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2014.04.01_TC_Minutes_Regular TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, April 1, 2014 1:30 PM Mayor Bernard Featherman called the Regular Meeting to order in the Library's Goldstein Community Room at 1:30 PM. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Mayor Bernard Featherman; Vice Mayor Ron Brown; Commissioner Dennis J. Sheridan; Commissioner Louis P. Stem; and Commissioner Carl Feldman. Also present: Town Attorney Glen Torcivia; Town Manager Kathleen D. Weiser; Town Clerk Beverly M. Brown; Finance Director Cale Curtis; Public Works Director Edward J. Soper; Assistant to the Manager Zoie Burgess; and members of the public. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was given, followed by a minute of silence. 1. ADDITIONS. DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA: Mayor Featherman asked for any additions or deletions. Receiving none, the agenda was accepted as presented. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS: No Public Comments or Requests were received from the public. 3. PRESENTATIONS: No presentations were scheduled at this meeting. 4. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES: A) Board Correspondence: • None B) Board Action Report: • Read into the record. Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 2 of 10 C) Board Vacancies: • Code Enforcement Board — One Appointment D) Monthly Board Meetings • Financial Advisory Board — April 11 — 9:30 AM — Town Hall Conference Room • Planning Board — April 30 - 9:30 AM — Library • Beaches & Shores Advisory Board — No Scheduled Meeting • Bd. of Adjustment — No Scheduled Meeting • Code Enforcement — No Scheduled Meeting 5. PROPOSED ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS: A) ORDINANCE NO. 14 004 O — First Reading AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING ARTICLE IV, "ZONING DISTRICTS," OF CHAPTER 30, "ZONING CODE," OF THE TOWN CODE OF ORDINANCES BY AMENDING TABLE 30-4 OF SECTION 30-67, - USES PERMITTED, SPECIAL EXCEPTION, AND PROHIBITED USES," AND SECTION 30-68, " SUPPLEMENTAL DISTRICT REGULATIONS, SUBSECTION M, " TEMPORARY STRUCTURES", TO MODIFY THE APPROVAL PROCESS FOR TEMPORARY STRUCTURES; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Clerk Brown read Ordinance No. 14 -004 O into the record. MOTION: Commissioner Stern moved to approve Ordinance No. 14 -004 O on first reading. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Sheridan ROLL CALL: Commissioner Stem - Yes Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Feldman - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Mayor Featherman - Yes Motion passed with a 5 - 0 vote. 6. CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Featherman asked if any item needed to be removed from the Consent Agenda. Town Clerk Brown read the Consent Agenda into the record: Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 3 of 10 A) Appointment of Robert Ford to the Code Enforcement Board 3 -year term B) Minutes: February 25, 2014 — Workshop Meeting March 4, 2014 — Regular Meeting March 6, 2014 — Special Meeting MOTION: Commissioner Sheridan moved to accept the Consent Agenda. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Stern. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Commissioner Feldman - Yes Mayor Featherman - Yes Motion passed with a 5 - 0 vote. 7. NEW BUSINESS• A) Discussion on request from Friends of the Library to approve Library signage that can be seen driving or walking on AIA. Town Manager Weiser — At the March 25 Workshop Meeting Marjorie Lanthier, Co- President of the Friends of the Library, suggested that you put up some type of signage along AlA to notify people that there is a Library back here. We searched various alternatives: One being that we would add lettering to the signage that is already there. The second would be to convert and relocate the existing Police Department sign and the third would be to do a new sign for the Library. The problem with relocating the Police sign, or doing a new sign, is that it would take permission from FDOT to put another sign along AlA. All indications that they have given us is that it probably would not happen. It is also quite expensive to do signage. We are proposing that we add lettering to the current sign for the Library and the Police Department. That would come at a cost of about $1,300, and would be on both sides. If you agree to this, I can approve the lettering on that and go ahead with putting the Library signage out there. Commissioner Feldman — I feel the $1,300 is a little high. I would suggest we remove the 3612 to 3618 from the existing sign and replacing it with the 4 -1/2 inch letters for the Library. We may riot need the Police Department on the sign since there is a sign there already. Commissioner Stern — If we remove the numbers, people might not fmd the Town Hall properly. Also, $1,300 does sound like a lot of money for just lettering for Library and the Police. I don't feel we should remove Police from this because, in the future, we might be removing the Police sign if someday we approve the funds necessary for additional parking in the spot where the Police sign now is. Therefore, I Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 4 of 10 do believe it belongs out on the highway along with our Municipal Complex. Once you drive in, you see signs guiding you to the Library and Police Department which already exist. I would check the price and also do we have the funding available for that. Commissioner Sheridan — Is it possible that we make the Library and Police sign equal to the lettering above. I am also in favor of keeping the numbers there to signify the exact address of this municipality. $1,300 sounds high to me also. If we just increase the size of the Library and Police, keeping the numerals for the complex itself, I would then approve. Vice Mayor Brown — I think we should have it on there to let everyone know where the Library is. I agree we need to keep our numbers on there since everyone looks for that. Mayor Featherman — Agreed with the Vice Mayor. Town Manager Weiser — We got one quote on letters, but it is lettering on both sides and also includes the installation. It may come down, but that was roughly a quote for the lettering. The lettering on the existing sign is 4 -1/2 inches. The lettering for the Library and Police would be 3 inches. If you go ahead and approve this, you would need to authorize the money out of Reserve for Contingency and would need a budget set to go ahead and move forward. MOTION: Vice Mayor Brown moved to approve the additional lettering as proposed by the Town Manager and transfer the funding from the Contingency Account. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Stern ROLLCALL: Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Feldman - Yes Mayor Featherman - Yes Motion passed with a 5 — 0 vote. B) Discussion on water leak complaint from Mr. Jerry A. Wolff, President of Villa Del Alto H/O Property Assoc. Town Attorney Torcivia — Both Mr. and Mrs. Wolff have attended the last few meetings and Mr. Wolff came to the last meeting and presented his case to the Commission. He wrote a letter and we spoke on the phone. I sent Mr. Wolff a letter about ten days ago which said, that although we are sorry that his association property had a leak, it is the responsibility of the property owner and not of the town. The town had nothing to do with the leak, didn't cause the leak, and it wasn't our pipes but the association's pipes. Past precedent of the town is that whatever property had the leak, paid for the increase in water. His concern isn't so much the amount of water, it was the way the Town's Code is set up. The more water you use the more you pay. He is seeking approximately $2,000 back from their $4,000 bill. I Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 5 of 10 wrote him explaining, that although I am not looking forward to a law suit, the rules are what the rules are. The Code says this is the rates and you used that much water which leaked out due to your broken pipes, but I would not recommend to the Town Commission that we make a payment because you are setting a bad precedent for everybody else that has a leak on their property. Mayor Featherman — What would it cost us if we go to court? Town Attorney Torcivia — I also stated in the letter that if he went to court, I believe his case is frivolous, I would request that the Judge award our attorney's fees for having to defend the case because the Code is very clear. As I mentioned to the Town Manager, it is probably going to cost us more than the $2,000 and he is aware of that. I believe it is part of his strategy. I believe he is wasting his time and I will be aggressive in court. I have put him on notice and hopefully he will decide not to file a lawsuit. My concern is setting a precedent. Comm. Feldman — Did he mention punitive damages? Town Attorney Torcivia — What he is saying is punitive is that the Town's Code, by increasing the amount of charges, is punitive. I explained that it is not punitive at all. It is a legitimately adopted Code. The more water you use, the more money you will spend. Comm. Feldman — Do you know if he fixed the problem? Town Attorney Torcivia — It was fixed when he discovered it. His concern was that he didn't discover it for a period of time, because it is hard for him to see the meter. Comm. Stem — I visited with Kathryn and Jerry Wolff and was joined by Ed Soper and Pat Roman. We looked at his meter. Since our visit, I received a note from the Wolff s thanking us for our efforts to understand and resolve their problems with regards to their recent water bill and ongoing problems, both with the boat traffic and their being able to read their meters. I would appreciate if Ed Soper could give a small report as to what we could do as a Town that might, in the future not just help this particular individual, but other residents. In looking over the Wolff s water records, there are at least four other opportunities where he has had overage of water because of water problems. I do not see that this Commission can authorize any remuneration back for what he has already had, because there are too many who would get in line for monies back for overuse from a leak. Ed Soper, Public Works Director — I looked over the situation and the first thing I looked at was the meter, which is very difficult for him to read because it is subterranean. We did raise the meter for him so it is at ground level and could be read very easily. He will have to read it every day to see whether or not he has a leak. Mr. Soper went on to describe the two types of technical solutions. One is the meter could be automated on an individual basis for homeowners that would cost about $4,000 plus. The other is for the Town to purchase a fixed base system at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000 which would benefit the whole town as it would read the meters and detect any leaks. Meters are read every two months. If there was a fixed base system, you could bill monthly and it would definitely identify the problem immediately. Comm. Feldman — It would cost the homeowner approximately $4,000 and his bill is $2,000. If you prorate it over a year, he would be way ahead as well as any other homeowner who has a potential leak. Why wouldn't he do this? Public Works Director Soper — If the town were to implement a town wide solution and you amortize it over the cost of the meters, which would be ten to fifteen years, it would be very little impact to the rates and everybody would get the benefit of it. Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 6 of 10 Vice Mayor Brown — I don't believe there is any dispensation required from the Town for Mr. Wolff, especially since it has happened three times before. There is apparently something wrong there. Public Works Director Soper — It is a policy decision as to whether or not you would compensate any residents for a leakage problem. From a technical aspect, I think the metering idea of remote metering is good for the town in general. We would not have to go out and read meters anymore since it would all be reported back to us. It would also encourage conservation of water which is why the State keeps pushing a tier system. Mayor Featherman — Could we get a quote on replacing these meters? Public Works Director Soper — I am working on that. All we really need is a modification to our existing system. I am getting quotes on an individual system for the homeowner and for a town wide system. Vice Mayor Brown — I feel this is something we should consider for the Town and something we should work into our strategic plan. Mayor Featherman questioned Town Attorney Torcivia if they can do something for Mr. Wolff at this time to avoid any lawsuit. After a discussion, the Commission agreed that the Attorney would write a letter to Mr. Wolff stating that the town has made an accommodation for him by raising his meter at no cost to him. If this should happen again, he can act on it immediately. C) Discussion on Local Travel Policy for Town Commissioners. Mayor Featherman stated that he was taking the prerogative as Mayor to speak first. He felt the comments made by Comm. Stern were directed towards him and was appalled. In addition, the figures were inaccurate. Felt he was conservative about spending town money, and often opposes increasing town expenditures when they are not warranted. All five Commissioners and the Town Manager are reimbursed expenses to attend meetings. His expenditures are slightly higher as he attends more meetings. All expenses that he has been reimbursed are in line with the Travel Policy adopted by the Town Commission in 2006. If the Commission wants him to reimburse the Town, he would be happy to do so. He is committed to work for the people of Highland Beach, and urge all to take the Pledge of Civility seriously. Comm. Stern — First I would like to correct an error that I made. I misquoted the dollar amount spent by the Mayor in a one year period. The figure was incorrect. Mine was not to criticize; mine was to say that, in all fairness to all the Commissioners, let's review the travel policy as it pertains to local travel. It doesn't make sense to me to request reimbursement for travel to Boca Raton or Delray. However, it is up to this Commission to make a policy. Comm. Feldman — I too -was quite upset when Commissioner Stem gave his report. I appreciate Commissioner Stern for straightening this out. As far as mileage, there is a town policy. We are elected officials, but we are also town employees and whatever you do for other employees, you have to do for the Commissioners. If they don't want it, they can deny it. Whenever we take long trips we are reimbursed for our mileage, our meals and hotels. As far as local mileage goes, if an employee is not given a town car, I think they should get mileage. If a Commissioner is told to drive somewhere, he Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 7 of 10 might not want to take it but has the option to take it. I don't think we should change our Resolution No. 861. Comm. Stern asked that the Policy be explained. Town Manager Weiser — What it says is that if you attend training sessions, seminars and meetings on behalf of the town and such training serves a public purpose, town funds may be used. 8. MISCELLANEOUS — ITEMS LEFT OVER: A) Commission to Authorize the purchase of replacement Fire Monitoring System at the Public Works/Water Treatment Facility in the amount of $24,600.00. Funding Available in Account #401- 535.000/546.200 Renewals and Replacements Account Comm. Feldman — I don't believe the monitoring was included in the cost presented to us at the last meeting. Public Works Director Soper — We already have a contract for monitoring and that is aside from the replacement of this particular unit. This unit is bad. There is a service contract on it that WSA performs for us currently, so they would continue to do the service contract. The monitoring of the system goes to the Delray Fire Dept. We are getting everything we need and want to replace the existing equipment. Vice Mavor Brown — You indicate there is a revised quotation from the vendor. Is it a revised price? Public Works Director Soper — No, the price is the same. MOTION: Commissioner Sheridan moved to approve the purchase of the Fire Monitoring System at the Public Works /Water Treatment Facility to WSA Systems — Boca, Inc., at a cost of $24,600.00. Motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Brown ROLL CALL: Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Commissioner Feldman - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Mayor Featherman - Yes Motion passed with a 5 - 0 vote. 9. REPORTS — TOWN COMMISSION: A) Commissioner Carl Feldman — I received several calls regarding people riding their bicycles on the sidewalks. There have been some accidents and one was serious. We need to address this and I was hoping that we could control this situation through the police. Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 8 of 10 B) Commissioner Louis P. Stern — I would like to remind everyone that today is the first day of the vehicle and bicycle safety campaign. It was coordinated by our Lieutenant Lundberg and I thank him for that. This campaign includes all the coastal towns from West Palm Beach into Broward County. There will be signs flashing, articles written and police presence. Available at Town Hall is a handout of Sharing the Road which was written by Commissioner Sheridan. It is now available on our Town website. I think it is time that our Commission thinks about our Strategic Plan. I am wondering if we could get the staff to update, for our next Workshop, what we have completed on our three -year plan. It would give us the opportunity to create a new three -year plan, so we are prepared for our budgeting which we would be doing over the summer. C) Commissioner Dennis J. Sheridan — After my experience in this past election, I would ask the Commission to revisit the idea, in some way, to limit the number of political signs to be displayed by our town candidates. I personally had eleven signs taken during the campaign. We also experienced a local resident removing signs and when questioned as to why, the reply was "I don't like the way it looks ". I also feel the number of signs per property should be limited for the betterment of the entire community. It is expensive and getting out of hand. In response to Commissioner's inquiry of the Police Chief regarding traffic control at St. Lucy's for the mass schedule, as well as any other events at St. Lucy's, I provide the Police Department with a monthly schedule of all events at the church with the understanding that they would provide service when possible. However, they are not contractually obligated to perform this service. They will try to accommodate our needs whenever possible and they have been most understanding of our needs. On behalf of Father Grace and all our parishioners we are most grateful to our local Police Dept. D) Vice Mayor Brown — Regarding the signs, it is against the first amendment and I don't think the Commission can limit the number of signs a candidate can put up. The weekend that the Commissioner was referring to regarding the church masses, it was the bike marathon and there were massive groups of bicycles being escorted by police. I believe the police did an excellent job keeping everything going. E) Mayor Featherman — I would like to commend the Police Department on the kickoff of AIA vehicle and bicycle safety campaign. There is Coffee with the Mayor on April 28 to be held in the Library Community Room @9:30 a.m. We will have a speaker from FDOT regarding the I -95 on/off ramp from Spanish River Rd. I spoke with the manager at the Delray Sands Hotel and Resort, formerly Holiday Inn, about the valet parking charges for our Highland Beach residents. Unfortunately nothing can be done at this time. 10. REPORTS — TOWN ATTORNEY GLEN TORCIVIA: The Inspector General lawsuit has been postponed to sometime in August. The railroad that you have been reading about doesn't directly impact the town, but does once you go over the bridge. We are Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 9 of 10 part of a group of four city attorneys that have been negotiating with the railroad. Sometime in the next month or so there may be an agreement reached where the railroad pays for certain improvements, but not others. The County Commission voted not to impose the %2 cent sales tax. There are some cities discussing asking the County to reconsider and put it on the ballot for August or November. 11. REPORTS — TOWN MANAGER KATHLEEN D. WEISER: No Report. 12. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS RELATED TO ITEMS DISCUSSED AT MEETING• Bill Weitz, 1135 Boca Cove Lane — I respect the fact that we have the Civility Pledge and I am addressing item No. 7C. I would hope that all the Commissioners listen to it. The democratic process is wonderful. Our community had the largest turn out in Palm Beach County for any municipal election percentage wise of voters. I did not support the Commissioner who won, but I congratulated him and wished him well, because that is the democratic process. He won. He represents all of Highland Beach, just as the whole Commission does. I would like to clarify one thing. The candidate who opposed Commissioner Sheridan was not originally supported or encouraged to run by the Mayor. She did it on her own. Who he chose to support later on is part of a democratic process. I wish you all success and I wish you all well. Congratulations on your positions. Serve the town, put the pettiness and the smallness away. Work together for our town to improve it. Rhoda Zelniker, 3912 S. Ocean Blvd — I ran in the last election. There are rumors going around that two Commissioners were involved with me running. I want to publicly announce that it was not so. I believe very strongly in democracy. It was a wonderful experience. I am very happy that I got to meet so many new people in my life and so many people in our town. At forthcoming meetings, I will bring some of the issues and some of the thoughts of the residents. Harold Hagelmann, 4748 S. Ocean Blvd — I want to thank everybody who is sitting on this Commission today for the wonderful job you are doing. When we started paying the Mayor 12 years ago, my salary was $15,000 and the Commissioner's salary was $12,000 a year. There has been no increase in either salary since that time. I feel that each one of you deserve at least a ten percent increase in your salary. The Commission can do this without a referendum. Mike Ferrara, 4748 S. Ocean Blvd — I don't believe I heard the Civility Pledge read today, nor was it followed. I hope the Commission can move forward and make positive decisions that will enhance our standard of living in Highland Beach. Town Commission Regular Minutes April 1, 2014 Page 10 of 10 13. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Commission, Mayor Featherman adjourned the Regular Meeting at 2:59 PM upon a MOTION by Commissioner Sheridan: seconded by Commissioner Feldman. APPROVED: Vw� Bernard Fe erman, Mayor /C '-�" 9'L' Ro rown, Vice M Dennis J. Sh 'dan Commissioner uis . to o ner arl Fel mmission ATTEST: Beverly M. brown, MM To Clerk 4 Date /