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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-03-29 - City Commission Special Meeting Minutes7525 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE 0 TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321-2401 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 RECORD OF COUNCIL ACTIONS/DISCUSSIONS SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Special Meeting of the City Council on Wednesday, March 29, 1989, at 10:00 A.M., in Conference Room #1 (Room 103), City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 7525 Northwest 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is to appoint: Scott Shirley, Esquire OERTEL, HOFFMAN, FERNANDEZ & COLE 2700 Blair Stone Road, Suite #C Post Offic-e Box 6507 Tallahassee, Florida 32314 Telephone: 904-877-0099 for the limited purpose of representing the City of Tamarac at a Thursday, March 30, 1989 hearing to be held in Tallahassee, Florida. The hearing will consider the location and schedule for certification hearings under the Transmission Power Line Siting Act. FINAL ACTION: APPROVED appointing Mr. Shirley to represent the City at the 3/30/89 hearing in Tallahassee at no cost to the City. All meetings are open to the public. Patricia Marcurio Acting City Clerk PM/gt Pursuant to Section 286.0105, Florida Statutes If a person decides to appeal any decision made by the City Council with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing, he will need a record of the proceedings and for such purpose, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record incluclos tlh� testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be bas.^.,_1 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1989 CALL TO nnnER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Wednesday, March 29, 1989 at 10:00 A.M. in Conference Room #1 (City Clerk's Office). PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr Councilman Jack Stelzer ALSO PRESENT: John P. Kelly, City Manager Richard Doody, City Attorney Patricia Marcurio, Office Manager City Clerk's Office The purpose of this meeting was to appoint: Scott Shirley, Esquire OERTEL, HOFFMAN, FERNANDEZ & COLE 2700 Blair Stone Road, Suite #C Post Office Box 6507 Tallahassee, Florida 32314 1.ephone: 904-877-0099 for the limited purpose of representing the City of Tamarac at a Thursday, March 30, 1989, hearing to be held in Tallahassee, Florida. The hearing will consider the location and schedule for certification hearings under Lhe Transmission Power Line Siting Act. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED the appointment of Scott Shirley, Esquire, to represent the City at the March 30, 1989 hearing in Tallahassee at no cost to the City. City Attorney Doody said this appointment would pertain to representation regarding the Florida Power & Light Power Transmission Line. He said the Power Line Site Act vested in the Governor and Cabinet the authority to approve the transmission line corridor. City Attorney Doody said the City was a party to a series of hearings, certifications, etc. He said a lot of the meetings were held in Tallahassee and he would be asking the City Council at a later date to appoint outside Counsel on a full time basis to handle the case because the case was a specialized area of the law. City Attorney Doody said the City Charter required that the City Council approve all City Attorney and Consulting City Attorneys. He said Scott Shirley, Esquire from Oertel, Hoffman, Fernandez & Cole, agreed for the limited purposes of this one hearing on March 30, 1989, to represent the City of Tamarac. He said Attorney Shirley Page 1 3/29/89 would also be representing the City of Coral Springs and Coral Ridge Properties, which have a joint interest in trying to stop Florida Power & Light placing the transmission power line. City Attorney Doody said Attorney Shirley indicted that he would represent the City at no cost to the City. He said Attorney Shirley would not be able to represent the City in the future because he represented Coral Ridge Properties. He said he was reviewing other law firms that have offices in Tallahassee and he would report back to the City Council with his findings. City Attorney Doody said it was suggested that the Cities join together and pool their resources to fight this matter. He said a lot of the Cities had the same arguments and positions. He asked that the City Council approve the appointment of Atto ney Shirley to represent the City at the March 30, 1989 hearing in Tallahassee. City Attorney Doody said the hearing would consider discovery issues as to who could submit evidence and how it would be submitted and, more importantly, the schedule of the hearings as to where they would be held and how often. He said the schedule oflthe hearings was very important because Florida Powerl& Light was trying to keep the hearings in Tallahassee. He said Florida Power & Light had access to the Department and was trying to hustle the meetings through quickly in an effort to try to shorten the process and limit access to the hearing process. City Attorney Doody said on behalf of the City, Attorney Shirley would make known to the hearing officer the City's concern that the schedul Florida Power & Light submitted indicated a number of ,the hearings being held in Tallahassee when the City felt that the hearings should be held in South Florida He said Attorney Shirley would also oppose the s�hedule because it was occurring too quickly. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council sent notice to Tallahassee that they would like the hearings held in Fort Lauderdale. He said he was pleased that the City was being represented and, if outside Counsel was needed to handle this important issue, they should be hired. City Attorney Doody said he represented the City up to this point and would continue to do so; however, the outcome of the hearing in Tallahassee on March 30, 1989, would inform the City of what they should do next. V/M Bender said the meetings werle being held in Tallahassee for convenience; ho ever, the transmission lines were proposed to go throu h many Cities and some Cities had more impact than oth rs. He said it behooves the State to recognize this problem and move some of the hearings to or around the Cities that would be affected. He said if the meetings were moved, the Cities could actively participate as opposed to being limited. City Attorney Doody said the Cities of Tamarac and Coral Springs discussed this matter with the Hearing Officer and the response was to designate representatives to go to Tallahassee for.the hearings.He said he informed the Hearing Officer that this would be difficult because he was an In-house City Attorney. Page 2 1 F-1 3/29/89 C/M Rohr suggested that Attorney Shirley be asked to represent the Cities providing the Cities wanted to join together on this matter. He said Attorney Shirley's firm seemed to be knowledgeable about this matter. ^itv Attorney Doody said he discussed this matter with Mr. Shirley's law firm and he asked if the interests of the Cities and Coral Ridge Properties were similar in such a way that the law firm could represent everyone as a group. He said the law firm indicated that there may be a conflict of interest because of Coral Ridge Properties being their client. He said Attorney Shirley could represent the City at the March 30, 1989, because procedures would be discussed; however, at some point the interests of the City and Coral Ridge Properties may differ. C/M Rohr asked if it was possible the Cities could go to Court and stop the hearings in Tallahassee and force the hearings to be held in South Florida. City Attorney Doody said he did not believe so because the State Statutes set a procedure to certify the corridor. He said the Courts would indicate that before they could become involved the Exhaustion of Administration Remedies Doctrine had to take place which indicated that the Administrative Agency had to handle the matter and then the matter could be taken to Court. He said the Court would abstain from becoming involved in this matter at this time. f-i+-y Attorney Doody said an Appeal was filed by several Cities with the Administrative Agency to have the hearings moved to South Florida. C/M Rohr asked if it was possible to have the Courts hear the matter if the Administrative Agency refused to move the hearings. City Attorney Doody said the process would have to continue before making an Appeal to the Courts. He said there was a hearing scheduled at the Fort Lauderdale City Hall on April 10, 1989, which would pertain to the certification process; however, additional hearings were needed in South Florida because the procedural matters had a very large impact on the ultimate decision. He said Florida Power & Light's Attorneys were located in Tallahassee and the Attorneys had access to the Department of Environmental Regulations (DER). City Attorney Doody said the procedural hearings were very important because a lot of matters were considered. He said the Cities had a disadvantage in trying to handle the hearings in Tallahassee from South Florida. C/M Stelzer asked if there was a letter existing from a law firm that was interested in representing all of the Cities. City Attorney Doody said he received a letter from a law firm that represented a Country Club in Hollywood, Florida and C/M Stelzer asked if the surrounding Cities were interested in having one law firm represent them. City Attorney Doody said this matter would have to be investigated further because the interests of the Cities may not be the same. Page 3 3/29/89 Mavor Abramowitz said he believed that the Cities did have different interests and Bob Shelly, Developer of holiywood Hills, was willing to spend a lot of money to fight Florida Power & Light's proposal. City Attorney Doody said he didilreceive a letter from Mr. Shelly and he would respond to he letter shortly. C/M Stelzer said City Manager Kelly arranged for the City Council to visit the site wherelthe transmission plant was proposed to be. He said there were several opinions as to where the transmission plant would be. Mayor Abramowitz said the plant 'would be directly west of the Sawgrass Expressway not east in Land Section 7. C/M Hoffman asked if the ultimate decision was to be made by the Governor and Cabinet and City Attorney Doody replied, yes. C/M Hoffman asked if the hearings were only routine and City Attorney Doody replied, no. City Attorney Doody said the argument was extremely technical and the Governor and Cabinet would have'ito rely heavily on what the hearings present. He said i{t was very important how each side presents their evidence to the Governor and Cabinet. * C/M Hoffman MOVED to APPROVE the appointment of Scott Shirl * Esquire, to represent the City at no cost to the City at h *' hearing in Tallahassee on March'30, 1989, SECONDED by C/M *' Stelzer. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE C/M Rohr asked if Senator Weinstein and State Representatives Graber and Deutsch were representing the City on this matter and Mayor Abramowitz said Senator Ic instein and State Representatives Graber and Deutsch were presently working on the matter. C/M Hoffman asked if the area was west of the Sawgrass Expressway which was contemplated for sale to Florida Power & Light in the City limit of Tamarac. City Manager Kelly said some of ,the property being considered appeared to be in the City limits. C/M Hoffman said if the property was in the City limits, Florida Power & Light should be cited for the garbage and refuse in the area. He said the fencing in the area should be repaired and maintained by Florida Power & Light. C/M Stelzer asked who owned the fence and City Manager Kelly said the Sawgrass Authori y. C/M Stelzer said Florida Power & Light did not o n the property only the poles in the area. C/M Hoffman said whoever was responsible for the property should be cited because the property was an eyesore. City Manager Kelly said the Community Development Department and Code Enforcement Office were informed of the matter. He said Florida Power & Light was notified informally that a course of action would be pursued. Page I 'yl u i 3/29/89 C/M Hoffman said he understood that the property was not owned by Florida Power & Light and City Manager Kelly said a lot of the property was owned by Florida Power & Light. City Manager Kelly said where the transmission line went through was Florida Power & Lights property. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 10:30 A.M. CAROL A. EVANS, CITY CLERK "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $44.00 or $5.50 per copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees of recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of Tamarac. 1 APPROVED AT MEETING OF '//"Z(" S Page 5