED to APPROVE a salary increase of $7,000.00
retroactive to November 1, 1993, for Ms. McDermott as Interim
City Manager, SECONDED by V/M Katz.
C/M Schreiber said there is no reason to give an increase to
Ms. McDermott based on the fact that the Assistant City
Manager's salary will be boosted by $7,000.00 and the City
will be stuck with that increase. He said someone in an
Interim position is to serve until the regular position is
filled. He said the City needs to reorganize and cut down on
expenditures.
C/M Schumann said there was a lot that was not accomplished
between November 1 to December 1, such as the FP&L Agreement
of $125,000.00 in escrow funds and the Continental Cablevision
collection of fees, both which were inaugurated a long time
ago.
Ms. McDermott said these items have been initiated and she has
been physically and actively pursuing them. She said when
Council asks her for something, she does it automatically,
quickly and very timely. She said the paperwork the Council
receives is everything that Council requests. She said
everything is generated by Council. She said if Council would
prefer verbal reports, she will comply, but the best way to
ensure that all of the Council members receive the same
information simultaneously is to provide it in a written
report.
Mayor Bender said he had requested that she speak with the
City Attorney to ensure the City removed the FP&L money
legally and to contact FP&L. He asked if she had done this.
Ms. McDermott said Staff has been working with FP&L to get the
monies released as per Council direction.
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Mayor Bender said he did receive.letters from the City
Attorney regarding these items.
C/M Abramowitz said some time ago, the City Attorney presented
to Council the fact that Marion Swenson had received
additional duties and that she was entitled to more money. He
said Ms. Swenson does a good job and was entitled to be
compensated and Council approved it with no problem. He said
there is no difference with the Interim City Manager being
entitled to more money for additional duties.
TAPE 2
Further discussion was held regarding the Interim City Manager
position.
C/M Abramowitz said this is not only compensation for the work
being done but also it shows that Council has confidence in
their employees.
Mayor Bender requested that the City Attorney give an
explanation of the salary increase for Ms. Swenson.
Mr. Kraft said Ms. Swenson's position was reclassified from a
Secretary to a Paralegal and received additional duties. He
said he does not want to get into a City Attorney versus City
Manager situation. He said every situation should stand on its
own merits.
Ms. McDermott said the list of items she provided to Council
was to identify what she is working on since November 1, 1993.
She said her accomplishments speak for themselves. She said
when the City has FPE employees that do additional duties and
responsibilities, the City automatically gives them an
automatic 5% increase or the next starting pay and they
receive a temporary upgrade. She said the City never does
anything like that for the Management, other cities do. She
said there is information in the City Manager Recruitment
Report which indicates salary ranges.
Ms. McDermott said Tamarac has traditionally paid under most
other cities for a city of this size and population, and it is
very difficult to retain good people. She said the City does
not lose people for bad morale, but because they move on to
greener pastures and can make more money.
Ms. McDermott said Mr. Dupre had informed Council that there
are too many discrepancies in the salary pay plan and
requested consensus on what a pay class study should be, which
includes a job description, salaries, and the related duties
for those salaries.
C/M Abramowitz said C/M Schreiber had indicated that a pay
increase would set a new tone for the Assistant City Manager's
position. He said Ms. McDermott is not an Assistant City
Manager at this time, but is an Interim City Manager. He said
the salary increase for an Interim City Manager would not
change the salary for an Assistant City Manager.
Mayor Bender said Ms. McDermott was asked to provide the book
from ICMA and a job description for the City Manager and to
tailor it to Tamarac.
Ms. McDermott said the City Manager Recruitment Report
responds clearly to the Mayor Bender's memo. She said it took
the City 20 days to receive the book from ICMA and she read a
portion of the report into the record.
C/M Schumann MOVED to TABLE Item 2, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber.
City Council
12/3/93/KJ
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Special Meeting
C/M Schumann - AYE
C/M Schreiber - AYE
C/M Abramowitz - NAY
v/M Katz -- NAY
Mayor Bender - AYE
3. DIS U55149 ANQ POSSIBLE ACTION regarding approval to
forward the Advanced Life Support (ALS) license to
Broward County.
SYNOPSIS OF ACTION:
APPROVED pursuing the license subject to the City Attorney's
recommendations for additional attachments to be provided by
Fire Chief.
Ms. McDermott said this is the Advanced Life Support license.
She said on April 28, 1993, Council authorized the City
Manager to apply to the Broward County Emergency Medical
Services Committee for an Advanced Life Support license. She
said this license is ready to go to Broward County, however,
every time she moves on this, Council requests that it be
brought to Council. She said on April 28, 1993, Council gave
authorization, by Resolution, to proceed.
Mr. Kraft said he wrote a memo to Fire Chief Jim Budzinski,
who has indicated that further attachments need to be included
and will be provided. He said this is a housekeeping matter
and is not a substantive problem.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a study to find out that if
the City does not receive the minnet money.
C/M Schumann said he understood that if the City does not
receive the minnet money, the license will not be granted.
Ms. McDermott said the City should not pursue this if the City
does not receive the minnet money.
C/M Abramowitz said he would like it clearly established that
if the City does not receive the minnet money from the County,
this is not pursued.
V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE submitting this to the County,
subject to the additional documentation being provided as per
the City Attorney, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber.
ALL VOTED AYE
4. relative to hiring Mary C.
Blasi as Interim Finance Director during the recruitment
process for Finance Director.
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C/M Schreiber said Ms. Blasi is offering to return at $45.00
per hour over a three day period with no benefits. He asked
what her salary was when she was serving part-time.
Ms. McDermott said Ms. Blasi was earning the same rate. She
said she would like the ability, when Ms. Blasi is available,
to have her for 15 to 20 hours per week and when there are
Special Council meetings, to have her attend, if necessary.
She said the City is in the process of advertising in the
Government Finance Officers Association newsletter for a
Finance Director. She said the Personnel Director is actively
pursuing the advertisement for a Finance Director. She said
the City is in need of an Interim Finance Director.
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C/M Schumann MOVED to APPROVE Item 4, SECONDED by
C/M Abramowitz.
ALL VOTED AYN
5. nTsmssTow Am vosslaLz AcZ= regarding approval to
contract with Grant Thornton to conduct audits of the
City Manager's Office, Community Development, Public
Services, Finance and Risk Management Offices in an
amount not to exceed $4,500.
SYNOPSIS Off° _ACTiQN�_
Directed the Interim City Manager to contact Grant Thornton to
have the verbiage in their letter revised regarding the
requested audits in order to comply with the Code.
C/M Schreiber referred to a memo from Grant Thornton dated
November 24, Page 2, where it states that they will not
express an opinion on these four departments. He said the
Charter calls for an audit. He said Grant Thornton is offering
to do a special project, not an audit. He said the City owes
the residents a complete audit, checking the departments of
concern. He suggested that the City look for a firm other than
Grant Thornton to do this audit. He recommended that the City
receive some Request for Proposals from other firms.
Ms. McDermott said the City is trying to conform with the
requirements of the Charter. She said an in-depth audit can be
done, but it will cost a lot of money.
C/M Schumann asked if the City has to have a terminal audit
after people leave and C/M Schreiber said it is in the
Charter.
Ms. Fagelbaum said Grant Thornton is stating that they will
not express an opinion on the procedures as they stand alone.
She said Grant Thornton will express an opinion on the
procedures when taken in conjunction with the annual audit.
C/M Schreiber asked what audit are they doing and Ms.
McDermott said they are doing the annual audit at the present
time.
Ms. Fagelbaum said these procedures are adjunct to the audit
and they cannot express an opinion on these procedures only.
Ms. McDermott said the language in the Code is very vague in
that Section of the Charter. She said in the past, the City
did not have very many Department Heads leave.
Mayor Bender said the areas which handle money should be
audited. He asked for an interpretation from the City
Attorney.
Mr. Kraft said in Section 5.04 of the Charter under the City
Manager's Duties and Powers, the term, "audit" is subject to
interpretation. Discussion was held regarding this.
Ms. McDermott said Grant Thornton is currently doing the
City's year-end audit and they are auditing all of the
Departments and all of the books.
C/M Schumann asked why they cannot include these in the audits
instead of a subsequent audit.
Ms. McDermott said this would be in addition to the year-end
audit.
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C/M Schreiber asked why the City cannot get an Request for
Proposal from other firms and Ms. McDermott said this is the
final year for the Grant Thornton contract. She said the City
is going out for Request for Proposals for the next contract.
Ms. Fagelbaum said to call in another firm would be
duplicating the work. She said it will cost the City more
money to have Grant Thornton go into greater depth than
standardly required for a year-end audit.
C/M Abramowitz said the only way to do this is to have Council
give direction to the City Manager to not order this without
being directed by Council.
Ms. Fagelbaum said Grant Thornton will not do the terminal
audit without additional funds provided. She asked if Council
would like Staff to negotiate with them and C/M Abramowitz
said, yes.
Ms. McDermott said she brought this before Council because it
is a Letter of Agreement and the City Manager does not have
the authorization to sign a Letter of Agreement; however, she
does have the authorization under the Charter to expend up to
$10,000.00. She said if Council directs her to incorporate
these issues into the final audit, she will do so.
C/M Schreiber said the concern was the verbiage that Grant
Thornton used in their memo dated November 24, 1993.
Mr. Kraft said the City Manager is required to do an audit. He
said the problem is the language that Grant Thornton used in
their letter.
Ms. McDermott said she will contact Grant Thornton and request
that they revise the verbiage in their letter and bring it
back to Council and ALL AGREED.
6. regarding advertising for
an Internal Auditor.
SYNOPSIS QX_"=J0N:
APPROVED authorizing the Interim City Manager to advertise for
an Internal Auditor in the Broward Review, GFOA, Miami Herald
and the Fort Lauderdale News/Sun Sentinel.
Ms. McDermott said Council had requested that the possibility
of recruiting an Internal Auditor be discussed. She said she
accessed the old job ad and other documentation regarding the
Internal Auditor.
Mayor Bender said the City has experienced some Department
Heads coming to the City and then leaving abruptly. He said it
behooves the City to consider getting a one year contract with
a six month probationary period for these employees.
C/M Schreiber suggested a penalty clause be added if they
leave prior to the end of the contract.
Mayor Bender said the intent with the contract would be if
they violated the contract, it would hurt them when trying to
get a job elsewhere. He said the City needs to have some type
of document to stop the jumping from one job to another. He
said the City just lost its Risk Manager for a matter of
$2,000.00. He said the City spent many months training this
person, who then leaves. He recommended this for Department
Heads and Management.
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Page 9
• a
V/M Katz asked if a penalty clause would stand by itself
without a reciprocal bonus clause. He said something cannot be
taken away without something being offered.
Mr. Kraft said contracts can have all types of factors. He
said there would be many issues which would need to be
addressed.
Mayor Bender said he is not looking to add a penalty clause.
He said this is a different level of personnel.
V/M Katz said his concerns are to be sure that placing
something in a contract is defensible. Further discussion was
held regarding a one year contract.
V/M Katz asked if Council would be willing to consider the
same for a City Manager and Ms. McDermott said a City Manager
would want much more than just considerations.
Mayor Bender said it has been the history of the City that the
City Manager's position is handled by Resolution.
C/M Abramowitz said in the past, when someone in his business
was let go or resigned, he did not let him finish the day, but
paid him and asked him to leave. He said the City does not
want to retain an unhappy employee who is not productive. He
said he would not want to keep someone on the job who did not
want to be on the job.
Discussion was held regarding the previous Internal Auditor.
C/M Schumann asked if the Internal Auditor will work under the
City Manager or under the Council and Mayor Bender said that
would be a decision Council would have to make.
C/M Abramowitz said this is identified in the Charter. He said
if Council wants it changed, the Charter needs to be changed.
TAPE 3
Ms. McDermott asked if Council would like Staff to advertise
in the Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel and the GFOA.
V/M Katz said the City would get better qualified people if
the ad is placed in the trade journals rather than the
newspaper.
Ms. Fagelbaum said this position has not been budgeted and
asked where the funds would come from and C/M Abramowitz said
it would come from Contingency.
Ms. McDermott said the job description reads that the Internal
Auditor would report to the Administrator.
C;/M. Sc:1umann MOVED to APPROVE advertising for an Internal
Auditor, SECONDED by C/M Abramowitz.
VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE
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Page 10
8. DISCUSSION concerning establishment of a Search Committee
to review applications for City Manager and make
recommendations to Council.
SYNOPSIS Off' ACTIQ
Agendized by Consent.
The Interim City Manager is to contact the ICMA representative
to attend a Workshop or Special meeting of Council for
discussion on recruitment of a City Manager as soon as
possible.
Mayor Bender asked what the City can do to accelerate the
hiring of a City Manager. He suggested that Council establish
a Search Committee consisting of five members, which would
provide a way of being objective in the selection process. He
recommended that one representative from ICMA, two local City
Managers, one Personnel Director and one City Attorney be on
this Committee. He recommended that Mr. Kraft be the City
Attorney to Chair this Committee.
Mayor Bender said Council only has the responsibility to hire
the City Manager and the City Attorney.
C/M Schumann asked if this is a Selection Committee and Mayor
Bender said this is a Search Committee. Discussion was held
regarding the makeup of this Committee.
C/M Abramowitz said he would object to anyone from the City
being on this Committee. He said this Committee needs to be
objective. He suggested that the City contact Wilton Manors
regarding their use of an ICMA Range Rider to help them find a
City Manager.
Mayor Bender said this Committee would ensure that the resumes
comply with the City's requirements for the job. Further
discussion was held regarding Range Riders.
Mayor Bender suggested that the City expedite this process as
soon as possible.
Ms. McDermott said she would contact ICMA to have a Range
Rider meet with Council as soon as possible.
With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at
10:45 a.m.
C 0L A. EVANS, CMC
CITY CLERK
. BENDER.
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MAYOR
CITY OF TAMARAC
APP OVED AT MEETING OF 9
City Clerk
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