HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-08-17 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCity Council Workshop Meeting
08/17/93/KJ
Page 1
CITY OF TAMARAC
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING
TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1993
CALL TO ORpZA; Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on
Tuesday, August 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
Mitchell Kraft, City Attorney
Thelma Fagelbaum, Deputy Finance Director
Karen Willard, Comptroller
Michael Couzzo, Assistant City Manager/Director of
Public Services
Larry DuPre, Personnel Director
Mike Vonder Meulen, Senior Planner
Gordon Sparks, Deputy City Engineer
Karen Jackson, Secretary
Mayor Bender added Item 4 to the agenda and stated that the item
would be taken out of sequence due to the number of people present
for this item.
4. DISCUSSION regarding the crossing guards.
Mr. Kelly said during the previous Council meeting, Council
indicated that more information was needed regarding the proposed
contract for crossing guards to get a feel of what was taking
place. He said Mr. DuPre has completed most of this work and would
like to give Council an update.
Larry DuPre, Personnel Director, said some of the contract
requirements have been revised. He said he will be meeting with
the City Attorney to review these changes following the meeting.
Mr. DuPre said this contract came about because of the City's
concerns that the Code Enforcement Officers are spending a lot of
time working as School Crossing Guards. He said the absenteeism
record has been excessive with absences totaling 266 man hours in
a three-month period equaling 88 days if divided by the three
hours per day that they normally work.
Mr. DuPre said the City searched for someone to provide a service
that would allow the City to no longer use Code Enforcement
Officers as School Crossing Guards, eliminate the general
liability to the City, and worker's compensation. He said the City
also wanted to ensure that the company which was chosen would
offer positions to every present School Crossing Guard, that no
one would lose their job and that only Tamarac residents would be
recruited to fill these positions.
Mr. DuPre said it was also requested that the School Crossing
Guards would be permanently assigned to their station so that the
children could develop a relationship of trust with the guards. He
said the guards presently working a particular post would be
retained at that post. He said the City would have the opportunity
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to review the performance and,be able to terminate the contract if
the services they provided were not sufficient. He said it appears
that these concerns have been satisfied.
Mr. DuPre said he has spoken with Bill Bell, Principal of Tamarac
Elementary, regarding this and it is his understanding that Mr.
Bell's concerns have also been met.
Mr. DuPre said there are 3 or 4 School Crossing Guards that are
currently being paid $8.50 per hour. He said if a new company
takes this over, their salary will be cut in half and the other 8
will remain at their current salary.
C/M Abramowitz said this is not a new situation. He said this
happened in the past couple of years. He said during previous
meetings there were statements made by concerned parents regarding
fairness. Discussion was held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz said he wants the City to have the ability to
terminate this contract if the appropriate service is not
received. He said it is Council's responsibility to the health,
safety and welfare of the residents in the City.
V/M Katz said the exposure to the City in any case, would cost the
City an inordinate amount of money, due to being the employer of
the School Crossing Guards if there is any hint of negligence.
Mr. Kraft said the issue of claims bills is not easily put through
the Legislature, but it has been known to happen. He said the City
does have a certain amount of exposure with the School Crossing
Guards if they work directly for the City as well as if they work
for an outside company. He said the City will be writing a
contract in such a way that they are independent contractors and
will try to minimize the City's exposure. He advised Council not
to think that by hiring an outside contractor that the City is
removed from liability completely.
C/M Schreiber asked if the City will have a Hold Harmless
Agreement and Mr. Kraft said the City will have a Hold Harmless
Agreement and insurance. He said these are all things which need
to be worked into the contract.
V/M Katz asked if consideration has been given to the right to
terminate an individual, which he would like in the contract.
Mr. Kraft said the ways in which the City maintains this as an
independent contractor are the details of the contract. He said
the final result of the contract is what deciphers an independent
contractor relationship. He said if the City starts to control the
details of the relationship, such as who is hired, their station
and other such items, then the relationship can be pierced and the
City could be in a master/servant relationship and the City would
lose all of those protections.
V/M Katz said his concern would be if there was a problem with a
particular guard and the contractor is performing satisfactorily,
there needs to be a review and there has to be a way to state to
the contractor that this guard is not performing properly.
Mr. Kelly said this scenario applies to every contractor that
currently works for the City. He said if an engineering firm is
working for the City and the City is unhappy with an individual
working for the firm, the City speaks with the President of the
firm and requests a different individual.
V/M Katz asked who would provide the training for the Crossing
Guards.
Mr. DuPre said under the proposed agreement, prior to the
Wednesday night Council meeting, it was under the City of Pompano
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contract, which the City would piggyback onto. He said the City of
Pompano has a Police Department and part of their contract
provides for their Police Department to train the guards. He said
it is believed that if the guards are trained by the City, the
City would accept the liability for their actions.
Mr. DuPre said this would allow for the individual to claim that
he was not trained properly. He said the proposed contract is
going to state that the company will be responsible for the
training. Discussion was held regarding this.
C/M Schreiber said based on the information that the Personnel
Director has indicated, it is incumbent upon Council to seriously
consider going into this outside contract. He said the only
concern he has refers to the three crossing guards who are
currently being paid $8.50 per hour. He suggested that the City
make an allowance for these three guards and possibly increase the
$4.25 to $6.00 or a reasonable amount.
C/M Schreiber said there is no need for a crossing guard at the
overpass on University Drive. He said Council may want to consider
other areas that do need crossing guards in the future.
C/M Schumann asked how many crossing guards would be on duty per
day and Mr. DuPre said eleven with one supervisor.
C/M Schumann said he would like to see a contract bond with
specific performance running to the favor of the City by the
contractor if the City goes into this.
Mr. DuPre said Pompano does not have a lot in the way of
protection in their contract and all agreed.
Mayor Bender asked what the City has done to correct the situation
using its own crossing guards. He asked if this is a situation
that is beyond correction.
Mr. Kelly said the situation was evaluated, but it never resolved
the key issue of the City's liability exposure. He said it would
cost the City a small amount of money to hire a few more crossing
guards, but the liability to the City is costly.
Mr. DuPre said the City considered moving the crossing guards
under the Risk Management Department, but this would be quite an
administrative task due to the absenteeism and having people on
standby. He said it was also considered to place them under the
Recreation Department, but no matter where the City looked at
moving them, the exposure and the administrative task as opposed
to the dollars to be spent to have a person supervise them daily,
was not feasible.
Mayor Bender asked if it is possible to hire temporary employees
from temporary agencies.
Mr. Kraft said these people would have to have the proper
training.
Mr. DuPre said he has discussed this with the temporary employment
agencies but there are problems with this. He said this is when
the worse fears of the School Board and the residents of Tamarac
are realized. He said at present, there are no companies which
have Tamarac residents as temporaries and their people do not know
the traffic flow or the children in Tamarac, which is the least
viable of options.
C/M Abramowitz said the amount of absenteeism of the crossing
guards is what disturbs him the most. Discussion was held
regarding the history of the crossing guard program.
C/M Abramowitz said as an elected official, he has the obligation
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to look at the ramifications of what occurs and the exposure to
the City. He said Council is extremely concerned about the
children. He said the City cannot allow the Code Enforcement
officers to continue doing crossing guard duty due to absenteeism
because they are unable to do their own work.
Maureen Miller, resident, stated the reasons that various crossing
guards were absent. She said the intersection at Bailey Road is
shared by Tamarac and North Lauderdale and is a liability issue.
C/M Abramowitz said a crossing guard is stationed there at the
request of the Broward County School Board.
Ms. Miller suggested that North Lauderdale provide the crossing
guard at this intersection.
Mr. DUPre said the City has written a letter to the Broward County
Traffic Engineering Department regarding the fact that the School
Board wants the crossing guard at this location and that it is
believed that North Lauderdale should provide this guard.
Further discussion was held regarding the reasons for the absences
of the various crossing guards and the reduction of their salaries
upon returning to work.
Mr. Kelly said Council adopted the salary rate of $4.25 per hour
for crossing guards and Staff was directed to reduce the salaries
as people left their jobs. Further discussion was held regarding
this.
Discussion was held regarding the Code Enforcement officers being
trained as crossing guards.
Ms. Miller said her concern is that if the City wants to
privatize, it would only be fair that the crossing guards who are
currently making $8.50 per hour, maintain the current rate of pay
upon privatization.
Mayor Bender asked if it would be possible for the City to provide
a subsidy to the three individuals who are currently making $8.50
per hour upon privatization. He said the contractor does not want
to pay the crossing guards this amount of money. He asked if there
would be a liability issue involved with this.
Mr. Kraft said if the City is going to privatize, then this should
be done, but if the City is going to be paying a supplement to
various crossing guards, they would clearly be City employees and
the City would lose whatever protection against liability it may
have had. He said he has not had any negotiations with this
contractor to present, but specific situations may be negotiated.
He said as far as the City dictating who should be paid what
should be a detail that the City avoid.
Mr. DuPre explained the situation involving the Equal Employment
Opportunity (EEO) stipulations and regulations. He recommended
that the City is careful regarding these issues. Further
discussion was held regarding this.
Mayor Bender requested that the City Attorney review the proposed
contract and provide Council with the information.
Mary Trautman, resident and Supervisor of Crossing Guards,
requested that the City consider hiring two or three crossing
guards at a little higher rate and allow them to try to work out
the problems currently at hand prior to privatization.
C/M Schreiber said this is overlooking the reason for privatizing
which is to eliminate the liability exposure of the City. He said
the City has been very fortunate in the past with this, but the
exposure remains.
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TAPE 2
Further discussion was held regarding the crossing guards.
V/M Katz said Council understands the position of the parents on
this issue. He said anyone who wants to work as a crossing guard
may apply to this agency and will be considered for the job. He
said the monetary situation should be a part of the negotiation
posture and the Council's decision.
Mayor Bender said the City recently did a survey of crossing guard
salaries from various agencies. He said this information is
available for review. He said the City of Tamarac paid one of the
highest rates in the survey.
Ms. Trautman said she and Code Enforcement Officer Millie Hammel
contacted the area cities regarding the crossing guard salaries.
Mr. DuPre said usually salary surveys are done by the Personnel
Department because they tend to have a more unbiased view. He said
there is always a danger in doing salary surveys.
Cindy Cohen, resident, expressed her opinions regarding the
crossing guard situation.
Mr. Kelly said Staff will prepare a package which will address the
concerns of Council for review at the next Council meeting.
C/M Abramowitz requested that Council receive the proposed
contract in ample time for review.
Mayor Bender suggested that the proposed contract be made
available to others.
1. CO1�L�TION of the 1993/94 budget review workshops and City
overview of the budget.
City Attorney - Page 35
Mr. Kelly said the bulk of the recommended budget for this under
Line Item 309 and 312, is where the increase under Labor Relations
and Legal Services is involved.
Mr. Kraft said he reviewed the budget from the last time Labor
Relations occurred and the Legal Services has increased due to
matters which have been handled out of the City Attorney's office
regarding litigation and prosecution services.
Mr. Kelly said Mr. Kraft could have left this in the Personnel
area but it was felt that it would be more appropriate under the
City Attorney's budget.
C/M Abramowitz asked if this is the same salary as when the City
Attorney was hired and Mr. Kelly said, no.
C/M Abramowitz referred to Marion Swenson's position.
Mr. Kraft said Ms. Swenson was hired as a legal secretary at
$24,000.00 and was increased during the last budget to $24,960.00.
He said he has proposed that she be reclassified as a Paralegal to
a salary of $26,961.00. He said she is a Certified Paralegal from
Barry University and is the only other employee in the office and
does far more than a Secretary.
Mr. Kraft said she functions as a true Paralegal and is involved
in the discovery flow, interrogatories, requests for production,
drafts letters and makes phone calls on behalf of the department.
Mr. Kraft said his proposal was $28,961.00, which is in keeping
with the salary survey of similar positions in other attorneys
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offices.
C/M Abramowitz asked what her current salary is and Mr. Kraft said
she currently makes $24,960.00.
Mr. Kelly said he denied all reclassifications throughout the
City, but conceded on $2,300.00 for this position because it is
somewhat out of his purview. He said Ms. Swenson does work
directly with the City Attorney, who is an appointed official. He
said his concern in giving this amount of an increase which was
inordinate.
Further discussion was held regarding the work done by Ms. Swenson
in the City Attorney's office and the proposed reclassification
and salary increase.
Mr. Kelly said the City is currently involved with labor
negotiations and is not a good time to make reclassifications.
C/M Abramowitz said if Ms. Swenson is doing a Paralegal's job,
then change her job classification to a Paralegal.
Mr. Kraft said his job is not to make anyone's bargaining position
worse, but is to help alleviate some of the problems that the City
faces. He said the City Attorney's staff is not a comparable staff
with Union negotiations.
Mayor Bender said the Paralegal position has the ability to recoup
money for the City.
Mr. Kraft said Ms. Swenson has saved the City an abundant amount
of money in legal fees for special counsel by having her
coordinate the legal documents.
C/M Schreiber said he has no objections to raising some salaries
providing that more productivity can be achieved by that person.
He said he would like to see the City Attorney's office do more
litigation. He said 95% of the lawsuits are settled and not tried.
Mayor Bender said the City Attorney does not have the time to do
litigation. He said he is finding that a lot of correspondence
being generated by the City Attorney's office for Council is
useless and Council needs to stop sending the Attorney requests to
investigate everything so that he will have the time to do what he
is supposed to do. Further discussion was held regarding this.
Mr. Kraft said litigation is very time consuming for a one -person
law office. He said litigation is one of the more enjoyable
activities of being an attorney. He said he had told Council when
he was being considered for hire that his job is not to save the
City money, but to make sure the City is represented and he is not
able to tell Council that he can do everything. He said he has
taken a more active role in special counsel cases. He said there
are several big cases pending which are also quite time consuming.
Mayor Bender said Council needs to be a little more prudent when
generating their requests to the City Attorney. He said it
behooves everyone to do a little research on their own and if it
is still not clarified, then write a letter.
Mr. Kelly said the budget proposal Council has before them
reflects a 10% increase for Ms. Swenson. He said no other
confidentials are getting an increase at all. He recommended that
Council provide the 10% increase. He said he is prepared to
support the Attorney's proposal for a reclassification for the
total amount that he is requesting, but it is inappropriate at
this time and recommended that Council defer it until after the
negotiations.
Mr. Kraft requested that Council give consideration for the
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reclassification at this time.
C/M Schreiber referred to Item #329-Prosecution Services and
questioned the recommendation for $20,000.00 for this year and the
actual encumbrance till June was $1,795.00. He asked if the City
needs the $20,000.00 encumbered.
Mr. Kraft said Legal Services and Prosecution Services should be
lumped together as one because it seems that he moves money from
one account to the other to pay legal bills at the end of the
year. Further discussion was held regarding this.
V/M Katz asked if there are any legal expenses contributed to Risk
Management and Mr. Kraft said some of the legal expenses are paid
on the liability cases from the Risk Management budget.
V/M Katz asked who has the right to authorize legal expenditures
from the Risk Management budget and Mr. Kelly said the City
Attorney and the Risk Manager have the authorization to sign off
on the bills.
Mayor Bender recommended that a record be maintained of the costs
by the Risk Manager.
C/M Abramowitz suggested that the reclassification of Ms. Swenson
be done at this time. He also recommended the 10% increase with a
90 day review and six month probationary period with a possible
escalation later. Discussion was held regarding the proposed
salary increase and reclassification.
Mayor Bender asked where the dollar amount was generated for the
reclassification and Mr. Kraft said the amount of $28,961.00 came
from the Personnel Director for the job classification.
Mayor Bender asked for an Expression of Interest on this item.
C/M Schreiber said he wanted to secure the City Manager's position
which Mr. Kelly felt was an exposure for the labor negotiations.
He said he is not opposed to the amount and the reclassification.
C/M Schumann and C/M Abramowitz agreed to go with the
reclassification.
Mr. Kelly said listed are potential adjustments Council was
looking to consider. He said there are $49,000.00 worth of
modifications needed to be done in order to comply with the ADA
Building Requirement Act.
Mr. Kelly said there was discussion regarding the Social
Services bus. He said the City can do a 5 year lease/purchase
between $8,240.00 and $25,000.00 depending on what the City
gets.
Mr. Kelly said the showmobile lease/purchase can be done for
$8,240.00. He said the street sweeper can be included in the
Storm Water Management Utility District if this is approved by
Council.
Mr. Kelly said these will bring the budget to approximately a 5%
increase, depending on what the Council approved. He said at
present there is a 15% increase but if Council approved the
Water Management District, there will be a 5% increase. He said
if the above items are removed from the proposed budget an
adjusted roll back increase will remain of 3.87% and there will
be an increase over the current millage of 2.47%.
C/M Abramowitz asked if the ADA requirements are mandatory and
Mr. Kelly said they have to be done somehow.
C/M Schreiber asked if all of these requirements have to be done
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during this fiscal year.
Mr. Kelly said Council controls the budget but something has to
be done.
C/M Abramowitz said he would like to get a handle on the Social
Services bus.
Mayor Bender said he checked into this. He said the bus is
available and it behooves the City to explore this for all of
the facts.
C/M Abramowitz said the showmobile is something that the City
needs and is a very valuable asset. He said there are brochures
on the street sweeper to be reviewed.
Mr. Kelly said the current budget would be an increase of 2.47%,
but if the potentials are added in, there would be an increase
of 5.1%.
TAPE 3
Further discussion was held regarding the potential budget
items.
Mr. Kelly said the street sweeper would go under the Stormwater
Management Utility District, which would not affect the budget.
He said the $49,000.00 will and the $8,240.00 for the
lease/purchase for the showmobile will affect it and whatever is
done with the Social Services bus.
C/M Schumann asked if $2.00 per month on the water bill is going
to cover the Stormwater Management and Mr. Kelly said, yes.
Discussion was held regarding the County's proposal for canal
maintenance.
Mr. Kelly said with what was just discussed, ADA Building
Requirements are $49,000.00, the showmobile will be a
lease/purchase of $8,240.00, which leaves, within the framework
of the $76,902.00 which was subtracted, $19,662.00 to be applied
to the purchase or lease of the Social Services bus which comes
back to the 5.1% increase.
C/M Abramowitz asked what the cost would be associated with
driving the bus.
Mr. Kelly said the City currently has drivers. Further
discussion was held regarding this.
Mayor Bender asked what the total dollar figure is and Mr. Kelly
said the money going back in would be $76,902.00.
Discussion was held regarding the possible various annual tax
increases.
Mr. Kelly said if Council approves going with this budget, the
millage rate would be 5.1% and the annual tax increase would be
$17.90 to someone with a $25,000 home.
Mayor Bender asked how much the millage would decrease if the
City utilized the $100,000.00 from FP&L and Mr. Kelly said
approximately 1..5%.
Mayor Bender said it behooves the City to take $100,000.00 from
the FP&L Reserve Fund and add it to the budget for balancing. He
said the City may receive additional monies throughout the year
from the cable and electric companies, based upon the MAS audit.
He said the City is entitled to take $250,000.00 from the FP&L
Escrow Account and the City is able to take $125,000.00
immediately because the City has already complied with all of
the requirements to do this.
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Mayor Bender recommended that the City use
$100,000.00 of this
money and reduce the percentage of the millage.
Ms. Fagelbaum said she would meet with the
Mayor to review this.
V/M Katz said the City has not had a major
emergency to date and
the City does not have the money to fund an emergency. He said
Council is looking to deplete it's Reserve
Fund. He asked where
the money would come from if an emergency occurs. Discussion was
held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz questioned the City's right
to utilize this
money.
C/M Schumann said the City has $125,000.00
to use according to
the contract.
V/M Katz said for the sake of reducing the millage, the City
will be left without funds for an emergency situation. Further
discussion was held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz said 28% of the people in the City pay no tax at
all and 58% to 60% of the people pay less than $100.00 per year
to the City of Tamarac. He said a utility tax would provide that
everyone in the City will pay.
C/M Schumann said a 5% increase is not something to lose sleep
over. He said everything today is rising and people know it. He
said 5% on the Tamarac tax rate is nothing. He recommended a 5%
utility tax be created and reduce the ad valorem, which would
include everyone paying the taxes. Further discussion was held.
C/M Schumann said he finds nothing wrong with the 5 or 6% ad
valorem increase.
V/M Katz said he would not want to do more than what has been
done at present and C/M Abramowitz agreed.
2. DISCUSSION regarding the Stormwater Management Utility
District proposal.
C/M Abramowitz recommended that the City establish the Stormwater
Management Utility District, with the proviso that prior to his
voting on this, it would have to be an Enterprise Fund and Mr.
Kelly said it is.
C/M Abramowitz requested the three classifications upon which the
City can utilize this.
Mr. Kelly said the Stormwater Management Utility District program
covers more than canals, but also the runoff and pollutants that
affect the stormwater. He said everyone is affected by the
stormwater.
Mike Couzzo, Director of Public Services, said in the budget there
was a list of items that are currently operational and travel
expenditures that are being proposed for next year that will be
funded from the generation of revenues from this account.
Mr. Couzzo said the City will be additionally generating more
revenues and those could be utilized to supplement the current
maintenance of the canal program by contracting it out. He said
there have been a number of different companies contacted and a
variety of proposals have been received as to how to treat the
existing condition which could range up to $500,000.00 next year.
Mr. Couzzo said an engineering report was presented to Mr. Kelly
which identifies three different means in which to generate the
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revenue from three different types of categories: residential,
improved properties and non -improved properties.
C/M Abramowitz asked why the non -improved properties cannot be
identified as vacant land and Mr. Couzzo said there may be some
land that has been altered slightly but may still be vacant.
Mr. Couzzo said there are three different fee structures
associated with the different categories. Discussion was held
regarding the definition of vacant property.
C/M Abramowitz asked if every property is included in this and Mr.
Couzzo said, yes.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is anyone escaping this and Mr.
Couzzo said the schools, religious organizations and governmental
agencies may or may not be included.
Mayor Bender said Council should give direction to proceed with
this and then have the City Manager pursue more information for
Council's review and ALL AGREED.
Mr. Kelly said the method of assessment will be refined and
brought back to Council for review.
Mr. Kelly said Council needs to hold a meeting for a Motion to
Approve $5,000.00 for the purchase of chemicals for aquatic weed
control. He said the City is getting low on the chemicals needed
to continue the treatment of the canals.
C/M Abramowitz said there was a request brought to the Board of
Directors of the Broward League of Cities from the City of Fort
Lauderdale for a change in the allocation of the proposed new gas
tax. He said support from the Broward League for this is not going
to happen. He said on August 24, 1993, at the Fort Lauderdale City
Hall Commission Chambers, a meeting will be held regarding the gas
tax proposal. Discussion was held regarding this.
3. 21SCfSION regarding the Pulte Homes project.
Mr. Kelly said Council should have received a letter from Tim
Hernandez of Pulte Homes asking for assistance in moving some text
amendments and site plans through the City processes.
Mike Vonder Meulen, Senior Planner, said Pulte Homes has two major
developments pending site plan approval at the City Council level.
He said the reason they have not been brought forward to date is
due to Pulte Homes requesting that the fees be changed from the
time of payment at the time of final_ site plan approval to other
appropriate times, such as obtaining engineering permits or
building permits.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said the local traffic impact fees have been
brought before Council and all of the additional fees, water and
sewer, potable water and other engineering -type fees, will be
piggy -backed along with this. He said he has copies of a draft
ordinance which has been revised to meet the requirements. He said
there will be additional changes to some of the wording to address
some of the concerns of the Engineering Department.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said this delays the payment of fees and a
Developer's Agreement will be created showing the phasing of the
fees and how they will be broken down.
C/M Abramowitz asked what the proposal is and Staff's
recommendations.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said Staff would recommend approval of this. He
said the change is not in the sum or a reduction of fees, but is
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Page 11
at the time that they make payment. He said this proposal is for
payments to be made which are broken down into increments of 25
units instead of at final site plan approval,.
V/M Katz asked at what phase construction will this take place or
what phase of completion of the site plan.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said it would be prior to the issuance of a
building permit.
C/M Abramowitz asked what gets paid prior to the issuance of a
building permit.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said a minimum of the fees, meaning whatever is
in Phase I of the particular project.
V/M Katz said this is a misquote. He said it is not a minimum of
the fees, but is all of the fees that are due to that point.
Discussion was held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a way to guarantee completion of
the project if the developer has difficulty selling the units he
already built and does not build more at this time.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said there are no guarantees that he would
complete the job, even if the fees were paid up front.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a way to guarantee that he finish
what he begins. He asked if there is a possibility of having the
property as escrow versus a non-payment.
Mr. Kraft said there could be a bond against the completion of the
job.
C/M Schreiber said Pulte Homes is asking the City to finance them.
He said Pulte Homes is a major builder. He said letting them pay
in this manner may affect the.budget in the future.
C/M Abramowitz asked if the City will give a proposed developer an
opportunity to come into the City and begin a project without
putting up the appropriate fees.
C/M Schreiber asked how this would affect other developers. He
said once this is done for Pulte Homes, it would have to be done
for others. He asked how this will affect the City financially.
C/M Abramowitz said the City cannot spend what it does not have.
V/M Katz said there are four major land owners in the City, Pulte
Homes, Lennar Homes, Leadership Housing and Land Section 7. He
asked what happens to the DRI in Land Section South if the Code is
to be changed for this. Further discussion was held regarding
this.
V/M Katz asked which section of the Code would have to be amended
if there was an owner in Land Section 7.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said the impact fees are collected due to the
building units causing an impact. He said if those homes are not
going to be developed, then there is no impact and no reason to
collect those fees.
TAPE 4
C/M Schreiber said the fees are collected at the time of the site
plan approval at present.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said to try to draw a comparison, there is
Lennar Homes, who has Kings Point, which has over 5,000 units;
however, Lennar Homes does not pay the City impact fees for 5,400
City Council Workshop Meeting
08/17/93/KJ
Page 12
units at present. He said Lennar'Homes has broken their project
down into sub -projects, such as Malvern, Lombardy and so on. He
said Lennar Homes pays their impact fees based on these projects.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said Pulte Homes has a different land situation
and land configuration. He said they plan on constructing over
1,300 units; however, they do not want to pay the impact fees up
front. He said they would like to break their project into sub-
projects similar to Lennar Homes. He said the City does not
recognize this because it is one large land parcel and they are
site planning it all at once. He said it will take seven to ten
years to complete the project that they are proposing.
Mr. Vonder Meulen referred to the concerns regarding Land Section
7 and its impact fees. He said the City has addressed the 25
residential units in the Ordinance, but did not address commercial
or industrial concerns. He said if a commercial or industrial
developer comes in and site plans more than one building at a
time, that person would have to pay the impact fees on all
buildings on that site plan at that time; however, they can
approach the City with one building at a time and pay the impact
fees on those buildings.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said if they do bring in the site plans for the
entire south half of Land Section 7 and they would like to see a
breakdown in fees, they will have to come back to the City and
amend the Ordinance on a per -building basis. He said at this time,
they can do it, at their option, doing one building at a time, or
come in and pay it all at once.
C/M Abramowitz said this seems that this could be a big help to
someone looking to come into the City for development and Mr.
Vander Meulen agreed.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a way for the City to cover
itself and not be a victim of incomplete work by a developer.
Mr. Kraft said Council needs to be aware that there are risks
involved.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a possibility to do an Ordinance
strictly for Pulte.
Mr. Kraft said if there is something unique about the property or
the situation but the Ordinance will affect everyone equally.
C/M Abramowitz said the City had approximately $400,000.00 worth
of fines against Leadership Housing at one time. He asked if these
fines were eliminated or did they exist prior to the sale of the
property to Pulte Homes and can this be taken as extenuating
circumstances. Discussion was held regarding this.
Mayor Sender asked why this cannot be handled as a Resolution
rather than an Ordinance.
Mr. Kraft said if a unique situation is needed for Pulte Homes,
this could be done by Resolution, but then other companies will
want the same Resolution. Discussion was held regarding this.
Mr. Kraft said an Ordinance will amend the Code. He said in order
to avoid litigation, the Ordinances are drafted to treat everyone
equal from the beginning.
C/M Abramowitz asked if there is anything wrong with limiting this
to residential property.
Mr. Kraft said that is a rational distinction. He asked if Staff
contemplates this as being residential and commercial.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said it only encompasses residential. He said
City Council Workshop Meeting V
08/17/93/KJ
Page 13
the Section of the Code being discussed is Section 1.01, the Phase
Development. He said there are different types of phasing and in
this phasing, it is 25%. He said this entails only 25 residential
dwelling units. He said there are no amendments to the Phasing
Section of the Code in reference to commercial and industrial.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said a developer has the option of coming into
the City with a site plan of one commercial building at a time. He
said if the developer prefers to come in with four or five at a
time, those fees would have to be paid up front, unless the
Section of the Code regarding this is amended. Further discussion
was held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz said he has no problem giving some relief to the
developer under these circumstances.
Mr. Kelly said Pulte Homes is a nationwide company and dwarfs
Lennar Homes.
C/M Abramowitz said he is opposed to closing off the ingress and
egress to Southgate Boulevard. He said he spoke with Mr. Hernandez
and asked him how this would affect the project and he said he did
not have much problem with it. He said Mr. Hernandez stated that
it would cost them a couple of units.
C/M Abramowitz said Pulte Homes does not own Section 6. He
recommended that the barricades be moved 25 feet west of where
they currently are for the same situation. He said it is not
feasible to have 17 ingresses and egresses on NW 108 Terrace.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said Staff had requested that Pulte Homes apply
for the vacation of that portion of Southgate Boulevard, which
abuts their property. He said the Community Development Department
created an application to vacate Southgate Boulevard from NW 103
Avenue, so that there would not be any dead end situation and the
nuisance situation which currently exists at this location. He
said the applications are in process at this time. He said
Southgate Boulevard would be serving 280 townhomes within the
Pulte development. Discussion was held regarding the Pulte and
Lennar traffic impact to the area.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said the application for the vacation can be
amended to vacate those portions of Southgate Boulevard from the
Pulte entrances to the Sawgrass Expressway. He said there is no
reason for the land or the road to be there. He said Pulte Homes
is making the recommendations to vacate that. Further discussion
was held regarding this.
C/M Abramowitz said there are 17 ingresses and egresses on NW 108
Avenue and whatever Council can do to alleviate this should be
done.
Mr. Kelly asked if Council is ready to move ahead on the request
by Mr. Hernandez for assistance with these amendments.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said his concern regarding the Ordinance is that
there are State requirements because the City is amending the Land
Development Code. He said the City has to advertise approximately
seven days prior to the first reading and then approximately two
weeks must be between the first and second readings and then
approximately five days prior to the second reading, another
advertisement is done. He said these meetings must take place
after 5:00 p.m. and, if this is done on the regular Council
meeting schedule, October is the earliest date for completion of
the process.
C/M Abramowitz recommended that Council go ahead with this but he
wanted to be sure that Southgate Boulevard has an ingress and
egress there. Discussion was held regarding the scheduling of
this.
City Council Workshop Meeting:
08/17/93/KJ
Page 14
EXPRESSION or INTEREST:
ALL AGREED
Mr. Vonder Meulen said Pulte Homes is going to be paying over
$100,000.00 in local traffic impact fees. He said this money is
not being scheduled in with the Hiatus Road project because it is
coming in after all of the decisions were made on that. He said
that money is there.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said Lennar Homes is making vast improvements on
the landscape medians and have created a theme throughout the
Kings Point area and this is next to it. He said Staff is
requesting an agreement with Pulte Homes to use those traffic
impact fees to improve the medians, curbing, landscaping and
irrigation.
C/M Schreiber asked where this would be located.
Mr. Vonder Meulen said one side is committed by Lennar Homes;
however, the other side will not be completed.
C/M Schreiber said Lennar has made an agreement with the City to
do some of this work.
Ms. McDermott said Lennar is doing a couple of miles of this but
there is a gap, which is Pulte. Further discussion was held
regarding this.
Ms. McDermott said Lennar is working with Planning and the City
Manager's office on the design of their portion of Nob Hill Road
and all of NW 108 Terrace. She said they are trying to fast track
the process. She said the Nob Hill portion is involved with
Broward County and the City is trying to help with Broward County
to fast track the paperwork because there are certain maintenance
agreements involved. She said the concern Staff has is that there
is a section of land that abuts the Pulte property, along NW 108
Terrace, south of the Lennar projects.
Ms. McDermott said the City is trying to push Pulte Homes to
complete that section and continue along this line.
C/M Abramowitz recommended this be done.
Mayor Bender referred to the letter received from Continental
Cablevision on their new prices. He said eight items on the list
have been increased, three items have decreased and three items
have remained the same. He said Bob Steinert of Continental
Cablevision met with him and requested that the City not try to
control the rates.
Mayor Bender said no timeframe is indicated for the rate increase.
Further discussion was held regarding the cable service.
C/M Abramowitz said Mr. Steinert has stated that this is 100% in
line with FCC regulations.
C/M Schumann said the information he has been reading about the
FCC is that they are looking to reduce the rates.
Mr. Kraft said the Resolution directing him to file the request to
regulate with FCC cannot be filed before September 1, 1993.
With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at
11:50 a.m.
CAROL A. EVANS, CMC
CITY CLERK