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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-22-96 WS MINUTES OF THE OCOEE CITY COMMISSION BUDGET WORKSHOP HELD AUGUST 22, 1996 Mayor Vandergrift called the Budget Workshop to order at 7: 15 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. PRESENT: Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioners Anderson (arrived at 7:25 p.m.), Glass, Gleason and Johnson. Also present were City Manager Shapiro, Personnel Director Psaledakis, Police Chief Mark, Fire Chief Strosnider, Public Works Director Corwin, Planning Director Wagner, Capital Projects/Concurrency Analyst Resnik (arrived at 7:50 p.m.), Recreation Director Beech, Finance Director Horton, Finance Supervisor Carter and City Clerk Grafton. ABSENT: None. City Manager Shapiro asked the Commission to clarify its understanding and vote on the merit pay issue. Consensus was 3-2 in favor of 0% or 4%. Commissioner Gleason was concerned about the longevity issue on page 3. He felt there was a creation of two classes of employees regarding longevity. He asked if it were possible to look at the longevity plan as a bonus plan as opposed to adding an automatic percentage. Mr. Shapiro said the Commission had asked the year before that no new employees receive longevity, which affected several people who were in their fifth year. He said they would agree that if something different were done it should be a bonus system. Commissioner Johnson suggested leaving it as it was. Discussion followed. Relative to longevity, consensus was to pay a lump sum on the anniversary date. Commissioner Gleason asked if Health Central was included. Personnel Director Psaledakis replied it is not included in the Cigna HMO or PPO but only in Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Humana. Commissioner Gleason stated that Winter Garden had been able to get a special arrangement with Cigna to have their employees go to Health Central. Mr. Shapiro said a letter would be sent through his office asking for it as a courtesy to the local hospital to see what the response would be. Commissioner Gleason suggested including a mini police station in the new fire station. Mr. Shapiro said he and the police and fire chiefs had discussed it. He said there probably would be a request that some of the police impact fees help with construction of the fire station if they had some of the facility. Commissioner Gleason said he felt the Police Department building was user unfriendly. Discussion followed. Commissioner Johnson brought up the matter of commercial garbage collection, indicating that some business people sidestep the City service by dropping the collection and saying they are going to recycle. A new ordinance would require the businesses to have clearly marked containers for recycling. He asked if the use of the labeled containers for City collection could be enforced, and Mr. Shapiro indicated it could under the present ordinance. Ocoee City Commission Budget Workshop Held August 22,1996 Commissioner Johnson said he would like to have a due date on occupational licenses with a 30-day grace period. If the fee is not paid by that date, then the occupational license would be pulled. Mr. Shapiro said he would have the City Attorney review the issue and report. Commissioner Gleason brought up the issue of setting money aside for a program for speed humps or bumps to slow drivers on certain streets. Mr. Shapiro said the City of Orlando is moving from humps toward squeeze curbing. The size of the lane is reduced, which immediately slows drivers. He said squeeze curbing is much less expensive. Public Works Director Corwin stated that humps cost about $3,000 each. Personnel Director Psaledakis pointed out that along with speed humps come claims for front end and tire rim vehicle insurance claims. Mayor Vandergrift left the table at 9:05 p.m., and Mayor Pro Tern Johnson presided. Commissioner Glass asked, in reference to adding a recreation employee, page 3-68, if criminal background checks were done. Personnel Director Psaledakis advised HRS and FDLE criminal history checks and MVR checks are done. Those employees are also fingerprinted. Finance Supervisor Carter explained the wastewater re-budget item in Section 7. Commissioner Gleason asked about membership of the City in the National League of Cities. The fee would be reduced by 50% until October 15. The dues for a city the size of Ocoee would regularly be $967. Consensus was to join. Mayor Vandergrift returned to the table at 9:10 p.m. Commissioner Gleason asked to continue the meeting for the work that was scheduled for the next night. Commissioner Johnson asked Mr. Shapiro to do an overview of the work that was to be covered. Mr. Shapiro said the first issue was that of water and sewer bonding. This was scheduled for 1997, but the feeling was that several hundred thousand dollars could be saved by moving on it at that time. Discussion followed. The next issue involved the new recreation facility. Mr. Shapiro was recommending that the City get a bank loan for the facility after January. He also was going to recommend that part of the bank loan be for the construction of two permanent fire stations. The final recommendation was regarding a Public Works facility on Ocoee-Apopka Road beyond Fullers Cross Road in the old packing house. He estimated the move-in cost would be $1.2 million, including demolition ofthe present Public Works facility. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. APPROVED: ~ ~~~ !/~ S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor 2