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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 04-28-1994 Workshop• 1 CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING April 28, 1994 A Workshop Meeting of the Cape Canaveral City Council was held on April 28, 1994, at the City Hall Annex, 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Salamone. ROLL CALL: Mayor Joy Salamone Present Mayor Pro Tem John Porter Present Councilmember Arthur Berger Present Councilmember Leo Nicholas Present Councilmember Rocky Randels Present City Manager Bennett Boucher Present City Attorney John Kancilia Present City Clerk Faith Miller Present BUSINESS: 1. Discussion Re: Request by the Foreign Trade Zone Group, Inc., of Port Canaveral, to finance additional sewer impact fees per Section 535.02(B). Mr. Boucher introduced Mr. Jim Galuzzi, President of the Foreign Trade Zone Group at Port Canaveral. Mr. Boucher explained that the Building Department's inspection of the Foreign Trade Zone facility had revealed that there were more fixture units than were originally permitted and the additional impact fee due was in excess of $10,000. Mr. Galuzzi requested the ability to pay 25 % of the fees now and to finance the remaining fees over the next year. Mr. Galuzzi stated that the company owned the building, but that the buildings were warehouse buildings with a very limited amount of people as there was a low usage of office space. Mr. Randels expressed his concern that the cause of the problem needed to be addressed as well and that it was a continuing problem that facilities within the Port were expanded or modified without the City's knowledge. Mayor Salamone stated that the City was not willing to forego using the fixture count as a means of determining the amount of fees due. Mr. Galuzzi explained the financial difficulty his firm would encounter with such additional impact fees. There was discussion regarding how the City could impose a lien on the property or gain some type of security for financing the outstanding sewer fees. Mr. Nicholas stated that he had a problem with the original valuation for sewer impact fees being based on number of employees and now the valuation was based on number of fixtures. Mayor Salamone asked that the original fixture and employee counts from the first valuation be provided to Council prior to Tuesday's regular meeting and that the City Manager determine the methods available to the City to secure the promissory note. Agenda this item for Tuesday. • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 2 2. Discussion Re: Scope of services for Comprehensive Plan update, presented by Carol Sweeney. A.I.C.P. of Dyer. Riddle, Mills & Precourt. Mayor Salamone disagreed with the amount of the consultant fees included in Dyer, Riddle's proposal to update the City's Comprehensive Plan. She suggested that the Planning & Zoning Board act as the Local Planning Agency again and review the Comprehensive Plan in its entirety. After discussion, Council concurred to agenda this item for discussion at the next workshop meeting. 3. Discussion Re: Ordinance No. 18 -94. Amending City's Code of Ordinances, Chapter 38, Fire Prevention and Protection by providing for fire inspection fees. Mayor Salamone stated that she had several questions regarding the proposed ordinance and asked that the ordinance be scheduled at the next Council workshop meeting in order for Dave Sargeant, Fire Chief, to be present to address Council's concerns. 4. Discussion Re: Manatee Ad Hoc Committee recommendation. After discussion, Council agreed that it wanted the subject area to remain a manatee safe zone. Agenda this item for Tuesday. 5. Discussion Re: Canaveral Port Authority's Interlocal Sewer Service Agreement proposal. Mr. Boucher stated that the Port had indicated that it wished to reevaluate whether or not a pre- treatment facility was needed. He stated that City staff felt strongly that a pre - treatment facility was needed at the Port. Mr. Boucher stated that the original wholesale agreement which had been proposed a year ago was in the best interests of the City on a long term basis. There was additional discussion regarding pretreatment at the Port's point of origin, the Port's responsibility for enforcing the pretreatment requirement at the facilities located throughout the Port, whether or not the Port wanted to construct its own wastewater treatment plant, and the City staff and Council's time involved in dealing with sewer problems at the Port. After extensive discussion, Council concurred to draw up an agreement to restate the City's original offer to the Port for a wholesale franchise agreement. Mayor Salamone asked that the contract be sent directly to each Port Commissioner's home address. Agenda this item for the next Council workshop meeting. 6. Discussion Re: Resolution No. 94 -21 Approving the transfer of Elizabethtown Gas Company into its parent company NUI Corporation. Mr. Kancilia explained the purpose of the Resolution and that the company's merger may still • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 3 be effective even without Council approval. Mr. Randels questioned if it would be possible to ascertain what the company's future plans entailed. Mayor Salamone asked that City Gas provide maps of their lines within the City and a time line schedule for future improvements. Agenda this item for the next Council workshop meeting. 7. Discussion Re: Resolution No. 94 -22, Approving the final plat of Ocean Gardens - Wave Two. Agenda this item for Tuesday. Mr. Randels expressed his concerns with spot rezoning. Mr. Berger commented that he felt it was best to review rezoning requests on a case by case basis rather than rewriting the City's ordinances to disallow special exceptions in commercially zoned property. Mr. Porter commented that Council should determine a shared vision for the future and advise the Planning & Zoning Board as to what they were looking for in future years. There was discussion regarding the possibility of establishing an Architectural Review Board and current Sunshine Law restrictions. 8. Discussion Re: Resolution No. 94 -23 Establishing a new schedule of sewer impact fees. There was discussion regarding whether or not the City had to increase the sewer impact fees by a cost -of -living adjustment annually. Agenda this item for Tuesday. 9. Discussion Re: Ordinance No. 14 -94, Amending the City's Code of Ordinances. Chapter 352, Drug Free Workplace, to change the criteria for reasonable suspicion testing. and to add new sections to cover Routine Fitness for Duty Testing follow -Up Testing, and Injury Related Testing. Agenda this item for Tuesday. After a ten- minute break, the meeting was reconvened. 10. Discussion Re: Ordinance No. 15 -94, Adopting and Enacting a New Code for the City of Cape Canaveral. Agenda this item for Tuesday. 11. Discussion Re: Ordinance No. 16 -94 Amending City's Code of Ordinances. By adopting a Development Agreement Policy to address infrastructure needs required by new development within the City. Mr. Boucher explained the purpose of the proposed ordinance to address unfunded infrastructure City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 4 needs. Mr. Berger expressed his concerns that the ordinance was too harsh in that it placed an undue burden on developers. After Council discussion, it was determined that a requirement for a 5 % warranty bond on the project should be included as well as that the City would not accept any improvements (i.e., roads, drainage improvement, etc.) until three (3) years after construction completion. Agenda this item for the next Council workshop meeting. 12. Discussion Re: Council workshop meetings. There was discussion regarding the time available to Council for review of agenda material when the agenda packets were ready the day before each Council meeting. It was the consensus of Council that more time was needed for Council to prepare for meetings and that the packets be prepared on a more timely basis. Council concurred to eliminate one (1) workshop meeting per month on a trial basis. Mayor Salamone asked that the agenda packet for May 17th's combined meeting be ready by May 1 lth, and that the agenda packet for June 2nd's workshop meeting be ready by May 27th. 13. Discussion Re: Review RFP No. 94 -01, cable system evaluation. There was general discussion regarding this item, no further action was recommended by Council. 14. Discussion Re: Appointment of additional members to the Commercial Development Board. Mr. Kancilia advised that Council could not appoint Jim Means or Gerald Sales to serve on the Commercial Development Board at this time due to Mr. Means and Mr. Sales' wife presently serving as members of the Equity Study Commission. 15. Discussion Re: Royal Mansions Condominium Association's settlement proposal. Mr. Boucher stated that the settlement stipulation from Royal Mansions provided that the Association would no longer rent or lease units for less than seven (7) days. Mr. Kancilia expressed his concerns with the proposal. He stated that he would agree to the settlement proposal if Royal Mansions would agree to all that the City had asked for in the counterclaim which included agreeing to an injunction. Mr. Kancilia suggested authorizing Mr. Healy to make the settlement offer to Royal Mansions with the inclusion of an injunction. Council authorized Patrick Healy to offer agreement to the injunction as its settlement proposal. 16. Presentation of Spring Beautification Awards (May 3, 1994). Agenda this item for Tuesday. • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 5 Mayor Salamone also requested that the proclamation for National Cancer Survivor's Day be placed on Tuesday's agenda as well. 17. Presentation by Mr. Paul R. Gougelman. III. of Reinman. Harrell, Graham. Mitchell. & Wattwood re: Brevard County vs. Snyder lawsuit and its implications to the quasi-judicial nature of Board activities (May 3. 1994). Mr. Kancilia stated that this item was a staff suggestion and that there had been another case decided which went along with the Snyder decision which provided that a building permit was a "quasi-judicial act as well as certain other approvals out of the Building Department ". Staff requested that the Planning & Zoning Boardmembers be invited to attend and participate in a joint meeting with the City Council on Tuesday, May 3rd for the presentation by Mr. Gougelman. 18. City Manager's Report. Mr. Boucher stated that Stottler, Stagg & Associates had been selected as the architectural firm for the library expansion project. Mr. Boucher advised that Mrs. Sharon Hoover, Secretary for the City Clerk's Office, was presently suffering from cancer and would be unable to return to work. He stated that several employees were interested in donating sick leave time to Mrs. Hoover equivalent to approximately 2 -3 months of sick leave. Mayor Salamone stated that she would fully support a sick leave bank for those employees who wished to donate, but that certain procedures /requirements should be established. Mr. Randels stated he was concerned that employees not feel coerced or "peer pressured" into donating sick time and Mayor Salamone stated that was the problem with having donations for a specific employee. She explained that she supported having a sick leave bank policy in place with a Board to review withdrawals from the sick leave bank. Mr. Porter expressed his support of allowing the donations of sick leave for Mrs. Hoover and he also felt that the adoption of a concrete procedure to handle such requests was needed. Mr. Nicholas stated that he had a problem with utilizing sick leave as a commodity and he explained his reasons for same. There was extensive discussion regarding Mrs. Hoover's situation and the need to set a written sick leave pooling policy. Mr. Kancilia stated that an emergency ordinance would be required to allow the pooling of sick leave since the provision was not within the present ordinances. He stated that the ordinance would be effective for thirty (30) days. Mr. Porter and Mrs. Salamone expressed their support of a sick leave bank. Mayor Salamone asked that an emergency ordinance be prepared for Tuesday. Council asked for the following perimeters in the ordinance: no employee may give more than five (5) working • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 6 days (forty hours) into the pool; no employee can ever take more than 40 days (320 hours); employees must have at least 40 hours of sick leave prior to donating any sick leave; and the entire program must be voluntary. Council also asked that the sick leave pooling policy statement be included on the first Council meeting workshop for July. Mr. Boucher asked Council to read a portion of the Code Enforcement Board meeting minutes pertaining to the Sandra Butler case. He stated that he could understand how the Board came to the conclusion that maybe there wasn't a violation and there was a statement made that the City's Street Department did not accept any trees from Ms. Butler (two statements were attached to the documentation submitted to Council from the Public Works Director and Streets Foreman). Mr. Boucher stated that staff and Ms. Butler had met mid -March to advise Ms. Butler of her options, either pay the $2,030 fine or agree to plant the trees on her property or the City property. As a result of the March meeting, there was an agreement that Ms. Butler would plant 46 inches worth of trees on City property. Mr. Boucher said the case was then presented to the Code Enforcement Board and the Board minutes reflected that Ms. Butler had attempted to deliver a mitigating amount of trees to the City's Street Department, but they had allegedly refused the trees twice. He stated that Ms. McKee, Streets Foreman, had gone out and videotaped all the fallen trees and the video was not shown at the Code Enforcement meeting and he questioned whether the Board had actually been given all the information it needed to make an appropriate decision. Mayor Salamone stated that the Board's decision was not in the best interests of the City. There was additional discussion regarding the case. Mr. Nicholas stated that Council could ask the Board to reconsider the matter. Mr. Randels stated that if the Board made a decision based on partial, improper or incomplete information then the Board should rehear the case. Mr. Kancilia stated that Florida Statutes provided that any party aggrieved by a decision of the Code Enforcement Board may appeal the Board's decision in circuit court and that the City was a permissible party to seek a rehearing of the issue before the Code Enforcement Board. He suggested that Council pass a motion directing City staff to seek a rehearing of the issue before the Code Enforcement Board within 30 days of the original decision. Agenda this item for Tuesday. Mayor Salamone stated that the Code Enforcement Board had to depend on City staff to give them every piece of information applicable to each case and it was imperative that the City Manager see that the Boardmembers receive all the required information for every case. She also . asked that every party involved in the Butler case be present at the rehearing, including Ms. Butler, the Public Works Director and Streets Department Foreman. Mr. Boucher stated that Mr. Firkins of Cevesco was asking $248,000, rather than $200,000, for the 2.48 acre parcel of land near the wastewater plant. Mayor Salamone suggested a counteroffer of $224,000 for the 2.48 acres which would split the difference in price. • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting April 28, 1994 Page 7 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Faith G. Miller, CMC /AAE City Clerk