Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02242010CITY Cf HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010 6:30 P.M. CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA 1. Mayor Gillmor called the regular meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Pastor Clifton Cooley of Calvary Baptist Church gave the invocation. 3. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 4. ROLL CALL City Council Present: Mayor Richard H. Gillmor Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Eugene Wolff Council Member Don Wright City Council Absent: Vice -Mayor Jim Hill (excused) Staff Present: City Manager, Al Minner City Attorney, Robert Ginsburg Deputy City Clerk, Jeanette Williams Records Program Manager, Donna Cyr Economic Development Director /Airport Director, Joseph Griffin Administrative Services Director, Deb Krueger Finance Director, Ken Killgore Growth Management Director, Rebecca Grohall Deputy Police Chief, Greg Witt Police Captain, Bob Lockhart MIS Systems Analyst, Rob Messersmith 5. AGENDA MODIFICATIONS Modifications and additions require unanimous vote of City Council members Mayor Gillmor asked to move Council Matters after the Consent Agenda due to the light agenda. All Council Members agreed to this modification. Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Two 6. PROCLAMATIONS, AWARDS, BRIEF ANNOUNCEMENTS Presentations of proclamations, certificates and awards, and brief timely announcements by Council and Staff. No public input or action under this heading. 10.035 A. Proclamation Recognizing Indian River State College's 50 Year Anniversary 1 Mayor Gillmor read and presented the proclamation to Dr. David Sullivan, IRSC Provost. Dr. Sullivan thanked Council and said there are over 500 students on site at the Sebastian Campus and they look forward to growing. Brief Announcements Ms. Coy invited the public to the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce Concert in Park on March 5 where Remember When Entertainment will be playing from 5:30 -8:00. She also announced a car show on Saturday, March 6 from 10:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Riverside Park in Vero Beach where 300 cars will be displayed. Mayor Gillmor announced the Sebastian River Art Club Second Annual Treasure Hunt at Riverview Park would be held this Saturday. He said paintings will be given away and the public can meet a pirate. 7. CONSENT AGENDA All items on the consent agenda are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of consent agenda items unless a member City Council so requests; in which event, the item will be removed and acted upon separately. If a member of the public wishes to provide input on a consent agenda item, he /she should request a Council Member to remove the item for discussion prior to start of the meeting or by raising his/her hand to be recognized. 3 -12 A. Approve Minutes 2/10/10 Regular City Council Meeting 10.036 B. Early Retirement Buyout (Administrative Services Transmittal) 13 10.037 C. 1686 Indian River Drive Encroachment (City Attorney Transmittal, Letter, 15 -20 License, Exhibits A B) Mayor Gillmor requested to pull item B. MOTION by Ms. Coy SECOND by Mr. Wright to approve consent agenda items A and C were approved with a voice vote of 4 -0. Item B The City Manager said this is a continuation of the early retirement buy -out program which helps reduce staff, provides incentives for employees, and a $92,000 salary savings for the City in year three. Mr. Wolff said he understood the savings in year one and three, but the employee will be 65 in 34 months, and he asked if the City had a mandatory Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Three retirement. The City Manager explained there is no mandatory retirement and staff picked five as a round number. Mr. Wright said he calculated about a $40,000 savings over three years which justifies this decision and it is a win -win situation. Public Input Damien Gilliams, 1623 U.S. Highway 1, said Mr. Wright's calculation is a good way to look at it but noted Sebastian is the only city that does this and asked why not a lay -off. He asked what is the total amount that has been spent for this whole program. He said if we don't have enough money, why do we do this and where do we stop. Mayor Gillmor said he appreciated Mr. Gilliams' comments and noted if we spend $10,000 to save $90,000 in year three, the residents are paying less taxes down the road. He asked the City Manager how the employee's union deals with lay offs. The City Manager said the early retirement program has been in effect for two to three years and we have spent about $300,000- 500,000, which is exponential, so if we take 10 early retirements; times $60,000; times three years; it has reduced personnel by 15% and saved substantial money. He said he would get the program's numbers to Council. The City Manager said the collective bargaining agreement mandates working around bumping rights if a riff is done, noting a higher salaried employee can bump a lower salaried employee so not much is saved. Mr. Wright said he appreciated Mr. Gilliams' comments, and noted we are paying for this out of the savings we have accumulated since program's inception. Mr. Gilliams said laid off employees do have unemployment insurance and in the end can we can always bring people back. He asked if Council had it in writing that these people won't be brought back in three to five years. Ms. Coy thanked the City and the employee who has chosen to do this. She pointed out that employees that come back will do so at the entry level salary. She said we are way ahead of our neighbors. Mr. Wolff said he is fine with the buyout, and even the three year savings is a significant amount of money. MOTION by Mr. Wolff and SECOND by Ms. Coy to authorize the City Manager to spend $20,000 to provide the early retirement option to Leeford Richards. Result of the roll call vote: AYES: Coy, Wolff, Wright, Gillmor NAYS: 0 Motion Carried Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Four 8. CITY COUNCIL MATTERS Mayor Gillmor distributed a Dilbert cartoon humoring how some PowerPoint presentations are boring and asked Council to consider putting a time limit on presentations as some folk's presentations seem to go on forever. He also cited that he watched a recent presentation where a budget figure was glossed over and he suggested obtaining copies of presentations before the meeting. Mr. Wright said it would be more appropriate to have an agreed time frame. Ms. Coy said she didn't remember any lengthy, snoozing presentations; she didn't have any problem with the short presentations where they were; and she suggested putting long presentations on other places of the agenda. Mayor Gillmor said if someone is coming for money, he would like to check it out, see a spreadsheet. He said he didn't think it was out of question to get a presentation to Council ahead of time. Mr. Wolff said Council would be doing the Western Civilization and Local Government a service if we banned verbatim reading of PowerPoint presentations. He said it is good for Mayor Gillmor to call presentators for figures or ask them to stop if they present in depth, without reference, and he is willing to work with the Mayor. New Item 7:06 pm Mayor Gillmor said economic development and jobs are on everybody's minds and he asked the latitude or scope of how comfortable Council Members would be telling someone of Sebastian's incentives. Mr. Wright stated the need for confidentiality was incorporated into the economic development regulations and this came up with the County on Monday. He suggested an executive session depending on the right set of circumstances. Mayor Gillmor replied that if Council acts on their own, they can bring up something cooking under their matters knowing a decision will be made together. He said that for example if Council Member Wolff came across someone in real estate or agriculture he would be the person to talk to them, and then bring them to the Economic Development Director or City Manager. Mr. Wolff said he appreciated the time to discuss this and if he knew of someone who wanted to set up food processing plant; he would feel more comfortable handing the individual over to the Economic Development Director. He said in order for the project to be successful, the Tess the elected officials are involved, the more it seems not to be a pet project; noting he wasn't comfortable with the way the Dodger deal was handled as local talent wasn't tapped, it was done in secret and then scuttled. He also reminded how Piper was looking for substantial investment. He agreed that everyone needs to be a representative of Sebastian and tap Council Member's talents with a balance for success. Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Five Ms. Coy said they need to be ambassadors for the City, she is very cautious of what she says to whom, as she is one vote of five; but she would commit to expediting the process for any one interested in coming to the City. Mr. Wright said as a commercial real estate agent, he has referred two businesses to the Economic Development Director, has made some introductions, and has no problem making an introduction but he is careful of City assets being used. He said if someone is interested in private property, he would work the deal as a commercial businessman but excuse himself from the vote, however, City property is the most attractive commercial area which he forwards leads to the City Manager. Mayor Gilimor said they are all ambassadors and if there is anything they can do, they should take the initiative on and then bring people up to speed at public meetings. Ms. Coy said she understands everyone's concern regarding economic development but she wanted to caution that not everything is a matter of economic development and sometimes officials are using the term too frequently. She suggested focusing on what is economic development and where are we going to focus Council's efforts. Mr. Wolff suggested defining our community which we will have a better idea after the census is over. Council Member Wright Mr. Wright said the St. Johns Water Management District (SJRWD) will meet March 5 to discuss the enforcement of local government water conservation ordinances, which requires the local government to adopt and enforce their landscape irrigation requirements which he finds this extremely objectionable. He noted that if he had another day of watering, his lawn would not have brown areas. He said the second item to be looked at is landscape irrigation system design /installation constraints regarding the development of residential property which will tell developers how to landscape around residential homes. He believes the SJRWMD has gone way beyond what they are charged with. He continued to say the third item was if municipalities don't comply, they would enforce conservation through the Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) a program which will prevent municipalities from receiving permits, which will have a negative effective on building, construction, and trade industry. He said they would also use consumptive use permitting to force local governments to enforce their recommended regulations. Mr. Wright said we have more rainfall than any other state and SJRWMD does nothing to preserve surface water as a viable water resource, and these types of restrictions are extremely onerous. He suggested attending the meeting to express objections or meet with state legislators. Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Six Ms. Coy said while she didn't always agree with SJRWD, she is concerned with the water supply as they are finding the aquifer wasn't as big as they were told. She noted the water supply in Las Vegas is non existent, and they are talking about expensive piping in from California and desalizations plants. *addressing Mr. Wright said he is not tofleefried -with the need to conserve but that SJRWD has relied too much on the property owner and they are not making an effort to build surface water facilities; which once built is too expensive to convert to drinking water. He said their entire focus has been on conservation and they want the City to pay the cost of enforcing their ordinance. Mayor Gillmor suggested having the City Attorney look into the ramifications if we did not enforce their ordinance. The City Attorney reminded Council that staff did present an ordinance that would have brought us into compliance a year ago but it was not adopted. He noted we are not enforcing the City's ordinance or SJRWMD's regulations; and without an ordinance, the City officers are not authorized to enforce SJRWMD's regulations. He offered to see where other municipalities are going with this. Mr. Wright said the meeting is March 5, and Council should consider objecting to the enforcement of their regulations. Ms. Coy said the City already has the people, but Council didn't even discuss it the ordinance a year ago, she is not supportive of taking away home rule but in support of conservation efforts. Mr. Wolff agreed with Mr. Wright, noting the residential homeowner is an easy target for SJRWD, as agriculture has money and attorneys. He noted the SJRWMD Board is very receptive, and he wouldn't rule out sending a letter expressing Council's opinion. Ms. Coy suggested sending a representative to the meeting to request that they not interfere with our home rule to maintain our ordinance. Mr. Wright said the City has been very responsive with conservation, SJRWD seems to be going tighter, and tighter, and soon it will be one day a week. He suggested that the City Attorney do a quick review of the meeting agenda as we don't want SJRWMD to pass ordinances that we have to enforce. The Mayor called for a recess at 7:47 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 7:57 p.m., all members were present. Council Matters Continued A. Vice Mayor Hill absent Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Seven B. Council Member Cov Ms. Coy asked when the next CRA is meeting. The City Manager replied March 10 Ms. Coy asked that the Working Waterfront, economic development of the CRA, and Main Street improvements such as lowering the speed limit, be addressed at the meeting. C. Council Member Wolff Mr. Wolff mentioned a telephone message received from an individual, along with maybe eight others, affected by the recent Go -Line changes. He said he contacted Karen Deigl of the Senior Resources Center to ask about the changes and Ms. Deigl indicated she would like to come to Council to explain the recent changes and what they are working on. Mr. Wolff also mentioned that if anyone is affected by the changes and there isn't a stop within a quarter mile within their home, they can call the Go -line and they will take individual to stop. D. Mayor Gillmor previously addressed. 9. COMMITTEE REPORTS APPOINTMENTS none. 10. PUBLIC HEARINGS none. 11. UNFINISHED BUSINESS none. 12. PUBLIC INPUT Damien Gilliams, 1623 U.S. Highway 1, said he was at the Economic Summit and everybody was missing the big point which is thinking we have to develop big programs to bring new business to the community when 90% of the businesses in the country are small businesses. He said we are constantly thinking about big businesses who want skills. He suggested starting a program with college kids to survey the community and report the problems of the small business community because that is where the jobs are. He said Council was right in saying no to Piper. He said if we fertilizer the existing businesses and you will have jobs; get rid of occupational license for one year to help the small moms and pops. 13. NEW BUSINESS 10.038 A. Resolution No. R -10 -04 Adopting First Quarter Amendments to the 21 -44 FY09 /10 Budget (Admin. Services, R- 10 -04, Comparison, Status Reports, Schedule, Accomplishments) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SEBASTIAN, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA ADOPTING AN AMENDED BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2009 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 AS PROVIDED FOR IN EXHIBIT "A PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. The City Attorney read Resolution No. R -10 -04 by title. Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Eight MOTION by Ms. Coy and SECOND by Mr. Wright to approve Resolution No. R- 10-04, adopting first quarter amendments to the FY09 /10 budget. There was no public input. Mr. Wright said the process is moving forward nicely, giving Council and the Budget Committee maximum time to review details and understand income expenses so they can make the best decisions when they have to vote on this in the fall. Result of the roll call vote: AYES: Coy, Wolff, Wright, Gilimor NAYS: 0 Motion carried. 10.039 B. Approve the Budget Preparation Calendar for FY10/11 (Admin. Services 45 -47 Transmittal, Proposed Calendar) MOTION by Mayor Gillmor and SECOND by Mr. Wright to approve the budget preparation calendar for FY10/11. Result of the roll call vote: AYES: Wolff, Wright, Gilimor, Coy NAYS: 0 Motion carried. 14. CITY ATTORNEY MATTER none. 15. CITY MANAGER MATTERS 10.040 A. Sebastian Dog Park Update (City Manager Transmittal, Minutes) 49 -52 The City Manager said the Parks and Recreation Committee met and unanimously recommended naming the City's dog park, "Sebastian Bark Park." The City Manager said he will make sure it is officially named. The City Manager asked Council to consider changing the monthly meeting schedule to maybe having a workshop quarterly or once a month instead of two meetings. He said coming up he would like to talk about the discretionary sales tax, CRA expenses, and recreational impact fees. In response to Mr. Wright, the City Manager said they could be joint workshop sessions with the committees. He asked Council to e-mail him ideas to include on the workshop agenda and he offered to call the first April meeting a workshop. There was no objection from Council. Regular City Council Meeting February 24, 2010 Page Nine ATTES Sally A. Mai•, MMC City Clerk Mayor Gillmor asked if a particular item would have to be noticed to take action. The City Attorney advised Council that action would not be taken at a workshop but can be brought forward to a meeting for action. Mr. Wright said this would give the community more opportunity to participate in government. On behalf of himself and his family, the City Manager thanked Council and everyone for the accolades and well wishes they have received on the birth of his son; and he wished his wife a happy 14 wedding anniversary. 16. CITY CLERK MATTERS none. 17. Being no further business, Mayor Gillmor adjourned the regular City Council meeting at 8:13 p.m. Approved at the March 10th, 2010 Regular City Council Meeting as amended on page 6. illmor, Mayor