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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-12-1995 WorkshopCITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING January 12, 1995 A Workshop Meeting of the Cape Canaveral City Council was held on January 12, 1995, at the City Hall Annex, 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 P.M. by Mayor Porter. ROLL CALL: Mayor John Porter Present Mayor Pro Tem Rocky Randels Absent Councilmember Arthur Berger Present Councilmember Leo Nicholas Present Councilmember Buzz Petsos Present City Manager Bennett Boucher Present City Attorney Kohn Bennett Present City Clerk Faith Miller Present BUSINESS: Mayor Porter stated that with Council's permission, he would recognize Ron Clark, Brevard County Sheriff's Department, who would brief the Council on a recent change in Canaveral precinct personnel. Mr. Clark stated that Lt. McGee had been moved to the South precinct and he introduced Lt. Steve Salvo as the new "police chief" for Cape Canaveral. He also stated that Commander Vernon Weekley had retired and he introduced Commander Dan Warner as the new Commander of the Central precinct. He stated that Lt. McGee had been at the Canaveral precinct for seven (7) years. Mayor Porter stated that he had enjoyed working with Lt. McGee and he had served the City's interests well. He stated that the primary goal was for the safety and well -being of Cape Canaveral citizens. He hoped that Lt. McGee had a bright future with the Sheriff's Dept. Mayor Porter and members of Council welcomed Lt. Salvo to Cape Canaveral. Mayor Porter recommended recognizing Lt. McGee at a future Council meeting for his seven (7) years of service to the City. 1. Interview of prospective Boardmember. Mr. Anthony Oldham was not present at the meeting. 2. Presentation of Beautification Board's Christmas Decoration Awards (January 17, 1995). Agenda this item for Tuesday. 3. Discussion Re: Citizens' Petition to Improve East Central Blvd. Mayor Porter wanted the agenda item to deal with the overall situation of buildings being • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 2 unfinished in the City and not necessarily a particular geographical area. Mr. Berger questioned whether or not the City actually had a problem with unfinished buildings. Mr. Boucher stated that he had asked Jim Morgan, Building Official, to provide an update on all of the unfinished buildings under construction within the City. Mr. Morgan stated that there were several projects that were basically owner/builder type of projects that as long as the outside of the buildings were kept up then it would not devalue neighboring properties. Mr. Berger did not feel that the matter could be handled professionally and that Council did not need to spend its time and effort to compose another ordinance to address the unfinished buildings situation. Mr. Nicholas stated that the residents were attempting to tell Council that maybe some of the ordinances needed to be changed to eliminate any loopholes that allow construction to go on indefinitely. He stated that Council needed to consider amending the City Code to place stricter controls on the time allowed for construction. Discussion continued regarding unfinished building projects. Mr. Bennett stated that Council was addressing two (2) separate issues - current problems, and the possible need for an ordinance to address future projects. He stated that there was case law, in particular a case in Clearwater in which Clearwater had adopted the SBCCI codes by reference in the same manner that the City did, that stated that construction must be completed within a reasonable time. He stated that courts had upheld cities putting restrictions on builders who had not completed residential construction projects within five (5) years. After such a project was taken to court, the court had then required substantial completion within six (6) months including having the building painted, sidewalk and driveway constructed and the lot sodded. If substantial completion was not done, then the Building Official could revoke the building permit and he stated such a case had gone all the way to the federal court and the City's actions were upheld. Mr. Bennett explained that the future issue could be addressed through a new ordinance. Mr. Nicholas stated that the problem with the current procedures was that it was dependent upon the Building Official saying that the construction was taking too long to complete. He stated that citizens have come before Council and complained for the past 2 -3 years about the same projects and the City had elected not to take any action. Mayor Porter stated that the intent of adopting an ordinance was not to try and limit an individual homeowner from building his own home and it was not against phased -in construction projects, but the ordinance would be against construction projects that were left uncompleted indefinitely. He stated that he was in favor of adopting such an ordinance and directing the City Manager to take care of the immediate problems. Mr. Petsos stated that a stronger ordinance would protect the City better in the future. Mr. Bennett stated that Council may want to give direction to staff that as they deal with each of the affected property owners that any agreement be made in writing whereby if the construction was not completed within a certain time period then their building permit would be revoked. Discussion continued regarding possible Code • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 3 Enforcement remedies. Ms. Carol Wells stated that she was in agreement with Mr. Nicholas and she was concerned about taking someone's word that they were going to complete their building and then not following through with the construction. She questioned if there was a way to limit the number of building permits someone could pull when they had several other buildings incomplete. Mr. Bud Seymour also spoke against unfinished construction projects that had continued over a significant length of time. Mayor Porter stated that there was a majority of Council who would be directing the City Manager to do whatever was necessary to clean up the eyesores as soon as possible as indicated by the list generated by the Building Department and any others that may not be on the list. He also had a majority of Council willing to pass an ordinance that would hopefully stop any similar future problems. Mr. Dick Benson questioned what was the City's definition of a "reasonable amount of time for Dr. Pindziak to complete his projects " . Mayor Porter stated that any eyesores throughout the City needed to be cleaned up. Mr. Boucher commented that each site would be reviewed on a case by case basis and Mr. Nicholas expected that the City Manager would confer with the City Attorney on the determination of "reasonable amount of time" . Mayor Porter stated that in his personal opinion, 3 -6 months was adequate time to address exterior cosmetic items such as sodding, painting, sidewalks, etc. He stated that he would need to rely on the City Attorney's opinion for what would be defensible in court. Mayor Porter stated that with Council's permission he directed the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance that would deal with future problems and directed the City Manager to deal with current problems as soon as possible. Mr. Bennett stated that there was a sample ordinance in the packet, but he was not comfortable with the wording of the ordinance and would make needed changes and have it ready for the next workshop meeting. Mayor Porter asked for a report back from the City Manager on Tuesday regarding the current problems. 4. Discussion Re: Quarterly City Treasurer's Report and Budget Transfers. Ms. Deborah Haggerty, City Treasurer, advised that the City was in a positive financial position at the close of the first quarter of the fiscal year. Mr. Nicholas stated that the City ended fiscal year 93/94 with a surplus of $58,613 and he questioned whether the increases in revenue were reflected in the 94/95 budget and Ms. Haggerty responded that the increased revenues were placed in reserves. Mr. Nicholas further questioned whether the current budget showed an increase in revenues based on the increased revenues received the previous year and Ms. Haggerty responded that the budget did not reflect the increased revenues. Discussion followed regarding the quarterly report, budget transfers, and the amended amount of the previous year's Sheriff's Dept. contract. Mr. Boucher stated that one of the goals included in the City's Goals & Action Plan was the ability to allow departments that came in • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 4 under budget one year to have the flexibility to obtain some of the items that were previously cut from their budget with the carryover funds. Mr. Nicholas stated that it was not staff's function to determine how to spend the surplus funds. Mayor Porter stated that he felt it was within the department head's responsibility to bring forward what they believed should be funded and then Council would make the final determination. Mr. Boucher stated that the Citizens on Patrol (COP) Program was forthcoming and there would be associated costs. Mr. Nicholas stated that he had other projects that he would like to have funded.as well. Mayor Porter suggested that before the next workshop that department heads review what items could be funded through the surplus funds in conjunction with the City's Goals & Action Plan. Agenda this item for Tuesday. 5. Discussion Re: Interlocal Agreement with the City of Cocoa to provide Utility Billing Services. Ms. Haggerty gave a brief overview of the interlocal agreement which provided that the City of Cocoa would begin a phased -in program of billing the City's customers for sewer, garbage and recycling fees. She stated that it was her plan to introduce the billing with the Canaveral Port Authority customers, if that billing was successful over a few months, then the remainder of the commercial billing would be given to Cocoa, and finally all of the City's residential customers would be billed directly from Cocoa. She stated that Cocoa was prepared to start billing the Port customers for January's charges to be billed in February. Ms. Haggerty stated that the Port's staff had been notified in writing of the City's intent to contract bill the sewer services. Mayor Porter suggested that Ms. Haggerty contact the Port directly by telephone as well. Ms. Haggerty further explained that the City would be charged a flat $.63 service fee per service /per customer /per month. She stated that Cocoa would handle collections matters as well. She was proposing that the $.63 fee be placed as an administrative cost on each bill to be charged to the customer. She stated that there currently was an $.85 processing charge built into the garbage fees. Mr. Nicholas commented that the City's Code provided that there shall be a utility tax on water and currently the City did not charge a utility tax on water. He advocated either removing the subject language from the City Code or imposing a utility tax on water. He stated that the City could impose a utility tax on water now and reduce the other utility taxes to a rate that would equate to an amount that a utility tax on water would generate. Agenda the interlocal agreement for Tuesday. • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 5 Discussion followed regarding a utility tax on water. Mayor Porter stated that the proposed utility tax on water would allow no net gain in taxes since the other utility taxes would be reduced accordingly. Council concurred to prepare an ordinance relative to the utility tax on water for the next Council workshop meeting. 6. Discussion Re: Councilmembers' areas of interest. Mayor Porter explained that he wanted to further define what each Councilmember wanted to do possibly in conjunction with the City's Goals and Action Plan. He did not know if the current method of defining Councilmembers' areas of interest was still appropriate. Mr. Nicholas stated that the original Charter confused " Councilmember" with a "Commission member" and in city charters that utilized the term "Commission member ", Commission members routinely served as city administrators responsible for specific city departments similar to the type of organization that would be found in a strong council form of government. He stated that currently Council did not have any actual authority over any particular matter contained within their area of interest. He felt that the only area that may need to be defined was the Mayor's areas of interest because the Mayor had greater responsibilities. Mayor Porter encouraged Councilmembers to take an active role in their particular project/program. Council concurred to delete the subject portion from the Code. An ordinance would be prepared for the next Council workshop meeting. 7. Discussion Re: Construction of the remaining portion of Tower Boulevard. Mr. Boucher stated that Mr. Randels had requested that this matter be placed on the agenda. He reported that Mr. Randels had felt that the remaining portion of Tower Boulevard should be paved because of employees who travel daily on the dirt road to the wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Randels supported possibly obtaining the permitting and redesign of the roadway within the current budget year and then placing the actual paving of the roadway as an item within the FY 95/96 budget. 8. City Manager's Report. Mr. Boucher reported that Florida League of Cities was proposing to offer a cooperative program for filming a promotional video for cities at a cost of $500. Mayor Porter suggested that the Commercial Development Board review the proposal further. Mr. Boucher stated that the Board was looking at several different marketing schemes. Mr. Boucher stated that he had received a request from Dr. David Sawyer, Brevard County School Superintendent, to address the City Council on the school bond referendum issue. Council concurred to schedule Dr. Sawyer during the next set of Council meetings. • • City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 6 Mr. Boucher referenced an article in the newspaper which had reported the plight of homeless individuals in the area. He recounted that the individuals were working day jobs at Mid Florida Freezer and at night they were setting up camp at Jetty Park. DISCUSSION: 1. Mr. Nicholas stated that the City had received a letter from Allen Engineering regarding the possibility of locating a hospital within Cape Canaveral in the area north of Angel's Isle. Mr. Morgan stated that the developers had decided not to pursue the matter further. Mr. Nicholas stated that a hospital may be a good usage to place on the subject property. Mr. Boucher stated that since the City was currently working on an amendment to its Comprehensive Plan and that the construction of a hospital in that area may be beneficial to the City and its residents. 2. Mr. Nicholas referenced a letter regarding Dennis Aluminum and Mr. Morgan stated that he could not find anyone working at the site and that he had gained access to the area only to find materials stored in there. 3. Mr. Nicholas questioned the status of Mr. Kingston's request regarding International Drive. Mr. Boucher responded that the City was still researching the matter of an easement which runs through one of the buildings which may not have been recorded with the County properly. 4. Mr. Nicholas commented on a letter received from Mr. Lippert regarding a lot mowing situation and Mr. Boucher had directed the Building Official to respond to the Lipperts in writing regarding the status of their complaint, 5. Mr. Nicholas mentioned the current Council practice of interviewing prospective Boardmembers and he questioned whether or not Council should continue to be the ones to interview the Boardmembers. He stated that maybe Council should consider having the actual Boards interview prospective Boardmembers and then the Board could make recommendations to appoint or not appoint directly to Council. Mayor Porter suggested sending a memo to each Board chairman asking them to discuss at their next meeting the Boardmember appointment process and report back to Council their findings. 6. Mr. Nicholas stated that the Library Board had raised a question of incorporating the City Seal in the design of the library, possibly in the entranceway in a stained glass pattern. Discussion followed regarding the funding of this item. It was determined that there were funds available within the City's library fund budget to pay for the inclusion of the City Seal in the library expansion project. 7. Mr. Boucher stated that during the interview of the engineering applicants Council may want to consider selecting an engineering firm that had architectural expertise for use in the • 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Workshop Meeting January 12, 1995 Page 7 City's master planning and also to work with the Architectural Review Board. 8. Mayor Porter stated that on February 25, 1995, there would be an all volunteer neighborhood clean -up project within the City. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:07 P.M. Faithip. Miller, C Cityerk `�