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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-16-08 MINUTES OCOEE CITY COMMISSION December 16,2008, at 7:15 P.M. December 16, 2008 6:30 P.M. Performance by "The Caroling Company" - Dressed in the authentic Dickens era costumes, this strolling quartet of singers (Kevin Ives, Anne Marchetti, Colleen Spotts and Don Schoonover) will delight young and old with their acapella repertoire of holiday favorites, including White Christmas, Silver Bells, The Christmas Song, and more. December 16, 2008 REGULAR CITY COMMISSION MEETING 7:15 P.M. I A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Vandergrift called the regular session to order at 7 :24 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. Bishop Brent Sauser, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gave the Invocation and Commissioner Johnson led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and declared a quorum present. I B. PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS Presentation of Christmas Parade Awards - Ocoee Lions Club - Presented by Lions Club President Cathy Sills: Youth I s1 Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention Ocoee Bulldogs Pop Warner Football League City of Ocoee Parks and Recreation Department Young Blacks in Action Ocoee High School Float Commercial 1 s1 Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention R.C. Welding Footworks Dance Studio TXL Action Sports All In One Entertainment Non-Commercial 1 s1 Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention Trailer City West Orange Chamber Ambassadors American Legion Post 109 1928 Mercedes Gazelle Kit Car Church 1 st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honorable Mention Ocoee Christian Church Ocoee Church of God Knights of Columbus Starke Lake Baptist Church City Commission Regular December 16,2008 Presentation of Awards for Best Holiday Decorations - Parks and Recreation Advisory Board - Presented by Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Members Rosemary Wilsen, Dottie Godek, Veronica Royce, and Mary Barber. Holiday Light Awards were given as follows: 3rd Place: Arcenio Calderon 1867 Lockshyre Loop, The Reserve 2nd Place: Tambini Family, 1868 Rachel's Ridge Loop, Wedgewood Commons 1 st Place: Everette Eastham Jr., 613 Aldama Court, Prima Vista Visit from Santa Claus - Police and Fire Department's "Operation Santa" stopped by City Hall during their route throughout the City and Santa Claus visited briefly with residents the Commission meeting. I C. COMMENTS FROM CITIZENSIPUBLIC Bishop Sauser discussed the 27 cases of food stacked up in front of the dais and said his church is contributing the food to the Christian Service Center. He said that it is a private brand made by his church, canned and processed at their facilities. He challenged others to contribute as welL Rosemary Wilsen, thanked Bishop Sauser for their food contribution to the Christian Service Center, and thanked the Parks and Recreation Division for collecting a lot of food on their event over the weekend. She also thanked the City for their continuing efforts to collect food at City Hall and the Fire Station. Mayor Vandergrift announced Orlando City Commissioner Robert Stuart. He thanked the Mayor and Commission, as well as Bishop Sauser and Rosemary Wilsen for the work they do for the community. I D. COMMISSIONERS ANNOUNCEMENTS Commissioner Hood 1) reminded everyone there is a holiday food drive that we hope to keep going throughout the year, residents can bring non perishable items to City Hall or any Fire Department, 2) said he met with Little League Board and they decided that, in lieu of the economic conditions, they would drop registration fees to just get buy with costs so more kids can play balL Commissioner Johnson said he would like to sponsor a kid, and would challenge others to do the same. 3) he told everyone to have safe and happy holidays, 4) gave an update on Ocoee High School winter sports. Commissioner Anderson 2) advised that there is also a food drive called Food For Families Holiday Food Project, they will meet at Ocoee High School on Christmas Eve at 4:00 p.m. and on Christmas Morning, 8:00 a.m. to deliver the food. Commissioner Johnson 1) said he heard the Christmas Parade was great, he was sorry he was out of town and missed it, 2) said he has received complaints about not having Christmas Decorations this year, but he city had budgetary issues and decided not to spend the $50,000 this year. Mayor Vandergrift said he would like the City to look into purchasing their own decorations since we have the facilities to store them now. We can also look into businesses sponsoring decorations in front of their businesses. Page 2 of8 ~- ~ City Commission Regular December 16,2008 Commissioner Keller 1) thanked the Lions Club for another great Christmas Parade, 2) he apologized for not having Christmas lights this year but said it did not make sense to cut one employee's salary in order to have holiday lights for six weeks, so they had to be cut this year. Mayor Vandergrift 1) said the Food For Families was very successful on Thanksgiving and hopes to do the same on Christmas, 2) said he heard Spring Lake Elementary School may be considered for closing and he would like to look into whether or not that is true. 3) thanked the Police and Fire Department for "Operation Santa" which went through the community and for having Santa arrive at the Commission meeting tonight 4) thanked the Fire Department "Fully Involved" program for installing a wheelchair ramp at resident Frances Watt's home, 5) acknowledged the Police Department's "Shop with a Cop" program cosponsored by WalMart which benefited 60 children in the community. I E. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approval and Acceptance of the Regular City Commission Minutes of December 2, 2008. (City Clerk Eikenberry) Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5-0. 2. Approval of Motorola Radio Service Agreement FY 2008/2009. (police Chief Brown) The City of Ocoee maintains an annual radio service/maintenance agreement with Motorola, Inc. to service its 800 MHz radio system. The most recent agreement expired as of September 30, 2008. The proposed agreement takes effect October 1, 2008, through September 30,2009. Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5-0. 3. Approval for Renewal of Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with Software House International. (Information Systems Director Ross) On October 18, 2005, the Mayor and City Commission approved a 3-year Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft through Software House International as the state contract holder. The term of the original contract is up, and the City has the option to renew. Renewal of the contract allows the City access to the latest version of Microsoft applications, discounts for employee purchases, free technical support, free professional services, and training. Commissioner Johnson said he would like to see quotes from other companies on this. IS Manager Ross said that this is to allow the City to keep updated software on all of the computers at a lower cost as opposed to updating them individually and having different versions of the programs on different computers. City Manager Frank also added that over the last few years we have stretched the budget for replacement computers and saved at least 50% of computer costs by expanding their life cycle and not automatically replacing them if they are still functioning. Approved on Consent after a Brief Discussion. Motion carried 5-0. 4. Approval to Subscribe to GovQA Service Application. (Information Systems Director Ross) The City currently uses a web site called BetterPlace from the Florida League of Cities for managing citizen requests. GovQA provides a similar application with additional features and is easier to use for the same initial yearly cost. Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5-0. Page 3 of8 City Commission Regular December 16,2008 5. Re-appointment to the City of Ocoee General Employees' Pension Board. (Human Resources Director CarniceUa) Trustees of the Pension Board for the City of Ocoee Municipal General Employees' Retirement Trust Fund currently serve two-year terms. Two ofthe trustees are appointed by the City Commission, and two are elected from the employee body. The fifth trustee is chosen by those four trustees and presented to the City Commission for certification of the appointment as a ministerial act. During the Special Session of the City of Ocoee General Employees' Pension Board, held on October 2l, 2008, the Trustees chose to reappoint Wendy West as the fifth board member for the term beginning October l, 2008, and ending September 30, 20l0. Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5-0. 6. Approval for Execution of Corrective Quit-Claim Deeds of Two Parcels Previously Dedicated to Orange County for the Widening of Clarcona-Ocoee Road east of Clarke Road. (City Engineer Wheeler) At the City Commission meeting on July 17, 2007, the City dedicated these two parcels to Orange County for the widening of Clarcona-Ocoee Road east of Clarke Road. It was discovered that the legal descriptions of the both parcels were incorrect. The errors were not discovered until the fall of 2008, by the County staff when they were doing the [mal review before advertising for construction of their road widening project. The County requested a corrective action to clean up the errors on the original dedications. Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5-0. Consent Aaenda Vote Commissioner Hood. seconded bv Commissioner Keller moved to reduce the two liens on the property at 2008 Orchard Park to $18.000. pavable in 7 business days or the lien reverts back to the oriainal amount. Motion carried 5-0. I F. PUBLIC HEARINGS - None IG.REGULARAGENDA 7. First Reading of Ordinance Regarding Approval of Change to the City of Ocoee General Employees' Retirement Trust Fund. (Second Reading and Public Hearing scheduledfor January 6, 2009) (Human Resources Director Carnicella) The Pension Board for the City of Ocoee Municipal General Employees' Retirement Trust Fund is governed by ordinance. Trustees of the Pension Board currently serve two-year terms. It is the recommendation of staff to change the term for the trustees from two years to five years. City Attorney Rosenthal read the title of the ordinance on first reading. Commissioner Anderson said he does not feel that board members terms should last longer than Commission terms, he would be more in favor of three year terms. Commissioner Johnson said it takes three years to get members certified as a pension trustee. He said he would be in favor of three year terms, but he feels that members should be required to get certified. Commissioner Anderson said he agrees that becoming certified in three years should become a requirement for board member and would like staff to look into that. Page 4 of8 City Commission Regular December 16,2008 I H. STAFF REPORTS City Manager Frank said he emailed Commissioners to inform them about the closing on the loan that refinanced about 5.3 million in utility bonds. We brought the resolution forward in October, but we were waiting to hit the market just right to save approximately $20,000; we now anticipate up saving approximately $50,000 per year. Commissioner Anderson confirmed that we are refinancing the same amount, just at a lower interest rate. He also asked if it would be a good time to look at refmancing other things. City Manager Frank said the Finance Director is looking at things what can be refinanced and we will bring them forward when the opportunity presents itself. PUBLIC COMMENTS (continued) Code Enforcement Lien - 2008 Orchard Park Mayor Vandergrift apologized for skipping over this item earlier. Dan Grieb of Countrywide Home Loans, said they have a contract on the property at 2008 Orchard Park and they were supposed to close yesterday. He said the property went into foreclosure in April 2007. He said the former owners left it with a green pool and overgrown grass. He said as soon as he got the listing, he cleaned the pool and took care of the grass, but the liens have continued to accrue at $250 per day. He added that Countrywide would not mind paying reasonable liens levied against it up until the time it was brought into compliance. He said there are two liens, $1300 for the grass, and the rest is on the pooL They are asking for a reduction on the pool issues. He said it is an ongoing problem, the pool pump broke again last month and the pool turned green and had to be cleaned once again. He said if he receives a lien reduction, he has a buyer waiting and can sell it immediately. Commissioner Hood inquired about what fees had accrued. Building Official Washington said the notice of code was originally sent in September 2007. In November 2007 the Statement of Violations and Hearing Notice were done; there was proof of service and posting at that time. The property was in better condition then than it is now, with the exception of the lawn and pool. He added at the beginning of this week, the pool pump had burned out and the pool has clumping algae throughout. They were in compliance again yesterday. He stated as of yesterday the lien for the pool was $111,426.27 Commissioner Anderson said he is in favor of having a special Code Enforcement Board meeting rather than to set a precedent of bypassing the Code Board and going straight to the Commission. He would not be in favor of any reduction made without the Code Enforcement Board. Commissioner Keller said he is more concerned about bringing the property into compliance, rather than setting a precedent, because each case should be looked at individually. In this case there is a buyer ready to close and he feels they should move forward to reduce the lien. Commissioner Anderson asked what happens if they release the lien and the property is not sold. Mayor Vandergrift said you can place a timeframe on the lien reduction and then it reverts back to the full lien. There was discussion regarding the appropriate amount of the lien. There was some discussion about purchasing two road tables with the lien money, but that was not made part of the motion. Page 5 of8 City Commission Regular December 16,2008 Commissioner Johnson moved to reduce the two liens on the property at 2008 Orchard Park to $18.000 total for both. pavable in 7 business days or the lien reverts back to the oriainal amount. Motion carried 4-1 with Commissioner Anderson opposed. Mr. Grieb said he would like to thank the City Manager's Office and the Code Enforcement Board for their cooperation in helping him work with this problem over the last few days. He added that he rarely gets the level of cooperation that he received from the City of Ocoee. I STAFF REPORTS (continued) City Attorney Rosenthal said at the last Commission meeting a motion was passed directing him to request an Attorney General opinion on a July 7, 1995 memorandum. He said the memorandum has been distributed to the Commission. He added that the Disaster Plan that dealt with Emergency Powers in 1995 is not the same plan in place today in the City of Ocoee. He said in terms of the Attorney General Opinion, they looked online to fmd the procedure. They found that in order to request on opinion of the Attorney General, it needs to relate to a question of law relating to the official duties of the requesting officer; so from a procedural standpoint that request would have to come from the Mayor since it relates to his official powers and duties. Also, on page two of the handout Attorney General Procedure (found on AG web site), it states that opinions generally are not issued on questions requiring an interpretation only of local codes, ordinances or Charters rather than provisions of state law; instead such requests will usually be referred to the attorney for the local government in question. He added that the Attorney General does have discretion to address an opinion even in local circumstances. He said if Commission wishes to move forward they must follow the procedure and 1) State the question of law to be answered 2) Sufficient elaboration should be provided so that it is not necessary to infer any aspect or question regarding this 3) The Office requires that the attorneys for the public entities requesting an opinion supply a memorandum of law City Attorney Rosenthal said his recommendation if the Commission wishes to move forward, is for the letter to come from the Mayor to the Attorney General requesting that he look at the specific Charter provision in question relative to this opinion and provide an opinion on what the emergency powers of the Mayor are. He added that procedurally he is not under the authority to write the memo because it does not relate to his duties. He said he needs further direction. Commissioner Anderson asked for clarification on what the Mayor is trying to accomplish. Mayor Vandergrift said that they should have an outside firm look at it and see what would be the best way to go about it. Commissioner Anderson asked what kind of money he wants to allocate to getting another opinion. He asked if there was a way to do a proclamation or ordinance to vote on this. City Attorney Rosenthal said that one of the points in his opinion memo said that the City Commission could pass ordinances of Charter amendments that would change anything in his opinion; he said he did not make any recommendations to the current Charter Commission. Commissioner Johnson asked why we should hire an outside lawyer instead of just having the Mayor draft a letter and send it for an Attorney General Opinion. Mayor Vandergrift said he cannot handle the legal-ease; he suggested that we use the lobbyists to draft a letter. City Attorney Rosenthal said we generally use Skip Fowler's firm in Page 6 of8 City Commission Regular December 16,2008 Altamonte when we have conflicts; there is clearly a conflict in this case since it relates to something that he wrote. Commissioner Hood asked if there have been problems in the past with the City Managers running the E.O.C. Mayor Vandergrift said they had not always been forthcoming with information, for instance most Commissioners probably don't know there is a portal on the computer network that deals with E.O.C. IS Manager Ross said all Commissioners have access to that portal as long as they are on the City's network. Commissioner Johnson said we don't need to spend a lot of money on this, we should ask the lobbyists and see if they can give us an answer. Commissioner Keller agreed and stated if we spend money for attorneys on this, and then send it to the Attorney General he will probably say it is a local Code or Charter issue and opinion needs to be rendered by the City Attorney Mayor Vandergrift said the Charter is clear that the Mayor has Emergency Powers in the case of emergency; the question is whether or not that conflicts with state law. Commissioner Hood asked if the Mayor and Commissioners should have Emergency Powers. Mayor Vandergrift said it is his understanding that the Mayor has emergency powers because he is on the spot at the time; within thirty days of the time that he has ruled on something and done something, then the commissioners can vote him down. It is an emergency situation to circumvent something like what happened in New Orleans. He is still in favor of consulting an outside firm. Commissioner Keller said what ever way we do this, it will cost something; we could ask the lobbyists what they would charge to look into this, or the attorney in Altamonte. There was discussion regarding interpretation of the paragraph currently in the Charter dealing with emergency powers of the Mayor. Consensus of the Commission. without obiection. was to have staff brina back cost estimates from the two law firms. City Manager Frank tried to clarify what the Commission is expecting to see; did they just want an estimate from those two firms? The Commission consented that they want a cost "not-to exceed". City Manager Frank said he still is not clear on exactly what we are asking the Attorney General. Commissioner Keller said what we are going to ask the Attorney General is whether the Mayor or City Manager is the person in charge during an emergency. Mayor Vandergrift said what has brought this on is the suggested change by the Charter Review Commission, if they want to change the language we should look at the law and see if the current language is appropriate under state law. He said in the opinion of our attorney, it is not appropriate, however another attorney may not agree. The second thing to ask the Attorney General is if the Charter is correct with state law, how does that set aside the opinion of this attorney? City Attorney Rosenthal said to set the record straight he has not rendered any opinion that the Charter conflicts with state law. His opinion said you should look to state law. I I. COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Hood, Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Johnson, and Commissioner Keller wished everyone Happy Holidays and safe travels during the holiday season. Mayor Vandergrift reminded everyone ofthe two food drives, Food for Families and the one going on at City Hall. He also wished everyone Happy and Safe Holidays. Page 7 of8 City Commission Regular December 16,2008 I ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:37 p.m. Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee s~ Page 8 of8