04-03-12 MINUTES
April 3, 2012, at 7:15 P.M.
REGULAR CITY COMMISSION MEETING
A. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Vandergrift called the regular session to order at 7:15 p.m. in the Commission
Chambers of City Hall. Commissioner Keller gave the invocation, followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag, led by Commissioner Hood. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and
declared a quorum present.
Roll Call: Commissioner Hood, Commissioner Wilsen, Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner
Johnson and Commissioner Keller.
Also Present: City Attorney Cookson, City Manager Frank, City Clerk Eikenberry
B. PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
Proclamation — Volunteer Appreciation Week
Mayor Vandergrift announced and proclaimed April 15 -21 as Volunteer Appreciation Week
in the City of Ocoee.
Proclamation - Arbor Day
Mayor Vandergrift announced and proclaimed April 27 as Arbor Day in the City of Ocoee.
C. COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS/PUBLIC - None
D. STAFF REPORTS AND AGENDA REVIEW
City Manager Frank made the following reports:
1) The Police Department will be sponsoring the Handgun Safety Class on Saturday, April 21,
2012, from 8:00a.m. to 1:OOp.m. This is a free handgun safety class taught by Ocoee Police
Officers.
2) The Police Department will be sponsoring a Citizen Police Academy on May 09, 2012,
through June 27, 2012, from 6:OOp.m. to 9:OOp.m, on every Wednesday during this time
frame at City Hall. The class is free to all Ocoee residents. The Police Department is also
sponsoring a Teen Police Academy scheduled from July 09, 2012, through July 13, 2012,
from 10:OOam till 1:OOpm. The event will take place at High Point Church, located at 476
Ocoee Commerce Parkway Ocoee, FL 34761. To register for any of the Police Academy
contact Officer Teddy Levin at 407 - 905 -3160 ext. 3024 or at tlevin @ci.ocoee.fl.us.
3) The Parks and Recreation Department will be sponsoring its Annual Easter Eggstravaganza
on Saturday, April 7th at the Jim Beech Recreation Center from 10:00 a.m. to noon. There
will be Easter Egg Hunts for children from infants to 12 years of age. For more information
contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 407 - 905 -3180.
4) The Fire Department will be hosting a CPR Class on May 11 The class is from 1 pm to 5
pm. The cost of the class is $25. For more information please contact Corey Bowles at the
Ocoee Fire Department at 407 - 905 -3140.
City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
Mayor Vandergrift advised to be sure that press releases go out for all the events just reported
and that they are put on the City's main webpage. He further stated he could not find the
information on the Easter Egg Hunt on the main webpage and soon realized that events were
listed under each department; current events like such mentioned, should be on the main page.
E. COMMISSIONERS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Commissioner Keller — reminded everyone that every Friday the Ocoee Lions' Club is hosting
the Farmer's Market from 3pm -8pm.
Commissioner Johnson — None
Commissioner Wilsen- announced that tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm there will be a
presentation by the Ocoee Police Department at City Hall regarding crime prevention tips.
Commissioner Hood — None
Mayor Vandergrift — None
F. CONSENT AGENDA
Commissioner Keller, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, moved to approve
the Consent Agenda Items #1 through #3. Motion carried 5 -0.
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Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5 -0.
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Members of the Human Relations Diversity Board serve two -year terms. Currently, the Human Relations
Diversity Board has ten (10) members and their resolution allows no less than seven (7) members and no more
than fifteen (15) members. One application has been received from Narupa Tiwari with an interest in serving
on the board.
Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5 -0.
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The employee has suffered a medical incident that resulted in a workers' compensation claim. The employee
and the city have negotiated an agreement whereby the employee will not seek further work related claims and
waives present and future benefits under the Florida Statutes.
Approved on Consent. Motion carried 5 -0.
Page 2
City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
G. PUBLIC HEARINGS
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The City of Ocoee is the owner of Tract J of the plat for Sawmill Phase II, by virtue of a Special Warranty Deed
dated May 15, 1997, from the Sawmill Homeowners Association, Inc.
On May 17, 2011, the City entered into a tri -party agreement with the Orange County School Board (OCPS)
and Orange County for the construction of the Hackney Prairie Road Area Relief School Site. Section 8(B) of
this agreement requires the Orange County School Board to provide the improvements to Timber Ridge Trail.
Tract J is the location for the extension of Timber Ridge Trail, with Orange County providing the necessary
property in order to construct the Timber Ridge Trail Improvements.
City Planner Rumer advised this is a final step on the city's part for the Hackney Prairie Relief
School. The existing Sawmill Subdivision Plat Tract J has a provision that allows public access
and dedicates that tract to Ocoee as public access for emergency vehicles as part of the site plan
for the Hackney Prairie Relief School. Part of the tri -party agreement which the city entered
with OCPS requires that improvements be made to Tract J to Hackney Prairie Road in order to
provide access from the north. This resolution tonight is a public hearing to amend the note on
the plat to allow public access in that tract and not just limit it to emergency vehicles.
Mayor Vandergrift opened the Public Hearing.
City Attorney Cookson read the title of the resolution.
As no one wished to speak, Mayor Vandergrift closed the Public Hearing.
Commissioner Keller, seconded by Commissioner Wilsen, moved to Approve
Resolution No. 2012 -005 for Sawmill Phase II Plat Amendment per staff's
recommendation. Motion carried 5 -0.
The resolution as adopted carries the following title:
RESOLUTION NO. 2012 -005
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF OCOEE, FLORIDA, AMENDING PLAT NOTE 12
AND RESCINDING PLAT NOTE 13 OF THE PLAT OF SAWMILL PHASE II, AS
RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 25, PAGES 86 - 88 OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF
ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, IN ORDER TO ALLOW THE FUTURE USE OF TRACT J
OF SAID PLAT FOR THE PURPOSES OF PUBLIC ACCESS TO HACKNEY PRAIRIE
ROAD; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, RECORDATION AND SEVERABILITY;
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
H. REGULAR AGENDA
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During the February 21, 2012, Commission Meeting, Commissioner Hood addressed the Commission in
reference to his continued desire to open a Fire Station in the northwest section of District One. Fire Chief
McNeil addressed the Commission with the possibility of relocating current Rescue -25 to the proposed station
and staffing it with a Lieutenant and a Firefighter Paramedic. Fire Chief McNeil was asked to bring back a
proposal with the associated costs to open a Rescue staffed station in the Fountains West Shopping Plaza
utilizing our current personnel and apparatus.
Fire Chief McNeil explained that back on February 21st Commissioner Hood had addressed the
Commission with his desire to open a Fire Station in the northwest section of District One. He
further explained since that commission meeting he and Deputy Fire Chief Hoover have met
with the management of the shopping plaza and have received a letter of intent with leasing
rates. Fire Chief McNeil further explained that a complete breakdown of rates has been
provided to them in their packets which show the closest they could get with all the estimates in
operating a Fire Station staffed with a rescue unit, one Lieutenant, and one Fire Firefighter. He
clarified that this is not adding any personnel to their current staffing. Fire Chief McNeil briefly
explained each shift, promotions required, and the start-up cost to run the Fire Station.
Fire Chief McNeil said that the building department has gone out and looked over their tentative
plan and they have received the input needed to get everything to code and approved. Fire Chief
McNeil said that the total cost of operating the proposed fire station for a three year period
(including their start-up) is $279,000. He further said his recommendation would be to have this
funded out of the northwest fire station capital reserve which has $320,000. Mayor Vandergrift
inquired as to when the soonest they would be operating the station. Fire Chief McNeil said he
would like to be operating and opening within 60 days. Their intent is to, as soon as possible; try
to allow the unit to hang out in that area at least part of the day to oversee the renovations being
done. Mayor Vandergrift inquired if it is 60 days out how much more would they be into their
next budget year that they would have to be approving money to come out of their budget fund
for the fire station. Commissioner Hood said they are funded for three years. Mayor
Vandergrift inquired as to how much they are going to be doing an emergency fund (now) so
they can negotiate putting it into the budget for next year. Fire Chief McNeil said that is an
excellent question for the City Manager or Finance Director. He further said his guess would be
right at $79,000 - $80,000 to do the actual purchases of some of the equipment they will need.
Commissioner Hood agreed with staff's recommendation and suggested they do the $140,000
($70,000 start-up plus $70,000 for one year) and save $107,000 so that next year they can budget
the $68,000 it would take to operate it each year.
Original Motion:
Commissioner Hood, seconded by Commissioner Keller, moved to approve
Rescue Fire Station 38 Proposal per staffs recommendation with funds available
in the Northwest Fire Station Capital Reserve Account.
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
City Manager Frank explained that the $325,000 in the Capital Reserve Account is not
budgeted or allocated to anything this year so they would have to do a budget amendment and
advertise for two public hearings for that. He further said it is possible they may have some
other things that they may need to put in the budget amendment. City Manager Frank said they
have two choices, 1) if they want to get this done by July 1 than they need to do a budget
amendment to allocate those funds or 2) they could include this in their budget for FY12 -13 and
have it go online October 1st
Fire Chief McNeil briefly commented that his only concern is that right now the unit they have
selected is the ideal unit in that shopping plaza for the fire station so if there is a delay in the
lease agreement than he does not know if someone else might come along. Commissioner
Hood inquired if staff could notify the management group to let them know that if this passes
they will be moving forward. Commissioner Wilsen asked for clarification that the truck from
Station #25 would be moving to Fountains West. Fire Chief McNeil answered affirmatively
and further said they would never ever do anything that they felt would jeopardize the citizens.
This move will improve the service to the citizens and all of the fire stations in the future will all
be 24/7 advance life support. Commissioner Keller inquired if it would be reasonable to make
an amendment to Commissioner Hood's motion to take the $78,900 out of contingency so they
can get started now, with the fact that they put the money back once the budget amendment is
approved. City Manager Frank said they have $81,000 in contingency right now.
Amendment:
Commissioner Keller, seconded by Commissioner Wilsen, moved to amend the
original motion to state that they take $78,900 temporarily out of contingency to
get the Rescue Fire Station 38 started and once the budget amendment is
approved the funds will be put back into contingency.
Mayor Vandergrift advised if staff could do what they needed to do to get the budget
amendment approved within the next meeting or so.
After brief discussion, Motion carried 5 -0.
Motion as amended:
Commissioner Hood, seconded by Commissioner Keller, moved to approve
Rescue Fire Station 38 Proposal with $78,900 temporarily taken out of
contingency to get the Rescue Fire Station 38 started and once the budget
amendment is approved the funds will be put back into contingency. Motion
carried 5 -0
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
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The PBA Union has proceeded to a ratification vote of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement (by the
police officers) and a subsequent vote by the City legislative body (Commission). Since the police officers
voted 29 in favor and 20 against the ratification vote, the City Commission is required to vote to either approve
or reject the collective bargaining agreement as ratified by the members of the PBA.
City Attorney Cookson explained that a vote "yes" would be a rejection to the agreement and a
vote "no" would mean you are not in favor of rejecting the agreement.
Commissioner Keller, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, moved to reject the
offer of the Collective Bargaining Agreement as Ratified on March 14, 2012, by the
Police Officers Represented as Members of the Police Benevolent Association.
Motion carried 5 -0.
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City Manager Frank said they had several meetings. They met with Senator Rubio's staff;
Senator Nelson and his staff; congressmen Webster and his staff; the administrators from the
Department of Environmental Protection and the US Post Office. They discussed funding
opportunities for transportation projects such as Wurst Road Extension and Phase 5 of the
Maguire Road Widening project. They discussed getting the same zip code throughout Ocoee,
particularly for Rose Hill, Phase II and III. He said they were not getting much assistance locally
on the zip code issue, but they did get all of that information to the administrators in Washington
D.C. They also discussed low- interest and no- interest loans for water and wastewater
infrastructure improvements. He added that they corned them into giving the requirements for
Principal Forgiveness Loans. Questions and concerns as to how they doll out Federal dollars and
that some of the programs should be adjusted to aide mid -size cities better. He felt they were
fairly sympathetic.
He summarized by saying they got some good ideas on how to approach low interest grant
funding or principal forgiveness loans; voicing concerns with the post office about the zip code
issue; and kept in touch with all of our congressional delegation in Washington so they
understand our needs. He said it was a well spent eight hours where they moved around a lot and
spoke to many people.
Commissioner Keller said he was especially happy with the post office meeting this time; they
were much more sympathetic to our concerns that they had ever been in the past. There was
discussion about St. Paul's Presbyterian Church on Highway 50 using a Gotha address and the
Chamber of Commerce using two addresses; one for Ocoee and one for Gotha.
I. STAFF ACTION ITEMS - None
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
J. COMMENTS FROM COMMISSIONERS
Commissioner Hood 1) said he would like to raise the issue he discussed with the City Manager
about BB guns and pellet guns in the park since there were issues with kids having BB guns in a
city park. City Manager Frank said he preferred to defer to Police Chief Charlie Brown and
Police Lieutenant Brad Dresher since one of them had an opportunity to speak directly to the
person involved. The city manager continued by saying that his concern was that the city cannot
put up a sign that says `no guns in the park'. Commissioner Hood asked if it was BB gun. Lt.
Dresher said that if one is sixteen years old and older they can carry a BB gun for whatever
reason or whenever they would like according to Florida law. Commissioner Hood asked if
some language could be brought back about barring BB guns or pellet guns from the park. Chief
Brown said that the BB gun is not considered a firearm so we should be able to regulate.
Commissioner Hood said that the police lieutenant did speak with the individual involved, but
that he would go by there and speak to him again. 2) Commissioner Hood inquired if there was
a schedule for the street cleaner. Public Works Director Krug answered that there is a regular
rotation for the street sweeper and it operates about three days per week, but the sweeper is down
for servicing. He asked if there were concerns. Commissioner Hood said that he would email
his concerns to him. 3) Commissioner Hood asked about resurfacing and traffic calming
devices on Nicole. Public Works Director Krug answered that on the resurfacing the contracts
are back for signature, but they are also waiting on an updated insurance form before they can
proceed. Regarding speed tables, they have the designs at the contractor. The City is a month
away from starting on both projects. 4) Commissioner Hood said golf cart signs are
appreciated, but there is one issue. The posts go all the way up beyond the signs. He further
asked if the posts could be shortened. Public Works Director Krug said that they [Public
Works staff] can make the posts look good. 5) Regarding aluminum cans, he asked if the cans
belong to the City of Ocoee. Public Works Director Krug said that by ordinance the contents
do belong to the city. Commissioner Hood asked if taking the cans would then be stealing.
Police Chief Brown answered that it is theft, but it would be difficult to prosecute because it is
abandoned property. Commissioner Hood further asked if citizens can use violence to stop this
theft. Police Chief Brown said `no'. Commissioner Hood explained that people are taking the
cans from the receptacles in front of homes and eyeing homeowners' property at the same time.
Citizens are concerned that someone who has taken aluminum might return to steal other
property. Solutions were proposed and discussed. Mayor Vandergrift asked how big a
problem this is. Commissioner Wilsen said that it has happened in her neighborhood as well.
Police Chief Brown said that they have had to talk to aluminum collectors before. Further
discussion ensued. Commissioner Hood said that he has brought this matter up four or five
times before, and that this is going to be coming back again because people are going to get
pretty violent about it. He added that the rummaging for cans also results in other contents being
spilled on the property. Police Chief Brown said that the best thing is to call them when it
happens. Commissioner Hood said that he was told that police tell folks that there is nothing
they can do about it. Police Chief Brown said that he will coordinate with Mr. Cookson to
come up with a solution. Commissioner Wilsen suggested having a larger recycling container
and it having a lid. City Manager Frank said that they had discussed this solution before, but
cost was an issue. Commission Hood cautioned drivers to be careful going around the Jim
Beech Center because children have returned now that spring break is over.
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
Commissioner Wilsen 1) reminded everyone about the Eggstravaganza event on Sunday at 3:00
p.m. 2) announced that there will be a presentation by the police department at 6:30 p.m. in the
Commission Chamber, and she invited everyone to attend and get crime prevention tips. 3) She
brought up the contract with Rural Metro which is coming up for renewal. She does not want to
get backed into a corner a month before the contract ends. City Manager Frank said they will
distribute to the commission the scope of what they did last time so that the commission can
comment. The city manager said that [staff] does not anticipate too many different firms
responding to the RFP; the process can probably be turned around fairly quickly. He said that he .
understood that the commission wants to see the OFD's numbers as to what the fire department's
services would cost. The contract will end in November. Commissioner Wilsen reiterated that
she does not want to get backed into a corner and having to make a decision about it as they did
last time. City Manager Frank replied that they were not backed into a corner before.
Commissioner Wilsen said she felt that they did.
Commissioner Johnson - asked if they could waive the fee for the use of the Community Center
for the Relay for Life Team whose proceeds will go to cancer research. Commissioner Hood
seconded the `motion'. The mayor asked questions about it, and said he resented that the event
was moved to Winter Garden and that Ocoee was not invited. Commissioner Johnson said
Ocoee's team is working for a cure for cancer, so it was not important to him where it is held.
Further discussion ensued.
Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Hood, moved that the
commission waive the Community Center fee for the Relay for Life Team's use of
the center to help raise funds for cancer research. Motion carried 5 -0.
Commissioner Johnson continued by noting that when the hospital had their event, everyone
was invited except Ocoee despite the fact that Ocoee is the host city for the hospital. The
planning staff has gone out of its way to participate. Commissioner Hood said that it's bad that
the mayor did not even get an invitation. Further discussion about the matter ensued.
Commissioner Keller — reminded everyone about the Farmer's Market.
Mayor Vandergrift — announced to everyone that the historic group in town is being renewed
and will meet on the 12 in City Hall in room 109. He invited everyone who is interested in the
history of the City to come on out. Mr. Grant Kuleman, a Star Scout, is working on his
Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge. The mayor invited Mr. Kuleman to address the
commission. The young man, an 11 grader, introduced himself and gave his troop number. He
plans to make it to Eagle Scout. Commissioner Johnson confirmed the young man's scout
status with the youth, and wished him good luck in his future.
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City Commission Regular
April 3, 2012
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
APPROVED:
Attest: City of Ocoee
i St
kenberry, City Cler ., S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor
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