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2010.07.06_TC_Minutes_Regular• TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, July 6, 2010 1:30 PM Mayor Jim Newill, CPA, called the Regular Meeting to order in Commission Chambers at 1:30 PM. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Mayor Jim Newill, CPA; Vice Mayor Miriam S. Zwick; Commissioner Doris M. Trinley; Commissioner John J. Sorrelli; and Commissioner John J. Pagliaro. Also present: Town Attorney Tom Sliney; Town Manager Dale S. Sugerman; Town Clerk Beverly M. Brown; and members of the public. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was given, followed by a minute of silence in honor of members of the military, both living and deceased. Civility Pledge: The Civility Pledge was recited by the Town Clerk. • 1. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Mayor Newill asked for any additions or deletions. Receiving none, the agenda was accepted as presented. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS Kristen Puhalainen Stated that she was the Member Outreach Director with Palm Beach County League of Cities, and will be visiting all the cities and towns in Palm Beach County. The July 28~' meeting of the League will be a Meet & Greet the Candidates event at Gaines Park in West Palm Beach. We have extended invitations to all the candidates -federal, state and county. It will not be a debate but an event to mingle and talk. During the Florida League of Cities Conference, the League will be hosting the regional breakfast. Joe Yucht -Boca Highlands Have a request for the Commission that would benefit all of the Highland Beach residents. Spansor a candidate's night in Highland Beach and invite all the candidates that will be on the November ballot. This way no one will have to travel all over the place to listen to what each candidate has to say, and it would be one way for the candidates to have access to all of the residents of Highland Beach. • Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6 2010 Page 2 of 9 • 3. PRESENTATIONS • Honorable Steven L. Abrams, District IV Palm Beach County Commissioner County Commissioner Abrams stated when he took office his goal was to visit all the municipalities in his district. He is a little late attending a Commission meeting in Highland Beach as the County Commission meets at the same time. He also stated that he is running unopposed in the November election and will continue to represent District IV for another four years. He feels a close tie to Highland Beach due to the fact that when he began his legal career in this area he worked with Attorney Sliney and had many assignments involving the Town of Highland Beach. Freddie Scott continues to work in his Congress Avenue office and please feel free to contact her with any requests. 4. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES A) Board Correspondence • None B) Board Action Report • Read into the record by the Town Clerk C) Vacancies • Beaches & Shores Advisory -One -three-year term • Planning Board -One -one-year unexpired term (5/11) • D) Monthly Board Meetings • Special Magistrate -July 1st -Cancelled -Rescheduled July 22 @ 2 PM • Beaches & Shores Advisory -July 13th -Regular - 9:30 AM • Planning Board -July 14th - Cancelled • Bd. of Adjustment -July 20th - Cancelled 5. PROPOSED ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS A) ORDINANCE NO. 10-003 O -Second Reading and Public Hearing AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH ESTABLISHING A CODE OF ETHICS POLICY FOR THE TOWN; CREATING THE CODE OF ETHICS WITHIN CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Clerk Brown read Ordinance No. 10-003 O, title only, into the record. Mayor Newill asked if the Commission had any comments. Receiving no comments, the Mayor opened the Public Hearing. Receiving no comments from the public, the Public Hearing was closed. • MOTION: Commissioner Sorrelli moved to adopt Ordinance No. 10-003 O on second reading; seconded by Vice Mayor Zwick. Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6 2010 Page 3 of 9 • ROLL CALL: Commissioner Sorrelli - Yes Vice Mayor Zwick - Yes Commissioner Pagliaro - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Mayor Newill - Yes Motion passed with a 5-0 vote. B) ORDINANCE NO. 10-004 O -First Reading and Public Hearing AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE EVALUATION AND APPRAISAL REPORT-BASED AMENDMENTS TO THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN; AUTHORIZING TRANSMITTAL TO REVIEW AGENCIES; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Clerk Brown read Ordinance No. 10-004 O, title only, into the record. Town Mana eg r Su e~ -Last year, the Town Commission adopted a draft Evaluation and Appraisal Report (the EAR) consistent with the Evaluation and Appraisal Report requirements of Chapter 163 (Statewide Comprehensive Planning) Part 11, Section 163.3191 and Rule 9J-5.0053 of the Florida Administrative Code. Upon the adoption of the draft, the Town sent that work to the • Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and other review agencies for their comments. We received all of their comments back and made the necessary modifications in order to develop a final Evaluation and Appraisal Report which is being presented to you now. Once adopted in its final form, and approved by DCA the EAR is then melded into the Town's Comprehensive Plan. Last week, during the Commission Workshop meeting we provided the Commission with the 46 page document which we would like to submit to the Department of Community Affairs as our final Evaluation and Appraisal Report modifications. It included: An Introduction and Executive Summary plus 11 applications. Application No. 1: Housing Element; Application No. 2: Future Land Element; Application No. 3: Infrastructure Element/Solid Waste; Application No. 4: Infrastructure Element/Sanitary Sewer; Application No. 5: Infrastructure ElementlDrainage; Application No. 6: Infrastructure Element/Potable Water; Application No. 7: Traffic Circulation Element; Application No. 8: Coastal Management/Conservation Element; Application No. 9: Recreation and Open Space Element; Application No. 10: Intergovernmental Coordination Element; Application No. 11: Capital Improvement Element. This item is being formally introduced at this meeting on first reading. This first reading will be treated a little differently than we do most Ordinances on first reading in that the Department of Community Affairs would like to see the vote of the Town Commission before they begin their final review. This Ordinance should be adopted on first reading via a motion, a second, discussion and a roll call vote. We will also need to conduct a public hearing on the Ordinance, and I have a sign-in sheet for any member of the public who would like to comment on this item. After adoption on first reading, the document will then be sent off to DCA and the other review agencies • for their final comments. Once we receive those comments back, (likely within 60 days), we will Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6 2010 Page 4 of 9 then schedule our second reading, public hearing, and final adoption of the ordinance. Once that is • complete, then the Town's Comprehensive Plan will be considered up to date and will not need any more attention for seven more years, unless we intentionally want to modify any one particular position of the Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Newill asked if the Commission had any comments. Commissioner Trinley - If we are going to adopt it on first reading, why do we have to re-adopt it? Town Mana eg r Su eg rman -Once the Commission adopts the ordinance on first reading, we submit it to the Department of Community Affairs for that Department to review all the work the Commission has done. If they have any comments, they will forward these comments to the Commission. The Commission would consider them and modify the document, have the second public hearing, and then adopt the ordinance with the modifications. Mayor Newill asked for any further comments from the Commission. Mayor Newill then opened the Public Hearing notifying the public to sign in before speaking. Receiving no comments from the public, the Public Hearing was closed. MOTION: Commissioner Pa liaro moved to adopt Ordinance No. 10-004 O on first reading; seconded by Vice Mayor Zwick. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Pagliaro - Yes • Vice Mayor Zwick - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Commissioner Sorrelli - Yes Mayor Newill - Yes Motion passed with a 5-0 vote. 6. NEW BUSINESS A) Setting July 13t" at 2:00 pm as a Special Meeting date for the first reading of the levy and setting the tentative maximum millage rate and consideration of placing the purchase of a replacement aerial truck on the November 2010 ballot. MOTION: Vice Mayor Zwick made a motion to set July 13t" at 2:00 pm as a Special Meeting date for the first reading of the levy and setting the tentative maximum millage rate and consideration of placing the purchase of a replacement aerial truck on the November 2010 ballot. Motion seconded by Commissioner Pa liaro. ROLL CALL: Vice Mayor Zwick - Yes Commissioner Pagliaro - Yes Commissioner Sorrelli - Yes • Commissioner Trinley - Yes Town Commission Regular Minutes Jul~6, 2010 Page 5 of 9 Mayor Newill - Yes • Motion passed with a 5-0 vote. B) Selecting a Voting Delegate for the 2010 Florida League of Cities Annual Meeting Town Mana er Sugenman -The Florida League of Cities will be holding its 84t" Annual Conference in Hollywood, FL from August 19-21, 2010. The annual business meeting will be held on Saturday, August 21St from 9:00 am until 10:30 am. The Town will need to identify, in advance, who from our Commission will serve as our voting delegate. A copy of the voting delegate form, the procedures for submitting resolutions and the important date sheet were included in your agenda packet. A motion, second, and after discussion, a vote should be taken to determine who will be the Town's voting delegate. MOTION: Vice Mayor Zwick moved to appoint Mayor Newill as the voting delegate and the balance of the Commission as the alternates; seconded by Commissioner Pa lg iaro. A voice vote was taken with all in favor. 7) MISCELLANEOUS -ITEMS LEFT OVER None • 8. REPORTS -TOWN COMMISSION Commissioner PaEliaro -Recommend that we allocate approximately $900.00 from the Community Re-Investment line item from the Commissions' budget for the purchase of 2,500 American flags for display on AlA on July 4, 2011. Many of you know that Sue Epling has been displaying flags in Highland Beach for years. AlA has not had any flags in recent years as some of the flags have gotten lost, been taken, and deteriorated. There are only about 400 flags left. What Sue has been doing with the remaining flags is displaying them on the side streets west of AIA. I would like to see this historic expression of patriotism continued in our Town. I hope that you agree with this purpose so that we may celebrate our independence in a special way by displaying American flags along the entire length of Highland Beach on AlA. I ask that you consider this request. Town Mana eg r Su eg rman -There is in the Town Commission budget a line item known as the Community Re-Investment Fund, which is money available to purchase things to re-invest in the community. This could be supported by a simple motion, discussion and vote by the Commission. Mayor Newill -Who is responsible for putting them up and taking them down? Comm. Pa lg iaro -Mrs. Epling pays someone at her own expense to put them up and I believe our staff takes them down and stores them. Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6, 2010 Page 6 of 9 MOTION: Commissioner Pa liaro moved to authorize the expenditure of up to $900.00 to • purchase American flags with the money being taken from the Community Re-Investment Fund line item; seconded by Commissioner Sorrelli. A voice vote was taken with all in favor. Commissioner Sorrelli No Report. Commissioner Trinley - No Report. Vice Mavor Zwick -Referred to the very emotional letter that all the Commissioners had received from Mayor Jack McDonald of the Town of Palm Beach to the Palm Beach County Commission dated June 30, 2010. He stated that property owners in Palm Beach County are concerned with the County's FY 2011 proposed budget. The County is proposing a 13.4% tax rate hike, an actual increase of 16.1 % with the calculation increase included, on top of the approximate 15% increased assessed for the current year. At a minimum, it is unconscionable to impose a double-digit property tax increase for two consecutive years on top of the Save Our Homes increase in property value. The next County Commission budget workshop is July 12~'. I encourage my fellow Commissioners to attend and speak in favor of a fiscally conservative budget. Mayor Newill - If you are asking us to take action, we cannot do anything without a motion. This is not the first year of increases by the County Commission. I also feel they need to tighten their own individual budgets by eliminating their discretionary accounts that at one time were a million a piece. Commissioner Sorrelli -What is the League of Cities doing about this? Vice Mayor • Zwick -Would like to see the League of Cities take some action. Mayor Newill -The League has not brought it up for discussion yet, but they are scheduled to meet on July 28~'. I anticipate that it will be discussed at this meeting. Recently in the Palm Beach Post there was an article stating that the League was endorsing the ethics policy of the County on this November referendum. As a Board Member, I could tell you that I was a little upset over this article. We have not taken a position to endorse it or not endorse it. We are still looking at it. I even emailed the President of the League of Cities asking if I missed something. He emailed me back saying he had not taken a position. Commissioner Pa liaro -What concerns me is that tax increases of this magnitude are unsustainable. I have not seen any data that would support the doubling of the tax assessment in five years. Maybe they have information that we do not have. Need to make our voices heard. Mayor Newill -When does the County have their budget workshops? Town Mana e~ eg rman - They do the same time we do, in August. I do not know if the County Administrator has produced his draft budget document. Once it is produced, it will be available online and we can take a look at the component parts of the budget. I can tell you of a couple of things that I am aware of. Around 50% of the budget is made up of the Sheriff's Department. As I understand it, the Sheriff along with some of the other Constitutional Officers are not stepping up to the plate to reduce their budget. One of the things impacting budgets are the run away pension costs. These pension decisions were made years ago when times were good. Now that the property values in the county, state and country are going down, the revenue is not there to support the pension costs. Many jurisdictions are forced to raise taxes to off set these increased pensions. While the County is not laying people off, there are hundreds of positions that are not being filled. You can ask if this is not cutting back by not filling positions. I do not know. By not filling positions, they do not have . to fund these positions. Having said all of that, the County is getting hit very hard by reduction of Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6, 2010 Page 7 of 9 the assessed value, a sheriff who is not willing to reduce his level of service and the impact of • costs associated with the pensions. To make up that gap, the County Administrator is coming in with a 13.5% tax increase. I do not know how you argue against run away pension costs, or say to the sheriff -reduce your staff by 10%, but that is what the County is up against. Mayor Newill - I am not defending the Sheriff, but I do want to note that it was in the paper where he did break off negotiations with one of the towns in Palm Beach County. It was suspected that he could not fund the additional costs with the budgetary pressure that he is getting. At some point in time, there has to be an end. Do not know how to address the Vice Mayor's suggestions unless we table to a meeting in the future and watch what is transpiring? Vice Mayor Zwick -Let's table until the future. Ma or Newill -Would like to announce that I will be sponsoring the next Mayor's Coffee on July 26 , where I provide coffee and Banish and the residents can speak on any subject they would like to discuss with a few exceptions. I am happy that we passed our own Ethics Ordinance. We basically embraced the state ethics law. We are subject to their regulations and enforcement of any ethics violation. I feel this is a much better route than the one the county is taking since there is no local influence on the appointment of the Ethics Commission or the Inspector General. In the paper this past week there was an article about West Palm Beach having an Ethics Commission and an Ethics Inspector General. He is from one of the universities and has afive-year contract. In this article he stated: 1) If all the cities and towns adopt the County's Ethic Policy and enforcement procedures, he doesn't believe the staff in place can handle it; 2) The cost is going to go up considerably more than the county is advertising. • 9. REPORTS -TOWN ATTORNEY Two things: 1) Milani Park - In the Town Manager's weekly report of 7/2/10, he included a copy of the Order of Dismissal with prejudice. The only other outstanding matter on that is to work on the "glitches" that we discussed when we approved the agreement. I have been talking to Amy Petrick and we are going to do a "Consent Addendum." We thought this would be the simplest way. When that is ready, I will submit it for approval. 2) Working on the referendum issue for the fire truck. For the purpose of the cost, do you know which truck you would like to have? The Chief stated a million dollars for the 100 foot and $880,000.00 for the 75 foot. Shall I just use the million dollars for discussion? Consensus of the Commission -Yes. 10. REPORTS -TOWN MANAGER 1) A reminder that a week from today we will be holding a special meeting of the Town Commission at 2 pm on setting the tax levy for Fiscal Year 2010-2011 and the referendum question pertaining to the proposed fire truck. There will be a Commission packet this Thursday so you will have the budget material. 2) Please refer to our August calendar in your packet so that we can set up budget workshop dates. We traditionally hold our budget workshops in the month of August with one being at 4:30 to accommodate residents that work. When we published our budget schedule early on this year, the dates were tentatively set for August 3`d at 4:30 pm and August 17~' at 1:30 pm. Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6, 2010 Page 8 of 9 • MOTION: Commissioner Sorrelli moved to schedule Budget Workshops on August 3`a at 4:30 pm and August 17th at 1:30 pm; seconded by Vice Mayor Zwick. A voice vote was taken with all in favor. 11. CONSENT AGENDA Mavor Newill asked if any item needed to be removed from the Consent Agenda. MOTION: Commissioner Trinlev moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; seconded by Commissioner Sorrelli. Voice vote with all in favor. Consent Agenda Items: A) Minutes May 25, 2010 -Workshop Meeting June 1, 2010 -Regular Meeting 12. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS RELATED TO ITEMS DISCUSSED AT MEETING • Joe Yucht -Boca Highlands How old is the fire truck? I have been a volunteer fireman for 64 years and as a lawyer represented 46 fire companies in Delaware. Fire trucks last a long time. Commissioner Trinlev - The fire truck is 15 years old. Mr. Yucht -That is about half of its useful life. Mayor Newill - Fire Chief James gave a presentation at last week's meeting. You can review the tape in the Town Clerks' Office. Mr. Yucht -Can't believe that not one Commissioner made a comment about sponsoring a candidate's forum. The residents of Highland Beach deserve answers. Commissioner Sorrelli -Why don't you give the Commission a chance to think about it? What would we do about parking? Mr. Yucht -Prior to last month's meeting, I tried to get a copy of the agenda and you told me I printed the wrong one off. But I looked again and it has not been corrected. Town Mana e~ eg_rman - I am not aware of any problems with our website. All the agendas, minutes and videos of the meeting are published. Commissioner Pa lg iaro -The Commission does not decide if we are going to purchase a fire truck. That is up to the residents to decide. The Commission only determines if they want to submit the question on a referendum to the qualified electors of the Town. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission, Mayor Newill adjourned the Regular Meeting at 2:30 PM upon a MOTION by Commissioner Sorrelli; seconded by Vice Mavor Zwick. • Town Commission Regular Minutes July 6, 2010 Pale 9 of 9 • APPROVED: ~' Jim N i 1, CPA, Mayor /~i~ Miriam S. Zw ck, V' Mayor Doris M. Trinley, Commissioner TTEST: ~ ~ , ~~_~ Beverly M. Br , MMC ~ ~~ Date