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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-12-03 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesCity Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 1 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 City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 2 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 I 1 i City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 3 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 $8,000.00. She said she handed out a list of her accomplishments within the 30 days of her appointment and a copy of City Manager surveys throughout Broward County. She said this survey is a part of the City Manager Recruitment Process Report. C/M Abramowitz said Council has been in receipt of a lot of very good information following their request to look for a new City Manager as soon as possible. Ms. McDermott said there are two issues. She said the issue which is currently being discussed is to give her a raise. She said on November 23, 1993, she gathered all of the information for a City Manager Recruitment Process and provided it to Council for review. She said she is prepared to discuss this report upon Council's request. Mayor Bender said he sent her a memo dated November 18, 1993, stating that during the November 1, 1993 workshop meeting, Council had requested that she proceed immediately to prepare a job description and utilize the ICMA guidelines for recruitment of a City Manager. He said what has been prepared is how to select a City Manager. He asked why a job description has not been prepared, advertise and then Council can follow this Recruitment Process. Ms. McDermott said Council needs to make a decision as to what is desired in a City Manager. Discussion was held regarding the requests by Council during the November 1 meeting. City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 4 C/M Schreiber said Ms. McDermott has not provided the various items requested by Council and Ms. McDermott said all the information Council requested is in her City Manager Recruitment Report. Ms. McDermott said the report was issued to Council on November 23, 1993. She said she followed the direction Council gave to her and provided the information requested. She said Council needs to decide what to do. She said she can only make suggestions. She said the salary survey from 2$ 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. City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 5 n; 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 Page 6 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. -• r 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. L 1 City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 7 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. City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ Page 8 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. City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ 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 1 City Council Special Meeting 12/3/93/KJ 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. - MAYOR CITY OF TAMARAC APP OVED AT MEETING OF 9 City Clerk 1