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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-09-84 SS MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION MEETING HELD MAY 9, 1984 e Present: Mayor Ison, COlnmissioners Hager, Cook, Rodgers, and Lyle, City Manager Burgess, City Attorney Rhodes, and Deputy Clerk Jones. Absent: None CALL TO ORDER I Mayor Ison called the Special Commission meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.. Mayor Ison lead those present in prayer, afterwards Mayor Ison led in The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Ison asked that the Commission allow Mr. Kuhrt to speak con- cerning Mr. Kunrts letter of resignation, before the scheduled Agenda began. Mr. Kuhrt stated that he and his firm had been working for the City since September of 1970; fourteen years. He stated that he had been the only person from his firm to come before the Commission and he wanted to thank the Commission and the City of Ocoee for allowing him to be of service to them and that he would always be around to give any assistance in a consulting manner and would like to still be active in representing the private sector of the City. He stated that he would be happy to help the Commission and the City Manager find another Engineering Consulting firm to take his place. Commissioner Rodgers motioned to approve Mr. Kuhrts letter of resig- nation, Commissioner Hager seconded. e Mayor Ison, at this point, stated that. he personally wanted to thank Mr. Kuhrt for his help and professionalism in handling any matter that came before him as an Engineering Consultant for the City and Commissioners Hager, Cook, Rodgers and Lyle also thanked Mr. Khurt for everything he had done for the Commission and the City of Ocoee for the past fourteen years. Mayor Ison then called for a vote on the motion that Commissioner Rodgers gave and Commissioner Hager seconded and the vote was car- ried unanimously. REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATING POSITION OF THE CITY OF OCOEE WITH REGARDS TO THE PRIMA VISTA SEWER FRANCHISE \ Mayor Ison asked Attorney Rhodes and Mr. ~ntor to give the Com- mission an appraisal of the negotiations. I Attorney Rhodes stated that at last meeting, two weeks ago, with Prima Vista, Mr. Rossman and Mr. Goodman indicated that the sewer plant was not for sale, period. Attorney Rhodes stated that Mr. Rossman and Mr. Goodman had three objections to the Draft of Proposed Franchise. Mr. Rhodes stated that at this time he would like to comment on on the second item on the Agenda before going into the three points of objection given by Mr. Rossman and Mr. Goodman on the Draft of Proposed Franchise. Mr. Rhodes stated that he had heard that there was sentiment, on the behalf of the Commission, to proceed with an independent plan and that he felt that it would compromise the position of negotiat- e e 'I e I e Page 2 ing with Prima Vista and go against what had been previously discussed. He stated that the Mayor had asked for a legal view- point on the negotiations but that he felt he could not be accur- ate on the subject at this time. Mr. Rhodes stated that if the Commission went ahead with proceed- ings for an independent plan that he felt it would initiate court proceedings from Prima Vista against the City, per the agreement made in 1981. Mr. Rhodes felt that the City's position had been weakened by the fact that the Commission had voted previously to allow Prima Vista to proceed to fulfill its need on a condition that has not yet been fulfilled. Mr. Rhodes also felt that Prima Vista had gotten itself in a position to preform and had asked for the necessary certification and apparently would have it except for the fact that the Commission had objected and has not developed any specific counter-plans based on those objections. Mr. Rhodes felt that at this point, under those factors, that Prima Vista would emerge successful in a declaratory type of action. He also felt that Condemnation of the existing facility are no longer in conjuction with the plans to build additional facilities but could be a possibility that would require indebtness with bonds as a way of action. Mr. Rhodes stated that he felt that the City had the re- sourses to back bonds which would require action appraisal and depositing money in court and giving Prima Vista opportunity to except or reject the action and 5ub~it th~ir own appraisal which under those circumstances the case-would be sumitted to a jury to make the decision between condemnation or go with Prima Vista. Mr. Rhodes stated that it had been his experience that juries usually came up with high amounts for their recommendations, and that he had seen condemnation actions that had appeared to be needlessly expensive. At this point Mayor Ison asked the Commissioners if they had any questions for City Attorney Rhodes. Commissioner Lyle stated that he had received a phone call from ~arry Goodman, the morning before this meeting, and that Mr. Goodman stated, that as a courtesy to Commissioner Lyle he had called to inform Commissioner Lyle that Prima Vista had begun litigation in this matter and that Mr. Rhodes was aware of this along with the Mayor's awareness of the same. Commissioner Rodgersasked the Mayor if he was aware of the liti- gation proceedings that Commissioner Lyle was speaking of. Mayor Ison stated that he was not aware of the proceedinqs other than the fact that Prima Vista had stated to him verba~ly that they were going to file some court litigation if the Commission did not make some progress on the matter and that he took that verbal statement tCP'their objection to the Public Service Canmis-- sion of which the City Commission had received notice of. Commissioner Lyle stated that Mr. Goodman had been refering to e I e I e Page 3 the agreement; as to whether to ask the court to declare if the agreement was in effect or not. Commissioner Lyle stated that, unless he misunderstood Mr. Goodman, he felt that the action had already begun. Mayor Ison stated that at the meeting with the PEC,Jfarry Goodman Jr., stated that they thought that they would go ahead and pursue all legal matters in order to get on with the matter at hand. The Mayor stated that he fully expected Prima Vista to do one of two things; do as they have already indicated to Commissioner Lyle they were going to do or to show up with a back hoe and start put- ting pipe in the ground, because Prima Vista was determined that if the Commission makes no decisions they, Prima Vista, would fall back to the 1981 agreement and go on. Mayor Ison stated that he felt that it was apparent that Prima Vista was now doing this. He also stated that Prima Vista had expressed their frustrations in dealing with the matter and that they were not going to sit back and not do anything. Mayor Ison stated that if the Co~mission did not respond to the correspondence with the PSC, who ~ ~~ over rule the Commissions objection, the PSC would throw out the objection. He then stated that if the Commission did respond to the PSC it would have to be in the form of a plan; Plant site/ Plant concepti Plant funding. Mayor Ison felt that without a plan there was not a need to respond. The Mayor then stated that he called this Special Meeting because he felt that the matter was coming to a point which was now here. Mayor Ison then stated that there was three alternatives; to carryon with the francr~se with Prima Vista by either the old 1981 agreement or in acting a new agree- ment; provide our own facility for the Highway 50 corridor and leave the present franchise agreement with Prima Vista as is; third, to make a motion to go ahead with condemnation proceedings. He felt that if the Commission failed to do any of the three actions previously stated that it was clear to him that Prima Vista was going to solve the matter with their own form of action. Commissioner Lyle stated that he wanted the legal aspect made clearer to him. Commissioner Lyle asked that if in fact the lit- igation had been initiated against the original anreement what would be the action that the judge would have to take. City Attorney Rhodes stated that the judge would have to rule as to whether the present agreement was or was not in effect or to what extent it would be in effect. Commissioner Rodgers asked Attorney Rhodes how the Commission would go about forcing the issue to come up with a decision. City Attorney Rhodes stated that you would have to ha,ve;.ar d,ec,lara- tory judgement. Commissioner Lyle asked Attorney Rhodes if it could go through the appeal process. Attorney Rhodes stated that it could. Commissioner Rodgers asked where the sewer line connection would be in the mean time. e I e I e Page 4 Attorney Rhodes stated that he thought that the Commission would be put in an injunction situation which would give the court con- trol. Commissioner Lyle asked what would happen if the Commission pro- ceeded in another manner to solve the problem; could Prima Vista obtain an injunction to stop the Commission. City Attorney Rhodes stated that he did not feel that he could be much more specific than he had in the past. Commissioner Hager stated that he felt that it boiled down to the fact as to whether Prima Vista could and would be able to provide servi ces to the Hi ghway 50 area smoother and better than the City could do with a lot lesser time factor. Commissioner Hager felt that this would be a matter that the judge would consider. City Attorney Rhodes stated that he thought that that statement was the bit of the matter. Mayor Ison asked the Commission to take a vote or motion. Commissione,~o~~~~nmotioned to grant Prima Vista the Highway 50 corridor, ~~seconded and after some discussion the vote was carried unanimously. ~ Consideratinn of Condemnation Proceedings or Other Alternatives as an Option to the Sewer Negotiations Commissioner Rodgers, at this point, made another motion to a~- prove the letter dated April 26, 1984, to the City of Ocoee, from Prima Vista, reference to their bilTing~ ,;As of MdY Is 1984, Prima Vista would like t.o take over their own billing of their customers from the City of Ocoee. Commissioner Hager seconded the motion and the vote was carried unanimously. After some discussion Commissioner Rodgers made another motion to instruct City Attorney Rhodes to withdraw the Commissions objection of the Highway 50 Cor~idor against the Prima Vista Utilities. Commissioner Lyle seconded the motion and the vote was carried unanimously. Mayor Ison stated, after some discussion, that the City Manager, City Attorney and the Mayor would go to another session with Prima Vista when ever they were ready. At this point there was some discussion between Mayor Ison, the Commissioners, City Attorney Rhodess City Manager Burgesss and Mr. ~ray concerning a new franchise ~greement. Commissioner Rodgers stated he felt that if a new agreement was not made soon that he felt there should be a time limit put on it for 60 days from this meeting. Page 5 e Mayor Ison stated that he was in favor of shortning the time limit to 30 days. Commissioner Rodgers stated that he thought that the 30 day time limit would not be long enough to give time for a public hearing. I City Manager Burgess agreed that the 30 day time limit would not seem long enough to grant a public hearing. Commissioner Rodgers motion to adjourn. Commissioner Hager seconded the motion and the vote was carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.. :1L ~ L MAYOR e ATTEST: ~~~uJ7~-~ DEPUTY CLERK I e CORRECTIONS to the Minutes of the Special Commission Meeting held May 9, 1984. e Corrected by action of the Commission at their regular session on May 15, 1984. Pg 2, 4th paragraph, beginning of the second line. delete Larry Goodman insert Barry Goodman Pg 2, 6th paragraph, next to the last line. insert the word 'be' between "statement to" and "their" will now read "statement to be their objection..." Pg 3, 1st complete paragraph, end of 1st line. delete Larry Goodman insert Barry Goodman Pg 3, 1st complete paragraph, mid way. delete the word 'wants to1fm11owing "pse, who" insert the words 'will or may' will now read "with the Psc, who will or may over rule. .." e Pg 47th paragraph, middle line. delete 'Mayor Ison seconded' insert Commissioner Lyle seconded ATTEST: 0()(h,iA, ~ Deputy C er . -