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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-04-88 WS . MINUTES OF THE CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP HELD ON JANUARY 4_ 1988 The meeting was called to order at 7:45 p.m. by Mayor Ison. PRESENT: Mayor Ison_ Commissioners Johnson_ Dabbs_ Bateman (arrived at 7:50 p.m.>_ and Hager_ City Manager Ryan and City Clerk Catron. ABSENT: None Mayor Ison presented the interim attorneys from the law firm of Foley_ Lardner_ van den Berg_ Gay_ Burke_ Wilson & Arkin as follows: Paul Rosenthal, Duke Woodson and Laurie Mlsna. Mr. Rosenthal gave a brief outline of their credentials and background. DISCUSSION ON LONG RANGE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE CITY e Commissioner Dabbs Commissioner Dabbs expressed his frustration at this meeting being held in the Community Center instead of the City Hall Conference Room. He stated that he did not intend to insult or be acrimonious by anything that he said but he felt his voice was not being heard and he would like to establish some means of communication. He listed the following as examples: 1 - He left one meeting with a bond counsel chosen and came back with an entirely different firm: 2 - He left one meeting with the City Manager to come back with a list of capital proJects and the Commission voted for intersection improvements before staff presented their report: 3 - He left one meeting with a development agreement and came back with a new scenario for Prima Vista: 4 - Prima Vista felt our consultants were making decisions outside their purview: 5- the confusion with Wescar and Clarcona: and 6 - the confusion with paving the strip on Bluford. He questioned why there was crisis management operation and if it was due to the negotiations with Prima Vista Utilities_ staffing_ poor Commission action, poor attorney recommendations or a combination of all. He felt we were in a state of flux and hoped with the new year that we would get a focus on things and that he could attend a meeting without changes "whispered in his ear". He felt they needed to address the Charter and the Mayor form of government as the leadership role may have been exceeded under the Charter. He further stated that he was willing to take whatever responsibility rested with him_ work with the Commission and hoped he was not out of step. He felt that the following were obJectives and goals for the City: 1 - Revise the Charter_ 2 - Need full time attorney/law firm_ 3 - Need to decide development scheme and what they want as the core of the City, 4 - Need to review the engineering situation and 5 - Validate intersection improvements, paving streets and transportation plans. - 1 - Page 2 City Commission Workshop January 4_ 1988 Commi..ioner John.on Commissioner Johnson also stated that he thought the workshop was to be held in the City Hall Conference Room and was concerned with it being moved. He felt that the biggest problem facing the City was that of Growth_ Commercial and Residential, and he felt that we should hire a public works director/engineer, or possibly_ both due to the acquisition of the wastewater system. He suggested that all departments needed to be looked at - sewer_ water, street, sanitation - as they were all affected by the growth. He felt that more staff might be required as little things were being let go and he wanted to see the salary survey completed. He asked that the City Manager let them know if more staff was needed. - City Manager Ryan stated that all the things that both he and the Commission had faced and looked at, they had not had the tools to work with to have quality control and had imported talent in in some instances. He felt they needed specifically two people - a public works director that was a professionally trained civil engineer, and a utilities director that was a utilities engineer. He could also use a staff assistant for quality control. He stated that he had told them that the Prima Vista Utility acquisition would test our patience and suggested that they might need to change the mix on the established capital improvement proJects. Commis.ioner Hager Commissioner Hager felt that the most pressing of our goals was that of the sewer system due to our annexations and proposed development and that we needed to be ready when it happened. The other goals were as follows: 1 - Continual upgrading of the development and the homes, 2 - Street and road improvements and 3 - The tremendous effect the proposed East/West Beltway would have upon the City. . Commi..ioner Bateman Commissioner Bateman stated that he did not know if he could add anything and that he shared Commissioner Hager's goals. He felt that the population of Ocoee would be 50,000 by the time the beltway became a reality and that our goals should be high. His goals and obJectives were: 1 - Charter Revision Committee to establish 4 year terms for Mayor and Commissioners and give the Mayor the power to vote and make motions_ 2 - He was hesitant about an in-house city attorney but did have a problem with an attorney/firm that had to excuse themselves due to a conflict and wanted a permanent attorney on board as soon as possible, 3 - Wanted the city to hire someone in the technical field who was experienced in utilities and did not feel we needed to farm it out and 4- Felt we needed to get on with the salary survey. 2 . Page 3 City Commission Workshop January 4_ 1988 e Mayor Ison Mayor Ison stated that he had made some notes on where we had been and where we were going. In the last 4 to 5 years, he noted, that no government had gone through the changes that we had undergone. We had: 4 City Managers, 3 Police Chiefs, 5 Building Officials, 3 City Attorneys, 2 Water superintendents, 2 City Engineers, 2 Finance Directors, 2 City Clerks, 3 Mayors_ 7 City Commissioners, 8 Sentinel Star Reporters and 3 ~!~~~~ ~~~9~~ I!~~~ Reporters. We--had-added the City Planner, City Clerk and Purchasing Clerk. He noted the following achievements: Acquired Forest Oaks Water Plant and tied into the water supply on the hill, 1983 Drainage on the flooding of the lakes and the Trailer park flooding solved, Constructed 4 miles of sidewalks_ Built Tiger Minor Park, Installed Lights on the little league and football fields, Automated City Hall, Cleaned drainage ditch system, Instituted a City Beautification program, Promoted Commercial development, Lowered the Ad Valorem Taxes, Made the Maguire/Withers home the focal point, Nearly doubled our land size, Purchased Prima Vista Utilities, Now have all of the boards involved in the community_ Highway 50 paved and signalized and Silver Star Road paved through DOT, Improved relations between the City of Ocoee and Winter Garden_ Initiated 3 year fire contract with the Town of Windermere and Involved Civic clubs and church groups. His Goals were as follows: 1 - Improved service to existing customers at lowest cost possible, 2 - Review needs for City and public works director, 3 - Need to continue to develop commercial business, 4 - Have two people on League of Cities Committees and need to continue to be represented, 5 -Need to protect our revenue sources - impact fees and look at franchise agreements, 6 - Examine our existing services and see if we are getting our cost, 7 - Promote good intergovernmental relations and 8 - Improve our communications to our citizens. He suggested that on improving our communications we could establish a speakers bureau and put together a program using staff and the city commission. He would like to see the Jobs completed on proJects already started_ such as Bowness Rd./Franklin/McKey proJect. Mayor Ison suggested utilizing our growth to accomplish our obJectives and after every meeting leave the city better than they found it. e General Diacuasion City Manager Ryan stated that the following needs were keynoted: Need to assess the wastewater system needs capacity and reservation - and asked for authorization for the new interim city attorney to go forward with the transportation impact fee and to direct all the legal work from the previous attorney to the new interim attorney. Also, authorize staff to press on with the Bond issue on the 3 e Page 4 City Commi.sion Workshop January 4_ 1988 water improvements. They need to prioritize the paving program, need to move on with the Joint Comprehensive Plan, need to authorize staffing in the form of utilites director and administrative Assistant for the City Manager. He stated that he planned to have the salary survey done by 1/19 or 2/2. Commissioner Johnson suggested that a Code Enforcement Officer was needed also in addition to the other staff positions mentioned. Commissioner Dabbs questioned whether the City Planner position was being utilized effectively. City Manager Ryan asked the Commission to advise if they wanted him to move forward with the suggested staff positions. After further discussion from the Mayor and Commissioners, most were in favor of getting a public works director with civil engineering experience on board as soon as possible and to look at getting the right people to help take care of the growth. City Manager Ryan was asked to agenda on 1-19-88 the other staffing needs. e City Manager Ryan explained that the Forest Oaks Water Plant might have less than 400 taps and this would need to be addressed. As he suggeted before, a capacity reserve sale needed to be held for the wastewater system. Mayor Ison suggested he get with Stanley Cohen and advertise for the sale. He asked that a tentative fee of $2500.00 for reservations be set until such time a fee can be determined. Along those lines, there was a problem with the Holiday Inn and the way they hooked up to the system. They had been told to unhook from the system prior to our purchase of the system. They had agreed to pay in installments for 5 years but that was unacceptable. The City Manager will get with the Interim City Attorney and bring it back to the Commission. All of the Commission agreed that they needed to look at our planning area and specifically set down what their future plans were to be: therefore, they scheduled a planning meeting for February 1, 1988 at 8:00 p.m., to be held in the City Hall Conference Room. This would be a workshop and the City Planner and Assistant Planner were requested to attend. e Mayor Ison then asked for comments from any citizens present. J. Riffle_ representative from the Clarcona area, asked for the Commission's consideration on any development towards Clarcona and advised them that he had been working with Orange County for the acquisition of a water plant and some of the property they were considering was located in Ocoee. Mayor Ison asked what his thoughts for additional schools in the area were and what their proJects were. Mr. Riffle stated that they wanted to keep the rural atmosphere, wanted road improvements and sidewalks and wanted community involvement. Their meetings were held the second Monday of 4 e Page ~ City Commi..ion Work.hop January 4_ 1988 every month at 7:30 p.m.. Dave Outlaw, representative of Wescar, stated that he spoke from the other perspective and that the City was on the threshold since the freeze opened up a lot of property. Add to that the addition of the beltway, and the City of Ocoee was on the verge of becoming a large municipality. He also stated that contrary to what people might think, they were in favor of a transportation impact fee and also would like to know the land use plan for the City. e Cable TV Mayor Ison reported that he had received a letter from Cablevision Industries which was quite cryptic; therefore, he was going to bring this matter up to the Public Service Commission. They had also requested that they be dropped from the agenda for the meeting on 1-5-88, but he said he would not do so. The Commissioners questioned the status of the proposed ordinance which dealt with a franchise for Cablevision of Central Florida. City Manager Ryan explained that Drew Thomas would not be at the meeting because the ordinance was not up to State Statute and they needed to find out how to proceed. It was decided that they would get the attorney to draft an ordinance for the Commission to review for recommendations. It would be a sample ordinance that could be used ~or any cable company that wanted a franchise with the City. It was decided that a workshop would be held when the sample ordinance was drafted. The Florida League of Cities will hold a legislative conference on February 4, and 5, 1988. The meeting adJourned at 9:50 p.m.. ___2Li_L~_____ MAYOR ATTEST: CITY CLERK e 5