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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-05-17 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCity Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, MAY 17, 1993 Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Monday, May 17, 1993 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room #1 of City Hall. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Irving Katz Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber John P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager (entered at 9:25 a.m.) Mitchell S. Kraft, City Attorney Kelly Carpenter, Director of Community Development (entered at 9:45 a.m.) Karen Jackson, Secretary 1. DISCIISM= regarding Charter Board terms of office to coordinate with Council's terms of office. (Section 8.01) C/M Abramowitz said this is an excellent suggestion based on the previous election. V/M Katz said he has no problems with this recommendation. C/M Schumann said he has no problems with this. Mort Winter, Charter Board Chair, stated that the Charter Board had brought this to Council's attention prior to the last election, but it was not acted upon. 2. 2i4rUSSION regarding any Council member being able to succeed himself more than once. (Section 4.02) V/M Katz said the limitations by Charter state that a Council member can only succeed himself without an intervening term. He made reference to a newspaper article from 1988 regarding term succession by Helen Massaro. He said the Council members should be allowed to serve if the electorate wants them to serve. C/M Abramowitz said the voters should be able to make the choice. C/M Schumann suggested that the voters make the choice and it must go on the ballot. Mr. Winter asked what the effective date would be for this and Mayor Bender said a determination would have to be made following legal consultation. Discussion was held regarding items that were on referendum from the previous elections. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 2 3. DISCUSSION regarding taking Council compensation out of the Charter by Ordinance. (Section 4.04) V/M Katz suggested to the Mayor and the City Manager that some of these items should be reviewed and if they are agreed upon, that they be put on referendum. He said this item was discussed prior to the last election and it was decided that it not be placed on the referendum. V/M Katz said this alludes to taking the Council compensation out of the Charter. He recommended an alternative means of compensating the Mayor and Council which would be by the action of the State, the same as they do for the County. He requested that Mayor Bender describe this procedure. Mayor Bender said he has had concerns regarding this portion of the Charter. He said after examining how the State and County regulate, it makes sense to remove this from the Charter and provide for the State to handle it. He said doing this will eliminate all current and future problems that may arrive as a result of regulating compensation. C/M Abramowitz said he is against taking the Council compensation out of the Charter because at one time there may be a Council who is financially responsible and another time a Council may not be. Mayor Bender said the State has formulas they use involving density, population, budget amounts and other such items. C/M Schumann said he is in favor of this if it is other than the Council controlling it. Mayor Bender said the formula is regulated by the State and the information used for setting these compensations is published by the State. 4. DISCUSSION regarding going back to At -Large elections. (Section 6.04) V/M Katz said there were so many complaints from the previous election, he felt it was necessary to have Council discuss it again. C/M Abramowitz said what happened at the last election took away the power of the people of the City to make a determination as to who would be representing them on the Council. He said At -Large elections do have a place in an area where there is a tremendous amount of voters. He said it is extremely difficult and expensive to run At -Large. He said there was a problem in the past where minorities could not get elected to office because there were minority areas that were overwhelmed by the population of the City. He said Tamarac is a City with approximately 30,000 voters. C/M Schumann recommended that the City remain with district voting. He said district voting prevents any political organization from altering a vote in a district other than their own. V/M Katz recommended that this be brought before Council again when C/M Schreiber is in attendance for further discussion. Anthony Grimaldi, resident, said this was discussed during the General Election and the courts ruled that the At -Large election was not in the best interest of the people and the people of Tamarac voted to not have the At -Large elections any more. Discussion was held regarding At -Large elections. Mayor Bender said this is a decision that should be made by the City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 3 residents and should be placed on an agenda for further discussion. C/M Schumann said the people passed this by an overwhelming majority during the last election and now Council wants to have it removed. Discussion was held regarding the election process for the mayor. 5. QJS=22ION regarding Council taking a four -consecutive week vacation. (Section 4.06) V/M Katz said every year there has been a problem of trying to squeeze four or five weeks of reading into one week because the Charter states the Council must take four consecutive weeks of vacation time. He said historically, these weeks have been at the time that the City is required to have figures for Mr. Markham's office. He said he is uncomfortable giving a vote on something about which he is not fully aware. He stated that Council should be able to determine when the best time is for them to take off and whether or not they want consecutive weeks for vacation. C/M Abramowitz said Staff has the ability to do more work during the four weeks that Council is off. He said this is a period of time when many people are on vacation. He asked if the time that Council takes for vacation is considered disruptive. Mr. Kelly said it is not a question of being disruptive. He said the provision in the City Charter where it dictates when Council shall take vacation is inappropriate. He said Council should be able to take vacation whenever they want. V/M Katz said the City does not shut down and if the City Manager needs a vote on an item, but needs to wait four consecutive weeks for Council action, then it is not in the best interest of the City. Mr. Kelly said any reference of the Council taking a vacation should be out of the Charter. C/M Abramowitz said he would like to know when his vacation is going to be scheduled well in advance. Mayor Bender said the Charter is a general guideline of rules and regulations which should not be contaminated with administrative instructions. Mr. Kraft said the purpose of this being in the Charter is based on the meetings being held two times per month. He asked if the terminology should be in the Charter that the Council meets two times per month, except when vacation is so designated. CONSENSUS OF OPINION. ALL AGREED 6. DISCUSS?ON regarding night meetings. C/M Abramowitz said he would be against changing to two night meetings due to many people in the City who have difficulty driving at night. V/M Katz said the consideration was for two night meetings. He said he is on the Board of Directors of a number of organizations and one of those meetings conflicts with the fourth Wednesday of the month Council meeting. He said he was offered work as a consultant part-time with an Engineering firm but had to refuse due to being at the Council meeting. He said holding two night meetings may benefit a younger person who may want to run for office but also held a job during the day. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 4 C/M Abramowitz asked if Staff is paid overtime when they attend the night meetings. Mr. Kelly said compensatory time is accrued most of the time and occasionally overtime is paid. C/M Abramowitz said Staff is present during the day and it is a little less expensive to hold the day meetings. Mayor Bender said Council originally decided to hold the night meetings to give the residents who work an opportunity to attend Council meetings. He said the attendance at the night meetings has been sparse. He said based on the public participation at the night meetings, he questions whether the night meetings should be continued. He said the night meetings are a burden on the elected officials and the employees who have to attend them. He recommended that the night meetings be canceled. C/M Abramowitz recommended that the meetings remain as is. C/M Schumann recommended that they remain the same. 7. DISCUSSION regarding holding workshop meetings on Fridays. V/M Katz suggested that Council hold workshop meetings on Fridays, which is the best day for him to attend. Mayor Bender said he is not in favor of designating a specific day for any special or workshop meeting. C/M Abramowitz said he is not in favor of this. He said many of the Council members serve on various other boards or committees which is in the City's best interest. He encouraged further involvement and recommended that other arrangements should be made when there is any conflict in meeting times. C/M Schumann said he is in favor of calling a workshop meeting when needed. 8. DISCUSSION regarding Code Enforcement officer. Ms. McDermott said the Administration has been reviewing the departments on a 6-month review basis. TAPE 2 Ms. McDermott said during the past year the City had three Code Enforcement officers and a Supervisor of Developmental Services. She said the City no longer has the position of Supervisor of Developmental Services and the City has expanded the Code Enforcement Division. Ms. McDermott said the City has five Code officers on the road, school crossing guards under the purview of the Community Development Department and there is quite a bit of new development within the Planning Department. She said there is a very large gap of proper supervision for Code Enforcement. She said the City's goal is to put somebody in the field who would handle all of the districts and monitor all of the activities of the Code and who can intercede with the community, the Code officers and assist the communities on an as --needed basis. Ms. McDermott said one of the other concerns for the 1993/94 Budget is to start some community clean-up days where the City would go into a neighborhood and Code Enforcement would help to organize and schedule it through the Homeowners' Associations and the waste hauler. Ms. McDermott said the City is looking to add a Supervisor for Code Enforcement. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 5 C/M Abramowitz said he understands the need for this. He asked if this person would also be a Code officer in the field and Ms. Carpenter said, yes. C/M Abramowitz asked if they are considering someone who is currently on the City's payroll and Ms. Carpenter said the position will have to be posted in-house and any of the existing officers will be able to apply for that position. She said if none of them are hired, it would be advertised in the newspaper. C/M Abramowitz said he is against hiring a Supervisor for five people and he understands that there is a big problem with school crossing guards. He asked if the plan would be for the duties of this person to include being an active Code Enforcement Officer who would supervise the Code Enforcement officers and the crossing guards. Ms. Carpenter said the proposal on the table did not include the school crossing guards but it can be part of the proposal if that is what Council chooses to do. C/M Abramowitz said there are more problems with the crossing guards than there are with the Code Enforcement Officers. Mr. Kelly said Staff is looking to privatize the crossing guards this year, which will be discussed during the Budget process. Mayor Bender said he spoke with the Sheriff's office regarding the situation with the school crossing guards in Woodmont, where there are children sitting in the street who are in danger of getting hit by a car. Discussion was held regarding this. V/M Katz said a working Foreman would be fine, but he does not want to establish the same situation as when Steve Oxenhandler was working for the City as Supervisor of Developmental Services. Ms. Carpenter said the Code Enforcement Officers can be supervised very well in the office. She said the problem that she has is supervising them in the field when she is managing the Planning Department and the school crossing guards, as well as Code Enforcement. She said it is difficult for her to get out in the field on a daily basis. C/M Abramowitz said she is not being paid to go out in the field to check on the Code Enforcement Officers. Ms. Carpenter said there is no one being paid to do this, which is the problem at present. She said when the Department was consolidated, the City did not envision the need for monitoring the officers in the field on a daily or an as -needed basis. Ms. McDermott said it would not only be for monitoring the Code officers, but would be assisting in areas where a business or a resident may have a problem that they would like someone of a higher authority to try and resolve. Mayor Bender questioned the salary of $39,129 per year and the amount of benefits included. Discussion was held regarding the salary, benefits and the job description. Mayor Bender said this salary seems to be a bit high. C/M Abramowitz said that salary is a bit high and asked how many officers the City of Sunrise has. Ms. McDermott said six or seven. C/M Abramowitz said if the salary is too high from the offset, there is no incentive if they are good and they would be making as much money as Department Heads. He said he would look to get a City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 6 qualified person for less money. Mayor Bender questioned the benefit package and asked what type of benefit packages other cities offer and Ms. Carpenter said she did not research benefit packages, just salaries. Further discussion was held regarding benefit packages. C/M Abramowitz recommended that surveys be done with other cities that are comparable to Tamarac. C/M Schumann referred to a previous memo regarding the Director of Developmental Services position which was eliminated. He asked who would be the Community Development Director and asked if the Developmental Services Director would supervise Code Enforcement. Ms. Carpenter said the position of Developmental Services Director had specific day-to-day supervision requirements over Code Enforcement officers. She said that position also had a Building Official who supervised the Building Department on a day-to-day basis. She said when the Code Enforcement Division and school crossing guards were combined into Community Development, there was no person with the time to do the day-to-day supervising of the school crossing guards or the Code officers, which was added over and above what she currently did. Ms. Carpenter said after living through it for a year, there is an additional person needed to assist with the complaints from the field, where the Code officer cannot handle it, and the day-to-day supervision of those officers. Ms. Carpenter said she is having trouble maintaining the supervision in the office and in the field. V/M Katz asked if the City would be eliminating one of the Code officers from the field or increasing the Department to six officers. Mr. Kelly said both options are being considered. Mayor Bender recommended that considerations be made to cover the City with an extra person on Staff if it is needed. C/M Abramowitz said he agrees that another Code officer would be beneficial to the City. C/M Schumann said he has no comment either way regarding this. Mayor Bender said there are two parts to this question, one is the establishment of a supervisor position for Code officers and the other item is the concern regarding the salary. He recommended that further surveys be done regarding the salary of this supervisor and he has no objection to creating this position. 9. DISCUSSION regarding the Commercial Boulevard Beautification Joint Proiect with the Citv of Sunrise. Ms. McDermott introduced Paul Callsen, Director of Public Works for the City of Sunrise. She said there was a meeting between the City Manager of Sunrise, Mr. Kelly and the Staff regarding the beautification of Commercial Boulevard from the Sawgrass Expressway to Pine Island Road. Ms. McDermott said at present, the City of Tamarac maintains a portion of that median and Sunrise maintains a portion of it. She said there has been discussion to do a joint beautification project along that roadway; Tamarac would maintain a portion of the roadway after the improvements have been installed and Sunrise would do the same. F�11 1 r_1 City Council workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 7 C/M Abramowitz asked how much this would cost and Mr. Kelly recommended that the presentation be heard prior to discussing figures. Ms. McDermott said the project encompasses total median, which includes curbing, irrigation, brick pavers, ground cover, plants, trees and shrubs. She said this is a key gateway area of Land Section 7. Mr. Callsen said one of the responsibilities of the Sunrise Public Works Department is the development and maintenance of public rights -of -way such as medians. He said at present, the City of Sunrise is involved in the Community Enrichment Program, which is a major capital improvements program. He said one component of that program is a project for median development which will include some border medians. Mr. Callsen said Tamarac and Sunrise share some common boundary along Commercial Boulevard starting at the intersection of Pine Island Road, going west to the Sawgrass Expressway. He said the City of Sunrise has employed a landscape architect to design this project. He said this project has been broken down into two phases, easy and hard. He said the easy part is under construction, which are completely Sunrise -owned streets not needing permits from the County or the State. Mr. Callsen said the harder part is the more administratively complex projects. He said this shared boundary that exists between the two cities is approximately 1.7 miles. He said there is curbing and a few trees that do not fit into the Florida Department of Transportation Code 546. Mr. Callsen said the portion of the roadway from Pine Island Road to Nob Hill Road is a City street, the north owned by Tamarac and the south owned by Sunrise. He said from Nob Hill Road to the Sawgrass Expressway is County roadway to the point where the Sawgrass limited access right-of-way begins. He said this particular section of roadway is governed by at least four governmental agencies. Mr. Callsen displayed the concept proposed by the City of Sunrise which was created for one of those medians. Discussion was held regarding this concept which includes pavers and trees. C/M Schumann asked if this would be irrigated or xeriscaped and Mr. Callsen said it would be irrigated. Ms. McDermott said the proposal would be that Tamarac would pay for half of the funding and would maintain half of the median and Sunrise would fund and maintain the other half. She said it would be curbed, irrigated, sodded, ground cover, trees, plants and interlocking pavers. C/M Abramowitz asked if Tamarac had previously been involved in a similar project and Ms. McDermott said the City had been but this is going to be handled in a different manner. Ms. McDermott said the City is trying to create an image to Tamarac and in the process, trying to establish the western corridor to bring future business and growth. She said Pulte Homes is developing in that vicinity and realtors and other agents are looking at Land Section 7 for multiple uses. She said the goal is to make that area look like it is part of the City of Tamarac. She said there is work and funding in place for an area which is immediately adjacent to this section. Mayor Bender asked why the County keeps being discussed and Ms. McDermott said all those agencies are involved and they have ownership of pieces of the roadway from Nob Hill Road to the bridge at the Sawgrass Expressway. Discussion was held regarding City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 8 the median projects with the County. Mr. Callsen said the County may or may not decide to develop this roadway in the future. He said the approximate cost of this project will be $140,000 for the development, which includes the irrigation systems and all of the landscaping and hardscaping. He said the maintenance costs cannot by calculated until a design is chosen. C/M Abramowitz asked if there is any possibility that the developers can pay for a portion of the median maintenance and development. Mr. Callsen said it is mandatory in Sunrise that all developers pay a median development fee. Mr. Kelly said the City of Tamarac does have opportunities for negotiations with the developers for participation in this. He said Sunrise is ready to make a commitment there. He said this is a chance to handle the medians properly with a potential partner who has a great track record for beautification projects in the City of Sunrise. He said this will be cost effective for both cities and he would not like to miss an opportunity to do this project right instead of letting the County or the Department of Transportation handle this. V/M Katz asked if this precludes the City of Tamarac from getting the funds from Pulte or any other developer. Mr. Kelly said the City of Sunrise just has to know that Tamarac is willing to cost -share in this project but how Tamarac gets its money is Tamarac's business. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: ALL AGREED TAPE 3 Mayor Bender RECESSED the meeting at 10:35 a.m. and RECONVENED at 10:40 a.m. with ALL PRESENT. 10. DISCUS61ON regarding Ordinance 0-93-9, which amended Chapter 23 of the Code regarding requests for temporary holiday sales from wayside stands. (July 4, Halloween and Christmas) C/M Abramowitz said at the last Council meeting, an Ordinance was passed giving permission for July 4, Halloween and Christmas sales for sparklers, pumpkins and Christmas trees. He said he has received a number of calls from the organizations involved in these sales, such as the Boy Scouts of America and St. Malachy's Church, regarding a performance bond which is required. He said to get a $10,000 performance bond is prohibitive. He said there is no problem with the insurance requirements. C/M Abramowitz said he received copies of the Ordinances from neighboring cities and Broward County and all of them originally required a $10,000 performance bond and have subsequently changed it to $1,000. C/M Schumann asked why a performance bond is required when they are not in a contract with the City. Discussion was held regarding this. C/M Abramowitz said another concern was the $500 fee and he recommended that the fee be reduced to $250. C/M Schumann suggested that the requirement for a performance bond be eliminated. Mr. Kraft said the purpose of the performance bond is additional City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 9 assurance to the City if there is said it is Council's prerogative performance bond. something not done properly. He to require or dismiss the Discussion was held regarding the performance bond requirements. Abramowitz said the vendors are requesting that Council change th�perft)i*ance bond from $10,000 to $1,000 and the fee from $500 `:Mayor $eri&r said the performance bond is not necessary. Further djscussanh was held regarding this and the cleanup process by the vendb s C/M Abramowitz recommended that the fee be reduced to $250 and, if Council wants to waive it for any group, it would be Council's decision to do so. Mayor Bender said the consensus is to reduce the fee to $250 and to eliminate the performance bond. Mr. Kelly said Pulte Homes has requested permission to pay their required traffic impact tees in phases as opposed to being paid in advance. Ms. Carpenter said in the past, Council had changed the platting Ordinance to allow park impact fees to be paid at the time of site plan rather than at the time of platting. She said Pulte Homes is objecting to traffic impact fees being required at the time of site plan and are requesting these fees be paid at the time of building permit but the Code does not provide for the ability to pay the traffic impact fees in phases. V/M Katz said he has no problem with these fees being paid in phases. He said Pulte Homes has a reputation for completing projects which they begin and they are a reputable developer. C/M Abramowitz said he would like to approve this based on the need to bring business into the City of Tamarac. He said there are certain things that will need to be changed in the future. He asked what the City can do to be protected and Mr. Kraft said get the money up front. Ms. Carpenter said the concept of impact fees is that there has to be a rational connection between the charging of the fee and the use for which the money is put up. She said if Pulte Homes never builds Phase 2, then by law, the City is not entitled to those fees anyway and they would have to be returned at some point in the future or they would sell that property with those fees to someone else. Further discussion was held regarding this. Ms. Carpenter said proposed amendments to the text in Chapter 10 will be made. V/M Katz referred to a memo dated May 13, 1993, regarding the EMS Service. C/M Abramowitz said as the President of the Sroward League of Cities, he received a letter from Mr. Osterholt to address the League regarding the EMS Service. He said Margate and Sunrise admitted that they make no money on the EMS Service and it is very costly to run. V/M Katz said the cost to the residents per month quoted by Margate and Sunrise was $24 per person for a combined Fire Department and EMS Service. Mr. Kelly said this information has been requested and will be provided to Council upon receipt for further discussion. City Council Workshop Meeting 5/17/93/KJ Page 10 With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 11:05 a.m.