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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-05-09 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCity Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, MAY 9, 1994 CALL TO ORDER; Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to order on Monday, May 9, 1994 at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Room #1 of City Hall, PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Councilman Larry Mishkin Councilman Joseph Schreiber Councilwoman Sharon Machek ABSENT: Vice Mayor Irving Katz ALSO PRESENT: Robert S. Noe, Jr., City Manager Dina M. McDermott, Assistant City Manager Carol A. Evans, CMC, City Clerk Stanley Hawthorne, Finance Director Karen Jackson, Secretary Mid Year Budget R,gview Update by Staff. Mr. Noe said as a new City Manager, there are new ideas to be accepted or rejected by Council. He said it is Staff's responsibility to inform him of the needs of the City and it is his responsibility to inform Council and then Council to the public. Mr. Noe said his rule is the worse the news is, the quicker Staff is to inform him of the problem or concern. He said the City Manager should come to Council twice a year to review the City's needs. He said one time would be for the Annual Operating Budget in July or August, to be reviewed in September and effective October 1st. Mr. Noe said it is also necessary to bring to Council a Mid Year Budget Review in order to keep Council informed. He said he requested that each Department Head survey the needs of his or her department. Mr. Noe said the Mid Year Review should entail any emergency situations. He said there are probably many needs in which Staff feels is critical, but should be reviewed as to whether or not these needs should be considered individually or wait until the new operating budget. Mr. Noe said there is a great possibility that the City has approximately a half million dollars in revenues which were not anticipated and the possibility to save approximately $600,000 which will wash over into the FY 95 Budget. He said it is believed that there is approximately 1.1 million dollars available to the City which was not known. Discussion was held regarding the millage rate. Mayor Abramowitz said he has always been concerned about being told of anticipated revenue which was not originally anticipated. He said he understands the $500,000 but would like an explanation of the $600,000, which looks as if it is due to vacant positions within the City. Mr. Noe deferred to Stanley Hawthorne, Finance Director. He said Personnel money is probably the easiest money to save due to vacancy. He said he has always taken the position that Personnel money does not belong to the Department and will not permit departments to spend money generated by vacancies, except under the most dire circumstances. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 2 Mayor Abramowitz said if there is Staff needed in the City and the positions are not filled, this is not saving any money. He said these vacancies should be filled if the position is necessary. C/M Schreiber said the purpose of this meeting is to make a determination as to whether the current recommendations by the City Manager are valid and worthwhile. Mr. Noe said if there is a position in the budget, the position should be filled. He said the only way the City provides service is through the employees. Mr. Noe said he created a Budget Committee which consisted of Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager, Stanley Hawthorne, Finance Director, Larry DuPre, Personnel Director, and himself. He said after receiving the Committee's advice, he made these recommendations. Mr. Noe said his first recommendation is for a GIS (Geographic Information System) System. He said the City entered into a lease/purchase agreement two years ago for approximately $40,000 worth of hardware and software. He said prior to his arrival to the City, the City was implementing a GIS System in the Planning Department. He said when that person left that position, the City stopped inputting data. He said the GIS System is critical for every government to have. Mr. Noe said the City has a mainframe which is IBM compatible and a number of personal computers that are IBM compatible and a number of Macintosh computers that are not compatible with those previously mentioned. He said the City Clerk's office has desktop publishing which may be prudent for the City to keep the desktop publishing capability on Macintosh due to already having it. He recommended that the City transition to the IBM compatible system. He said all of the GIS information that is available through other governments is on IBM compatible equipment. He said the piece of equipment purchased two years ago can continue to be used because the City can use it to take data from the system as opposed to inputting. He said it is important that the City begin a transition to something that is IBM compatible. Mr. Noe said there will be a need for a major upgrade on the mainframe system. He said if the City attempts to integrate what is on the Macintosh, the City will lose a tremendous amount of data. He recommended that the City spend $13,000 to begin a transition on the GIS System. He said it also happens that the computer work done in the Public Works and Utilities Departments is already being done on IBM compatible machinery and software. He said there is a $5,000 expenditure that has been made of Macintosh software that may have some market value, but will not be known until attempts to sell. Mr. Noe said his second recommendation is for $10,000 for an air conditioning assessment. He said for those who are on the west side of City Hall, second floor, it is virtually unbearable to work due to the heat. He said the City has attempted to balance the system and a number of different agencies have done some free work for the City, but has been unsuccessful. He said he has been given an estimate from $10,000 to $100,000 as to what this assessment may produce. He said he will be coming back to Council with the amount needed to correct the air conditioning system to provide a decent working environment for everyone in the building. Mayor Abramowitz said the equipment in City Hall is not the equipment that was originally planned or ordered. He said the Contractor told the City that they had the right to substitute comparable equipment to what was on the original plans. He recommended that the City go after the architects on this item. He said the air conditioning has been a problem from the very beginning. He suggested that Mr. Kraft research this possibility. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 3 Mr. Noe said he has heard some concerns from Council regarding the lack of contingency. He proposed that an additional $50,000 be placed into the Contingency Account for whatever unanticipated events may occur. Mr. Noe recommended that 113,750 be spent on a new phone system for City Hall. He said currently City Hall is closed prior to 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. He said when calling during the day, all calls come through a switchboard. He said the proposed system is a direct dial system into every office. He said the public would not be able to dial to each individual desk, but to a dedicated line for incoming calls, which will provide access to those working prior to 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. Mr. Noe said there are other important features on the phone system which can be described by the telephone representatives who are present. He said part of the City is currently operating on the ESSX system. He said he has requested that everyone have the same prefix, but that has not yet been determined. He said this would be a State - of -the -Art phone system. Further discussion was held regarding the annual costs and savings involved on the phone system. Mr. Noe said his next item is a Street Superintendent, which should be considered by Council during the FY 95 Budget process and is not being recommended at this time. Mr. Noe said the Fire Chief has requested a number of new personnel and should also be considered in conjunction with the FY 95 Budget and also is not being recommended at this time. Mr. Noe said the Building Department has grown considerably. He said in trade inspections, the Department has generated a significant amount of money. He said in order to provide the amount of service needed, additional personnel is necessary. He said there is a question to be resolved as to whether these should be full-time permanent, which means they would get benefits or full-time temporary. He said if they are temporary, they would not be receiving City benefits. Mr. Noe said some time ago, Council authorized the position of Internal Auditor. He explained his previous experience in Hollywood with the fact that there was no Budget office. He said a Budget Analyst is necessary to do independent research and other such functions. He said it is necessary to have a Budget office in the City, a Budget Analyst to sit with the Department Heads to discuss the necessities of the requests. He said there have been several requests from Council for surveys and cost analysis on various items, which would be a function of the Budget Analyst. Mr. Noe said the current City Staff has full-time positions and can stop to do whatever Council requests, but it would be more efficient to establish a Budget office to handle these types of functions. He recommended that the City hire two Budget Analysts, which will pay for themselves over and over. Mr. Noe said an Internal Auditor is a separate function from the Budget Analyst, but is definitely needed in the City, but it would be better to wait until the FY 95 Budget to consider this position. Mr. Noe said a Classification and Pay Study was authorized by Council. He said this is a #1 issue for Tamarac. He said this is important to know that the employees are doing the work which they are supposed to be doing and to make sure that they are being paid competitively both internally and with other governmental agencies. He said there currently is a Committee to do this Study and it will be their mission to rank the various Expressions of Interest received from consultants and bring a ranking to Council for consideration. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 4 Mr. Noe said he questions the need for a Personnel Analyst, but recommended this be considered during the FY 95 Budget. Mr. Noe said the City established a Storm Water Utility Program and the citizens have been being charged for this. He said the City has accumulated money from this. He said the Storm Water Utility is in a separate fund. He said there is money available to hire a Storm Water Engineer, which is necessary for the City to meet the Federal mandates for a responsible and reasonable Storm Water Management Program. He said he is proposing that this position and all expenses involved with this be paid out of the Storm Water Management Fund. He said the immediate cost for this would be approximately $25,000 and will be an annual cost of approximately $60,000. Mayor Abramowitz said it is important to review each item individually and introduced Brian Sauer of Southern Bell. Mr. Sauer explained the ESSX System. He said this would change out the existing PBX System and install ESSX and continue at the same monthly rate structure currently being paid by the City. He said no additional contract would be necessary. Mayor Abramowitz said the current system is distinguished by high maintenance costs. He said the current service is $30,840 for service and maintenance annually and the proposed ESSX indicates $35,232. He asked if the City will be getting additional service. Mr. Sauer explained the benefits of the ESSX service. He said the new system will provide direct access to every person. He said many cities use a departmental listing in the directory. He said this will provide 24 hour access to City Hall and bypasses the switchboard attendant. Mr. Noe said the switchboard operator would not be necessary and would be available for reassignment to other duties. C/W Machek said she had suggested a number be available to the public to call which had a recording listing the upcoming meetings and other such items. She asked if this would be available through this. Mr. Sauer said it would be an option, but he did not include any additional equipment in this price. He said the ESSX system would provide three or four digit dialing within City Hall. He explained this option. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that the incoming calls be directed to the Secretary in the Council's office. Mr. Sauer explained the long distance tracking system. He said each phone can be individually set as to whether or not long distance calls can be made from any one phone. He said the ESSX system is not affected by power outages and explained the reasons for this. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to hear where the $600,000 is to come from. Mr. Hawthorne said he would like to present a total overview, including revenues and expenditures. He said one of the considerations when putting together a budget, is a vacancy factor. He said he is used to a 5% average in the cities in which he has worked. He said this will be a decision to be made during the budget process. He said these savings recur from year to year. Mr. Hawthorne referred to an overhead transparency and said the first several categories summarize General Fund Revenue activity for FY 94. He said property tax is I 11 City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 5 the most major, which is standard across Florida, based on term legislation and the history of the City. He explained the taxing procedures within the City. He said the State allows the City to budget as little as 95%. He said Tamarac shows a history of this. He said there is an adjustment of the property tax rate. He further explained taxing procedures. Mr. Hawthorne said the City has collected most of its property tax revenues and is doing much better in property tax this year than last. He explained the Sales and Use Taxes. He said the County and City approved an addition of $.03 for Local Option Gas Tax. He said this money began coming into the City in January, 1994. He said these figures were not projected in the FY 94 Budget. Mr. Hawthorne said Franchise Taxes are made up of two categories. He said the City spoke with FP&L who explained a program which had been calculated incorrectly in the past. He said this is being offset by the Solid Waste activity. He said all of these have been projected at year end. He said the City Manager is asking for approval of some inspectors for increased building activity in the City and it is projected that an additional $200,000 will be generated through this source. Mr. Hawthorne explained the Intergovernmental Revenues, which reflected sales tax increases due to Hurricane Andrew, but has dropped off considerably. TAPE 2 Mr. Hawthorne referred to Miscellaneous Revenues, which is made up of a net reduction of $175,000. He said the City received from FP&L $125,000 which had been set up in escrow, which was released this year, which is factored in this figure. He said the big reduction not being counted at this time is the ALS System and the minnet money, which is money that the County receives as taxes to support various services including the ALS System. He said the net reduction is indicated as $175,000. He said he wants Council to realize that Finance has taken into account the total picture of reductions as well as revenues. Mr. Hawthorne said the City has a full operating budget which includes the cost for personnel, operating expenses and the cost for capital. He said the Staff has tried to be conservative in giving Council this figure. He said in looking at the total picture, the City has saved approximately $350,000 for all categories. He said it is projected for personal services, including health and life insurance and all other benefits, $578,244, which indicate a personnel savings that has been achieved. He said this is an issue that needs to be addressed during the budget process. C/M Mishkin asked if a portion of the $578,000 could still be expended this year and Mr. Hawthorne said as it was calculated, most likely it would not. Mr. Hawthorne said Mr. Noe does not permit spending from the Personal Services account. Mayor Abramowitz asked if Council is being told that based on the current expenditures, the $578,000 can be factored in as a savings and Mr. Hawthorne agreed. Mayor Abramowitz said the first risk is seeing the City Manager requesting personnel who have never been aboard before, such as a Street Superintendent, Budget Analyst, Budget Planner, Internal Auditor and all of the vacancies in the various departments. He asked if Mr. Hawthorne would be comfortable putting this figure into the new budget. Mr. Hawthorne said the situation would have to be extensively analyzed. He said the State allows the City to budget 95% instead of 100% because it is known City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 6 that there will be uncollectables. He said it is also known that there will be personnel activity not at the 100% level. Mayor Abramowitz said it is traditionally the role of the Finance Director to present as factual and as conservative a picture as possible to Council. He referred to previous experiences with sending down the figures to the Property Appraiser, William Markham. He said he wants things that are factual. He said if the City wants to improve the services, it will cost money. Mr. Noe said the only way to get a comfort factor is to build it over a period of time and he and Mr. Hawthorne are both new to the City. He said by overestimating revenues and underestimating expenditures, the amounts being discussed are conservative as best as is known. Mr. Hawthorne said this is information is based on the first six months of the fiscal year and will be balanced out during the second half of the year. C/M Schreiber said the City Manager has indicated that these positions will be recommended for the FY 95 Budget or during this Mid Year Review. Discussion was held regarding past budgets. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to see all of the vacancies filled. C/M Schreiber said the bottom line falls under the City Council as to whether or not something is approved. IS SYSTEM C/M Schreiber said the recommendation is to bring the City's current system into compatibility with what is needed for productivity and efficiency. He said he sees no problem with it. C/M Mishkin said his concern is with the fact that this is an interim measure for addressing the problem. Mr. Noe said this is a bandaid going toward the proper direction. He said this is the first step toward the transition on GIS. He said this will allow the City to utilize the information developed properly and not lose it once the transition begins. C/M Mishkin asked if this will be something that will be obsolete and Mr. Noe said, no. Mayor Abramowitz asked if the City will need to spend money to upgrade the mainframe and Mr. Noe said it will need to be done in the future. He asked if this is being done because the City is embarrassed that a lease is being paid on a machine and there is no one to operate it. Mr. Noe said this would be needed even if the City were to purchase a new mainframe tomorrow and he would be recommending the same thing even if the City had someone to operate the system. Mayor Abramowitz suggested that the City hire someone to operate the system and Mr. Noe agreed. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED 1 C' City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 7 AIR CONDITIONING Mr. Noe said this amount is being provided for an assessment of the air conditioning system in City Hall and until the assessment is completed it will not be known as to the amount the repairs will be. He said the low figure is $10,000 and the high figure is $100,000. He said it is important to have the building as functional as possible so that the employees can produce the kind of work needed. C/M Mishkin said the comment made to the City Attorney by Mayor Abramowitz regarding this being pursued through the contractor may take precedence over this expenditure. Mr. Kraft recommended that Council not make a decision on the assessment to the air conditioning based on potential legal resolution to a problem which occurred several years ago. C/M Schreiber said this is an immediate problem which needs to be corrected now. He said if the City can get the money back following legal steps that would be good, but the situation needs to be corrected. Mayor Abramowitz said the only problem he sees is after spending the $10,000 for the assessment and it is found that $150,000 needs to be spent to correct the problem, the Council would then have to give great thought into this situation. Mr. Noe said he was told that last summer there were employees who went home because it was too hot to work. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED Mr. Noe said the increase of $50,000 in Contingency is to give Council some breathing room and Mayor Abramowitz said this is a must. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ESSX PHQNE ,SYSTEM ALL AGREED C/M Mishkin expressed his dissatisfaction with the current phone system. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED STREETS SUPERINTENDENT Mr. Noe said he is not recommending this at this time. Mayor Abramowitz said when Council passed the Ordinance for Storm Water Management, the Ordinance read, "Canals, waterways, drainage and street." He said he would like to discuss this further when Mr. Noe makes his recommendation to move forward on a Streets Superintendent. He requested that each Council member receive a copy of the Ordinance. FIRE PERSONNEL Mr. Noe said he is not recommending this at this time. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 8 BUILDING DEPARTMENT C/W Machek requested that the Building Department remain open during the lunch hour if these positions are approved. Mr. Noe said he is looking to have all departments open all day. Mayor Abramowitz said the City has updated its fee structure based on cost. He asked how the City stands on the current fee structure. He said he met with Mr. Feldman of Pulte Homes regarding his complaint that the public was not being serviced properly involving the blasting. He said Mr. Feldman had complained to him that he was being crippled due to the fact that the Building Department could not meet the needs of Pulte Homes as quickly as needed. Mayor Abramowitz said Mr. Feldman had stated that he did not care if he had to pay for it. He said to this date, nothing of a positive nature has occurred regarding the blasting. He asked if the City is charging the proper fees relating to the various incidents. He said the City did raise fees in the past. Mr. Noe said an analysis of fees charged by the City is needed, but the City does not have the capability to do it. He said if the two Budget Analysts are approved, the City would have more capability to selectively look at various fees annually. Discussion was held regarding the various fees charged in the City. C/W Machek requested that the part-time/full-time position be addressed. Mr. Noe said the City has an option. He said it is not known as to how long the rapid growth in the City will continue. He said the safer position to take is to approve the position on a full-time temporary basis and if it looks as though the growth will continue, then make it a full-time permanent basis. He said this could affect the kind of people the City would recruit or promote or retain because people want benefits. He said if it is shown as a long-term growth, the City may be committed to benefits. He said Council has the option to approve the position as full-time temporary for a year or review it during the FY 95 Budget process. He said the position can always be revised to include benefits at a later time. Mayor Abramowitz said the only large tract available in the City is Land Section 7. He said the City is inundated with many small tracts which are too small for big things and too big for little things. He asked if Mr. DuPre would have a problem with letting staff go if these were made into permanent positions and a recession occurs again. He referred to the situation in Lauderhill the entire Building Department was laid off. Mr. DuPre recommended that these positions be limited term appointments for at least six months and possibly for a year and the positions be reviewed after a year. He recommended that the persons filling these positions be handled as all other employees with a six month probation and then receive benefits after the six months. He recommended that these people be guaranteed that they will be with the City for six months. He said at that time, it will be determined whether or not to continue with this position and if so, it will be extended on a time certain, so that if building did slack off, the person hired would understand that their period of employment is tied with the level of building activity. Mayor Abramowitz said the City wants good people on board. He said at present, the Building Inspectors are doing many more inspections than they efficiently can. He said they are in need of additional help. 1 1 City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 9 C/M Mishkin asked if the City should explore the possibility of getting staff from other places to solve the problem on a temporary basis. Ms. McDermott said the City of Tamarac has given services to Oakland Park, Lauderhill and several other cities. She said the problem is that the City of Tamarac has over 600 units of development coming into the City at the present time on a regular basis. She said the developers have indicated that this is a two year project. Mayor Abramowitz said other cities have also increased on their building, which means the City will be fighting to get good staff. He said he has no problem with paying the benefits, as long as the City does not have several people on board who are not needed. He said it has been indicated that the revenue from the Building Department has increased dramatically. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mr. DuPre said the Union contracts in the City dictate how layoffs would be handled based on departmental seniority. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: 2 BUDGETARY ANALYSTS ALL AGREED C/M Mishkin said Mr. Noe has presented a very good case for adopting this recommendation. C/W Machek asked if a Secretary would be needed for the Budget office, which is not indicated. Mr. Hawthorne said the secretarial duties would be shared with the current Finance Administration. C/M Schreiber asked for the definition between a Budget Officer and a Budget Analyst. Mr. Noe said one would supervise the other. He said there would be a higher level of pay for the Officer, with more responsibility, but he would be analyzing the budget. Discussion was held regarding the Budget Office in Hollywood. Mayor Abramowitz asked if it would be feasible to bring the Budget Analysts in at the beginning of the budgetary process. Mr. Noe said the Staff is already in the budgetary process and if this were approved today, they would almost be too late for the FY 95 Budget. He said Mr. Hawthorne cannot be both the Finance Director and the Budget Director. He said at this time, approximately 90% of Mr. Hawthorne's workload is the budget. He said it is very difficult to run a City of this size with no Budget Office. Mayor Abramowitz referred to the unofficial rule of Department Heads not spending money 60 days prior to the end of the Fiscal Year. Mr. Noe said the City cannot control 18 million dollars worth of expenditures by cutting a few dollars here and there. He said Council is interested in control and control is through information. He said he and Mr. Hawthorne cannot produce this. He said help is needed to do this. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 10 Mayor Abramowitz asked what the Budget Analysts will be doing. Mr. Hawthorne said they will be monitoring administrative fees, preparing and executing the budget, labor analysis, fee structure maintenance, operational evaluation, cost benefit analysis and forecasting problems. He continued to list various duties the Budget Office would handle. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED INTERNAL AUDITQR Mr. Noe said this should be set aside at this time. Q—LASSIFICAJION AND PAY STUDY Mr. Noe said the number one issue is the lack of the City having a pay plan and classification and competitive benefits. He said every jurisdiction has to survey the market from time to time. TAPE 3 Mr. Noe said this would be the most volatile thing that will be done in Tamarac. He said this is critical and there is some unrest among employees and the labor union and the City does have turnover. He said the only way that he or the Council can state that the employees are being compensated fairly, the benefits are competitive and the work being done is on their job description is by having a Classification and Pay Study done. Mayor Abramowitz said he does not want to hear about merit increases. Mr. Noe said there are a variety of ways for the employees to be compensated. He said if the good people are not compensated, they will not remain. C/M Schreiber said this Study may have an effect on future negotiations. Mayor Abramowitz said there will be opposition no matter what is decided. Mr. Noe said the City has an Employee Committee made up of every employee group in the City, which includes the Unions and confidential staff. He said there will be complaints regardless. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: PERSONNEL ANALYST ALL AGREED Mr. Noe said this position is needed, but recommended this be reviewed during the FY 95 Budget process. C/W Machek suggested that the Classification and Pay Study be done prior to hiring the Personnel Analyst. Mr. Noe said there is enough Personnel work to be done and this position should be considered. STORM WATER MANAGEMENT ENGINEER Mr. Noe said this is to hire an Engineer who has been trained in education and work experience in Storm Water Management and to bring programs to the Council in order to spend these funds. u City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 11 Mayor Abramowitz said this is the first time for a program in the City that is both equitable and fair to everyone in the City. He said it behooves the City to provide what the Storm Water Management Act calls for. He said this is one of the most important things to pursue. He requested that the person the City hires not only be experienced in drainage but also in roads and Mr. Noe agreed. Mr. Noe said roads and ballfields cannot be built without considering the drainage. CONSENSUS OF OPINION: ALL AGREED Mayor Abramowitz said it had been decided that the City would post a Special meeting, but there are certain things that Council may need a little more information on. He asked if Council would consider opening and closing the Special meeting to consider these items at another meeting. C/W Machek said she has concerns about the number of Special meetings being held. She said this does not seem to be a do or die type of situation. She said she would prefer this to be agendized on Wednesday's Regular Council meeting. Mayor Abramowitz explained the history of holding special and workshop meetings and the purposes for which they were held. C/M Schreiber said these items can be held for the Regular Meeting on Wednesday. Mayor Abramowitz requested that this be placed on the Regular Agenda for Wednesday if all items have the appropriate backup and Mr. Noe suggested this item be Deferred from the Special meeting to the Wednesday Regular meeting rather than Tabled. 2. i i i I Hgarings. Update by City Attorney and Planning Director. Mr. Kraft explained the function of the quasi-judicial hearing process. He said in the past, Council has acted upon zoning issues, which the courts had previously deemed as legislative in nature. He said the courts recently implemented a new ruling that the zoning issues are now quasi-judicial matters. Mr. Kraft said in order to implement this, a judicial -type process must be held, where the following is included: swearing in, testimony from both sides, cannot be ex-parte spoken to without the other side being present and other such court -type proceedings. Mr. Kraft referred to his memo to Council dated March 25, 1994, which indicates proposed procedures to implement the quasi-judicial hearings. Further explanation was held regarding this. C/M Schreiber asked if the witnesses would be sworn in and Mr. Kraft said, yes. Discussion was held regarding this procedure. Mr. Kraft said the City must adopt procedures which take into account the possibilities that there may be challenges later and for the City's actions to withstand judicial scrutiny, the City must follow along with what the Supreme Court has mandated. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mr. Kraft said he provided Council with an alternative in his March 25, 1994 Memo for the City to hire a Hearing Officer who would sit at the hearings and City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 12 then pass a recommendation to Council. He said this would take the Council out of the protracted process of hearing the evidence and making rulings. He recommended that Council give serious consideration to this. He said the City would be under the obligations based on the Supreme Court rulings and could possibly be more efficiently done this way. He said the cost would be within a range of $75.00 to $100.00 per hour for this type of work. He said there are zoning fees paid to the City and these fees should pay the cost of the service provided by the City. Mayor Abramowitz gave a sample of other such hearings within the City, such as grievances. Mr. Kraft said in order for Council to make its ruling, it has to be based on substantial evidence and the way this is heard is through the proceedings and based on Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. C/W Machek asked why one of the items mentions waivers and the other does not. Mr. Kraft said the March 25th memo is the most recent, which is being recommended with revisions. C/W Machek said she has concerns regarding waivers for situations which not only include the big developers, but also the single homeowner. She asked if she is able to speak with a constituent regarding their problem if they come to her for advice. Mr. Kraft said if any of her constituents want to speak to her regarding an item which may come before Council as a quasi-judicial situation, he advised her that she cannot speak to them unless it is on the record based on ex-parte communications. Further explanation was given for this. C/W Machek asked when this takes affect and Mr. Kraft said this took affect in October, 1993 when the Supreme Court ruled on it. C/M Mishkin said it may be feasible for the City to have a Special Master sit in on these hearings to provide Council with his recommendations. C/W Machek said she has concerns with the fees to the developers and the individual residents applying for permits due to a previous error and incurring the cost of the quasi-judicial system. Mayor Abramowitz said the City will have to rely on the intelligence of the City Planner because nothing happens until the party visits the Building Department with the actual problem. He said the Building Department needs to be responsible to explain the process as it arises. He said the City did not make this law. Mr. Kraft said everyone needs to be treated the same under this Law. Discussion was held regarding the hearing process. Mike Vonder Meulen, Planning Director, said the variances presented to the Board of Adjustment are already considered quasi-judicial and the Board of Adjustment was set up in order to hear these types of cases. He said the City is now in a different era where the Supreme Court has made some additional interpretations where site plans, rezonings and different applications similar to this are now also quasi-judicial, similar to a variance to the Board of Adjustment. rj City Council Workshop Meeting 5/9/94/KJ Page 13 C/M Mishkin asked if the Planning Director is in the position to grant waivers and Mr. Vonder Meulen said no. He said the person would have to file an application to the Board of Adjustment and if it is denied, his appeal would then be to the Circuit Court. Mr. Kraft said there are several items which fall under this category. He said the City cannot go wrong by setting quasi-judicial hearings for everything. Further discussion was held regarding this process. Mayor Abramowitz said it is important that this is researched and handled carefully. He asked if this should be brought before a Special Master or held at a Regular Council meeting. Mr. Kraft asked if Council would like him to begin researching Special Master possibilities. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: ALL AGREED Mr. Vonder Meulen said there are several items which are upcoming to Council in the very near future regarding site plans and special exceptions. Mr. Kraft said he would solicit proposals for a Special Master as soon as possible. He said the courts have not clearly ruled on everything at present. Mr. Noe said he received four bills from the Florida League of Cities which they desire to have vetoed. He asked if Council generally follows the recommendation of the League or should he consult with the Mayor on an individual basis. Mayor Abramowitz said generally, the League takes the position of the municipalities and usually benefits the municipalities. Mr. Noe said he will respond to the letters from the League accordingly. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 12:30 p.m. CAROL A. EVANS, CMC CITY CLERK