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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-12-17 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesF� RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTION$/DISCUSSIONS December 16, 1991 NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Special Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, December 17, 1991, at 10:00 a.m., in Conference Room #1 of City Hall, 7525 NW $$ Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The City Council will consider the following items: 1. Discussion and_nossible action on selection of City Attorney. FINAL ACTION• APPROVED up to four additional applicants for interviewing and Jeffrey D. Olson remains in the selection process. 2. Discussion and Rossible__action on authorization to negotiate for audit services. FINAL ACTION: Authorized City Manager to negotiate with MAS (Municipal Administrative Services) and to obtain total cost of audits, including expenses, for all franchise companies, 3. 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 and at public hearings. 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. 4, regarding the report for the Tam -A -Gram on the Medics Ambulance Service. FINAL ACTION: Discussion was held and an article was agreed upon. The City Council may consider and act upon such other business as may come before it. All meetings are open to the public. In the event this agenda must be revised, such revised copies will be available to the public at the City Council meeting. Carol A. Evans City Clerk CAE/nr City Council Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1991 LL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to order on Tuesday, December 17, 1991 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of Tamarac City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88 Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. PRESENT! Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilwoman Diane Glasser` Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Irving Katz John P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary **************************************************************** 1• DisCus3ion and R91sible actign on selection of City Attorney. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED up to four additional applicants for interviewing and Jeffrey D. Olson remains in the selection process. Mayor Abramowitz said the Council interviewed five attorneys on December 10 and December 11, 1991. C/M Schumann said Mr. Gray had good credentials; however, he is a senior partner in the law firm he is currently with. He said the Staff does the work for him. He said Mr. Gray does have the background. C/M Schumann said he feels that there are two possibilities for consideration. He said he would like to re-evaluate the applicants and form a new list of interviewees. V/M Bender said based on the City's solicitation and the requirements necessary from the applicants, there were a great number of applicants which did not fulfill those requirements. He said he needs to reassess his position on this matter. V/M Bender said he feels that none of these applicants are any better than what the City currently has on Staff. He said additional applications are needed. C/M Katz said he was more impressed by the Assistant City Attorneys that applied than by the.City Attorneys or private practice attorneys. He said he would lake to further investigate Mr. Olson and one other attorney who applied. He said it is not fair to people that have applied to keep them in suspense. He suggested that the applicants need to be informed that the City is not interested. C/w Glasser said the five interviewed applicants were well qualified but she would not necessarily want them as the Tamarac City Attorney. She suggested that more interviews be done. City Council Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 2 Mayor Abramowitz said resumes and interviews are different and project different situations. He said there was only one applicant that he was interested in as City Attorney. C/W Glasser suggested the applicants that the City is interested in be contacted and the others be informed of the lack of interest. City Manager Kelly suggested Council go through the shortlist approach and expand for a few more interviews. He said Council had four applicants identified as possibilities and rejection notices have been sent to the balance of the applicants. Council agreed to shortlist from the current five interviewees. Mayor Abramowitz suggested reviewing all of the applications for reconsideration. City Manager Kelly said the applicants being reconsidered can be contacted by phone to establish whether or not they are still interested in the position. C/W Glasser said there are concerns for the people involved in this but more concern is for what is good for the City. Mayor Abramowitz asked what is going to be the basis of comparison with what the City currently has and what Council is looking for. City Manager Kelly said he has a problem with going to cost prior to establishing the best qualified person for the City. He suggested at that time negotiating for the cost can be done. Mayor Abramowitz said he wants to know the ramifications of the cost prior to a final determination. V/M Bender said there is no justification in selecting from applicants who did not meet the requirements specified in the ad. C/W Glasser MOVED to APPROVE shortlisting up to three people, SECONDED by C/M Schumann. VOTE: The shortlisting is as follows: C/W Glasser C/M Katz V/M Bender C/M Schumann Mayor Abramowitz ALL VOTED AYE Jeffrey D. Olson Jeffrey D. Olson Jeffrey D. Olson Jeffrey D. Olson William J. Gray Jeffrey D. Olson Rafael E. Suarez -Rivas Mayor Abramowitz said he selected Mr. Suarez -Rivas only if he is willing to serve as the full-time City Attorney, not his firm. Discussion was held regarding the shortlisting process. City Manager Kelly said Mr. Olson will go on to the next round. C/M Katz suggested Council limit the number of applications. 11 City Council Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 3 C/W Glasser MOVED to APPROVE limiting up to four applicants for interviewing in addition to Mr. Olson and holding the interviews on two days, SECONDED by C/M Schumann. VOTE: LW WI*I4 I__+iAW�� City Manager Kelly said a rejection letter will be sent out to these five and will notify Mr. Olson that he is still under consideration. He suggested Council decide on the next applicants as soon as possible for consideration. 2. Dy,ar.yssion and ]Ro;*ible action on authorization to negotiate for audit services. FINAL ACTION: Authorized City Manager to negotiate with MAS (Municipal Administrative Services) and to obtain total cost of audits, including expenses, for all franchise companies. Mayor Abramowitz asked if FP&L is the first choice indicated due to the amount of revenue generated. Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager, said she recommended the City begin with FP&L based on the revenue. She said the revenues projected for 1991/92 are two million dollars, which is the most revenue received from any franchise agreement. She said there are many customer coding errors, where a resident has a Ft. Lauderdale address listed instead of Tamarac, basing it on the zip codes. She said the third reason is the annexed areas. She said the City does not know that FP&L has all of the customers in the annexed areas listed in Tamarac's customer base. Assistant City Manager McDermott said her second recommendation is Continental Cablevision, and even though not everyone has cable television, it is still the second highest revenue source. She said the projected revenue for. Continental,Cablevision is $140,000 and has stabilized during the past three years. She said the City is currently receiving 3% of all revenues from Continental Cablevision. She said the contract provides that the City can charge 5% after the FCC Act of 1985. Assistant City Manager McDermott said Continental Cablevision will Pass the rate onto the consumer if the City raises the rate to 5%, which is why the City has been hesitant to raise the rate. She said the basis of the audit is to recover revenue. Assistant City Manager McDermott said at present, the City does not have all residents receiving Southern Sanitation garbage service. She said when the City annexed properties in 1988, those properties had private contracts which are due to expire in 1994 and 1995. She said the annexation law is very specific and states that those contracts remain in full force until they expire. Assistant City Manager McDermott said solid waste also covers commercial revenues. She said.the commercial revenue projected for 1991/92 is $145,000. She said if Council authorizes an audit of the commercial garbage companies, there are six to audit, which would mean a charge for each of the six companies. Assistant City Manager McDermott said the final recommendation of a franchise audit would be Southern Bell. She said the projected revenue for 1991/92 is $51,520. She said there is a concern with customer coding. Mayor Abramowitz asked if it is FP&L's responsibility to change the customer coding and Assistant City Manager McDermott said, no. Assistant City Manager McDermott said the City has provided City Council Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 4 updated City maps showing the City boundaries from the north, south, east and west. She said no one from the City has reviewed FP&L's records to make sure that all of those boundaries are covered. V/M Bender said the amount of revenue being given to the City by Southern Bell is stable. He said there has been a tremendous increase in the City's population from the new census figures. He said the increase in population should be directly related to the increase in franchise revenue, which it is not developing. V/M Bender said Continental Cablevision's agreement reads, "gross revenue". He said in researching this, he found that Continental Cablevision was not paying the City on gross revenue. He said he agrees with the sequence presented and it is justifiable. Mayor Abramowitz said Council enacted an Ordinance in 1991 which has never been enforced with FP&L. Discussion was held regarding a litigation in Hollywood regarding this situation. Assistant City Manager McDermott said Tamarac has the largest customer base. TAPE 2 C/W Glasser said the outcry by the residents is about the cable television and Council should consider auditing the cable franchise. Mayor Abramowitz said the purpose of the audit is for the City to recover revenue that the City has not been collecting. He said he has been inundated by people regarding Continental Cablevision and the City has no right under the Federal Law to get involved in the pricing of cable television service. C/M Katz said the percentage of franchise fees listed for the cable and phone franchises is 1%; however, the amount of franchise fees that FP&L pays is not listed. Assistant City Manager McDermott said she will supply Council with copies of the report on this. Mayor Abramowitz said Council needs to make a decision as to which franchise is to be negotiated and to give direction as to which payment choices to utilize with MAS. Discussion was held regarding this. Assistant City Manager McDermott said the City can request that the firm handling the audit look at the contract and decipher what the contract provides for and if they are contracting with a private entity. Discussion was held regarding the firms that could be negotiated with. Mayor Abramowitz asked which audit would recover the most money for the City. C/M Katz said there are other costs involved and asked what the total amount of money is that will be needed for MAS to do an audit. C/W Glasser said there was discussion that MAS was considering utilizing a firm located in Broward County to do the work for them. V/M Bender said Mr. Rankin assured him that MAS would not be utilizing a local firm to do the work. City Council Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 5 Assistant City Manager McDermott said Council set a limit for expenses for the past contract with MAS which was not to exceed $1, 000. Mayor Abramowitz said Council needs to make a determination as to what should be audited, approve the City Manager to enter into negotiations with the chosen firm and then the City Manager comes back to Council with the contractual options. City Manager Kelly said the factors are expenses, time and the duration of the audit. He said an VP&L audit would take the longest time due to the volume, which would mean more expenses. He asked how long Council wants to wait for a report on the audit. He said Council needs to be responsive to the residents. C/W Glasser said Council needs to consider the concerns of the residents. Discussion was held regarding the negotiation process. City Manager Kelly suggested he negotiate with MAS regarding FP&L and Continental Cablevision and Mayor Abramowitz suggested the negotiations begin with the solid waste companies with the exception of the garbage franchises. City Manager Kelly said he would like to negotiate with MAS for the audits and all agreed. Mayor Abramowitz asked if there were any objections to beginning the negotiations with MAS over the FP&L and Continental Cablevision audits and V/M Bender said he does not feel that Continental Cablevision should be audited at this time and FP&L is the greatest source of revenue. C/M Katz said he would like to know the options on all four franchises. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like MAS to know that the City wants to do one audit at a time in order to determine the value of their services and their competency. He suggested that MAS supply the cost of doing all four franchises and then proceed with one or two. Mayor Abramowitz requested a memo be sent to MAS requesting the cost on all franchises. Mayor Abramowitz RECESSED and RECONVENED this meeting at 11:22 a.m. with ALL PRESENT. 4. j?,iscussion_ and ]RoAAihle ,.action regarding the report for the Tam -A -Gram on the Medics Ambulance Service. FINAL_ ACTION: Discussion was held and an article was agreed upon. City Manager Kelly said the City needs to provide the public with some information regarding where the City stands with the ambulance contract. He said he drafted an article for the Tam -A - Gram which will provide the public with accurate information. He said there are many people who do not understand the word "subsidy", which Council may want to clarify to the people. C/W Glasser said the heading of the article should read, "Ambulance Service to Continue" in bold letters. Mayor Abramowitz said the article should be written so that the residents unCt:rstand that Broward County has guaranteed that the ambulance' etvice will continue. He said the article should also clarify that- the ambulance service must pick up and deliver, but City Council, Special Meeting 12/17/91/KJ Page 6 he may require payment from the recipient's insurance company or Medicare. Discussion was held regarding the article. C/M Schumann suggested the title read, 11911 Ambulance Service to Continue". Mayor Abramowitz said the public cares about receiving the service and that the City saves money. C/M Schumann said this article should be simple and to the point and should advise the public not to make payment to the driver, but to let the insurance pay the bill. TAPE 3 Further discussion was held regarding the ambulance service. Mayor Abramowitz said the article should state that the service will be continued with no change in the service. City Manager Kelly read his draft copy and changes were made accordingly. Assistant City Manager McDermott said the Public Information Committee is requesting that a mini profile be done on each of the candidates in a February Special Edition of the Tam -A -Gram. Mayor Abramowitz said anything political does not belong in the Tam -A -Gram and all agreed. C/W Glasser said she and Assistant City Manager McDermott have been working on a program for senior peer counseling. Assistant City Manager McDermott said the residents go through a training program in counseling and it is then determined whether or not that person has the qualifications to be a counselor. She said the Jewish Family Service.Council requested a $2,500 donation to pay for the psychologist and the money can be found in the budget. Mayor Abramowitz asked if this is the only group that does peer counseling and Assistant City Manager McDermott said it is the first of its kind and is called, "Senior Peer Counseling". Mayor Abramowitz said he researched the possibility of the City receiving the same service at no cost to the City. 3. PUBLIC PAR5jS1PATI0N -- 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 and at public hearings. 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. Lou Silverman, resident and Editor of the Tam -A -Gram, said the Tam -A -Gram has had problems in the past regarding politics, but it was done against the desire of the Committee and was done under direction of others. With no further business, Mayor AbramowiJNRMAN ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:55 a.m. PAU)LU ABRAMOWI'rZ ..CITY OF TA MA RAC MAYOR CAROL A. EVAN $ �� V� a� rn��tlN� a122 CITY CLERK �� City Clerk