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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 060106CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING June 1, 2006 The June 1, 2006 Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex, located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, by Talia Suskauer, Mayor for the Day, and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: The City Clerk called the roll and the following elected officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Russo, Vice Mayor Barnett, Councilmember Jablin, Councilmember Levy, Councilmember Valeche, and Mayor for a day Talia Suskauer. ANNOUNCEMENT: Mayor Russo thanked Mayor for a Day Talia Suskauer and presented her with an award. RE -ORDER AGENDA: Councilmember Jablin made a motion to re -order the agenda to place the Proclamation in recognition of Chatsworth under Announcements and Presentations. Councilmember Levy seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS: Recognition of the Palm Beach Gardens High School Girls Softball 2nd State Championship Mayor Russo reported this was the second year in a row this team had won the championship, expressed how proud everyone was of the accomplishments of the members of the team, and presented a plaque of recognition and a softball signed by all the members of the City Council to the team. The team presented their picture to the Mayor and City Council. Councilmember Levy recommended dedicating a brick in the courtyard to this team, last year's team, Palm Beach Gardens Boys Football 6A State Championship, the Dwyer High School Girls' Flag Football Championship and both of the Dwyer High School Boy's Basketball Championships. Consensus of Council was to dedicate the bricks as proposed by Councilmember Levy. Proclamation -- in recognition of Chatsworth at PGA National, a division of Devonshire Senior Resort Communities for receiving the Governors Gold Seal Award - Councilmember Levy made a motion to accept the proclamation. Councilmember Valeche seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. Mayor Russo presented the proclamation to representatives of the facility, and noted only sixteen of the 651 skilled nursing centers in the entire state had received this award. Basketball Camp - Mayor Russo reported Zack Minor, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who had started a baseball camp for underprivileged children, had been picked by the Detroit Tigers. ITEMS OF RESIDENT INTEREST AND BOARD /COMMITTEE REPORTS: Vice Mayor Barnett reported that she and the City Attorney had attended a Florida in the Sunshine Law seminar. Councilmember Levy commented the Recreation Department had a great staff, reported he had attended the pre - school graduation and the senior club luncheon, and had just started his sixth year coaching flag football. Councilmember Valeche reported property values in the City had increased approximately 26% to about $9 billion, which would provide an opportunity to cut the millage rate and add to reserves. Mayor Russo announced the budget process would begin with a Council workshop on June 14 where staff would present their budgets to Council during a public meeting. Councilmember Jablin recommended proceeding with the changes to waivers which had been discussed previously, CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 6/1/06 2 by having Treasure Coast participate, using this as a planning tool for the future. Mayor Russo recommended a planning charrette with all residents of the City in the fall to address this issue and build consensus of the community. Vice Mayor Barnett recommended holding a workshop to discuss affordable housing, and a separate workshop to discuss waivers, and indicated she did not want to see Treasure Coast involved. The Vice Mayor urged that affordable housing be discussed sooner. Mayor Russo indicated his idea was to discuss high rises in the fall, in coordination with affordable housing; and agreed that affordable housing should be discussed sooner. Councilmember Valeche expressed his opinion the results of the charrette would depend on the questions asked, and he would rather have a referendum than a charrette. Discussion ensued. Vice Mayor Barnett made a motion to direct the City Manager to look into language for a referendum and at the same time schedule a charrette to occur before the referendum, but prepare the language now. Councilmember Valeche seconded the motion. During discussion of the motion, Mayor Russo, Councilmember Jablin, and Councilmember Levy indicated they were in favor of a charrette and finding out if there were appropriate places in the City for high rises. The Vice Mayor indicated she favored a moratorium on high rise buildings. The City Attorney advised that zoning in progress could be instituted if it was planned to change the code. Staff was directed to bring back information on zoning in progress and on holding a charrette. Motion failed 3 -2 with Mayor Russo, Councilmember Jablin, and Councilmember Levy opposed. Mayor Russo indicated he was getting calls from people who wanted generators in place before hurricane season, and he had requested this permit process be accelerated. Todd Engle, Construction Services, reported there was one plans examiner on staff, there were three vacancies, and two consultants had been hired to help get plans out as fast as possible. The goal was to get the plans out ten days after the application was submitted. All personnel who had the proper certification had been brought in to help with the permitting process. Mayor Russo reported he and Councilmember Jablin attended the funeral of Milt Stern, a resident who attended many Council meetings and worked tirelessly on Ryder Cup Boulevard. A moment of silence was observed for Mr. Stern. CITY MANAGER REPORT: On- going Service Assessment and Community Outreach Annual Report — Charlotte Presensky, Community Services, reported one of the tools being used to communicate with the public was the resident opinion survey that had been conducted. Ms. Presensky provided an overview of the charts which were created by the research firm, which would be used as a future planning tool for different items and to focus on what could be done for the residents. Ms. Presensky reported 400 residents had been surveyed at random, regarding services provided by the City, taxes, perceived return on taxes, the City's budget process, contact with the City, communication by the City, preferred method of communication with the City, phone broadcasts of City Council meetings, reasons for listening to or attending meetings, the City's website, transportation, and areas being developed. Compensation and Classification Study Report - Sheryl Stewart reported the study had been provided by an outside firm, HR Management Partners. Laurie Barefoot, with HR Management Partners, presented the findings of their report, including an overview of the scope of services including market study results, current pay and practices, and the recommended pay plan. The position of senior accountant was used as an example, and the firm's recommendation was to bring pay up to current competitive levels. CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 6/1/06 3 PGA Boulevard Construction Update — Dan Clark presented a schedule for construction for widening PGA Boulevard. Phase I would rebuild the North side of the road with traffic transferred to the South side. The road would be raised about 2 -1/2 feet, which would mean portions would be closed for short periods of time while construction was being done. Phase II would entail construction for the North side of the road. All of the construction up to Avenue of the Champions was anticipated to be finished by November, so that the section needed for the Honda Classic would be completed by the time of that event. All of the work should be completed in approximately one year from now. Mayor Russo requested this information be communicated to the Honda people and property owners associations for the communities affected. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC: Carol Estrada, Riverside Drive, commended staff on the code meeting the previous evening, and advised she had heard only good reports regarding that meeting. Paula Magnuson, Gardens East Drive, expressed her opinion that many permits for the 2004 hurricane repairs for Sandalwood had been pulled without notice of commencement, asked why information on their air conditioner skirts was not on the computer, and indicated she had sent a letter to the Mayor that was never answered. The City Clerk indicated there had been a reply, and she would check the date. Suzanne Archer, indicated she lived in the same community as Ms. Magnuson, and she had been attempting to do a forensic study as to how Sandalwood was repaired, and reported staff had gone beyond what they needed to in order to provide answers, but some items did not exist, which was very troubling. Staff responded to comments from Ms. Magnuson and Ms. Archer. Linda Hughey recommended more than one item be discussed at charrettes, and suggested locations for high rise buildings and an overlay, and also noted a moratorium was not a bad thing. Ms. Hughey asked the amount paid to the consultant for the salary survey, and expressed her opinion this consultant had talked down to the City Council. Staff reported the cost was $18,000, which was similar to past salary surveys, but this one had also included software to maintain the plan. Mayor Russo responded regarding the moratorium that zoning in progress would be considered after the charrettes. Joan Elias, Diamond Head Way, noted Milt Stern had been very active in the visioning process and he would be missed. Ms. Elias commented she agreed with Linda Hughey; they were both interested in the whole City. Ms. Elias recalled an all -day transportation workshop for North County, and stated she believed in looking at how things were integrated, that affordable housing could not be discussed in isolation and more time than one night might be needed for the discussion. CONSENT AGENDA: Councilmember Jablin made a motion to approve the consent agenda. Councilmember Levy seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. a. Approve Minutes from the May 4, 2006 Regular City Council meeting. b. 2nd Quarter Financial Report. CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 6/1/06 4 PUBLIC HEARINGS: Part I — Quasi - judicial - None Part II — Non - Ouasi - iudicial —(2 n' readine and adontion) Firefighters' Pension Plan. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida relating to the Firefighters' Pension Plan; amending Section 38 -54, Code of Ordinances, entitled "Finances and Fund Management," to permit investments of up to ten percent of the pension plan's assets in real estate; providing for codification; and providing an effective date. The City Clerk read Ordinance 11, 2006 by title on second reading. Finance Director Allan Owens reported changes to the proposed revised language had been submitted within the past few hours, and that the changed language would read: Up to 10% of the assets of the fund at cost may be invested in real estate investment vehicles, including private placement open end funds, Exchange Traded Funds, ETF's, Real Estate Investment Trusts, REIT's, Mutual Funds, Annuity Funds, Insurance Company pooled funds under group annuity contract as recommended by financial consultant and recommended by the board. Discussion ensued. Hearing no comments from the public, Mayor Russo declared the public hearing closed. Councilmember Jablin moved approval of Ordinance 11, 2006 on second reading by title only. Councilmember Levy seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. It was clarified for the record that the approval included the proposed language as read into the record. ITEMS FOR COUNCIL ACTION /DISCUSSION: Budget Oversight Committee — Mayor Russo noted this board, originally an oversight board, had been in operation three years, and had sunset. Councilmember Valeche had been the liaison for this board. Councilmember Valeche recommended increasing the members to five and asked that the name be changed to Budget Oversight Board. Concern was expressed that the function of the committee needed to remain the same and that the business community should be represented. Mayor Russo made a motion to authorize staff to bring to the next meeting a resolution to continue the committee, which would be amended at that meeting to change the sunset date and expand the membership. Councilmember Levy seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. Councilmember Valeche questioned the City Council's actions regarding the pay plan study. City Manager Ferris responded he was authorized to implement the pay plan study under Ordinance 15, 2004, and planned to do so by July 1, and he would be happy to discuss this with members of the Council before that date. CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS REGULAR MEETING, 6/1/06 5 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss e ' g w djourned at 9:19 p.m. APPROVAL: O RUSSO VICE7 BARNETT JABLIN COUNC EMBER LEVY COUNCILMEMBKR V ALECHE ATTEST: x2e'Y--� PATRICIA SNIDER, CMC CITY CLERK