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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-19-96 MINUTES OF THE OCOEE CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 19, 1996 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Vandergrift called the regular meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in the commISSIOn chambers. Pastor Lance Laird, First Baptist Church of Ocoee, led in prayer and Mrs. Hilda Ems led in the pledge of allegiance. The roll was called and a quorum declared present. PRESENT: Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioners Anderson, Glass, Gleason, and Johnson. Also present were City Manager Shapiro, City Attorney Rosenthal, City Engineer/Utilities Director Shira, Recreation Director Beech, Finance Director Horton, Planning Director Wagner, Public Works Director Corwin, Capital Projects/Concurrency Analyst Resnik, Buyer Brace and City Clerk Grafton. ABSENT: None PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS PRESENTATIONS OCOEE BULLDOG JR. PEE WEE CHEERLEADERS - REQUEST FOR SUPPORT. Due to the large nwnber of participants present, this item was moved to first on the agenda. Mrs. Nancy Reilly, Team Mom, presented a request for support for the 31 cheerleaders and 3 coaches to participate in the state competition in Ft. Myers during Thanksgiving weekend. She said that the team members' efforts to raise funds had netted $400 of the amount needed so far. Commissioner Gleason. seconded by Commissioner Johnson, moved to give the Ocoee Bulldog Jr. Pee Wee Cheerleaders $500 from the community promotion fund to help them make the trip. Motion carried 5-0. Mrs. Reilly announced that if any citizens would like to make contributions they could contact her at 521-2360 ext. 233 and leave a voice-mail message. REpORT ON FOUNDERS DAY - FORMER COMMISSIONER BETTY HAGER. Former Commissioner Betty Hager gave a financial report for the Founders Day event held October 19, 1996 and thanked the committee members for their hard work. The report showed a beginning balance of $1,162.09, receipts totaling $4,369.16, and expenditures in the amount of $4,004.40, with an anticipated balance on hand of $1,976.85 when the remaining $450 in Program Advertisers Accounts outstanding are received. (See complete report attached to these minutes as Exhibit A.) PLAQUE IN ApPRECIATION FOR CHAIRING FOUNDERS DAY TO BETTY HAGER FROM THE FOUNDERS DAY COMMITTEE. Commissioner Anderson presented a plaque of appreciation to Mrs. Hager for her outstanding efforts in making the Founders Day a success. EMPLOYEE AWARDS HONORING YEARS OF SERVICE: Mayor Vandergrift expressed appreciation for the long awaited awards program which had been put together by the Employee Committee and he read the profile provided by the Personnel Department for each employee as each Commissioner in turn presented the following awards. 5 years - Randy Blackburn, Utilities Department (was not present to receive his award) Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 10 years - Benjamin Buckner and Teresa Braddy, Fire Department - Presented by Commissioner Glass. 15 years - Keith Brooks, Utilities Department - Presented by Commissioner Gleason. 25 years - James L. Coschignano, Fire Department - Presented by Commissioner Johnson. CERT PROGRAM CERTIFICATE PRESENTATIONS After explaining the purpose of the Community Emergency Response Team Program and introducing the Firefighters who taught the course, Assistant Fire Chief Firstner presented certificates of completion to: Jim Shira, Nick Shira, Janet Resnik, Ted Moore, Mark Brace, Sandra Crane, Richard Atkinson, and Shirley Firstner for completing the initial CERT Program that concluded November 7, 1996. Chief Firstner advised that the next class will begin in January and invited the public to call the Fire Department for the particular date. Mrs. Sandra Crane said that she had occasion to use her training just two days after completing the course and she thanked Chief Firstner and the entire staff for the opportunity to be prepared. She encouraged all citizens to take the class for the confidence it creates. OCOEE BULLDOG JR. PEE WEE CHEERLEADERS - REQUEST FOR SUPPORT (See report above as the first item under Presentations.) CONSENT AGENDA B r--'~ The consent agenda consisted of items A, B, and C. Commissioner Anderson pulled item ~ ~ -. . for discussion. Commissioner Glass. seconded by Commissioner Gleason. moved to approve .3 ~ items A and C of the consent agenda as presented. Motion carried 5-0. r A. Approval and Acceptance of Minutes of City Commission Work Session of November 12. 1996. C. Approval and Authorization to Waive All Special Exceotion Fees Related to Celebration Baptist Church Apolication. B. ApPROVAL AND AUTHORIZATION TO PuRCHASE A GRAVELY 72" MOWER FROM TRAIL SAW & MOWER SERVICE, INC. UTILIZING GSA CONTRACT #GS07F8868D FOR THE AMOUNT OF $12,051.00. Following a discussion regarding the timing of the purchase (at the beginning of the dormant season rather than the end of it), Mayor Vanden!rift. seconded by Commissioner Glass. moved to approve the purchase of a Gravely 72" Mower from Trail Saw & Mower Service. Inc. utilizing GSA Contract #GS07F8868D for the amount of $12.051.00. Motion carried 5-0. 2 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 RECESS 8:20 - 8:30 P.M. COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS/PUBLIC Mr. R. P. Mohnacky, 1820 Prairie Lake Boulevard, asked about gray water disposal, the change in Clarke Road construction cost, and the construction of Hackney Prairie Road. City Manager Shapiro responded to his questions. PUBLIC HEARINGS SECOND READING: ORDINANCE No. 96-23, RELATING TO MAYOR/COMMISSIONER SALARIES. This Ordinance was presented by title only. Mayor Vandergrift announced that, due to an error in the advertising, this public hearing would be opened and then continued to the December 3rd meeting at 7:30 p.m. (Commissioner Glass clarified that the error was on the part of The Orlando Sentinel, not staff.) The public hearing was opened. Mr. R.P. Mohnacky, 1820 Prairie Lake Boulevard, and Former Commissioner Vern Combs, 310 Sabinal, spoke against the increase. Mr. Richard Delascos, no address given, Mrs. Sandra Crane, no address given, and Mrs. Frances Watts, 43 Shell Key Court, spoke in favor of the increase. There was brief discussion assuring citizens that the seated Commission would not receive the increase and then Mayor Vandergrift continued the public hearing to December 3 at 7:30 p.m. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENTS TO: TRAFFIC CIRCULATION ELEMENT, FuTuRE LAND USE ELEMENT, AND FuTuRE LAND USE MAP. Capital Improvements/Concurrency Analyst Resnik gave the staff report, pointing out that this will be the first amendment of 1997. Ms. Resnik listed the issues: (1) going from Level of Service D to Level of Service E on all state and county roads; (2) identifying the activity centers; and (3) amending the Future Land Use Map by adding the annexations. Mayor Vandergrift asked about updating the rest of the Plan to reflect accurately those items that have been completed. Ms. Resnik advised that will be done next year in the Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR). The public hearing was opened and, for the uninitiated, Mayor Vandergrift gave the background of the Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Resnik advised that this public hearing was for the actual transmittal to the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). DCA will review the transmittal, and when their response is received, there will be another public hearing before adoption of the amendments. As no one wished to speak to the issue, the public hearing was closed. 3 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 Commissioner Gleason, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, moved to approve Comprehensive Plan Amendments 97-1-1. 97-1-2, and 97-1-3 and direct staff to transmit the amendments to the Department of Community Affairs. Motion carried 5-0. OTHER BUSINESS DISCUSSION/ ACTION RE: Report on Siding for City Hall and Police Department. Public Works Director Corwin advised that, prior to his taking over the Facilities Maintenance, quotes had been requested for siding for the City Hall and Police Department and he had recommended applying vinyl siding with a vapor barrier to protect the wood from further deterioration. He also recommended doing the siding in two phases, because the overall condition of City Hall should be attended to; while the Police Department, because it is a one story building and its overall appearance is not as bad as City Hall, could be maintained more easily until funds are available for siding there. Mayor Vandergrift asked that the figures be updated to include using hardyboard before going to bid. The question was raised about recourse and accountability as the buildings have been in use only two years. City Manager Shapiro said that the Architect, C.T. Shu, put the specs together, then he stated for the record that staff had recommended against the use of natural wood. Both Commissioner Gleason and Commissioner Johnson supported doing both buildings at the same time. Mr. Shapiro cautioned against draining the Contingency Fund prematurely, as next year's hurricane season must be dealt with from this budget year. Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Anderson. moved to put the weatherproofing of both buildings out to bid. Motion carried 5-0. DISCUSSION/ ACTION RE: Recommendation for Financing of Capital Improvements. Finance Director Horton gave the staff report indicating that the Request For Proposal for bank qualified financing of the 4.4M in capital improvements approved August 23, 1996 (Fire Stations in Districts 3 and 4, Recreation Facility, and Public Works Facility) drew three responses: (1) Nations Bank - no bid, (2) First Union National Bank of Florida, and (3) SunTrust Bank. Based on the interest rate and the flexibility to prepay without penalty, the evaluation committee ranked SunTrust 1st and First Union National Bank of Florida 2nd. Mrs. Horton introduced SunTrust representative, Ed Stull, and Mark Galvin, Financial Advisor from First Union Capital Markets, who were present to answer any questions. 4 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 Commissioner Glass. seconded by Commissioner Gleason, moved to authorize staff to proceed with documents for the purpose of securing financing from SunTrust for the capital improvements identified in the memorandum from Wanda B. Horton, Finance Director. dated November 14, 1996. Motion carried 5-0. DISCUSSION/AcTION RE: LEGISLATIVE RETAINER AGREEMENT. City Manager Shapiro gave the staff report and proposed that the Commission approve the $7,560, which would be our allocation to defray a portion of Apopka's cost for the Legislative Retainer Agreement, and to be accompanied by a letter written to all parties in the agreement stating as follows: "The City of Ocoee is not a party to the Legislative Retainer Agreement. However, the City will participate with Apopka and Winter Garden in the development of a joint legislative agenda. Any of the three cities could propose topics to be addressed by Juarez and Associates, but only those topics acceptable to all three cities would be addressed under the Agreement. Any subject not acceptable to any of the three cities would not be included in the joint legislative agenda, but could be addressed independently under a separate contract. Since Apopka is the contracting party, all communication with Juarez and Associates would be handled by Apopka." Mr. Shapiro advised that Apopka and Winter Garden have proposed another joint meeting mid- January . Mavor Vandere:rift. seconded by Commissioner Johnson, moved to provide the funding of $7,560 per staff recommendation with the stipulation that this Commission be kept informed of the legislative agenda. Motion carried 5-0. Mayor Vandergrift said that he wants the issue of voluntarily annexing enclaves to be on the agenda at the joint meeting in January. RECESS 9:37 P.M. - 9:40 P.M. ApPOINTMENTS TO DISTRICTING COMMISSION. The Commission reached consensus to make these appointments at the December 3 meeting and requested a list of the names of those who served previously on this Commission. DISCUSSION/ ACTION RE: ELECTION OF ALL CITY COMMISSION SEATS TO BE CITY WIDE AND LENGTH OF OFFICE. Commissioner Gleason recognized Mr. Mike McEvers in the audience, who had distributed proposed Charter changes to be considered by Commission during this discussion, and said that two of the issues were the same as those he was proposing. He expressed his belief that, because the decisions made by Commissioners affect citizens city wide, Commissioners should 5 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 represent their districts but be elected city-wide. And added that two years is too short for a term of office because of the learning curve. He asked for discussion regarding putting the issues on the ballot in February. Commissioner Glass supported the concept of going to three year terms beginning 1998, but said he was ambivalent regarding city wide elections, as name recognition can get a candidate elected to serve a district by voters who are unfamiliar with the needs of that district. He said he was not opposed to putting it on the ballot but was not in favor of the concept. Commissioner Anderson said he concurred with both, but has no comment at this time. Commissioner Johnson said that he proposed three year terms when the issue went to ballot for four years in 1988, and that he wanted to be sure that it did not happen again that three commissioners live in the same neighborhood, so he supported keeping the districts. Mayor Vandergrift said that he was ambivalent also, due to the many factors involved, but that he was in favor of city wide election with no districts. Dr. Moulton Poplin said that the whole concept of local government is government in small areas. Mrs. Frances Watts, 43 Shell Key Court, spoke in favor of city wide voting. Mr. Mike McEvers, 909 Hyland Springs Drive, advised that he was a member of Citizens for Representative Government in Ocoee (CARGO) and he discussed the items prepared by that group which he had distributed to Commission just before the meeting opened. The items were ballot questions as follows: (1) Changing to a mayoral government (effective May 1997), (2) Changing from four city district commissioners to five district commissioners, (3) Changing the terms of office from two years to three years (effective February 1997), and (4) Changing the Charter Review Commission to an independent commission. Mr. McEvers asked that these items be placed on the ballot. Dr. Poplin made it clear that the group would get enough signatures to place the items on the ballot if Commission chose to ignore or deny the request. Mr. Richard Velazquez, 2619 Coventry Lane, spoke in favor of a strong mayor form of government. Following a discussion regarding the merits of the existing form of government vs the proposed changes, Commissioner Gleason, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, moved to direct the City Attorney to bring back an ordinance to place on the February ballot the proposed ballot questions 1. 2. 3, and 4. City Attorney Rosenthal, for clarification, asked if the questions are 6 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 to be put on exactly in the form presented. He said that, if not, he could see that during the course of drafting, policy questions would arise that he would not be authorized to resolve from a drafting standpoint. During the time that he was pointing out several specific items that would require Commission decision, a citizen arrived and asked to be recognized. Mr. Bruce Beatty, who had chaired the Charter Review Commission in 1988, encouraged Commission to go according to the Charter adopted in 1988 instead of bypassing it, and appoint another Charter Review Commission to review the Charter and hold public hearings before submitting items to be placed on the ballot. Commissioner Gleason withdrew his motion, but Commissioner Anderson would not withdraw his second so the vote on the motion was called for. Motion lost 3-2 with Mavor Vandere:rift and Commissioner Anderson votine: yes. Commissioner Gleason, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, moved to appoint a new Charter Review Commission to review the Charter pursuant to ChaPter 10 of the Charter. Commissioner Glass, seconded by Commissioner Gleason, moved to amend the motion to bring back the names for the Charter Review Commission at the December 17 meeting. Motion carried 5-0. The vote on the motion as amended carried 5-0. STAFF REPORTS There were no staff reports. COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Johnson: No comments at this time. Commissioner Anderson: No comments at this time. Commissioner Glass: 1) Extended sympathy from entire Commission to Clerk/Steno Judie Lewis in the passing of her father this week. 2) Asked about Linda Tant's letter regarding an open air vending license permit. City Manager Shapiro said that it is being worked on in the Building Department and if it needs to be an agenda item she will be advised. 7 Ocoee City Commission Regular Meeting November 19, 1996 Commissioner Gleason: 1) Asked for an update on the traffic lights at White Road/Good Homes and Good Homes/Old Winter Garden Road intersections. Mr. Shapiro will give a memo on this. 2) White Road was to be completed by now and he is receiving a lot of calls. Mr. Shapiro will find out what the holdup is and report. 3) Asked City Manager to press on regarding Health Central and Blue Cross/Blue Shield since half of the employees are on the HMO program and should have the convenience of that hospital's services. Mr. Shapiro advised that apparently communications have been with the second in command and since the first in command has requested input. the issue should be resolved soon. 4) Said he has received phone calls regarding the West Orange High School redistricting and he has learned that, as of this time, none of the plans include any Ocoee residents; however he encouraged citizens to call the School Board for future plans. Mayor V andeq~rift: 1) Announced the RSVP number 656-2218. 2) Reported that the railroad crossing signs on Malcolm Street and in other locations around town need painting. 3) At the intersection of Hwy 50 and Bluford the lines have been dropped back so far to the east that only two vehicles can be in line for the turn and if the lanes were longer it would promote a smoother flow of traffic. 4) The hearing to place the Ocoee Christian Church on the Florida National Register of Historic Places is scheduled November 22 in Tallahassee and he wished the representatives well. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:52 p.m. Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee . -<\ "-? r::y ..tLe S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor 8 Information provided by Personnel Department and read by Mayor during presentation of employee awards. SERVICE AWARDS NOVEMBER 19, 1996 PRESENTED BY: MAYOR S. SCOTT VANDERGRIFT 5 YEARS RANDY BLACKBURN Randy was hired in July of 1991 as a seasonal refuse collector. In October of that same year he received full-time employment as a refuse collector. In 1992 Randy became a Sanitation Driver I and in 1993 he transferred to the Utility Department as a Utility Service Worker I. This past June he received his most recent promotion in the Utility Department as an Equipment Operator II. Along with his plaque, Randy will receive a gift certificate in the amount of $50.00 to spend at the "Old Navy Clothing Store" at the West Oaks Mall. Randy is also receiving a City Watch. 10 YEARS TERESA BRADDY Teresa was hired in October of 1986 as a Clerk Specialist I. In October of 1988 she was classified as an Accounting Clerk and in October of 1989 she was classified as a Building Clerk. Teresa was promoted to the position of Building Clerk Supervisor on October 1, 1990. She received another promotion on October 1, 1995 as a Code Enforcement Officer. In May of 1996 Teresa made a career change to the Fire Department as an Administrative Secretary. Along with her plaque, Teresa will receive a gift certificate in the amount of $100.00 to spend at "J C Penny" at the West Oaks Mall. 10 YEARS BENJAMIN BUCKNER Ben started with the City Fire Department In 1985 as a reserve Firefighter. Ben was hired as a full time Firefighter in October of 1986. In August of 1990 Ben was promoted to the position of Engineer in our Fire Department. During the month of March of 1994 Ben received his promotion as a Lieutenant with our Fire Department. Along with his plaque, Ben will receive a 0ift certificate in the amount of $100.00 to spend at "Sears" at the West Oaks Mall. PAGE TWO 15 YEARS KEITH BROOKS Keith was hired by the City Street Department in 1981 as a Repairman. In October of 1985 Keith was promoted to an Equipment Operator in the Street Department. In ,January of 1990 Keith transferred to the Water Department as a Water Technician I and received a title change to a Utility Service Worker I in this same department. Keith received another title change to a Utility Equipment Operator in the Utility Department in 1993. Along with his plaque, Keith will receive a gift certificate in the amount of $150.00 to spend at "Sears" at the West Oaks Mall. 25 YEARS JAMES L. COSCHIGNANO (CAPTAIN CASH) Cash was hired by the City of Ocoee Fire Department on November 1, 1971. Cash became one of the first Officers in the City Fire Department. Cash was a Lieutenant for many years and in that role did everything for the department including its inspections. From 1985 to present he has been known to us all as Captain Cash. We suspect that he was part of the Fire Department when engines were pulled by horses. Along with his plaque, Captain Cash will receive a gift certificate in the amount of $350.00 to spend at "Gayfers" at the West Oaks Mall. Captain Cash will also receive a "Cast Bronze Sculpture" from the O. C. Tanner Company. This has been selected by Captain Cash which is on order for him at this time.