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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-09-11 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesE MAIL REPLY TO: P.O. BOX 25010 TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33320 5811 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE 9 TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 NOTICE OF WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Workshop Meeting of the City Council on Friday, September 11, 1987, at 10:00 A.M., at the BOULEVARDS CLUBHOUSE, 2611 NW 53 Street (Prospect Road). The purpose of the meeting is to review the proposed Tamarac Utilities East Budget for the Fiscal Year 1987/88 for the benefit of those residents east of State Road 7. Carol E. Barbuto City Clerk AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1987 TAPE 1 ""ALL TO ORDER: Mayor Hart Called this Workshop meeting to Order at 10:00 A.M. Fr day, September 11, 1987 at the BOULEVARDS CLUBHOUSE, 2611 NW 53 Street rospect Road). PRESENT: ABSENT AND EXCUSED: ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Bernard Hart Vice Mayor Sydney M. Stein Councilman Jack Stelzer Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr John P. Kelly, Ci Manager William Greenw , Director of Util' ies/Engineering Charlotte Bouchard, Supervisor of Utilities Pauline Walaszek, Secretary Mayor Hart said the purpose of this meeting was to review the proposed Tamarac Utilities East Budget for the Fiscal Year 1987/1988 for the benefit of those residents located east of State Road 7. He said he would also like to discuss the drainage problem that had been voted down by the City Council at the September 9, 1987 City Council evening meeting. He said there would be two (2) Public Hearing meetings scheduled for 7:30 P.M. on Wednesday, September 16, 1987 and Tuesday, September 22, 1987 and at the September 22, 1987 meeting, the budget would be approved. William Greenwood, Director of Utilities/Engineering, said what has been happening at Tamarac Utilities East (TUE) over the last 20 years was the system had very low maintenance and capital improvements. He said last year's budget appropriated over $250,000.00 for the replacement of the sew- age lift stations at TUE. He said the present stations were rotting away, running high maintenance costs with continual surveillance and there were no automatic devices or monitoring devices. He said because of several problems, last year's bids for the replacement projects were rejected. He said new bids have previously been received on the sewage lift stations which had been approved by the City Council, and four (4) new lift stations out of six, were under order and the stations were being fabricated at the factory. He said he had brought videos of the actual internal damage of the sewers and at the end of the meeting, the residents were welcome to view the sewers and the damage. He said 75% of the total sewer systems were leaking very badly, especially during high ground water conditions and rainfall. He said the conditions have to be eliminated and corrected. He said the water was bought from Fort Lauderdale, which went through a meter; and the leaking was being paid for by the residents. He then showed the residents graphed exhibits of the sanitary sewers which needed repair. He said within the next 8 years, $70,000.00 to $85,000.90 per year would be needed to correct and maintain the systems. He said if there was nothing done to repair these systems, it would still be very costly to the residents and the City. He said being a professional hired by the City, he has recommended to the Council that the system could not be neglected any longer. PAGE 1 9/11/87/pw He said last year, six (6) new fire hydrants had been added to the east area for adequate fire protection at a cost of $25,000.00. He said six (6) main line valves had also been installed in the east area for emergency conditions. He said 2 years ago, when a main water line broke, almost the whole area had to be cut off to repair the breakage and with the new main lines, only the section of the breakage had to be cut off. He said he was also recommending an additional six (6) fire hydrants be installed to handle any problems. He said there were 74 units on septic tanks in the east area and he recommended that be changed, however, because of the criticism from the residents and unanswered questions, the project had be( bidded on and cancelled. He said the 74 units needed to be replaced, how- ever, the project was not in the capital improvement program at this time plus there would not be any grants available from the State or Federal ever again to replace the septic tanks. He said he had recommended a 20% increase be implemented to make these repairs and to have excess funds available for operation expenses and capital improvement projects in the amount of $71,000.00. He said the insurance costs had been increased. He said in 1985/86 the insurance cost had been $3,798.00 and 1986/87 the cost had been for $4,875.00 and in 1987/ 88 the cost would be $19,900.00 for the east area alone. He said Fort Lauderdale was increasing the water and sewer costs 2%. He said within the next 10 years, it would cost $1,000,000.00 for the capital improvements to maintain the systems. He said residential areas could not carry themselves tax wise or utility wise. He said the customer base on the east side con- sisted of only 1,000 people which was a low customer base. He said the South Florida Water Management District, Environmental Quality Control Board in Broward County, Broward County Water Resources Management, State Department Environmental Regulation and the Federal EPA was becoming very strict on ground water contamination. He said he would recommend the 20% increase be approved to get these stations repaired and maintained. John Kelly, City Manager, asked Mr. Greenwood if the 20% had been calcu- lated by using the monthly billing and Mr. Greenwood replied, yes. City manager Kelly asked what the percentage would be if the billing went back to bi-monthly and Mr. Greenwood replied, about 25%. C/M Hoffman said no one on the Council wanted to increase fees, however, the water had to be clean and the system had to be without leaks. He said he could see no alternative other than fixing the system. He said the question was would the residents prefer monthly billing or bi-monthly billing. He said he would like to hear the residents' opinion regarding the billing. V/M Stein said the figures that were stated by Mr. Greenwood had been established by the Staff and the legislative body had nothing to do with the figures. He said the purpose of having this meeting was to hear what the residents could suggest or would prefer. He said to make all the repairs needed and maintain the system, funds would have to be set aside each year for capital improvements. He said he would like to hear any suggestions the residents could give. Mayor Hart said after the Public Hearings, the City Budget would be ap- proved, however, the Council has been fighting to keep the real estate taxes as low as possible. He said at the moment, the real estate taxes will be lower than last year and the City of Tamarac would be one of the lowest real estate taxed Cities around. He then opened the meeting to the residents. James Collier, Resident of 2311 NW 55 Street (Boulevards), said on February 2, 1987, City Manager Kelly had attended one of their meetings and at the PAGE 2 9/11/87/pw 1 1 11 time the residents were not happy about their water bills being increased. He said the residents had been accustomed to paying their bills bi-monthly opposed to the recent monthly billing and most of the residents would pre- fer bi-monthly billing. He said when City Manager Kelly attended their meeting they were told that the lift stations were being repaired and they assumed since the meeting, they were repaired. He said unless the neces- sary repairs were done on the sewage systems, they would continue to get worse. He asked Mr. Greenwood if an Insituform Company would be making the repairs as opposed to tearing up the streets for the repairs. Mr. Greenwood said he had a listing, available for the residents, which in- dicated what sections would be using the company. He said the cost would be $60.00 per foot and where grouting methods could not be done, this tech- nique would be used. He said insituform was a technique which placed a fiberglass liner within the existing pipe. He said this technique was very dependable, cost efficient and would not cause traffic problems. James Collier said being the residents were limited in their finances, they were not happy with the idea of their rates being raised, however, their hands were tied because the repairs had to be done. He asked when the repairs would begin and when the repairs would be completed. Mr. Greenwood said the four (4) lift stations would be constructed first, then the insituforming would be the next project and within the next 3 years, the other projects would be completed. He said once the budget was approved and the monies were built up, the projects would fall into place and be done. Ralph Stolze, Resident of 2619 NW 54 Street, said he had been trying to find out why the east area had to pay for the repairs. He said he believed the project was a City project, not a resident project. He asked why the east area had a separate budget. Mr. Greenwood said the City was set up with two (2) main utilities run as separate utilities. He said the east area had been the original area that began the City of Tamarac and the City taxes were not used for water and sewer, the user fees paid the cost. Eleanor Smerline, Resident of 2705 NW 54 Street, said last year the City refunded the east area $150.00 per home and asked what happened to the balance of the money which should of been in the amount of $150,000.00. She said she had not heard anything about the money in the figures Mr. Greenwood had indicated. Mr. Greenwood said the monies that were not refunded were saved to pay for the cost of the new sewage lift stations. Eleanor Smerline asked Council if they reviewed the newpaper reports before they were printed because the newpaper had been printing things that were not correct. She said if the reporter heard a figure of $500,000.00 for utility costs east of State Road 7, he had to get the information from the City Council or someone from City Hall. C/M Hoffman said before the residents believe the newspaper, they should read the article to see who the paper had been quoting and if a member of the Council was quoted, it would say so. He said much of the information the newspaper receives, is received by what they suspect to be a reliable source. He said whether the source is truly reliable should be the ques- tion. He said he personally had never been questioned by the press regard- ing the east area's budget expenses and he could not inform anyone of where the information comes from. He said when he asks the press where they got the information, he is told the information comes from privileged sources. PAGE 3 9/11/87/pw r J Eleanor Smerline asked why the Council did not rebut the press with their own articles in the newspaper and C/M Hoffman said first, it was costly to place articles in the paper and if the item was controversial, their article probably would not be printed. City Manager Kelly said often, the items printed in the paper had been mis- interpreted or were read the way they wanted to be read. He said a reporter may pick up recommendations from staff that had not gone to the City Council for action. He said he could not hold back any recommenda- tions or anything that would naturally be public information. Referring tc. the refunds, he said the monies from the residents that could not be reached had to go to the State; therefore the City of Tamarac lost $30,000.00, which impacts the residents in the east area. Eleanor Smerline asked why the utility bills had been changed from bi- monthly to monthly. She said to change the billing system would cost a lot of money. Charlotte Bouchard said the last year's rates had not reflected the change to bi-monthly billing. She said the east area had been on bi-monthly bill- ing for 10 years and the west area had always been on monthly billing. She said when Ordinances were passed, the rates had already been estab- lished and there was not a rate increase implemented to subsidize the change to monthly billing. She said the basic costs concerning the com- puters were based within the laws and the guidelines required. She said because there were two separate enterprises, every charge on the east area had to be charged for only the east area. She said the biggest cost would pertain to the postage as opposed to the administrative cost. Eleanor Smerline said after the refunds were distributed last year, the City went out to bid for 55 Street drainage repairs and a year had passed and there had been no repairs whatsoever. TAPE 2 V/M Stein said the drainage was paid from the overall City fund which was being subsidized by the west area. He said the engineering had been done for the project in the area of $10,000.00 and the drainage was ready to go. He said 2 years ago, he had asked the east area if they would be interested in joining the west area to create one enterprise and the east area said no because they would be obligated to a $16,000,000.03 bond issue, which he did not blame the east area for not wanting to get involved. He said the east area's burden was much less than the debt service in the west area. Eleanor Smerline said in front of her house was a drain and for 14 years, the drain had set higher than the street. She said the Code Enforcer and Utilities had told her many times it was going to be fixed. She said her husband had to drill a hole through the side so the water would go down. Mayor Hart said the reason the bi-monthly billing had been changed to monthly billing had been because residents had objected to the bi-monthly billing. He said Council had not decided to change the billing back to bi-monthly. The reason the meeting was being held today would be to get the residents' opinion regarding if they wanted bi-monthly or monthly. Walter Bloher, Resident of 5217 NW 28 Avenue, said he had received inform- ation that all of the drainage pipes were made level and the lakes were feeding into each other. He asked if the garbage pick up would be added to their electric bills and if the pipes laid recently through the east area could be contributing to the repairs for the systems and the Council replied yes to both of these questions. Mr. Bloher said he had asked several questions regarding the City's annexation,particularly the Exe- cutive Airport. He said he had recently heard that Carvel on Commercial Boulevard would not be a part of the City's annexation. He said the City constantly talks about tax base and all of the surrounding properties seem to elude the City of Tamarac. PAGE 4 9/11/87/pw City Manager Kelly said the monies that were paying for the drainage came from the Government's Impact Pees on a City wide basis. lie said the drain- age repairs were ready to be completed, however, there were legal objec- tions voiced from the residents of the east area; therefore, the City Attorney had the project redesigned which presently went out to the engi- neers. He said the City was greatly disturbed regarding the annexation of Carvel and Thelma Brown, City Planner, had worked very closely with Carvel. He said the owner of Carvel had indicated that he was very willing to be a part of the City of Tamarac, however, he had changed his mind several times. He said when he and Ms. Brown read that Lauderdale Lakes would be taking Carvel, they were very shocked. He said Mr. Carvel had been con- tacted and asked why he did not contact the City of Tamarac so proceedings could be halted. Mr. Carvel said when he okayed the taking over, he thought he was talking to Thelma Brown, City Planner, from Lauderdale Lakes. He said at the present time, communications were being sought in the matter. He said annexation was very important for the City of Tamarac and at the present time, the City was working with the Legislative Dele- gations and the neighboring parcels to accomplish some annexation. C/M Hoffman said for many years, the City of Tamarac had done everything possible to discourage commercial development. He said it took time to develop an atmosphere that people could recognize as being friendly to commercial development. He said City of Tamarac had a reputation through- out the County and the State, as a hostile City towards commercial develop- ment and the Council was trying to change that image, however, the image could not be changed over night. He said the assessed evaluation had been increased on the County tax rolls by $50,000,000.00 because of development. He said most of the development had been on the west side of the City because there was not land available on the east side of the City, however, the monies that were accumulated by the development in the west, helped the east side as well. He said he could assure the residents that the Council was going to continue annexation procedures and would provide the City with the best commercial development possible. Earl Wetthel, Resident of 2701 NW 52 Court (Tamarac Lakes North), said a sewer line from Crystal Lake had been located in front of his develop- ment and he asked if the City any revenue from the sewer line. William Greenwood, Director of Utilties/Engineering, said presently, the City was receiving contributions and aid for construction by the develop- ers on the east side, which in the last few years amounted to $68,000.00. He said the monies were transferred into the sewage pump stations reloca- tion projects to pay for the developer's proportionate share of the effect and impact on those facilities. Mr. Wetthel said the line that he had referred to did not go into any of Tamarac's lift stations, however, it did travel across Tamarac's property. He asked if the City of Tamarac received any revenues because the line did travel through their property or would the City of Tamarac be responsible for the line if there was a breakage or leak. William Greenwood said Fort Lauderdale systems were on private easements and the City of Fort Lauderdale would be responsible for any breakage. He said the City did not receive any revenues for the line. Evelyn Lange, Resident of 5402 NW 26 Road, asked if the $150,000.00 had been credited to the residents in the budget and Mr. Greenwood replied, yes. She said she was sure the residents would be interested in the bi-montly billing and at this time she asked the residents to raise their hands if they were opposed to changing back to bi-monthly and no one opposed. She said when the medians were cut, the grass was not picked up; therefore, the grass clogged the drainage and sewer system. PAGE 5 9/11/87/pw Council asked the City Manager to investigate why the grass was not being picked up. Sophie Vie, Resident of 2705 NW 54 Street,said a letter had been written by Mrs. Jean Bluginski regarding the grass not being picked up and the letter had never been answered. She said the residents knew it was the City's responsibility and she would appreciate if the City took care of the median strips better than they had. Mayor Hart said all of the figures in the budget had been subsidized basically by the west side. He said areas such as Woodmont, Woodlands and Westchester had homes appraised at $125,000.00 to $3,000,000.00 and the tax rate on the homes help pay all the services of the City. He said the total City budget was $15,000,000.00 and out of the budget, $6,917,699.00 would be for the Police and Fire Department. He said the Police Budget for the year was in the amount of $4,684,000.00 plus and the Fire Budget was in the amount of $2,233,000.00 plus. He said the only thing separated within the City regarding the east side would be the utilities section. William Greenwood, Director of Utilities/Engineering, said last year, the City Council approved a design for new drainage systems on the east side and there were several questions regarding easements, rights -of -way, legal- ities. He said the project was designed, bidded on and then rejected because the questions could not be answered within the time limit allowed. He said because of the questions, the project was redesigned. He said the drainage project was brought to Council recently and again, it had been Tabled by the City Council because of the complaints and questions by the residents. lie said Staff was still recommending that the drainage system be installed on the east side and the project remains the number one prior- ity in the City of Tamarac. V/M Stein said Council was ready to approve the drainage project, however, because of the objections brought to Council from the residents, they could not approve the project. He said the Council would proceed with the drainage project as soon as the meeting was adjourned unless the residents objected. James Collier, Resident of 2311 NW 55 Avenue, said he was pleased with the drainage project being proposed because he had been burdened with the flooding problem for many years. He said when Williams, Hatfield & Stoner exhibited the plans for the drainage system, they said they would be in- stalling a 48" pipe on 23 Avenue starting at 55 Street which would run south to 54 Street and then west to 24 Avenue which would turn south and drain into the lake. He said he questioned this project because the flooding started at the corner of 24 Avenue to 26 Avenue then back to 23 Avenue. He said when he spoke to Bob Foy, Engineering Department, he was told the system would work for the residents without any problems. He said there was a lawsuit recently regarding taking the water out of the lake and cleaning of the lake. He said the Boulevards had to pay 40% to clean the lake and Tamarac,Lakes North had to pay 60% by Court Order. He said Tamarac Industrial Park had been draining into the lake for the long- est time and the residents had not know that until Williams, Hatfield & Stoner exhibited the project. He said whenever there were heavy rains, the drainage from the park came into the same pipe as the Boulevard's pipe, which caused the flooding. He said he went to Williams, Hatfield & Stoner and spoke with Tony Nolan who again showed him the plans. He said when he asked Mr. Nolan why the piping was being started on 23 Avenue, Mr. Nolan replied that it would relieve more of the Industrial Park. He said when he brought the statement back to Mr. Foy, Mr. Foy said the statement had been wrong. He said there was a reason the piping was starting on 23 Avenue and he could not understand why. PAGE 6 9/11/87/pw I Walter Bloher, Resident of 5217 NW 28 Avenue, said after the Boulevard's Board heard about the project, they were in favor of it until it was brought to their attention there would be a connection to the piping. He said a letter had been written to the City Council on May 11, 1987 regard- ing the connection. He said he received a letter from Alan Ruf on July 8, 1987 which did not answer the questions. He said he sent another letter on July 13, 1987, to Alan Ruf requesting further information regarding the project, to which he had not received an answer, as of yet. He said he had contacted Mr. Ruf and asked why the letter was not answered and Mr. Ruf asked him to send another letter. William Greenwood, Director of Utilities/Engineering, said the project that had been proposed would not increase the surface area going into the lakes. He said the area that was going into the lakes at this time, would be the ,same area going into the lake after the project was completed. He said the system was designed to maintain the existing storm sewer system with a supplemental relief installed. He said the industrial area had a 15" pipe which connected into a relief pipe of 42". He said any overflow or ov�xload from the existing storm sewer system would go into the new system. TAPE 3 V7M Stein asked why the new system had to be installed at 23 Avenue and Mr. Greenwood said the lines on 54 Street, 23 Avenue, 23 Terrace and 24 Street were interconnected at the intersection of 54 Street and 24 Street. He said the lines would interconnect with the large relief storm sewer system and the reason the areas were flooding had been because only a certain amount of water could go to the down stream conditions and the water could not get into the down stream piping. C/M Hoffman said if the system was started on 24 Street, it could save a lot of money. William Greenwood said the system would have to go to the lake which would be a 48" pipe. V/M Stein said $10,000.00 was spent to have the engineers tell the City what would need to be done and the residents were designing the plans. He said if he would override the experts and the project was a failure, he could not say anything to anyone. He said the residents needed to make the suggestions brought to Council today, to Mr. Tony Nolan of Williams, Hat- field and Stoner. He said if Mr. Nolan would agree with the residents, a new proposal would be brought to Council reflecting the suggestions. He said the project could not be held off too much longer. He said if the residents had objections, then the objections should be brought to the City Manager or the Utilities Director who would then relate the objec- tions to the Engineers. James Collier, Resident of 2311 NW 55 Avenue, said there were 13 acres behind the Boulevards that would soon be developed. He said the area would be 50% percolation and they had no intentions of putting in storm sewers. He said he had spoke to City of Fort Lauderdale's Planning Department which informed him there would not be anything specific placed in the area. He said they were depending on percolation. He said he wonders if the drain- age system would be able to take the water from that development. He asked Mr. Greenwood if any other development would be hooked into their drainage system and Mr. Greenwood said the drainage would be dedicated 100% to the Boulevards. City Manager Kelly said the Mayor had made a statement regarding reducing the tax rates, however, the Mayor had not meant the taxes were going to be lowered. He said the operating budget for the City to function would be reduced. He said last year the millage was 3.25 mills for the City of Tamarac's operating budget. He said he had proposed 3.28 mills for this year's budget and the City Council had reduced his proposal more than 20 PAGE 7 9/11/87/pw cents and they were looking to reduce the budget further than that. He said the operating expenses for this year would be below the operating expenses of last year. He said there would be more of a debt service than last year because of the new Police Station, which would offset the reduced operating expenses. He said last year, the City of Tamarac had the lowest garbage rates in Broward County which had been for $6.37 and after negoti- ations, the garbage fees would stay at $6.37 for this year. He said be- cause the utility bills contained the garbage costs, the rates were low. With no 'further questions or discussions, Mayor Hart adjourned this meeting at 11:50 A.M. ,. ra M V.-w 0_0 . .� ..JOT "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $114.30 or $3.18 per copy to inform the general public and public officers and employees of the recent opinions and considerations by the City Council of the City of Tamarac. 1 1 PAGE 8 9/11/87/pw