HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-10-31 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesCITY OF TAMARAC
CITY COUNCIL
WORKSHOP COUNCIL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1990
Wk& To.QRDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on
Wednesday, October 31, 1990 at 9:30 A.M. in Conference Room $1.
gR�SENT•
Mayor Norman
Abramowitz
Vice Mayor
Bruce
Hoffman
Councilman
Dr. H.
Larry Bender
Councilman
Henry
Rohr
Councilman
Henry
Schumann
John P. Kelly, City Manager
Alan Ruf, City Attorney (entered at 9:55 A.M.)
Patricia Marcurio, Office Manager, City Clerk's Office
Karen Jackson, Secretary
Mayor Abramowitz said the purpose of this meeting is to review Charter
Amendments.
C/M Rohr suggested going back to the original review where Council
categorized priorities two and three which would expedite this meeting.
Mayor Abramowitz said to prioritize the Council's feelings on the
balance of the Charter. He said Priorities 1 and 2 were established
along with Housekeeping. He said Priority 1 was acted upon and Council
is, at present, ready to establish priorities again. He said putting
too many items on a Referendum is not the proper way to accomplish this
task. He said he has compiled a list of priorities as follows:
1) Compensation and Expenses: Section 4.04
2) Vacancies - Forfeiture: Section 4.05
3) Redistricting: Section 6.01 and 6.03 and 6.07
4) Arrangement for Elections: Section 6.09
5) Financial Procedures: Article VII
6) Requirements for Referendum: Section 7.13 through 7.18
7) Charter Board: Article VIII
V/M Hoffman said his considerations for priority are as follows:
1) Redistricting: Section 6.03
2) Appointments: Section 4.05
3) Expenses: Section 4.04
4) Housekeeping Item -Oath of Office: Section 5.05
5) Charter Board: Section 8.02
6) Removal from Office: Section 12.03
7) Residential Growth: Section 12.06
Mayor Abramowitz said this meeting should prioritize for the referendum
for the next election.
C/M Bender referred to Section 5.01, City Manager.
C/M Rohr suggested that the items that were not handled during the last
workshop regarding the Charter should be handled today.
Discussion was held over the prioritizing of Amendments and establishing
a list for priority.
Mayor Abramowitz said the list of priorities is established by Council.
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Ppmpenpption jand _ f,Myrenaee: $potion f.04
C/M Bender said this needs to be discussed because the City is spending
2 to 3 times as much money to maintain records and he feels it is a
priority.
Section 4.04 of the Charter was considered to be a priority item ty
Council.
CONSENSUS Or COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYN
rqr; aeitur,e of P,ff*ce and V-JJ�*nQ pf. VagAtpcIAIR! Sept-iRA 4-OA
Section 4.05 of the Charter was considered to not be a priority item by
Council.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: V/M Hoffman - AYB
C/M Bender - NAY
C/M Schumann -- NAY
C/M Rohr - NAY
Mayor Abramowitz - AY$
"diatrir-tjpq: Sect4,pn 6_03
City Manager Kelly suggested holding the housekeeping items fox another
meeting at a later date.
Section 6.03 of the Charter was considered to be a priority item by
Council.
CONSENSUS Or COUNCIL: V/M Hoffman - AYE
C/M Bender - AYE
C/M Schumann - NAY
C/M Rohr - AYE
Mayor Abramowitz - AYS
ArrangpAppt for AXactione: Section 6_Qq
Section 6.09 of the Charter was considered to be a priority item by
Council.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYE
ri,pancial_Y,Fopeduraa : $tgt�Qn 7.09
Mayor Abramowitz said this needs to be examined carefully.
V/M Hoffman said a report needs to be attained from Mary Blasi, Finance
Director, and City Attorney Ruf.
City Manager Kelly said he has the report.
Aftqpiramant _for pmjgprend"m,,- , Section 7, �3 _throughh Recti" 7,111
Mayor Abramowitz said this should be on the referendum and concerns the
2-1/2%. He said legal advice has been obtained from the City Attorney
and has been acted upon. He said this needs to be discussed in detail.
Section 7.13 through 7.18 of the Charter was considered to be a priority
item by Council.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYN
Qpjt.hof Office: A �oql &,,QA
Discussion was held regarding this being a housekeeping item.
Discussion was held regarding administration of the Oath of Office being
done by the City Manager or the City Clerk and the legal stipulations.
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Section 5.05 of the Charter was considered to be a priority item by
Council.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYE
1jamoval _ from_- _0 f no - Section - 12 _ 03
Discussion was held regarding the rewording of the description of
Section 12.03.
Mayor Abramowitz advised City Attorney Ruf to look into rewording
Section 12.03 for a better description.
Mayor Abramowitz asked if Section 12.06 was deleted from the Charter
what types of problems would be derived from future litigations.
City Attorney Ruf said if this was ever challenged, it would be good to
have something in the Charter and he recommended not removing Section
12.06 from the Charter.
V/M Hoffman said the Charter should be lean and anything that is covered
under the State Statutes need not be in the Charter. He said State Law
takes precedence over all.
City Attorney Ruf said the Charter can be more restrictive in some areas
than the State Statutes.
V/M Hoffman said.this can also be done by Ordinance. He said when the
State Law changes, so does the City.
C/M Rohr said there are several Sections in the Charter that are
controlled by the State and he recommended entering a statement, "This
shall be controlled by State Law".
Section 12.06 of the Charter was considered not to be a priority item by
Council.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYE
Mayor Abramowitz said he does not agree with everything that is
recommended under Section 5.01 and Section 5.03, but this needs to be
reviewed.
- C/M Rohr suggested reviewing the Department Heads section.
C/M Bender noted Article 10, Page 21 regarding the City Clerk.
V/M Hoffman suggested leaving the City Manager's function alone. He
said the only provision not understood is where the Chief Building
official was removed from the City Manager's control.
Mayor Abramowitz suggested reviewing this for the next meeting for
information.
Page 8, Article 5 regarding the City Manager, of the Charter was
considered to be a priority item by Council following information
gathered by the City Attorney and City Manager.
CONSENSUS OF COUNCIL: ALL VOTED AYE
City Manager Kelly requested a discussion regarding the feelings of
Mayor Abramowitz and Council regarding Article 5.
Discussion was held regarding the Chief Building Official and his
authority with the City Manager.
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Melanie Reynolds, resident, said under the South Florida Building Code,
Section 71.575, it says the City Council is finally responsible for
building defects.
V/M Hoffman thanked Ms. Reynolds for her information and asked City
Attorney Ruf to pursue this information.
City Attorney Ruf said there was some historical concern about the Chief
Building Official.
*nDITSONAL -TTZMS
City Manager Kelly said Mary Blasi, Finance Director, would like to
relocate her office to centralize her functions. He said he strongly
endorses this relocation which will be as follows:
1) City Attorney Ruf will move into what is currently his
Conference Room.
2) Dina McDermott will relocate into City Attorney Ruf's eftice.
3) The Internal Auditor will move into Dina McDermott's office.
City Manager Kelly said all of these moves will be contingent upon
whether Mary Blasi moves her operation or not.
4) Mary Blasi is looking to consolidate all of her people closer
together.
5) Personnel, which operates closely with Finance, will relocate
to the front (currently Finance).
6) Kelly Carpenter's department, Community Development, wculd
relocate into the Personnel Offices.
7) Code Enforcement would move into the current Community
Development area.
C/M Bender asked if this would require additional money to make these
moves.
City Manager Kelly said from an efficiency view, these moves would be
beneficial.. He said if this would cost more money than would be saved,
it will not be pursued.
Mayor Abramowitz said he cannot see anybody objecting to an increased
performance of any department. He said a physical move is in order if
it is well thought out and if it does not spend money. He said there is
enough furniture in the building to supply most everything required.
City Manager Kelly said Gary Jordan of Data Processing, is very
competent and proficient and is capable of transferring the wiring for
the computer systems. He said in terms of the desks, most would ,not
need to be moved, just the contents. He said the telephone line
transfers can be handled in house. He said he has a project management
program he has worked with. He said Peter Mack, Mary Blasi and Michael
Couzzo are very much involved.
Mayor Abramowitz said there are two departments that require attention
and V/M Hoffman agreed.
Mayor Abramowitz said an expression of interest was announced at e
Council meeting regarding conduct in the Chambers and he reminded City
Attorney Ruf to prepare an Ordinance regarding this. He said a
suggestion was made to address the filing fees of the City regarding
elected officials.
City Manager Kelly said he has a report from the surrounding cities.
Mayor Abramowitz said the street lighting Referendum has been passed and
he instructed City Manager Kelly to begin getting the financial data
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regarding the costs involved in securing the funding and bring before
Council.
Mayor Abramowitz said November 27, 1990 is the opening of the Multi -
Purpose Center. He said there have been requests regarding adult
community meeting places. He said in most condo associations, if an
organization is a National Organization, they are not allowed to meet in
the condo associations. He said there have been requests by the
residents to provide a meeting place for the adult community. He asked
Council to consider the old recreation center with a few dollars spent
to refurbish it for use as an Adult Recreation Center to be used as a
meeting place for the community. He said Council needs to determine
what the charges will be, what the costs will be and how it will be
worked. He said a workshop will be needed for discussion regarding this
after the information is received from City Manager Kelly.
V/M Hoffman said the City maintains a lot of public property and he
asked if the City charges fees for the individual youth leagues to use
the facilities. He asked why anyone, should be charged. He said if the
youth do not have to pay, why should the adults. He asked if only the
youth would be using the Multi -Purpose Center or will it be used by
everyone.
Mayor Abramowitz said adults and seniors can use the Multi -Purpose
Center and the youth can use the old recreation center. He said he
would like the adults to have their own place to identify with.
V/M Hoffman agreed and said they should have the use of the facility at
no charge.
Mayor'Abramowitz said there are a few problems. He said the recreation
ce#er is set up to make two individual meeting rooms. He said the
front-Aas the=kitchen, which everyone requests to use and the back has
no ,kitchen .
Discussion was held regarding the recreation center.
V/M Hoffman suggested considering whether or not to have fees.
Mayor Abramowitz said no one is looking to make money on the adult
community. He said the only problem foreseen is the determination of
the equity of all the organizations. He said the difference is that a
lot of the larger organizations pay higher monies and need a larger
place.
C/M Bender said research needs to be done on how other cities handle
this situation and decisions can be made from that point.
C/M Rohr said most condos permit national organizations to meet in their
clubhouses if it is restricted to the residents in that condo. He asked
for research from the individual condos also.
Irving Lopatey, resident of Kings Point, said the recreational center at
Kings Point does not belong to the residents. He said Lime Bay's
recreational facilities belong to the residents, which in their by-laws
states that national organizations can hold meetings, board -approved,
providing there are no outside members.
David Krantz, resident, said there are restrictions against ethnic and
religious organizations.
Discussion was held regarding the clubhouse restrictions.
City Attorney Ruf said historically and reasonably, user fees in the
area of recreation is standard in many city budgets.
Mayor Abramowitz said there is an after -school program in the City for
which the City charges fees.
V/M Hoffman said the fee is to cover personnel and equipment.
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Mayor Abramowitz said he has no objection to clean up the recreation
center. He said problems can occur if rules and regulations are not
applied.
V/M Hoffman said he opposes any fee for the use of a public facility for
adults when the youth are not charged. He said he does not advocate
charging the youth either. He said it should work the same for a U .
C/M Bender said the Parks and Recreation Department's budget should
assume the responsibility of taking care of these facilities. He said
research should be done regarding how much money is involved.
V/M Hoffman said a major revision of the Sign Ordinance is in the
enforcement stages. He said people are now being forced to follow the
Ordinance. He said some of the problems have been reviewed with the
Building Department, City Attorney and the Code Enforcement Department.
He said he has requested City Attorney Ruf to prepare certain suggestive
changes in the Ordinance as follows: 1) Certain types of printing
allowed as long as the color is uniform with the rest of the shopping
plaza, 2) New people must adhere to the criteria of the Ordinance, 3)
Require everyone to adhere to color standards.
V/M Hoffman said at present the Code Enforcement Department is issuing
citations based on the Ordinance. He suggested holding a workshop for
discussion. Mayor Abramowitz said a workshop will be held after City
Attorney Ruf gathers the information needed regarding the Sign
Ordinance.
With no further business to discuss, Mayor Abramowitz ADJDDRNMD this
meeting at 11:00 A.M.
w
CAROL A. EVANS - „`
CITY CLERK
"This public document was promulgated at a cost of $85.46 or $1.9D per
copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees Df
recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of
Tamarac."
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