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2008.02.05_TC_Minutes_RegularTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, February 5, 2008 1.30 P M Mayor Harold R. Hagelmann called the Regular Meeting to order in Commission Chambers at 1:30 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Mayor Harold R. Hagelmann; Vice Mayor Joseph J. Asselta; Commissioner Miriam S. Zwick; Commissioner Jim Newill, CPA; and Commissioner Doris M. Trinley. 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. • 1. ADDITIONS. DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA • Town Manager Sugerman requested an addition under Item #4. Boards and Committees; Item C -Action on Appointment Status of a Member of the Board of Adjustment 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS • Joe Yucht -Boca Highlands -The Milani Park issue is not dead in the courts. The District Court issued a ruling referring it back to the Appellate Court. Seems strange that the Milani Park issue is coming before the Planning Board while the issue is still in the court system. On February 28~', Dr. Gordon will be speakin~ in Highland Beach and we have tentatively scheduled a visit to that facility on March 10 Glad to see that Resolution 835 is on the agenda for discussion, either enforce it or repeal it. 3. PRESENTATIONS • Patrol Officer Patricia Brooke was introduced to the Commission by Chief Angelillo. Officer Brooke is Highland Beach's first female officer and was previously employed by the Sheriff's Department for the last seven years. • Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 Pa eg 2 of 7 • 4. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES A) Board Correspondence • Cultural Board -Approval of Fund Raising Riia Futernick -Vice Chairman of the Cultural Board -The Cultural Board requests the Commissions authorization to mail out this fund raising letter on the Town's letterhead paper. Commissioner Newill - I can see an individuals name recognized in the Cultural Boards newsletter but have concerns over publishing it on Channel 19. This Committee does a lot of work and the recent jazz concert is a fine example. Commissioner Trinley - Is this solicitation going out on town letter head? Reply - Yes. I do not approve. Town Mana eg r Su eg rman - If the Commission approves this fund raising letter, it is my professional preference not to publish the names on Channel 19. The information is a public record, but should not be as accessible as Channel 19 would make it. Comm. Trinley -The Board should make a small investment and come up with their own letterhead. Mrs. Futernick - We are a Board appointed by this Commission. Vice Mayor Asselta -Publishing the names on Channel 19 is somewhat subjective. Cannot accept publishing the names on Channel 19. • MOTION: Vice Mayor Asselta moved to approve the fund raising letter of the Cultural Board with the elimination of publishing the names on Channel 19; seconded by Commissioner Newill. Motion carried by Unanimous Voice Vote. Commissioner Newill presented a check to Vice Chairman Futernick of the Cultural Board as the first donation of 2008 Cultural Board Fund Raising Campaign. B) Board Action Report • Accepted as submitted. C) Appointment Status of a Member of the Board of Adjustment Town Mana eg r Sugerman stated that it was brought to his attention that Theresa Colarullo, a part-time employee of the Town who works in the Library is serving on the Town's Board of Adjustment contrary to a stipulation in the Code of Ordinances. Town Attorney Sliney stated that the Town Manager requested that I look into it and it is my opinion that Section 20-46 (Board of Adjustment) of the Town Code provides: "No member of board shall be an official or employee of the Town." As Mrs. Colarullo is an employee of the Town she is not eligible to serve as a member of the Board of Adjustment. To date the Town Manager has requested her resignation, but has not received it. Members can only be removed by the Town Commission. It is an awkward situation. Mana e~ erman - • Sent her a letter with Attorney Sliney's opinion and have personally met with her. She is unwilling to resign. It has nothing to do with her performance she is a very conscientious Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 Page 3 of 7 member. Commissioner Zwick -Voluntary resignation is in line with the policies of the • Board. Vice Mater Asselta -Personally know her and will talk to her. Commissioner Newill -This is the second piece of paper that I received since I have sat here. It is difficult to digest information while sitting here. Attorney Sliney - I was hoping that we would have her resignation prior to the meeting and not have to bring it up. Comm. Trinley - Section 20.46 also refers to the Board appointing a secretary. Comm. Zwick -There are two different subjects in that one sentence. Is it time for a revision? Attorney Sliney - Agree with Commissioner Zwick. Most of these Boards were drawn up some years ago. The practice has been that someone from the Clerk's Office assumes the duties as secretary. Comm. Zwick - We need to immediately correct the language in Section 20.46 of the Code that the secretary not be a member of the appointed Board. Mayor Ha elg mane - We have authorized the Vice Mayor to speak directly to Mrs. Colarullo before any further action is taken. D) Board Vacancies • Appointments on Consent Agenda for February and March E) Monthly Board Meetings • Cultural Board -Feb. 4a' -Workshop 10 A.M. • Beaches & Shores Advisory -Feb. 12th -Regular - 9:30 A.M • Planning Board -Feb. 13th -Regular - 9:30 A.M. • Code Enforcement Board -Feb. 20th -Regular - 9:30 A.M. • • Boards Luncheon • Cultural Board -Feb. 28th -Regular - 9:30 A.M. • Board of Adjustment & Appeals - To Be Determined 5. PROPOSED ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS None 6. NEW BUSINESS None 7) MISCELLANEOUS -ITEMS LEFT OVER Personnel Rules and Regulations: Article XIX: Vacation Leave Vice Mayor Asselta stated that he is prepared to make a motion granting amnesty to all the employees who are affected by the provision in the "Personnel Policies" that prohibited them from accumulating over 200 hours of vacation time. In addition, is proposing to make a provision in Article XIX that would require the Finance Director to notify employees the number of accrued hours an employee has accumulated once it hits 120 • hours. Commissioner Trinlev -Why notification at 120 hours? Vice Mayor Asselta - With some of the departments, it is not easy to schedule time .off especially if someone is Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 Pa eg 4 of 7 • out on extended sick leave. Commission Zwick -This certainly would solve some of the discussion and problems that are presently going on. MOTION: Vice Mavor Asselta moved to grant amnesty, one time only, to all employees that have exceeded their accrued vacation time as of December 31, 2007 under Article XIX: Vacation Leave. Employees who have exceeded the maximum allowed accrued vacation time as of December 31, 2007 have until September 30, 2008 to bring their vacation time up to date; seconded by CommissionerTrinley. Motion carried by Unanimous Voice Vote. MOTION: Vice Mavor Asselta moved to amend ARTICLE XIX; Section 3: Maximum Accumulation by inserting the following after the first sentence: "The Finance Director will notify employees by separate communication in the first pay check of each quarter the number of accrued hours of vacation time the employee has accumulated, once an employee has accumulated 120. hours of vacation leave." Commissioner Newill seconded the motion. Motion carried by Unanimous Voice Vote. 8) REPORTS -TOWN COMMISSION • Commissioner Trinley - No report. • • Commissioner Newill - Yesterday, I received the December 31S` Financial Statement. Have you tried using the Internet to access your accounts, rather than waiting for the statements to be received in the mail? The balance sheet is crisp and clear. The expense & revenue report can hardly be read nor is it clear where each department starts or ends. Can something be done about this? Finance Director Novak -Will work with you to change format. Do not receive statements until the 8~'. Report will be out by the 15~' as it had been in the past. Comm. Newill -The last time the Finance Director spoke about the SBA Funds, he stated that there was a possibility of receiving some of our funds by the end of January, and the possibility of receiving all the funds by the end of march.Where do we stand? Director Novak - We did receive some funds transferred up to Fund "A.' Comm. Newill - On the report it identifies an unrealized $30,000 gain loss? Director Novak - It is an unrealized loss. The reserve has not been distributed. Comm. Newill - If we get the reserve money back, will we not be out the money? Reply -Yes. M_Mayor Hagelmann -How much do we have in the "B" Fund? Reply - $541,000.00. Mana er Su e~ -The Towns that took all their money out were penalized. There is a possibility that we will receive the penalty that we paid returned. Comm. Newill - I hear the term "Money Market Fund" bantered about. SBA is not a "Money Market Fund," you do not lose money on MMF's. Vice Mayor Asselta -National City has one . of the lowest interest rates. How do you get along with them? Director Novak -Had a Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 Pale 5 of 7 • great relationship with them when it was Fidelity. With National City I have been waiting for three months trying to get copies of canceled checks. With no success. • Commissioner Zwick - No report. But hope we have interest in the local election. • Vice Mayor Asselta -Not pleased with the most recent letter sent out by the Town Manager, but will discuss it further in the future. • Mayor Ha elm - Resolution No. 835 calls for the Chairman of each Town Board to assign a member to attend a regular monthly Commission meeting. If we are not going to enforce it, then we should withdraw it. Feel it should be enforced. Comm. Newill - How many "Talent Bank Applications" are on file? R Uly -None. Comm. Trinley - All Board members are volunteers. Vice Mavor Asselta -Abolish the Resolution if we are enforcing it. Comm. Zwick - If we do not reaffirm it, it will float away in oblivion. We cannot fire them, only urge them to attend. Comm. Trinley -How do we know they are not watching us on Channel 19 right now? Comm. -Zwick -Repeal rather than have something on the books that we are not enforcing. MOTION: Vice Mayor Asselta moved to repeal Resolution No. 835; seconded by Commissioner Newill. . ROLL CALL VOTE: Commissioner Trinley - Yes Commissioner Newill - Yes Commissioner Zwick - Yes Vice Mayor Asselta - Yes Mayor Hagelmann - Yes Motion carried by unanimous vote. 9) REPORTS -TOWN ATTORNEY The Planning Board will be holding a Workshop on Milani Park on February 13~'. It is a very complicated matter, as it will be a Special Exception to the Town Code. In due course, it will come to the Commission for approval. We have hired professional experts (traffic consultants; archeologists; planners; and engineers) to review the plans that the County has submitted. This Workshop will be for the Planning Board to receive the reports from our professionals. The Town Manager has requested that the Commission not attend this Workshop. All this information will come to you in due time. The Planning Board might be more comfortable dealing with the issues in it's own venue. There is a whole laundry list of items to deal with, with the preliminary proposal submitted by the county. • Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 page 6 of 7 • Town Manager Superman -The matter will eventually come before the Commission where you can approve/modify or deny it. The decision for final approval rests with the Commission. I am concerned that one Commissioner might overhear a conversation that the whole Board will not be cognizant of. The applicant will be in the audience lobbying hard. It has yet to be determined if the Board will accept public comments. There is nothing that will prohibit you from attending. If you do not attend, we will make a copy of tape available for your review. 10) REPORTS -TOWN MANAGER Final Cost of Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant - Now that the reliability Improvements (Phase II) of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant is completed, Well #8 is operational, the emergency stand-by generator is in place and is functional, and the third train of membranes are up and running, we believe that the full cost of the water plant is now known. The good news is that even though the plant did not come anywhere close to being a 8 million dollar cost, in the end, the plant did not come nearly as high as some of us thought it might. At this point, we are showing a total plant construction cost of $17,253,800.45. Of course, there will be on-going expenses, such as the most recent cost to replace the air-cooled chillers. We will also have an additional expense of fencing the wells and constructing a perimeter fence around the entire facility, plus the normal operational, maintenance, and capital improvement costs. Vice Mayor Asselta - Is the debt service included in that figure. Reply - No. • ~ Fiscal Impact of Amendment 1 -Now that Amendment 1 has been adopted by the voters of Florida, I will try to give a short briefing on the potential impact. The Town Clerk and I have attempted to try to find out how the voters in Highland Beach voted, but the statistics have been unavailable though the Supervisor of Electors. This information is a guess on my part. We have just over 4,000 residential units in Highland Beach. Based upon the Town's tax rate of 3.95 mills, each homesteaded property owner will see. a reduction in their taxes of $265.16 because of the now approved second $25K exemption. If we assume 50% of the residents are homesteaded, we would see a reduction of $530,320 in General Fund Revenues, if there are 75% of the homes homesteaded the amount would be close to $800,000. The Town's unanticipated revenue this year was $861,000. This additional homestead exemption will have an affect on that amount next year. Commissioner Newill stated that he took a rambling sample from the Property Appraiser's list, and it appears about 40% of the homes are homesteaded. 11) CONSENT AGENDA Board Appointments Board of Adjustment & Appeals -Three-Year Appointment (2/1/08 -1/31/2011) Joseph Colby - 3210 S. Ocean Blvd., Unit #602 • Authorize the Mayor to sign an Interlocal Agreement with the Solid Waste Authority for the Delivery of Municipal Solid Waste to Designated Facilities • and for a Municipal Recycling Program Town Commission Minutes February 5, 2008 Page 7 of 7 • Minutes Approval Special Meeting -December 20, 2007 Regular Meeting -January 8, 2008 MOTION: Commissioner Zwick moved to approve the Consent Agenda, seconded by Commissioner Newill. Motion carried by Unanimous Voice Vote. 12. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS RELATED TO ITEMS DISCUSSED AT MEETING None 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission. Mayor Hagelnann adjourned the Regular Meeting at 2:45 P.M. upon a MOTION by Vice Mayor Asselta seconded by Commissioner Newill. C. ATTEST: Beve ly M. B own, MMC, Town Clerk Date: ~ d~