HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/08/2002 1225 Main Street [] Sebastian, Florida 32958
Telephone (561) 589-5330 [] Fax (561} 589-5570
City Council Information Letter
February 8, 2002
Pelican Island Centennial Celebration
Some of you may be familiar with the various planning efforts currently
underway to implement the Pelican Island Centennial Celebration,
scheduled to take place during various days in March 2003. A meeting took
place late last week with representatives from the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce, Indian River
County Chamber of Commerce and County Commissioner Ruth Stanbridge
to discuss relevant logistics, including promotion and funding partnerships.
A process is therefore underway to possibly establish a formal
memorandum of understanding to govern responsibilities of all parties
involved. The City of Sebastian's commitment will likely involve
programming for law enforcement activities, parks and recreation planning,
as well as overall assistance regarding event promotions. As such,
respective goals and objectives will be outlined in the Fiscal Year 2002/2003
budget, with relevant recommendations to be forwarded for your
consideration in the coming months.
Conce tua, Parkin ,m rovements ~//~ /~7~~
I mentioned to some of you individually about the prospect of implementing
a project to better organize parking alignment at the former CAVCORP
property in an effort to better accommodate patrons of various riverfront
activities in the community. As such, Burt Jones of the Department of
Engineering has compiled the attached conceptual site plan currently being
evaluated by Department of Public Works staff, to be considered for
implementation in the coming months. Primary rationale for enhancing the
property essentially involves the need to establish more formally defined
parking for both boats and automobiles. The site plan is being provided for
your review, as I will be more than happy to meet with any of you individually
City Council Information Letter
February 8, 2002
Page 2
to discuss relevant ideas and/or recommendations before proceeding with
improvements.
~Contamination AssessmentJCleanu~ ~Pro ram
Previously, I reported to you that Imperial Construction of Lakeland, Florida
would be assigned to work with the City of Sebastian to facilitate
environmental assessment/cleanup initiatives at Sebastian's waterfront.
Please be advised however that earlier this week, the State of Florida has
actually designated Foster Wheeler Environmental Services of Stuart for
this effort. It turns out that Imperial was not one of formally selected agents
of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to participate with the
State of Florida in this regard. The City of Sebastian technically has the
ability to choose a certified firm of its choice. However, I felt that was
appropriate to have DEP make the selection, as they are formally
responsible and liable for the entire process. We will therefore be meeting
with representatives of Foster and Wheeler within the next few weeks or so,
as I will soon thereafter be in a position to advise you of the specific scope
of task(s) and respective timeframe for implementation.
~Recruitment Efforts
Earlier this week, meetings took place with individual candidates in an effort
to select the City of Sebastian's next City Engineer. Although all gentlemen
who were invited to talk with us were worthy of personal interviews, neither
represented the best possible fit for the Sebastian Management Team and
the community at this time. As such, it was decided to continue recruitment
efforts, via more aggressive marketing of the available opportunity to other
interested professionals. Hopefully, we will commence with a second
selection process within the next several weeks. Fortunately, all civil
engineering related projects and other matters are well underway, via the
professional services of Kimley-Horn, Ranger Construction and Tim Rose
Construction, as well as necessary reassignment of in house staff. As such,
no problems are anticipated during the transition period to begin this
weekend, as today is Ralph Brescia's last day of employment with the City
of Sebastian. We wish him well!
Enclosure(s):
Conceptual Improvements - Former CAVCORP Property
My Documents/lnfoLetter121