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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-09-26 - City Commission Special Meeting MinutesRECORD OF COUNCIL ACTIONS/DISCUSSIONS SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF TAMARAC, FLORIDA There will be a Special Meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, September 26, 1989, at 7:00 P.M., in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 7525 NW 88th Avenue, Tamarac, to hold public hearings on the final millage and final budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. 1. ANNOUNCEMENT of percentage increase of 23.51% in proposed millage rate over the rolled -back rate necessary to fund the Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. FINAL ACTION: Announcement was made. 2. PUBLIC HEARING on the final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1989/90. FINAL ACTION: 4.7898 includes the Debt Service Operations budget. The public hearing was held. 3. PUBLIC HEARING 1989/90. on the final Budget for Fiscal Year FINAL ACTION: The final budget for FY 89/90 is $35,939,740.00. Public hearing was held. 4. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5554 adopting a final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1989/90. FINAL ACTION: RESOLUTION NO. R-89-237 PASSED, APPROVED. 5. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5555 adopting a final Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. FINAL ACTION: RESOLUTION NO. R-89-238 PASSED. APPROVED. All meetings are open to the public. Carol A. Evans City Clerk Pursuant to Section 286.0105, Florida Statutes It a person decides to appeal arty deckbn muds by ft 4ft Cound with reaped to any matter considerod at Such madit or hearing, he will need a record of the proceedings and for such ptirpose, he may need to ensure that a verbatim record includes t:+e testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL BUDGET MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1989 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Tuesday, September 26, 1989 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers. MEDITATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Abramowitz called for the P1e ge of Agra ce-followed by a Moment of Silent Meditation. VPRgRNT ABSENT AND EXCUSED: ALSO PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr Councilman Jack Stelzer John P. Kelly, City Manager Richard Doody, City Attorney Ken Burroughs, Finance Director Carol A. Evans, City Clerk Pauline Walaszek, Special Services Secretary 1. ANNOUNCEMENT of percentage increase of 23.51% in proposed millage rate over the rolled -back rate necessary to fund the Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: ANNOUNCEMENT was made. City Manager Kelly announced that this was the second and final hearing on the proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. He said the percentage increase over the rolled back rate was 23.51%. He said this would be an increase of 14.7% over last year's tax rate. 2. PUBLIC HEARING on the final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1989 90. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: Public Hea nir g was held. The final millage rate was announced to be 4.7898, which included the Debt Service Operations Budget. City Manager Kelly announced that the final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1989/90 was 4.7898, which included the Debt Service Operations Budget. Mayor Abramowitz Opened and Closed the Public Hearing with no response. 3. PUBLIC HEARING on final Budget for Fiscal Year 1989 90. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: Pudic Hea nri g was held. The final Budget was announced to be $35,939,740.00 for Fiscal Year 1989/90. Page 1 9/26/89-pw City Manager Kelly said this was the second and final Public Hearing for the Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90 and he announced the Budget to be $35,939,740.00. Mayor Abramowitz asked that the speakers not be repetitive and limit themselves to 3 minutes for speaking. Mayor Abramowitz Opened the Public Hearing. Vickie Beech, Resident, asked what was budgeted for the Grantsman/Lobbyist and Mayor Abramowitz said the previous salary for the Grantsman was not included it the Budget because Dina McDermott, Assistant to the City Manager, would be lobbying in --house. He said Mrs. McDermott has been doing a great job for the City. Mrs. Beech said Senator Weinstein took credit for the Grant received for the Multi -Purpose Complex; however, Mayor Abramowitz also took credit for this Grant as well as Mitch Ceasar, City Grantsman. She asked who she could thank for this Grant. Mayor Abramowitz said Mrs. Beech could thank him. He said there were three Legislators to thank because there was $500,000.00 received in Grants. He said the Legislators had to work in Tallahassee for the City. He said there were several people involved in the Grants for the Multi -Purpose Complex. He said Senator Weinstein, Representatives Deutsch and Graber and Mitch Ceasar assisted the City in obtaining these grants. Mrs. Beech said since government has become a bureaucratic situation throughout the Nation, it affected the residents' taxes. She said the City should not spend extra funds for a lobbyist when there were people seeking the residents support and could provide the services. She said the government should learn to live within its budget. Melanie Reynolds, Resident, said the City Council was going to adopt the budget by Resolution again. She said when City Manager Kelly was hired in July, 1986, the first budget handled by him was adopted by Ordinance and written by the previous City Attorney, Bryant Applegate. She said when Mr. Applegate resigned, Richard Rednor, from Ruf and Carsky, acted on the City's behalf and the budget was adopted by Resolution. Mrs. Reynolds said this was a violation of the Charter and City Attorney Doody followed Richard Rednor's footsteps by allowing the budget to be adopted by Resolution. She said by adopting the budget by Resolution, the City was being placed in jeopardy because it was a violation of Section 7.05 of the City Charter, Section 166.241(3) of the State Statute, Section 9, Article 7, of the State Constitution and Section 9(7) Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. She said if the City Council continued placing the City in jeopardy, she would have to inform the Auditor General again of this matter in order to protect her City. Samuel Nadan, Resident, asked if consideration was taken regarding the City borrowing $500,000.00 from the Page 2 9/26/89-pw utilities Budget last year, which should be repaid. He asked if the loan from the Interim Impact Fees were repaid. Mayor Abramowitz said according to the Bond Indenture when all the criteria was met and everything was paid, any monies remaining could be used for any lawful and legal purpose. Mr. Nadan said this was a legal interpretation and Mayor Abramowitz was not licensed to practice law. City Attorney Doody said when the City Council made the decision to use the funds last year, he investigated the matter and found that the transfer was consistent with the City Charter. Mr. Nadan asked if this was true and City Attorney Doody said in his opinion this was true. Mr. Nadan said this was the City Attorney's opinion. City Attorney Doody said Mrs. Reynolds stated an impressive list of provisions in the Statutes and constitutional provisions regarding the adoption of the budget. He said he discussed this matter several times with Mrs. Reynolds and the issue was not very complex. He said the State Statute made it very clear and he read the following into the record: "The governing body of the taxing authority shall amend the adopted tentative budget as it sees fit and adopt the final budget by a Resolution or ordinance stating the millage rate to be levied." City Attorney Doody said the other provisions stated by Mrs. Reynolds did not apply to this matter. He said the language in the State Statutes was very clear. Oscar Brawer, Resident, said his concern did not pertain to the budget and Mayor Abramowitz asked Mr. Brawer to bring his concerns to the City Council meeting which would be held tomorrow night (September 27, 1989) at 7:00 P.M. He said the discussions held tonight should pertain to the Budget. John Fletcher, employee of the Utilities Department, said he was here to speak on behalf of his family and dependents. He requested that the City Council and Administration consider their position on not granting the employees a wage increase. He said it was important to remind the residents and the City Council of the sacrifices the employees made in the past in an effort to bail out poor administrative decisions which affected the financial standing of the City. Mr. Fletcher said during the long and difficult negotiations of 1987, the Federation of Public Employees bit the bullet and allowed a drastic change at the demand of the City. He said the wage plan which was in existence from the beginning was changed. He said the previous step plan provided for a minimum and maximum wage for each position and provided a means for each employee to ultimately reach the top of his classification. He said the City stated at the time that instead automatic progression, the wage increases would Page 3 9/26/89-pw be open for negotiations; however, now, the City stated that there is no money for increases and no recourse for the faithful and loyal employee nor his family to whom he is ultimately responsible for. Mr. Fletcher said it appeared to him and his co-workers that the City was asking them to either stagnate in the City or seek employment elsewhere. He said he did not understand why the City of Tamarac could be an island onto itself in the midst of other Municipalities who were providing regular cost of living increases as well as merit increases to their loyal employees. He said the Cities of Sunrise, Margate, Coconut Creek and North Lauderdale increased the wages of their employees. He asked why these Cities were not screaming poverty and how they were paying their bills while providing for their employees at the same time. Mayor Abramowitz said he was looking around the Chambers and he saw many valued, loyal and great employees of the City. He said he would like to answer Mr. Fletcher by answering to all of the employees. Mayor Abramowitz said there was a good reason why the surrounding Cities were able to provide for the employees and pay their bills. He said the Cities tax base was almost double compared to Tamarac's; however, this matter did not pertain to the employees' problems. Mayor Abramowitz said the employees' problem was bringing food to their families and the City Council understood this. He said he has been involved in many Union negotiations and the City was now in active negotiations with the Federation of Public Employees. He said the City Council or administration could not comment, speak or address this matter. Mayor Abramowitz said at the last Budget Public Hearing he stated that the City Council was extremely aware of the situation and they would try their best to address the situation. He said because of the existing negotiations process, he could not inform the employees of what he would like to do. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council was very conscious of the employees' concerns. He said when the budget process began, the City was in worse shape and the City Council and staff worked like a dog to cut the Budget and tax rate down. He said was aware that a pat on the back did not put food on the table. He said the City Council was aware of this matter and was doing everything they can to correct the situation. John Rab1, Senior Video Technician, Utilities and On -Site Representative of the Federation of Public Employees, said it was essential that all employees be hard workers and educated in all aspects of their job responsibilities in order to retain the professionalism needed in a municipality. He said the only way this could be obtained was with payroll incentive in order to avoid situations that could prove costly to all and benefit none. Mr. Rabl said a reasonable increase must be obtained to maintain and improve the level of professionalism that the City must have to operate at maximum efficiency and minimal risk. He said the average employee in the Utilities Department has been with the City for Page 4 9/26/89-pw approximately 5 years and are paid less than most municipalities in the area. He said at this rate, the City could not maintain the quality of service that the citizens expected and deserved. Mr. Rabl said the increases should be given annually to show employees that their continued service was appreciated by the City. He said the employees should be given an education incentive to reward the employees who want to increase their knowledge in order to provide better service to the City and citizens. He said a merit step should be given to the employees to reward them for improving in their job performance and he recommended that the City Council consider these things before allocating all of the funds to non -essential projects for next year. Ruth Russo, employee and resident, said she has been employed with the City for 10-1/2 years and she negotiated contracts for the employees for 9 years. She said this was the first time the employees have ever appeared before the City Council during a Budget Hearing. She said this turn out was caused by a statement during the third negotiation by the City's team. Mrs. Russo said it was stated during the negotiations by the City's team, "There would be no wage increases this year for employees either in or out of the Union." She said the City was trying to take away some of the employees' benefits. She said the employees would not take this because they were never in this type of position before. She said the City Council can inform the employees that they would review the matter in 90 days; however, it would not assist the employees now. Mrs. Russo asked if the City Council wanted the employees in attendance to stand up and Mayor Abramowitz replied, no, he was aware of who the employees were. Mrs. Russo said this was a very serious matter and the employees attended to inform the City Council that they cannot function this way. City Manager Kelly suggested that the City Council allow the employees to stand so that the residents were aware of who the employees were. At this time, the employees stood and Mrs. Russo said the employees wanted the City Council to know that this matter was very serious and something had to be done for the employees. Philip Kravitz, former Mayor of the City of Tamarac, said he had the privilege of serving on the Council for two terms. He said in each of those years, he was liaison to the Budget and Finance because he was a Certified Public Account; therefore, he was aware of what was occurring in the City. Mr. Kravitz said for the last two years of his terms, he served as the Mayor and he observed the Budget very carefully. He said he believed that the proposed Budget was not good for the City of Tamarac. Mr. Kravitz said it was thought that this Budget would provide a surplus and monies for recreation. He said he did not oppose recreation and he was the first Parks Page 5 9/26/89W-pw Commissioner of the City. He said it was wrong for not providing increases to the employees for two years because the employees deserved the increases. Mr. Kravitz said he believed the Mayor and City Council were trying to do the best they could; however, he did not believe they had the experience or knew how to prepare a Budget and he asked the City Council to reconsider giving the employees the increases they deserved. He said this could be done as well as reducing the tax. Mayor Abramowitz said this was a great political speech and Mayor Abramowitz said he was holding in his hand part of the reason why the City was in its financial bind. He said as an accountant and financial genius, in 1981, Mr. Kravitz served on the City Council that gave permission to take the Comark money and put up $1,770,000.00 and forget all about it, which opened up the ESM matter. He said if this was Mr. Kravitz's expertise, he wanted to serve with people that were not experts. Mr. Kravitz said this matter was never brought before the City Council on which served and Mayor Abramowitz said there were documents indicating that Mr. Kravitz voted for the matter. Rex Van Mehren, Representative of the Tamarac Firefighters, said as of yesterday morning, a new milestone was reached in labor relations. He said for the first time ever, the Firefighters and the City were at impasse with their negotiations. He said the Firefighters have experienced good and bad times with the City; however, they never came to a point where they felt that there were no negotiations occurring and had to declare impasse. Mr. Van Mehren said his Union was more than willing to work with the City this year in holding the line in pay raises; however, the issue which was at impasse was the following Fiscal Year of 1990/91. He said he did not know what the City Council's intention was for this year and he knew it was too early to discuss this; however, the Firefighters were in the middle of a multi -year contract and they were unable to receive consideration for this. He said his membership had no other recourse than to believe that the answer to Fiscal Year 1990/91 would be the same as Fiscal Year 1989/90. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council wanted to do something for the employees. He said he would not discuss anything with the employees while negotiations were occurring. He said the City Council and administration were aware of the matter and things were occurring as of now. He said the City Council would not make statements with which they could not follow through; however, they were trying to correct this matter. Mr. Van Mehren said with all due respect, the employees of the City were with the City longer than the Councilmembers. He said it was not fair for the City Council to inform the employees that their costs of living increases hinged on the City's finances. He said this was like a lottery and Mayor Abramowitz said he understood this. Page 6 9/26/89-pw TAPE 2 Mr. Van Mehren said the State law provided two methods for breaking the deadlock of an impasse in negotiations, one being a special session of the City Council and the other being to place the case before a Special Master to render a decision. He said the Union would be willing to spare the City Council the special session if the City Council agreed that the City and Local agree in writing to be bound by the decision of the Special Master. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council could not make a decision on this matter at this time. He said the City Council would listen to the experts and decision would be made then. Anthony Grimaldi, Resident, said a Utility Representative spoke and Mayor Abramowitz informed him that the City was in the process of negotiations. He asked if there was anything in the contract to reopen negotiations concerning wages. Mayor Abramowitz replied, yes. He said the City was in the process of what occurred with every Union throughout the Country. Peter Prior, Lieutenant of the Tamarac Fire Department, said due to the lack of negotiations and the legislative body tying the administrator's hands in negotiations, the Fire Department lost another Firefighters to a district in the south due to higher wages, benefits and better working conditions. Mr. Prior said several years ago, the Tamarac Fire Department had a Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief and three Fire Captains; however, the Fire Department now had a Fire Chief only. He said there were two Firefighters on disability who were not being replaced. He said the Department was down by approximately 7 people since 1984. He said the Firefighters were having to take up this slack and they were being asked to bite the bullet again. Mr. Prior said the City Council made a demand that Medics Ambulance take a 7% increase when they originally wanted a 10% increase. He said due to the City Council's knowledge of negotiations, the Firefighters were used as a leverage to gain this decrease in percentage. He said the Firefighters were now at impasse asking the City Council to make the same commitment to them in 1990/91, which was giving a 7% increase across the Board. City Manager Kelly said the ambulance contract provided for a 5% reduction this year and next year, the ambulance service could only receive an increase of 7% if this was what the County agreed to give them. He said he did not think that the Fire Department would want the same type of contract as the ambulance service. Mr. Prior said it was the intent of what the City Council did during the negotiations with the ambulance service. He said the Firefighters had a three year contract and had to beg to get a wage increase in a three year contract. He said the Firefighters were willing to bite the bullet this year; however, they would like the City to make the 5 Firefighters who bit the bullet last year whole this year. He said there were 26 employees willing to bite the bullet for Fiscal Year 1989/90; however, they wanted a commitment from the City to provide increases for Fiscal Year 1990/91. Page 7 9/26/89-pw Mayor Abramowitz Closed the Public Hearing with no further response. 4. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5554 adopting a final mrllage rate or Fiscal Year 1989/90. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: RESOLUTION NO. R--89-237 - PASSED APPROVED. City Attorney Doody read Temp. Reso. #5554 in its entirety. * C/M Hoffman MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Reso. #5554, SECONDED by * C/M Rohr. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE 5. MOTION TO ADOPT Temp. Reso. #5555 adopting a final Budget Tor scat Year 1989/90. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: APPROVED. RESOLUTION NO. R-89-238 - PASSED City Attorney Doody .read Temp. Reso. #5555 by title. * C/M Rohr MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Reso. #5555, SECONDED by * C/M Hoffman. VOTE: ALL VOTED AYE With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 7:55 P.M. INMAN ABRAMOWITZ, MAYOR CAROL A. EVANS, CITY CLERK ". "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $81.40 or $10.18 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." CITY OF TAMARAC APPROVED AT MEETING OF 10 City Clerk 1 D', Page 8