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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-2015 CC MinutesCULL SE STI HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 - 6:00 P.M. MINUTES CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA 1. Mayor Gillmor called the Regular Meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Pastor Karen Leedahl, Christ the King Lutheran Church, gave the invocation. 3. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Gillmor 4. ROLL CALL City Council Present: Mayor Richard Gillmor Vice Mayor Jerome Adams Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Jim Hill City Council Absent: Council Member Bob McPartlan (excused) City Staff Present: City Manager, Joe Griffin City Attorney, Robert Ginsburg City Clerk, Sally Maio Administrative Services Director, Ken Killgore City Engineer, Frank Watanabe Golf Course Director, Greg Gardner Human Resources Manager, Cynthia Watson Deputy Police Chief, Greg Witt Environmental Specialist, Michelle Stromburg E -Records & Information Manager, Barbara Brooke -Reese 5. AGENDA MODIFICATIONS - None 6. PROCLAMATIONS, AWARDS, BRIEF ANNOUNCEMENTS 15.097 A. Presentation of Florida League of Cities Municipal Achievement Award for Environmental Stewardship by FLC President Matthew Surrency, Mayor. City of Hawthorne. Florida Florida League of Cities President, and Mayor of Hawthorne, Florida, Matthew Surrency presented a Florida League of Cities Municipal Achievement Award for Environmental Stewardship to Mayor Gillmor and members of City Council, and Public Works Director/City Engineer, Frank Watanabe, Human Resources Manager, Cynthia Watson and Environmental Specialist, Michelle Stromburg, who were involved with the City's Storm Water Monitoring and Testing Program. Mayor Gillmor thanked them for their efforts, and Council for taking care of the Lagoon. Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Two 15.146 B. Proclamation — Hunaer Action Month — Mayor Gillmor read and presented the proclamation to Ms. Garofalo. Ms. Garofalo thanked Sebastian for its support of the Treasure Coast Food Bank and cited statistics reflecting the high number of people on the Treasure Coast who struggle to put food on the table. 15.141 C. Proclamation — Attendance Awareness Month — Accepted by Mrs. Lavonne Walker School Attendance Officer and Restorative Justice Coordinator for the School District of Indian River County and Marie O'Brian from the Learning Alliance Mayor Gillmor read and presented the proclamation to Mrs. Walker and Ms. O'Brian. Ms. O'Brian described the "Moon Shot Moment", which has a goal of developing proficient readers in aro grade to affect their futures, said attendance at school matters and asked for ask for help from the community. 15.142 D. Proclamation — Early Learning Coalition — Storybook Forest at Riverview Park — Acceoted by Angela Davis -Green ELC Director of Family Services Mayor Gillmor read and presented the proclamation to Ms. Davis -Green. Ms. Davis -Green spoke on the anticipated event on Saturday in Sebastian's Riverview Park which will have as many as 30 agencies involved to show the importance of early learning, and described a partnership with the Barbara Bush Foundation which will offer on-line book subscriptions for children. Ms. Coy thanked her for doing this in Sebastian, said she would be involved and hoped it becomes an annual event. Mayor Gillmor talked about a Comcast initiative for underprivileged children whereby they can get internet service for $9.95 per month. E. Brief Announcements i. Friday, 9/11/15 Patriots Day 9/11 Remembrance at Veterans Memorial at Riverview Park — 8:30 am ii. Saturday, 9/12/15 Storybook Forest Event for Children - Riverview Park —10 am to 2 pm iii. Thursday, October 8, 2015 - Sebastian's Community Night Out Hosted by Police Department in Riverview Park — 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm Mayor Gillmor read the above listed announcements. 7. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approval of Minutes — August 26, 2015 Regular Meeting 15.143 B. Approve Alcoholic Beverage at Yacht Club for May Bridal Shower 9/13/15 — DOB Verified (Transmittal, Permit Application and Receipt) 15.022 C. Extension of DEP Grant Agreement for Presidential Street Monitoring — Amendment No. 1 and Authorize City Manager to Execute (Transmittal, Amendment 1) 15.004 D. Approve Request for Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum in Chambers with Use of AV Staff and Live Broadcast on October 20, 2015 (Transmittal) MOTION by Ms. Coy and SECOND by Mr. Adams to approve the consent agenda. Roll Call: Ayes: Gillmor, Adams, Coy, Hill Nays: None Absent: McPartlan Passed: 4-0 Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Three 8. COMMITTEE REPORTS & APPOINTMENTS City committee reports and Council Member regional committee reports. No public input or action except for City committee member nominations and appointments under this heading. 15.144 A. MPO Citizen Advisory Committee (Transmittal, Application, Ad) i. Consider Appointment of Dick Krull to Alternate Position It was the consensus of Council to appoint Mr. Krull to the MPO Citizen Advisory vacant alternate position. 15.029 B. Construction Board (Transmittal, Applications, Ad, List) I. Interview, Unless Waived, Submit Nominations for One Expired Regular Member, Plumber Position — Term to Expire 9/30/18 ii. Interview, Unless Waived, Submit Nominations for One Expired Regular Member, Contractor Position — Term to Expire 9/30/18 It was the consensus of Council without interview or nomination, to reappoint James Fortier to his expired Construction Board plumber position, and Shawn Hosey to his expired contractor position, both with terms to expire 9/30/18, since there were no other applicants. 15.145 A. Youth Advisory Board i. Vice Chairman Anthony Scaramuzzi — Presentation of Road Safety Concerns in North County Anthony Scaramuzzi, Vice Chairman of the Youth Advisory Council, gave a brief presentation to City Council on traffic safety issues he had witnessed during recent driver training (see presentation attached). His concerns were for 1) the need for repair and installation of signs between Louisiana Avenue and Sebastian Boulevard for people entering 512; 2) the need for a "Caution Children at Play' sign and crosswalk in area of the Barber Fire Station/BSSC/Skatepark due to the level of activity in that area, and 3) when pulling into Roseland from 512 you cannot see anyone who might be approaching on the 512 sidewalk due to the obstructed view from trees. Mayor Gillmor thanked him for his presentation and said he would like to see more presentations like this from other boards, and turn concerns over to staff. Mr. Watanabe responded that the first issue is on private property but he will make sure the property owner is aware of it, and help out with signage; on the second issue, it is a good idea and said he had discussions with the City Manager about an additional crosswalk and thought signage was a good idea; and the third issue is actually IRC jurisdiction, City staff has gone out there to trim, and he would notify Chris Mora, IRC of the concern. Mr. Adams thanked Anthony Scaramuzzi for the presentation, stating this is the type of thing he was expecting from the Youth Council and is looking forward to more like this. He said the Council needs partnership between them and other committees to bring things forward Council might not have noticed, so they can work together. Ms. Coy told Mr. Scaramuzzi to let his Council know he got results today and maybe that will give others the motivation to bring more to City Council. Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Four 9. PUBLIC HEARINGS - None iia 15.101 A. (Transmittal, Bid Responses Rec'd 8/13/15, Scoring/Ranking, Nutt Construction Bid and Contract) The City Manager gave a brief history of the decision to bid out for a Sebastian Municipal Golf Course irrigation system, said the staff committee made up of City Manager, Greg Gardner, Golf Course Director, Frank Watanabe, City Engineer and Ken Killgore, CFO, had selected Nutt Construction by a close vote for the design/build contract, with selection made on qualifications, and requested authorization to move forward to enter into CCNA negotiations with Nutt in an amount not to exceed $998,500, which was Nutt's bid. MOTION by Mr. Hill and SECOND by Ms. Coy to approve. Ben Hocker, Sebastian, said we have a contract with SMGC for maintenance of the Golf Course which runs from 2010 to 2024, read from the contract which states in part that the contractor must maintain the irrigation systems and be responsible for repairs, and questioned if they are to be maintaining irrigation, why are we going out with a $1 M contract when we already have a contract for a maintenance company and our only obligation is providing parts and equipment. Mr. Hill responded the contract with IGM is a contract for maintenance of the Golf Course itself and the irrigation is a part of the maintenance of the Golf Course, and their contract is to maintain that irrigation system which they have been doing, and the question is, is the system that is there suitable for us to go forward into the future. He said the system is antiquated and causes aesthetics and playability issues on the Golf Course requiring replacement of the system. He said IGM has done a quality job of maintaining what is there but it is the City's desire to go forward with a better product for our customers, and by replacing the system we will provide a better product overall. Mr. Hocker asked why don't we just provide the parts and let the gentleman who has the contract put it in. Mayor Gillmor compared it to using a mechanic who maintains your automobile, and comes a time when the engine is tired and needs a ring job, you give him $20 to check your oil, but do you expect him to change your rings too. Mr. Hocker said the contract says he does. Mike Pignato, stated he was a golf course irrigation designer and consultant since 1994 with over 250 projects in the eastern U.S., in the Caribbean and Africa, and gave further specifics on projects he had done. He said visited the Sebastian Golf Course property to compare his design with site conditions, and through that process provided the City a very competitive plan to provide 350 more sprinklers than are currently in place and in the corridors that staff felt were required. He said he selected the contractor who installed the irrigation system at Sandridge two years ago, and noted Chris Minott, who was in the audience, was a certified HDPE welding instructor and field inspector, one of the most qualified in the Southeast. He said it clearly states in the bid documents that even though this is a design/build, the award GI Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Five would go to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which conform to the specifics and instructions to the bidder, be the most advantageous to the City, noting they were $50K lower than Nutt and they will be off-site six weeks prior to the scheduled completion, as well as other factors as determined by the City. He said that last phrase can be ambiguous. He said the only other criteria noted was a phone interview to take place with four individuals, and in preparing for the phone interview, he contacted Ms. Tarbell to find out specifics of the process and was told only designers were to participate in the process, yet Nutt Construction was allowed to have the designer and the two owners involved in their interview, which he believed adversely affected the decision. He reiterated they were the low bidder and would have been off the job by the Christmas holiday. Mr. Pignato said he was not questioning Nutt's qualifications, stating he has worked with Nutt on many contracts, but said since his was the low bid wanted to know why the recommendation was to start with the higher bidder, noting he has never seen it start with anything but the low bid. He said he would not have driven 100 miles to give his input tonight if he had been $1 higher. He said design -build on a Golf Course is a slippery slope, and advised City staff of this, and took issue with the process. He asked that Council not approve the nomination by staff and revisit this, and asked that they request his documents from staff. He said he sits on the Wellington Parks and Recreation Council and when they receive tendered contracts, they have to receive them from staff and not directly from a contractor. Again, he asked that they table this, review it, and have publicly held interviews with questions that are not as softball as these were, noting two of them don't even pertain to the project. Ms. Coy said she would like to hear staff response. The City Manager said he stands by his presentation, the interview process, the integrity of the four people who were involved with the interview process, and thought we should move on. Mr. Pignato said he was not questioning anyone's integrity but the agenda states "the scoring and ranking", yet there was a vote, and typically in a public process if a scoring and ranking is used it is a weighted system where a bid has a calibrated ranking, the design has a calibrated ranking and so does the interview process, and he was not afforded the same opportunity as Mr. Nutt was. He said when he requested a copy of the minutes and the scores, because he figured it had to be a public meeting or it would violate sunshine laws, he was told it was a 3-1 vote of, and that a vote and a scoring system can't apply in the same dynamic. He said he was not questioning integrity but was asking that the process be followed as laid out in the document. Ms. Coy said she would beg to differ on his opinion of the vote and scoring process being totally separate entities, because we have used a scoring and deliberation process, and there is no need to discuss anything further if you are just going to rank it 1, 2, 3, 4, and have done it on many projects, part of the deliberations are past experience and lots of things can weigh in, which are not necessarily score. She said she had to back the people she has seen go through this before. Mr. Pignato said the fairness ended when he was not allowed to have his contractor in the meeting and it gave his competitor an unfair advantage. He said he was told, and the documents stated, that only the designers shall be interviewed, and the Nutt contractor was 5 Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Six allowed to participate. He said there was not enough difference between his contractor and Nutt Irrigation to warrant spending an additional $50K. Ms. Coy said she has to go back and look at our process, we have had others challenge our process, and it always comes back to our staff, and I have to look at this guy (City Manager) who she trusts implicitly to deal with City business, and if she did not, she would be on him, and he looked her in the eye and said trust the system. Mayor Gillmor said we all agree that there were two bidders who were far superior to the others, and said he takes exception to the comment that this is a sunshine issue because none of the people who interviewed you are subject to the sunshine law, but if it was Council doing the interviewing it would be a sunshine issue, but since it wasn't he didn't that held true. He said if we can't make a deal with Nutt we will be coming back to Mr. Pignato. Mr. Pignato said the bid document states that you will award to the lowest responsible and qualified bidder, and found it difficult to believe his team would not have been viewed as qualified, so the negotiations should have started with the lowest qualified bidder. Mayor Gillmor said the way the process works is, we have to take the most qualified, and unfortunately the scoring said that he was close but not as high as Nutt. Ms. Coy asked the City Attorney if he was satisfied that we were within the legal limits of the advertisements, have we followed our process and not subjected ourselves to lawsuits. The City Attorney responded he thought they had followed the process, and as is always the case, they have the right to reject the bids and start over or can take the Manager's recommendation and go forward with the recommended respondent. Ms. Coy said as with any contract, there is always that clause in there, and we have protected ourselves within the bidding process, but there are other items in there, so if he says it is based on that totally, when they do have other recourse, she thought that a bad assumption. Mr. Pignato said at the pre-bid they were told that the City's agronomist on-site was to be a part of the interview and decision making process, and she was not in that phone call. Mayor Gillmor said his time was up, and Mr. Pignato thanked them and said he could see where this was going to go. Mr. Adams said even if we look at the scoring, Nutt came out ahead, and if weighting it on scoring, that alone to him says Nutt is the top choice, and we depended on our City Manager and we know he and his staff are competent, and he stands by the City Manager's recommendation. Mr. Hill said any one of the two would be wonderful contractors, and both are very qualified, but he knows the individuals on the committee so he is very comfortable with that. He asked the Golf Course Director who would be overseeing the operation. Greg Gardner said he would be the main contact but IGM staff will be there as well as City Engineer, Frank Watanabe. Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Seven Mr. Hill said day to day operation will be by IGM but Mr. Gardner is going to the be the one who is mostly responsible, because IGM could be gone in a few years and we will have this system for many years. He asked what type of systems will go in, and will there be a process to decide what goes in and when we get into that process. Mr. Gardner said that would be the next thing to meet with Nutt Construction whether Toro Rainbird, Century, and look at plans, stating right now there are 850 heads and we may be able to reduce that which will reduce the cost. He said they are leaning toward wireless and individual head control. Mr. Hill said over the years he has seen irrigation blowouts and even small leaks that cause wet areas, and this will provide a much better product. Roll Call: Ayes: Adams, Coy, Hill, Gillmor Nays: None Absent: McPartlan Passed: 4-0 11. PUBLIC INPUT New information or requests to city council not otherwise on the prepared agenda Karen Palin, resident of Sebastian and Ken Roberts, Pickle Ball Ambassador from Vero Beach, spoke at length on a sport called Pickle Ball, which has been around for 50 years, residents are currently utilizing Schumann Park tennis courts with lines drawn by the City, it is being played by many people, and there will be more and more over the years. They said Pickle Ball uses a third of the size of a tennis court and is played with a ping pong like paddle, though larger, and a whiffle ball, and that people of all ages can play. Mr. Roberts cited all the new courts being added in Vero Beach and throughout Indian River County. Discussion followed on consideration of sites dedicated to the sport, fundraisers that can be held to assist with funding to establish courts, and recommendations for them to go before Parks and Recreation Committee for a recommendation back to City Council. Mayor Gillmor said he has had people ask him about it at the gym and said Chris McCarthy had pictures of a potential site at Barber Street. The City Manager said they contacted him so he invited them here tonight to address Council, and the next step would be to go to Parks and Recreation and have PR report back to Council. Vicki Moss, President of the Tennis Club, said she had no problem with Pickle Ball but that the courts have been relined and it is confusing for tennis players, who have been using the courts for 20 years. Ms. Coy said let's see if we can't expedite something to make everyone happy. Ben Hocker, Sebastian, said he was just informed it is a national program, and asked will they be renting such as they do with little league and football. 12. NEW BUSINESS — None Regular City Council Meeting September 9, 2015 Page Eight 13. CITY ATTORNEY MATTERS The City Attorney said Tropical Storm Erika brought a declaration of emergency from the Governor for the entire State, he was very proud of the City staff response, and advised Council the reason he brought this up is that he is drafting an ordinance for emergency declarations for the next meeting because it is important to spell out a framework for emergency procedures. 14. CITY MANAGER MATTERS The City Manager said he was unavoidably absent at the last meeting and thanked staff for stepping up and doing a great job during the storm, thanked Ken Killgore who sat in for him before Council; and, in regard to recycling, reported the rolling blue bins have been delivered by Indian River County, can be used starting October 151 and all recycling pickup will go to Thursday pickup throughout the City, and regular trash pickup will remain as it currently is. Mr. Adams asked what we do with our current recycle bins, and the City Manager said you can keep them or put them out on October 1st to be disposed of by Waste Management. He said if after three months the 64 gallon is too big or too small, they will exchange for a smaller or larger bin upon request. 15. CITY CLERK MATTERS - None 16. CITY COUNCIL MATTERS A. Council Member McPartlan - Absent B. Mayor Gillmor -None C. Vice Mayor Adams - None D. Council Member Coy Ms. Coy said if anyone is having problems with recycling, please call her and she will help, noting she is still hearing that the green regular trash buckets are not big enough and that is because people are not recycling. She gave her home number 388-0961. She also said we need to do something about bins delivered to houses for people who are not here right now. The Clerk noted a bin had been left at a foreclosed house next door to her, asked if numbers on the bins are registered to that address and should IRC be notified to pick up. Ms. Coy said in regard to political signs, if a sign shows up on your property and you didn't request it you can do with it what you want, because anyone posting needs your permission, noting most people who want to be politicians are very responsible. She said she would be participating in the Storybook Forest on Saturday and asked everyone to join in. E. Council Member Hill - None 17. Being no turther business, Mayor Gillmor adjourned the meeting at 7• p.m. 2s Zoif Appro at f Regular Meetin . By.. u ^� Richa or, Mayor Sa yA. Maio, MMC - ' Clerk 1,411mids 144111 c9: Anthony Smmmuzzi This is a pill orc of Ihr ill lcrseclion al Louisiana.\ccnoc and Schastian iia ldeurd. I think that there should he more sills Ihal sac one Ncac it' con arc goinIg to make n ri.aht to go to\cards l S I. Phis intcrscction also h,is a faded slop sign. This \\holC ;area the si re ouvd In he addressed 9/28/2015 9/28/2015 I lit -w hyo pictures are on Barber street be the football fields. skate park. lire staLion. da} care center, vol the baseball fields. I think that there should be Ilashin, Ii,hls Iat sblte 'Caution childreu al pin>.' I feel thaL tberc should be a cross \\ hen you are pulling into Roseland Road from ;tz if someone il' rifling a bike you mit see Lhem and you would hit them. F � 9/28/2015