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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04062010IRCMayors MeetingHOME OF PELICAN ISLAND INDIAN RIVER COUNTY MAYORS' MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010 2 PM SEBASTIAN CITY HALL CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA 1 Mayor Gillmor called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. and asked that the Mayors introduce themselves for the record. 2. INTRODUCTION OF MEMBERS FOR THE RECORD Richard Gillmor, Mayor, City of Sebastian Kevin Sawnick, Mayor, City of Vero Beach Richard Dunlop, Mayor, Town of Orchid Susan Adams, Mayor, City of Fellsmere E. William Kenyon, Mayor, Town of Indian River Shores (Arrived 2:10 p.m.) Also Present: Fellsmere Vice Mayor, Joel Tyson Sebastian City Manager, Al Minner Fellsmere City Manager, Jason Nunemaker 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A) February 11, 2010 MOTION by Mayor Dunlop and SECOND by Mayor Sawnick to approve the February 11, 2010 minutes carried on a voice vote of 4 -0. 4. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION A) North County Industrial Park and Inventory of Commercial Lands Mayor Adams distributed a packet of information (see attached), and described the approximately 500 acres within Fellsmere's Regional Employment Activity Center (REAC) land use designation which will provide for planned commercial and light industrial uses. She also provided a map detailing uses within the North County Industrial Park (NCIP) located within unincorporated County north of CR 512, and adjacent commercial parcels to the south of CR 512. She said she believed several of the lots in the NCIP are for sale. Indian River County Mayors' Meeting Minutes April 6, 2010 Page Two Mayor Dunlop noted he visited the Industrial Park property and it is very hidden and overgrown and perhaps could be coordinated with Fellsmere's adjacent property. Mayor Adams responded that the property just to the west of the NCIP is the "Preserve at Fellsmere which is depicted on page 5 of her handout and for which the commercial area abutting CR512 has shown some movement toward development. She noted the property directly to the south of the NCIP is in unincorporated County, but hopefully commercial development of the property to the west in Fellsmere will kick up some action for that property and maybe we can reach out to them. She then cited page 4 of the handout depicting the Ro -Ed and Aldea properties. Mayor Kenyon arrived at this time (2:10 p.m.). Mayor Sawnick asked what this group sees as it's position going forward on this issue, and what they can do to help out with development in this area. Discussion took place on encouraging the opening of the property to the south of the NCIP. Mayor Dunlop said we need to find out who owns the property and Mayor Adams said she believed it is a management company. Mayor Gillmor suggested perhaps through the local Chamber of Commerce, the cities of Fellsmere and Sebastian could send a joint letter to the property owners stating they are interested in having this property developed and ask if there is anything the cities can do to help. Mayor Kenyon said he did not see much happening in Florida to bring in industrial development. Mayor Gillmor said maybe through enterprise Florida, but did not see much going on, and that Indian River County needs to do more to promote itself. Mayor Dunlop said to go to the State you have to get the County involved, noting certain people want to keep the county the way it was and some want to grow and develop. Mayor Sawnick said we can put processes in place to make it easier for people to develop tax abatements, more concise zoning procedures, etc. Mayor Kenyon said we can motivate the State and the County to do something about it. He said the State of Florida doesn't know what it is it is four different kinds of states. Mayor Dunlop said we as a committee needs to decide what we can do in perhaps approaching the County. Mayor Sawnick said maybe the group can work through the cities' City Managers to find out what the County is not doing that they should be doing, and how we can motivate the County to get on board. Mayor Dunlop said if the County is serious about creating jobs they have to get behind development of industrial parks for low impact industry such as manufacturing and research facilities that hires 60 -200 people. He suggested a joint unified letter be sent to the County stating what they think the priorities for the County should be. Mayor Gillmor suggested what might carry more weight is coming up with a letter amongst the group and taking it to their respective Councils for approval and then send it forward to the County. 2 Indian River County Mayors' Meeting Minutes April 6, 2010 Page Three Mayor Kenyon suggested having the Commission come and sit with them and tell them what they are thinking about in terms of economic and industrial development, and ask if the group can help them. Mayor Adams said she is for a dialogue but on an individual basis it won't do much good if they are expressing only their opinion and not the opinion of the whole Commission. Mayor Dunlop suggested a meeting of all the Councils and Commission much the same as they did for ISBA. Mayor Adams said there is nothing wrong with inviting the Commission Chairman to the next meeting, but she hoped he would be representing what the Commission is planning to do as a whole and not his individual opinion. Mayor Gillmor said if we get approval from the Councils on a joint letter, this group can ask for placement on a County Commission agenda and present the letter to all the Commissioners as a whole. Mayor Kenyon asked if anything is going to happen as a result of this meeting. Mayor Sawnick said for our next meeting we need to figure out what it is we want the County to do. Mayor Kenyon said his City is not interested in industrial development for Indian River Shores but understands that Fellsmere has the acreage for such development. Mayor Dunlop said we have to take off our town hat and put on our county hat and talk about what is best for the entire county. He said we have to look long term and say "where is the County going to go B) Cities Demographics and Information Exchange Mayor Sawnick said he looked into how many business licenses each of the cities has, citing how the newspaper compares the numbers of employees for each city, citing the differences in the scope of the cities noting Vero has more business licenses than Sebastian. He said for people coming down who are going to open some type of business they may want to know how many businesses are in the area already and they can decide if they should open in Sebastian, or Fellsmere or Vero Beach. He said Vero Beach has 3000 business licenses. He discussed the need for marketing plans and better websites to promote the area. Mayor Adams said Verobeach.com is privately run. Mayor Gillmor cited Sebastian's demographics, noting 30% of the population is over 55, 64% is over 45 and Vero Beach's median age is higher than Sebastian's, and the County is close to these demographics. He said Indian River County has an older population in comparison to overall numbers for Florida. Mayor Dunlop said Orchid's average age is 66. Mayor Gillmor said Sebastian's median age is 49. Mayor Adams said Fellsmere's median age is 31 and the current population is approximately 5000. 3 Indian River County Mayors' Meeting Minutes April 6, 2010 Page Four Mayor Gillmor said during the County Economic Development summit he discussed promoting the area for retirees up north who may be hesitant to retire due to collapse in 401s or retirement funds, citing this area as having the most undervalued homes in the country. Mayor Sawnick asked if the local Realtors' Association does something like this and Mayor Gillmor said they do not. Mayor Dunlop said beyond the home prices, the cost of living is much less expensive here. Mayor Gillmor said although not up yet, the website RetireSebastian.com is being prepared for the City of Sebastian to target people thinking about retirement. He said there are empty homes, a lot of small builders in town, and a lot of vacant lots available. Mayor Kenyon suggested taking a question to the County to ask what they see Indian River County becoming in the future. He cautioned that unless we move in this direction we'll end up being bedroom communities. Mayor Adams said she agreed with setting a goal and a vision for what the cities want the County to look like and taking it to the Commission. Mayor Dunlop suggested that two or three of this group could meet with individual members of the County Commission once we come up with something. Mayor Sawnick said each month he and the Vero Beach City Manager meet with Joe Baird and Commissioner O'Bryan on various issues of concern and he could bring up these issues at his next meeting at the end of this month. He suggested each Mayor set up his or her own monthly meeting. Mayor Kenyon said anything the group comes up with will be challenged, noting that being a good elected official means sticking your neck out and doing what you believe is right. Mayor Dunlop suggested each member create his or her own vision, e-mail it to each other, and then all members can review them to come up with a vision for the group. Mayor Kenyon said one person should take the responsibility for writing it up. Mayor Gillmor suggested we look forward to 2020 and write what we would like our cities or our county to look like at that time, envision what we'd like to see, and then work backward and decide what decisions will need to be made to achieve that vision. Mayor Dunlop said each member should look at the whole County while developing the vision. Mayor Sawnick agreed each member has to keep in mind the effect his or her vision will have on other areas. Mayor Dunlop suggested that each Mayor write his or her own vision for the County, and how our towns fit into that, e-mail it to each other, and then get back together to discuss it. He suggested each member could go to their Councils with the vision for their input and suggested they could do this through their City Managers in light of Sunshine laws. 4 Indian River County Mayors' Meeting Minutes April 6, 2010 Page Five Mayor Adams said if they stick to every other month, the next meeting will be June 1St Mayor Sawnick suggested sending the vision to the Clerks so they have a copy of it. Mayor Gillmor suggested the visions be sent out to each of the Clerks by May 1 Mayor Adams said this will give the group time to review each vision and then they can sit down at the next meeting to discuss how each vision will be incorporated into one unified vision and move on from there. C) Civic Education Issues and Ideas Mayor Sawnick suggested each member pick a school and go make presentations to students. Mayor Kenyon said students visit his town and the Clerk takes them around. Mayor Gillmor talked about the annual student visit in Sebastian at which a couple of hundred students visit the City. The Records Program Manager said Student Government Day takes place in October every year, but she was uncertain whether the schools or the City initiated it. Mayor Sawnick suggested a contest to promote the cities by having residents make videos about the city they live in and have top prizes, as a way to get people involved. Mayor Gillmor said they could talk to the different high schools. Mayor Adams asked Mayor Sawnick if he could put together a plan and the group can discuss it. Mayor Kenyon said there was merit in talking to people of each town to establish their vision. Mayor Sawnick said it is important to him to meet with students so they understand who we are and our roles in government. Mayor Gillmor said people usually show up at meetings when they are upset about something but it would be nice if they showed up for the good things too. Mayor Sawnick asked if anyone had general questions on being Mayor. He asked how the agenda item "Council Matters" works for each of them. Mayor Adams said it is strictly information for them and if they want some new business discussed they put it on the next agenda. Mayor Dunlop said they have their discussions beforehand, and the hardest thing to discuss is employee problems. He said people sometimes ask questions that don't relate to the town. Mayor Adams said they do their discussions after old business and before new business. Mayor Sawnick said Vero Beach does theirs after old business and new business and in the past it was not items that they would be voting on right at that time without backup or information and it is taking a long time. Mayor Adams said as a matter of policy they should not be doing that because then they are making uninformed decisions. Mayor Gillmor said he does not think it out of order to spend twenty minutes or so trying to sell an idea but then ultimately it be placed on a subsequent agenda. 5 Indian River County Mayors' Meeting Minutes April 6, 2010 Page Six Mayor Gillmor said just read Roberts Rules and if someone just wants to go on you can say "do you want to make a motion" and if not then just move on. Mayor Adams said perhaps when you get to Council matters you can ask for brevity. Mayor Dunlop also advised that you can ask members to only comment if they have something new to add. The next meeting was scheduled for June 1 at 2 pm at Indian River Shores. 5. Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:21 p.m. Minutes Prepared by: Sally Maio, MMC City Clerk City of Sebastian 6