Loading...
2015.10.27_TC_Minutes_Workshop TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING WORKSHOP MEETING Tuesday October 27, 2015 1:30 PM Mayor Bernard Featherman called the Workshop Meeting to order in the Town Commission Chambers at 1:30 PM. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Mayor Bernard Featherman; Vice Mayor William Weitz, Ph.D; Commissioner Carl Feldman; Commissioner Louis P. Stern; and Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker. Also present: Town Attorney Glen Torcivia; Town Manager Beverly Brown; Town Clerk Valerie Oakes; Finance Director Cale Curtis; Public Works Director Edward J. Soper; Interim Library Director Suzi Hayes; Lt. Eric Lundberg and members of the public. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was given, followed by a minute of silence. Civility Pledge: The Civility Pledge was recited by the Town Clerk. 1. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA: Mayor Featherman called for any additions or deletions to the agenda. Item No. 61): Vice Mayor Weitz added a discussion regarding calling advisory boards and quasi- judicial boards for business purposes by the Town. Receiving no further additions or deletions,the agenda was accepted as amended. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REOUESTS: Carl Gehman, 1123 Highland Beach Drive thanked the Commission for addressing his concerns. Tim Burnich, 4505 S. Ocean Blvd. — I would like to thank the Commission regarding their efforts in cutting back our taxes. As Chairman of the Code Enforcement Board, I am also concerned over the action taken at the last meeting by Vice Mayor Weitz regarding board meetings. Since the board members were unable to speak at that time, I hope you will readdress this issue. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Paae 2 of 8 3. PRESENTATIONS: None. 4. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES: A) Board Correspondence: • None B) Board Action Report: • No report C) Board Vacancies: • Beaches & Shores Advisory Board—One three-year term beginning December 1, 2015 D) Monthly Board Meetings: • Town Commission Regular Meeting—November 3rd— 1:30 PM • Town Commission Workshop Meeting—November 24th— 1:30 PM • Candidate Qualifying Period: November 10th @ Noon—November 24th @ Noon • Town Hall Closed: o November 11th—Veteran's Day o November 26th—Thanksgiving Day o November 27th—Day after Thanksgiving 5. PROPOSED ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS: None. 6. NEW BUSINESS: A) Cancellation of December 29,2015 Commission Workshop Meeting. Town Manager Brown — The regularly scheduled Commission Workshop Meeting on Tuesday, December 27th falls on the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. In the past, the Commission has cancelled this meeting since members of the Commission, staff and the public are generally busy with family and holidays. Consensus was to place this item on the Consent Agenda for November 3ra B) Authorize the Mayor to Sign an Agreement with Matthews Consulting for Design, Engineer,and Inspection Services (DEI) for the Water Main Replacement Project. Town Manager Brown — Mathews Consulting ranked the highest in the Town's Selection Committee. Earlier this month, the Staff and Matthews Consulting concluded the negotiation process. A copy of the agreement, including the Scope of Services which is broken down into 8 tasks, is included in your agenda packet. The tasks include Client Workshops/Meetings, Data Collection, Final Design, State Loan (SRF) Funding Assistance, Permitting, Bidding, Construction Administration/Management, and Inspections. The agreement is a not to exceed amount of $363,028 which means that Matthews Consulting will only be compensated for Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Paye 3 of 8 services rendered. This agreement is part of the referendum approved by the voters this past March for the water main replacement. Staff recommends approval of the agreement. Consensus was to place this item on the Consent Agenda on November P C) Authorize the Mayor to Sign an Agreement with Global Tech for Design, Engineering, and Inspection Services (DEI) for the Calcite Delivery System Replacement Project. Town Manager Brown— Earlier this month, the Staff and Global Tech concluded the negotiation process. A copy of the agreement including the Scope of Services which is broken down into 6 tasks was included in the agenda packet. The tasks include Design, Permitting, Bidding, Services During Construction (SDC) (Construction Management/Administration) and State Loan (SRF) Funding Assistance. The agreement is a not-to-exceed amount of$267,447. This amount means that Global Tech will only be compensated for services rendered. Staff recommends approval of this agreement. Commission Discussion: Commissioner Feldman — The residents have a great deal of problems with pinholes in their copper pipes. Will the new calcite system eliminate this problem? Public Works Director Ed Soper — The Reverse Osmosis (RO) takes the water from the Florida aquifer and removes all the minerals. The existing system tries to replace as many minerals in the water for calcium to buffer the water and make it less aggressive. However, we cannot make it totally unaggressive with this system. The new system would allow us to add more buffering capacity to the water, make it less aggressive, and would help with the problem some of the condominiums have experienced. There are other factors such as the grade of copper, water sitting in the pipes and not flowing and sulfur contaminants. We are very confident that the lime/slurry, which goes into the solution must easier than the calcite, will be better overall for the Town, improve the water quality and be more consistent. Consensus was to place this item on the Consent Agenda on November 3`d D) Discussion Regarding Calling Advisory Boards and Quasi-Judicial Boards for Business Purposes by the Town. Vice Mayor Weitz — I was in agreement to cancel some of our Advisory Boards when we were informed that there was no active agenda for the Boards to pursue those meetings. I am aware of the concerns that the people who volunteer their time and energy to serve on Boards would have if they find that their meetings are being cancelled by the Commission or the Town. Town Clerk Oakes provided me with information regarding the various Boards, who would call a meeting, and under what circumstance. Some of the Resolutions have no provisions, and some do. This may be a legal issue, but given the fact that when our Boards meet they incur financial obligations to the Town, does anyone who is not in purview of spending Town money have the right to call a meeting of a group when we are paying them modest stipends. Also, we may have to incur the cost of an attorney to attend these meetings. This concerns me, especially if there is no agenda. I am raising this issue so the Commission could consider having a reasonable policy for all groups. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Paze 4 of 8 Commission Discussion: Comm. Feldman — This is a way the residents can get involved with the Town. There was talk regarding the cost. We could ask the Board, if there was no definite agenda and they wanted to have a meeting, if they would negate the $25 stipend. When Mayor Featherman took office, he reinstituted some of the Boards because he wanted to get the residents involved, and I agree. I do not want to eliminate any of the Boards or the meetings. Comm. Zelniker — Would the various Boards be allowed to use emails to keep the group going instead of having the meeting here in the Commission Chambers? I feel there is a need for every Board we have in this Town. The Code Enforcement Board, Board of Adjustment and Planning Board are Quasi-Judicial Boards, and only meet when there is an application or an issue pertaining to that Board. Town Attorney Torcivia — The staff could email Board members as long as the Board members do not communicate with each other. There could be training videos for the various Boards every few years since there are always new members. Comm. Zelniker— Does the Code Enforcement Board get a report from the Code Enforcement Officer? Tim Burnich, Code Enforcement Board Chairman— We do get a report from the Building Department listing all permits and dollar amounts and we discuss this at our meeting. The other report is Code Enforcement by the Code Enforcement Officer. Some of the members have questions and ask them at our quarterly meetings. This enables us monitor these issues. Comm. Stern—Each of the Boards must meet once a year because they have to elect new officers. The Commission receives a mid-month report and perhaps that could be extracted and shared with the different Boards, because it does cover each of the areas of the Town. Without an agenda item, I am not sure there should be a meeting. I will support whatever it is this Commission would like to do. Mayor Featherman—As Commissioner Feldman stated, I did reinstitute some of the Boards when I became Mayor. It is important for people to get involved in our Town. The Town Manager and the Chair should create agenda items, and they should be able to make recommendations to the Commission. Vice Mayor Weitz — My concern is that there are many inconsistencies in the various duties and responsibilities of the Boards, and who has the authority to call a meeting. We need to establish some regularity consistency among the groups. Currently we have different authorizations in our existing committees. The purview is often with the Chair, and does not stipulate if there is an agenda established. I do believe that when people meet it has to be for a function. Comm. Feldman — I would ask the Town Manager to set up a strategy and present it at the next meeting. Consensus was to place this item under Miscellaneous Items—Left Over on November 3ra Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Page 5 of 8 7. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS—LEFT OVER: A) Update on No Wake Zone. Town Manager Brown — Back in September, Commission Stern, Vice Chair of the Beaches & Shores Advisory Board Ira Oaklander and I attended a boating safety symposium sponsored by Senator Maria Sachs. We were introduced to Major Richard Moore and District Chairman Ernie Marks of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. At that time, we voiced our concerns about the "no wake" zone. Director Marks stated that the area adjacent to Highland Beach is a slow wake zone, which means 35 mph during the day and 25 mph at night. He indicated to us that he would gather information and discuss a "no wake" zone further with personnel in charge of this area. On Friday, October 9t' I had a conference call with Captain Klein, Dawn Griffin and Ryan Marone from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission who are stationed in this area. They reviewed all the accident and incident reports for the past eight years, from Boca Raton to Delray Beach, and found a total of six. Unless the waterway configuration, vessel traffic or violations and accidents have changed, the Administrative Code will not allow them to declare this area a"no wake" zone. Comm. Stern—They did mention to us that they will be doing a manatee survey again, but not for two years. Vice Mayor Weitz—There are laws and regulations in place. We do not meet existing criteria for change, and we have to accept the reality of what we have. However, this does not preclude the Town residents for expressing their concerns and trying to get the changes they want. Comm. Feldman — The Town Manager's report should be placed in the Highlander so the residents of our Town could be privileged to the same information since this issue has been brought up many times in the past. B) Minutes: • September 24, 2025 —Special Meeting • September 24, 2015 —Budget Hearing Meeting • October 6, 2015 —Regular Meeting • October 14, 2015 —Budget Hearing Meeting Consensus was to place this item on the Consent Agenda for November 8. REPORTS—TOWN COMMISSION: A) Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker—There is a great deal of construction on AIA. This presents a problem with bicyclists because there are times when they have to go around the construction trucks and into AIA. I commend the Police Department because they are working very hard on this situation. There have been State Troopers on AIA and they have given out warnings. Do they plan on continuing to do so? Lt. Eric Lundberg — The Florida Highway Patrol Department Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Page 6 of 8 (FHPF) came in to assist on a mutual aid, and they plan on doing this quarterly. They have something planned for December as well. We are working with Building Official, Mike Desorcy with the different construction that is going on in the Town making sure the construction trucks, as well as the delivery trucks, are as far off the road as possible. Comm. Zelniker — There are bicyclists who ride on the walking path, and they have the right to do so. Unfortunately there are many walkers and people on roller blades that are wearing headphones or on their cell phones who are not aware of the bicyclists when they give warning that they are approaching. This presents a problem for all parties concerned and could be a safety issue. I would like to have something put on the website to let people know that they should be aware of this. B) Commissioner Feldman — We have numerous signs on the walking path that reads "audible warning", and putting something in print would not make it any more enforceable. The path on the construction sites where the bikers ride is getting narrower. Town Manager Brown — The Building Department has been going to the contractors telling them that their vehicles have to be back off the pavement. They are doing this at least once a week. Comm. Feldman — Is there a way they can push the dirt further back? Town Manager Brown — I will speak to the Building Department. Some of the residents have indicated that they cannot follow the agenda since they are not privy to the information we have included in our agenda packets. Could the attachments we have on our agenda be placed on the website for the residents to view? Town Manager Brown—We could but it is basically for your information. You are the elected officials, and if you instruct us to do that, we will. Town Clerk Oakes explained the process of how the agendas are loaded on line. It is a different system from the one that is utilized for the Commissioners and the attachments cannot be downloaded on the website. All documents are public records. If anyone from the audience is interested in seeing a particular document, they could contact the Clerk's office and we could email it to them or they could pick it up in Town Hall. C) Commissioner Stern—No report. D) Vice Mayor Weitz — During our budget hearings some of my remarks, unintentionally on my part, may have been misunderstood. I was in no way attempting to discredit or diminish the valuableness of our staff, or the work that they do, or the quality of their work. If I said it poorly or inappropriately, I apologize to all the employees of this Town. What I did say, and reaffirm so it is heard correctly, is that when I stated that we would have no trouble filling vacancies it was for two reasons. One is that the positions in this Town are very positive and desirable positions. Second is that the benefit package and the salary levels are fairly significant. The issue had nothing to do with whether our employees do good work, the quality of their work nor diminish the significance of their work. Also, the Federal Government will not be giving any Cost of Living (COLA) increases this year. My point today is that we did give a three percent (3%) increase to all employees of this Town which is well deserved. I read an article regarding the Federal Government authorizing POW and MIA flags to be flown on certain defining days. I would like to offer the recommendation that this Town consider purchasing a flag and flying it on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day in honor of the veterans that have served this country, and those who live in this Town. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 27,2015 Pace 7 of 8 Comm. Feldman — It is not that easy to replace the employees that we have in this Town. We have some very specialized people working for our Town. E) Mayor Bernard Featherman — I would like to invite the residents of this Town to Coffee with the Mayor on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 9:30 AM in the Library. We will have a guest speaker who will talk about strokes, what to do, and what action to take. The residents will also have a chance to talk about their concerns. 9. REPORTS—TOWN ATTORNEY GLEN TORCIVIA: The Florida League of Cities is having their monthly meeting tomorrow in Lake Worth. The League is putting on a session in ethics training on December 7th & 8th and I will be speaking on the Sunshine Law Public Records. 10. REPORTS—TOWN MANAGER BEVERLY BROWN: We have not had any complaints about the King Tide we had last month. I spoke with Vice Mayor Weitz about the POW flag and we have already purchased one. It will be flow on November 11th for Veteran's Day. There are six days throughout the year that the flag will be flown: Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day in May, Flag Day in June, Independence Day in July,National MIA and POW Day in September and Veteran's Day in November. 11. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS RELATED TO AGENDA ITEMS DISCUSSED AT MEETING ONLY: None. 12. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Commission, Mayor Featherman called for a motion to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 2:34PM. MOTION: Commissioner Stern moved to adjourn the regular meeting at 2:34 PM. Motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Weitz, which passed unanimously. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes Tuesdav, October 27,2015 Page 8 of 8 APPROVED: 14 t Bernard Featherman, Mayor illiam eriz, Vice Mayor o Ste omm' o er Carl Feldman, iss oner k�?Qc Rh-6-d-A Zelniker, issioner ATTEST: Caw- Valerie Oakes, CMC, Town Clerk Date