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2012.09.07_TC_Minutes_SpecialTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING BUDGET PUBIC HEARING Friday, September 07 2012 5.01 PM Mayor Bernard Featherman called the Budget Public Hearing to order in Commission Chambers at 5:01 PM. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Mayor Bernard Featherman; Vice Mayor Ron Brown; Commissioner Doris M. Trinley; Commissioner Dennis J. Sheridan; and Commissioner Louis P. Stern. Also present: Town Attorney Len Rubin; Town Manager Kathleen D. Weiser; Town Clerk Beverly M. Brown; Chief of Police Craig Hartmann; Public Works Director Jack C. Lee; Library Director Mari Suarez; Finance Director Cale Curtis; Building Official Michael Desorcy; Building Office Manager Carol Holland; Assistant to the Town Manager Zoie Burgess; and members of the public. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was given, followed by a minute of silence in honor of those who lost their lives during the attack against our country on September 11, 2001. Civility Pledge: Town Clerk Brown recited the Civility Pledge for the Commission and public. 1. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA: • Agenda accepted as presented. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REOUESTS: Carl Feldman, 3210 S. Ocean Blvd. — I do get up before a lot of these meetings and I discuss a lot of topics that I have some interest in and I think the rest of the town has interest in. I would also like to state at this time that I don't discuss the topics that I talk about with any Commissioner before the meeting. It's not a program I put on here, it is just questions I ask and I don't discuss these questions with any of the Commissioners for two reasons. Number one, I don't want to know what they are thinking and number two, I like to present myself to all five Commissioners. Getting on with that, I just got the full worksheet the other day so I didn't have the time to go into it and I don't have all the questions that I have to ask now, because I will get together with Cale and hopefully he can Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 2 of 14 answer some of them. But one question I do have. If we do adopt the new millage rate, not the ten percent (10%) but the new one at 3.95, based on the old worksheets that I was looking at and taking out the $825,000 for the redoing of the Town Hall, how much of an excess in the taxes we receive will there be if we adopt the 3.95 keeping the budget the way we see it, taking out the rebuilding of the Town Hall of eight twenty-five, how much of an excess will we have this year going forward into next year. Can any Commissioner tell me that? Town Manager Weiser — Cale will go over that in his presentation. Mr. Feldman — Okay, very good. I do have other questions; one other quick question. In looking over the worksheet, it looks like many of the departments are projected to give out more than five percent (5%) raises. Is this something you are adopting, a greater than a five percent (5%) raise or am I just reading the proposed budget incorrectly? Manager Weiser — Usually what we do, because they are eligible for a five percent (5%) raise, we budget for the full five percent (5%). It doesn't mean they will get five percent (5%) but with their merit raises they can get up to five percent (5%). Elyse Riesa, 1133 Boca Cove Lane — Just a quick question. I was just looking at the agenda and I didn't see anything here regarding the Charter. There has been a lot of discussion throughout the neighborhood as to whether or not the Charter was going to be changed. The reason why I bring it up, even though it doesn't look like it is on the agenda, is because it seems if the Charter is changed so the budget goes. I would like to understand whether or not there is any intention of changing the Charter without any type of vote by the residents of Highland Beach. Mayor Featherman — I would like to ask our Finance Manager if there is a vote. Pardon me, we will ask our Town Manager and then we will ask the Lawyer if there is a vote on this or not. Manager Weiser — No, today is just discussing the budget. It is a public hearing strictly for the budget as required by law. The Charter changes are discussed at the regular Commission Meeting. When you say does it impact this particular budget, I don't think there were any Charter changes that impact this budget. Ms. Riesa — What I am trying to find out is will the Highland Beach Commissioners be making changes to the Charter. Comm. Sheridan — They did. Ms. Riesa — They did? Comm. Stern — It is all finished. Ms. Riesa — Now that it is all finished, we had discussed it last time that you folks would at least tell us about those changes and we would have some opportunity to determine whether or not we agreed with those changes rather than just put our total trust in you folks to make them because once you make those changes, you can spend any amount of money you want and then the budget doesn't really matter. Comm. Stern — Excuse me, but we had public hearings.....Mavor Featherman — Please Commissioner. Let her finish and then you can ask her the question. Ms. Riesa — It just seems that we discussed the last time I was here, the public trust was not being taken into account with regard to the Charter and now I am hearing that there was something done without being told, and I think that is very sad on the part of these Commissioners. I would like to understand that further and I would like it publically known that the Town ought to know what is going on with regard to the Charter. Comm. Stern — I am going to give the floor to the Town Manager because she will explain it. Manager Weiser — Elyse, there were two public hearings on those issues where they went through all the Charter changes. They are not on the agenda today but I will be glad to go over them with you. It was the past two meetings that they went over the Charter changes. Some things do have to go to referendum and some things the Commission make the final Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 3 of 14 vote but I believe there were five different ordinances that covered a myriad of ideas. Ms. Riesa — Could we get a written record of these meetings because I would like to know what was voted on? Manager Weiser — Yes. It was voted, the final vote, at the second meeting this past Tuesday. Those minutes aren't completed yet but we have them at Town Hall. Ms. Riesa - It is very interesting that it wasn't discussed in the last budget meeting because if it was, I would have been here. I have been trying to make it to every meeting. It is very disappointing. Manager Weiser — The Charter is discussed at the regular Commission meetings. Budget public hearings are specific towards the budget as required by law. Ms. Riesa — I understand. 3. PRESENTATION OF CHANGES TO BUDGET: A) Summary of Budget Updates: Town Manager Weiser — Mayor and Commissioners, we have a short presentation that kind of brings everybody up to date of where we are on the budget at this time, and I am going to turn it over to our Finance Director. Finance Director Curtis — Thank you Town Manager Weiser and good evening Commissioners. Today we are here to have our first public hearing on the millage rate and the proposed budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. You all were given the proposed budget back in July. We've gone through a couple of workshops; we've seen a few different presentations; thrown back and forth a number of different ideas so I just want to get everybody up to speed to see where we are today with the budget. The top portion of this slide gives us the changes to revenues. You will see the first item is the 3.95 millage rate. Going with that rate increases the tax revenues by $273,100.00. If you recall at your last budget workshop, we had discussions on changing some revenues and the rates that we charge for certain services and we have increased our lien search revenue by $14,000.00. The big item in here is the "Appropriation from Reserve". That's the line item that we typically need to take from our "Unassigned Fund Balance" to balance the budget. However, when we take out the renovation project and go to the millage rate of 3.95 we were able to reduce that amount by $1,037,880.00. The total net change to the revenues in the General Fund is a minus $750,780.00. If you notice, going down to the expenditures, we have to have a balanced budget and you will see the various ins and outs on the expenditure side to equal that decrease in revenues. The big one is the renovations to the Commission Chambers and the Police Department. We had another minor change in the Police Department due to estimating error, I believe; Worker's Comp premiums a bit of an increase in the Library Department and with the 3.95 millage rate we are able to increase the Reserve for Contingency amount in the budget by $73,720.00. Again the total net effect is going to be $750,780.00 which matches our Revenues and Expenditures for a balanced budget. You've seen this slide at my previous presentations. However, I have updated it for this meeting with the 2012 proposed tax distribution. Highland Beach is still receiving less Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 4 of 14 than a quarter of a percent of the total tax bill. If the taxes go through in all taxing authorities the percent change is only half a percent. We would be going from 19.8565 to 19.9589, a very small change in the total tax bill. This slide gives us some direction as to how we need to proceed per the law with regard to our first public hearing. We have a Resolution that is put forth to adopt a millage rate and what we need to do for that Resolution is first we need to discuss the millage rate; announce the percent change over the rollback rate; have a motion to adopt that millage rate and a final vote on it. The next order of business would be to discuss the proposed budget; a motion to adopt the budget following that discussion and a vote. That brings my presentation today to a complete. I will turn it back over to the Town Manager. Carl did that answer your question with regard... Carl Feldman — Yes. Mayor Featherman — Are there are questions from the audience here? Ralph Rahmet, 3201 S. Ocean Blvd. — I came here to find out what's in the budget in as much as you have a humungous increase in the amount of taxes for this community, and all I hear is a few big numbers thrown around without any indication where we are. Also I hear a five percent (5%) increase in salaries which I think is way out of line. I doubt other similar communities have that kind of generosity. Mayor Featherman — What you are saying is true. It appears in the paper that salaries have been cut back severely. I think what the woman had asked before was more transparency, and I have heard that from a number of residents that they want more transparency on what's happening because they cannot follow what we are doing. I believe we owe that to them. Mr. Rahmet - How do we find out what's in the budget? Manager Weiser — Sir, just so you know we had two workshops where they went through the budget and all the different items. That's usually where they go into more detail of the budget and then the public hearing is where they set the millage. One thing that was discussed and we can show you some of the slides that we had before, is the reason why we are considering the tax increase. Because this town for the past at least four years has taken close to a million dollars from their bank account, their reserves, to balance their operating budget and the Commission and everybody felt that is not a wise thing to do to keep ... Mr. Rahmet — No it is not. Manager Weiser — Using their savings to run the city. So what this brings in is the amount of money it takes to operate our budget without having to take that money from our Reserves. Mr. Rahmet — Is there any way a citizen can get a copy of this year's budget by line item and compare it to last year's budget by line item? Manager Weiser — Yes, we have it at Town Hall and we also have it online. Mayor Featherman — Is there anyone else that would like to ask a question or make a statement on this situation that we just discussed? Does the Commission have any questions they would like to put forward at this time? Commissioner Stern — I have no questions at this time, sir. Commissioner Sheridan — I have no questions either. Vice Mayor Brown — None. Commissioner Trinley — I would like to know, Cale, what's the Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7 2012 Page 5 of 14 debt service? Finance Director Curtis — I assume you are talking about the debt service tax rate. Commissioner Triple v — Yes. Finance Director Curtis — When we have a big ticket item, our most recent one was replacing the water line on A 1 A, we went to the voters and asked first if they would approve that expenditure and then we asked if they would approve paying for it via taxes. When we do that, it goes on to the tax bills as a separate line item and it is called "voter approved debt". It is not a tax rate that is voted on by the Commission. It is determined by the principal and interest payments that are due each year and it automatically goes onto the tax bill. Vice Mayor Brown — Can I say something, please? If you are looking for something equivalent to a millage rate, in the past it's been like .9173. Is that the number you are looking for? 4) PESENTATION OF BUDGET RESOLUTIONS: A) RESOLUTION NO. 12-004 R A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A FINAL MILLAGE RATE OF 3.95 MILS FOR THE TOWN'S GENERAL OPERATING FUNDS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2012 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2013; PROVIDING THAT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE OF 3.95 MILS IS 17.63 PERCENT GREATER THAN THE COMPUTED ROLLED -BACK RATE OF 3.3579 MILS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CONFLICTS AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE Town Clerk Brown read millage rate Resolution No. 12-004 R, title only, into the record Mayor Featherman — Is there any questions from the Commissioners? Commissioner Stern — No questions. Commissioner Sheridan — No questions. Vice Mayor Brown — None. Commissioner Trinley — None. Mayor Featherman — I just like to say we do have honest differences as to whether the 17- 1 /2% increase in taxes is a good thing. A lot of folks have seen me or told me that they or their friends are having a hard time in this economy. I believe we should let the final vote for the millage go to the resident taxpayers. Now do we vote on this Madam Clerk? Town Clerk Brown — No, we read the two Resolutions; then we have a public hearing and then we vote. B) RESOLUTION NO. 12-005 R A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A FINAL BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2012 AND ENDING Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 6 of 14 SEPTEMBER 30, 2013; DETERMINING AND FIXING THE AMOUNTS NECESSARY TO CARRY ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TOWN FOR THE ENSUING YEAR; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CONFLICTS AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Clerk Brown read budget Resolution No. 12-005 R, title only, into the record. Mayor Featherman — Is there any questions from the Commissioners? Commissioner Stern — No questions. Commissioner Sheridan — None. Commissioner Trinley — None. Vice Mayor Brown — None. 5. PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING 2011/2012 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET: Mayor Featherman — We have resolutions setting up the millage rate and final budget into the record. I formally open the public hearing. Raise your hand to be recognized. Once everyone is heard the public hearing will be closed. Ron Bouche, 3450 S. Ocean Blvd. — I just want to make a comment about the millage rate. You talk about a seventeen percent (17%) increase. I think you also have to take into account the previous year you rolled it back and you were taking money from Reserve Funds. Had you not done that you would have had a much less increase this year. By taking from Reserve Funds, if you try to do that this year to reduce this amount, eventually you are going to get a twenty to thirty percent tax increase. Now is the time to stop it and I applaud the Commission for not taking any more money from the Reserve Fund and turn this thing around. Next year, hopefully, that increase will be lower because we are not taking from the Reserve Fund. I think that is why you see such a big increase this year because the previous year you tried to reduce the tax by taking from the reserves which shouldn't have been done because now you are paying the piper. It is only going to get worse if you keep trying to do that. I applaud you for trying to level out the budget and getting it back in line. Personally you really should be doing something with the Reserve Fund. You can't just let it dwindle down. There should almost be a percentage; I mentioned that before, a percentage coming out of the budget to try to build that back up because you are going to need that for capital expenditures down the road. If you ever have to buy a fire truck I know it is going to be $700,000 and where is that money going to come from. It will come out of things like Reserve Funds. That is my only comment. Don't read too much into the seventeen percent (17%) because you are looking at over a period of years that you were taking out of a Reserve Fund. Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 7 of 14 Carl Feldman, 3210 S. Ocean Blvd. — I had one more question that I forgot before. I would like to preface it by saying we have the finest Building Inspector I ever met in many years working with many towns. But I noticed here in the budget that I just got a hold of the hardcopy of the worksheets, and I think some of you people should get these so you will know what is going on. There is an added service here: Increase Code Enforcement by restructuring Building Department staff by two full time employees rather than one that is serving as an assistant to a tune of $32,600. I was under the impression that the part of the Building Department which is the code enforcement of giving building permits; we were farming that out to an outside source. If we are farming that out to an outside source, this other person that we are putting on, is that person going to be doing any of the work that Mike is doing now and if it is assisting Mike in his duties, I think it was brought up once before, then we should look into that and maybe hire Mike as a full time worker. He is the best we ever had around here and if you even had to pay him more money than he is making now I think it would be worth it. But if we are going to put another person on for $32,600 additional money it doesn't make sense. Mayor Featherman — That makes a good question there. We have paid fifty percent (50%) of whatever income we have each month to the company that we sublease this out that Mike works for. I have seen checks that have gone out for as much as $23,000. Now, if we are paying such money and they want to increase it to a full time member, I think that subcontract company should pick up the cost just like they are doing on Mike's cost. We are paying for furniture, we are paying for office phones, any materials that they need in the Code Enforcement. I think that if they would like to have that person moved to full time, then they should pick up the cost because that would increase their amount of revenue as well. So what you have said is a good point. Manager Weiser — Carl, to answer your question, what we are doing is the Office Manager is going to be trained in Code Enforcement. Mike's time is about ninety percent (90%) spent on issuing building permits not on code enforcement. So this person would be trained so that we can up the level of code enforcement. She is just going to be doing soft code enforcement such as grass and things like that but she will be trained so that she can add an additional level of code enforcement part time. Mr. Feldman — I was under the impression that the Building Department was a non-profit center. Mayor Featherman — That is correct. Mr. Feldman — So if it is a non-profit center and we are adding another $32,600 on to the operations of the Building Department, will this keep it as a non-profit center? Because looking through this thing we are not going to increase revenues that much next year•, maybe $25,000 but we are paying out another $32,000 so is this department going to be a cost factor and not a breakeven point? Mayor Featherman — Does anyone from the audience want to say anything on that? Ira Oaklander, 1000 Russell Drive — In terms of the building code here, one way to save money on the code is I think you will find that our town has one of the strictest codes, and we need permits for things that most other towns or cities don't need. We need permits for replacing kitchen cabinets or if you want to replace a toilet, and I am an architect from New York City, these things are not permitted items. If you want to replace something in kind it doesn't need a permit. If it is the same replacement for something that you had before, a permit is not necessary in most towns and cities and I have worked in many towns and Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 8 of 14 cities. If you eliminated some of these things from our Code Enforcement there would be much less work and much less workload for this person. Building Official Mike Desorcy — I would like to clarify something about the Code Enforcement. The Code Enforcement is not part of what I do that the company I work for splits with the Town. Code Enforcement is billed at a different rate. Permits, code administration, inspections, that is in the contract. That is what we split with the Town. Code Enforcement is billed at a different rate. The Town would actually save money by putting Carol on as a Code Enforcement Officer. That would take a lot of time off of my schedule and cost off of the Town's budget for Code Enforcement and it is not $32,000. We are not adding $32,000. That would be, Sue is already making half of that and I am not sure exactly what the figure is. Okay that is with the benefits. I just wanted to clarify that about Code Enforcement. It is billed at a different rate and not part of the 50/50 split with the Town. The codes are different in Florida then they are in New York. That has been established in the Town of Highland Beach for quite some time. We don't require a permit to change a toilet. Those are fixtures. Those are minor repairs that don't require a permit but to replace a kitchen that does require a permit. The old kitchen goes out, the old code goes with it; the new kitchen comes in the new code needs to be applied. Lighting, power, plumbing, those are code requirements of the State of Florida. Do you have any more questions from the public about what I do? Mayor Featherman — Any questions from the Commissioners? Commissioner Stern — No questions. Commissioner Sheridan — No questions. Commissioner Trinley — No. Vice Mayor Brown — No. Building Official Desorcy — Does that clarify the issue that Mr. Feldman brought up? Responding to a question from the audience ... I have a non -compete. I have a very thick contract. I can't break it. Not unless you buy me out. Mayor Featherman — Is there anyone who would like to say something in the public sector? Are there any other remarks that would like to be coming out? Town Clerk Brown — Would you close the public hearing, sir? Mayor Featherman — The public hearing is closed. 6. COMMISSION QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION: Mayor Featherman — Does the Commission have any further questions? Commissioner Stern — I have no questions sir. Commissioner Sheridan — No sir. Commissioner Trinley — No sir. Vice Mayor Brown — No sir. Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 9 of 14 7. ADOPTION OF MILLAGE RATE: A) RESOLUTION NO. 12-004 R A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A FINAL MILLAGE RATE OF 3.95 MILS FOR THE TOWN'S GENERAL OPERATING FUNDS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2012 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2013; PROVIDING THAT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE OF 3.95 MILS IS 17.63 PERCENT GREATER THAN THE COMPUTED ROLLED -BACK RATE OF 3.3579 MILS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CONFLICTS AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE Mayor Featherman — On the adoption of the millage rate, we would need a motion and second to adopt Resolution No. 12-004 R on the first reading. MOTION: Vice Mayor Brown moved to adopt Resolution No. 12-004 R as presented and as published; motion seconded by Commissioner Stern. Roll Call: Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Mayor Featherman - No Motion passed with a 4-1 vote. 8) ADOPTION OF 2012-2013 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET: B) RESOLUTION NO. 12-005 R A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A FINAL BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2012 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2013; DETERMINING AND FIXING THE AMOUNTS NECESSARY TO CARRY ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TOWN FOR THE ENSUING YEAR; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, CONFLICTS AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mayor Featherman — Let's talk about the adoption of the 2012-2013 fiscal year budget. Request a motion and second to adopt Resolution No. 12-005 R on first reading. MOTION: Vice Mayor Brown moved to adopt Resolution No. 12-005 R as presented and as published; motion seconded by Commissioner Sheridan. Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 10 of 14 Roll call: Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Mayor Featherman - No Motion passed with a 4-1 vote. 9. REPORTS — TOWN COMMISSION: A) Commissioner Stern — Yes I do have a couple of things sir. Yesterday there was a meeting between the Town and Florida Power and Light in reference to the recent tropical storm that went through here, Isaac. The south end of town was very much without electricity for many hours. We met with a Melissa Roettger. Those present were Jack Lee, Bill Moore, Kathleen Weiser, Zoie Burgess and Chief Hartmann from the Town. Ms. Roettger said that she would work much closer with us and it's a shame that we ended up with some many hours without electricity. It was admitted that maybe part of the trees that Asphlund takes care of for the Town, paid for by Florida Power and Light, was possibly some of the cause and that if we work closer and tell her that trees need to be taken care of a little earlier maybe it would be done better. She followed up with an email to every one of us with a complete diagram and a lot of contacts that we can try and reach during a storm which we were not able to do when we had that problem. I also would like to thank the few people that came out today with their questions. I wish more would come to our meetings, not the ten or fifteen who are here today, so that you wouldn't be so much in the dark. We are very, very visible with everything we are trying to do. I am sorry you missed the meetings on the Charter. It took months, not days, to complete changing the Charter which is done every ten years. B) Commissioner Sheridan — I would just like to say that I would like the public to realize how hard this Commission is working trying to get a balanced budget without taking any money out of the Reserve. The Reserve has been tapped for the last four years and the tax rate here in the town has not gone up accordingly. So as the gentleman said before, we have got to bite the bullet eventually and take care of this and stop taking the money out of the Reserve, and that is what we are trying to do. Thank you. C) Commissioner Trinley — No report, sir. D) Vice Mayor Brown — I would also like to say thanks for coming out, and for those who think we are not transparent, we video tape and archive every single meeting. So if you want background, you can go back to 2009 right now and actually view what we have been doing since 2009 to present. You want to see the budget discussions; you want to see the discussions we had on the Charter, just go to the Town Website, click on whatever the Commission and you can go back and actually sit at your computer and watch exactly what Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 11 of 14 we are doing. Then if you have any comments we are free to discuss it. The Town Manager would be free to discuss it with you at any time. E) Mayor Featherman — I do have two things to say. I was the one responsible for getting the Florida Power and Light to come here by contacting the woman's boss but I didn't hear about it. How did you contact me for yesterday? Town Manager Weiser — As I told you only one Commissioner can attend those meetings and because it was regarding the street Commissioner Stern lives on he was the resident Commissioner to sit in on that meeting. Mayor Featherman — Very well because she had asked for as many people as we wanted to show up but you say .... Town Manager Weiser — Not Commissioners, staff. As I told you, only one Commissioner can attend a meeting when it involves an administrative matter. Mayor Featherman — Yes, thank you on that. The other thing I would like to say; we can have honest differences, even on the 17-1/2% increase in the taxes whether it is a good thing or not, but it was brought out today that we really have to have transparency. I have spoken to a number of people and they said that all of us as Commissioners and Mayor have not come across as friendly; we have argued a lot and I am sorry about that because we are not looking for that in our fine town. Each one of us is trying to represent what we think is right. But I do believe, and very firmly, that people are having hard times here because they have said that their friends as well as themselves have been facing it and we really should look to how we are raising taxes here in our own town. I therefore wanted to let people know this feeling because I have heard it from a number of people already in the last few days. 10. REPORTS — TOWN ATTORNEY LEONARD RUBIN: Town Attorney Rubin — No reports sir unless anybody has any questions for me. 11. REPORTS — TOWN MANAGER KATHLEEN DAILEY WEISER: Town Manager Weiser — I just want to let everybody know that our budget was put together with a lot of time and effort from our staff and our department heads and I want to thank them for showing up today and all the input they give for putting this together. A special thank you to our Finance Director Cale Curtis who shoulders most of putting the budget together, and who handles all my last minute requests that I am running into his office with all the time. I just want to thank our staff for being so dedicated to this town. Thank you. 12. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REOUESTS: Elyse Riess, 1133 Boca Cove Lane — I would just like to clarify one thing. I am not against the additional tax per se in terms of the addition of the millage rate if that is what is required to keep the reserves intact. What I am concerned about is what the Mayor had mentioned and a good way of saying it is transparency. I didn't like the fact that I had to Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 12 of 14 find out about the Charter from a local newspaper and not from our Town. If there is some way that we can work on a workshop or something where folks could get involved and where we can find a better way to communicate. I know you have a website and it is a question of people going on the website. But maybe there is some way, just like when Zoie sends a message out about something that is going on in the town that we need to know about the lighting or something, that maybe the town can send a mass email to let people know what is going on. We just don't and I find that very disappointing because I might agree with you that the Charter needed to be changed, I might not. Obviously it didn't matter because my vote doesn't count. I am not voted on but it certainly would be very helpful if we could find a way to communicate better. I would get to know you better, you would get to know me better and we don't have that now so right now. I feel, like you had said, that there is a sense that I don't have the trust that I should have in my Commissioners and I feel really bad about that. Manager Weiser — Elyse, I just want to clarify that the agendas for the workshops regarding the Charter and regarding the budget all went out by email and there have been several different meetings on all those different things. They all went out by email. What we are going to have Zoie do though is put together a synopsis of what happened and we can put that online. But, all those announcements go out by email and if you are not on that email list to get those announcements make sure she gets your email. Comm. Sheridan — I would also like to say that there was a Charter Review Board that was established by a selection of each individual by an individual Commissioner and they met on several occasions to present us on what the changes would be. The final decision was with us but they had many meetings with these five people. It was published. I know for certain, as Mr. Feldman attended all of them. Carl Feldman — There is a card at Town Hall that you can fill out and on that card it asks you the following question: What emails would you like to get notification on? I have been pushing for everybody to be signed up on that list. I think we only have about one hundred people signed up out of four thousand. This is something that I am going to make a personal project on that we do get the four thousand, five thousand people signed up on that. It isn't that much more work for us but it will keep the citizens involved. That is why I formed this group "The Concerned Citizens of Highland Beach", a coalition of the concerned citizens. I want to get people involved in what is going on in this Town and that is the easiest way to do it. Get your name on the list and, if you have to come to me, I will get you the cards to fill out. Town Clerk Brown — Mayor, the agendas are posted in front of the Post Office, in front of the Town Hall, they are on our website and they are posted at the Library. I don't know what other suggestion we could use to get them out to the people. Mayor Featherman — This gentleman said he would like to email. Do we have a list of email residents here? Town Clerk Brown — You will have to put your email address out to us. We can't take it from someone else because your email address is a private email. Mayor Featherman — So word can't get out then. Manager Weiser — Mayor, I am going to let my assistant Zoie Burgess address that because she is the one that handles that whole email system. Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 13 of 14 Zoie Burgess, Assistant to the Town Manager — There is an email list that you can go visit our website and there are several email lists such as emergency notifications. There are agendas that can be emalled out to everyone. You can get a text message. It will give you notification when there is a new agenda posted on the website and will direct you to the website. We send that out. Also any time that there is a notice, even a date placed on the calendar, you can sign up to receive that as well. So for example, when this meeting was published, a notification went out that there was a budget meeting at 5:01 and then later on you will get an agenda when Beverly publishes it. There are a couple of methods online that you can sign up for; get the agendas, the minutes or any other notifications that are published by the Town Clerk's Office. Ms. Riess, 1130 Boca Cove Lane — I just want to say that the information that Zoie just provided is being given to a limited number of people here. So what if you, and this is just a suggestion because this is so critical to me and hopefully to the rest of the residents, put that in your Highlander publication or any type of way you can just once. Maybe send a little postcard out to the residents of Highland Beach or any way you think you might be able to get a mass mailing or information out saying "if you would like information these are the ways you can get it; send us your email" because people don't know what you just told me. Maybe if you do it once it might help. Manager Weiser — Elyse it is in every single Highlander. We put in that if people want that information to get us their email address and how to go about doing it. It has been in every single newsletter but people need to give us, which is private information, people need to provide us with their email. Ms. Riesa — I think it needs to be specific. I think it should be a note that goes out to the residents saying we have a lot of meetings; we have a lot of information; we have things that you may not know that are going on. If you would like to be involved or you would like to know about x, y, z, please provide us your email. That's it, because when you read some of the documents you know you read it for information; you don't think to send an email in to the Commissioner. Ron Bouche, 3450 S. Ocean Blvd. — This happens in every town. If you want to be involved, I have been here for six months, and I have seen every town meeting that has been published. You can go to the Post Office, it's in the Town Hall and it's in the newspaper. You can pick it up on TV when you go under the public access channel. If people want to be involved they will find out what's going on. It is always apathy and it's after the fact; oh we cut the Library how come I didn't know about it. It's been published; it's been out there. If you want to be involved you look for it. How many times do people go to the Post Office? Those notices are right up on the board all the time. I don't mean to object but that's what happens. It's always after the fact. I know these notices have been published. If people want to be involved they are going to look for it. Don't ask the town to send out publications, send out mailers because people are going to throw them away anyway. You are wasting your money if you ask me. If people want to be involved they will look. I think you are doing an adequate job of getting it out there. That is all I have to say. Town Manager Weiser — Just one more point too. We do give all this information to all the condo managers. They probably get bombarded with information from us. So if your Town Commission Budget Hearing Minutes September 7, 2012 Page 14 of 14 condo managers are not posting that for those of you, who live in condos, make sure you get in touch with them because we use them a lot for people who haven't given us their email as a key contact. So make sure if you are not getting the announcements, and you live in a condo, to contact them. 13 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission, Mayor Featherman adjourned the Special Budget Public Hearing at 6:50 PM upon a MOTION by Commissioner Sheridan; seconded by Commissioner Stern. ATTEST: Beverly M. Date oe / APPROVED: Va Bernard Featherman, Mayor MMC Ro own, V1te Ma 134 M. Trinley, Commissioner Dennis J. Sht4idan, Commissioner Louis .. Ste onu issioner