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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 031397CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MARCH 13, 1997 The March 13, 1997, Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL The roll was called by the Deputy City Clerk and the following elected officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Joseph R. Russo, Councilwoman Linda Monroe, and Councilman David Clark. Vice Mayor Lauren Furtado arrived at 8:05 p.m. and Councilman Eric Jablin arrived at 8:35 p.m. PRESENTATIONS City Manager Bobbie Herakovich stated that staff met all day with the architects regarding the new municipal complex. Architects Design Group made a presentation to the City Council regarding the latest plans for the new municipal complex. Mr. Reeves of ADG stated that the architects also met with Mr. Jeff Ornstein and Ed Oliver and reviewed the site plans. Mr. Reeves pointed out differences in the proposed site plan from the last time the Council reviewed them, showing that the building layout was different and was not set out as suggested by the City Council. Mr. Reeves detailed the creation of a town square and the Council Chambers CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 2 being aligned with the rest of the main building. Mr. Reeve stated there were areas to provide for future parking spaces that would be grassed in the beginning until these spaces were needed. The buildings have been cut back to reflect the function of the Council assembly space and also opening up the site as opposed to squaring off the buildings. Covered walkways extend along the entire elevation of the building and are carried around the other side of the building. Mr. Reeves showed samples of materials that they were considering. The entrance for the fire station has been shifted back to the original plan whereby the fire engines would enter the fire station site from Burns Road instead of Military Trail. Councilman Clark stated that the Council was looking for a more traditional look with the buildings, and Councilwoman Monroe referenced the new Juno Beach Town Hall as an example. A discussion ensued on the materials for the roof, clay tile versus barrel tile. Mr. Reeves pointed out that barrel tile and concrete tile roofs are more expensive. Mr. Reeves stated the next step for ADG would be to develop renderings of both sides of the building. Mr. Reeves stated that the floor plans have been updated and staff's input would be incorporated into the final plans. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 3 Councilwoman Monroe stated that she would rather see the architects come back before the Council with several different elevation designs for the Council to consider. Mr. Reeves stated that they would be ready for another presentation to the City Council at their meeting of April 3, 1997. ORGANIZATION STUDY City Manager Herakovich stated that the Council had a time line in their package regarding the organizational changes proposed by Griffith and Associates. Mrs. Herakovich stated that the time line has been done so that any job changes, other than Growth Management Director, be accomplished in budget years in an effort to give certain employees adequate notice that their jobs were changing. Mrs. Herakovich stated that she has included her response to some issues such as the positions of the Assistant Finance Director and Risk Manager. The Risk Manager position was one that the City would need at some point. Parks Projects Coordinator was one that needed to be kept. City Manager Herakovich stated that her response also included the costs associated with the time line for the next 3 years, including benefits. City Manager Herakovich stated that the City Council would have to implement this through a budget amendment and determine what funds were available. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 Councilwoman Monroe questioned what it meant to "cause" a position to report to someone. City Manager Herakovich stated that was the language used by the consultant and it meant that it would create a position and have it report to someone such as the City Manager. Councilwoman Monroe questioned why the Management Analyst position had to be created in 1997. City Manager Herakovich stated that the position was one of the job descriptions included in the packet and showed the person to be a project type position that could provide support to all departments, and in the past has been titled administrative assistant to the City Manager. Councilwoman Monroe stated that retitling the position of Compliance Officer to Human Resource Analyst II made it 4 sound like the City was not getting rid of a position that was said to only be a 5 year position. City Manager Herakovich explained that the title of Compliance Officer was a more politically correct term since the City was facing a Consent Decree. Griffith and Associates felt that changing the title would allow for better cross training of the person in that position. City Manager Herakovich stated that the workload in the Human Resources Department continued to grow, however, it was the decision of the City Council at the last meeting regarding this issue that no new CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 5 secretarial positions would be added to this department. Mayor Russo asked if the time line was realistic, and City Manager Herakovich pointed out that some of the items listed in the time line were recommended by Griffith and Associates to be done immediately. Councilwoman Monroe questioned whether the budget to fund the engineering division would be sufficient. City Manager Herakovich pointed out that half the work the engineering division would do was development and plans review, which function could be brought in house. City Manager Herakovich stated that she felt the budget was good and assured the Council that the cost of engineering will go down from what the City was presently paying. Councilwoman Monroe asked for further information regarding the suggestion regarding the exploration of sick leave usage and explore alternative solutions in the Public Works Department, BUSINESS SURVEY City Manager Herakovich reported that 1820 surveys were mailed out to the business community and approximately 13% of those surveys were returned. The survey showed that over 52% of those responding were anywhere from somewhat to very satisfied with City services; 16.3 were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. City Manager Herakovich reviewed answers to each question on the CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 6 survey. Vice Mayor Furtado stated that there was enough responses in the dissatisfied and very dissatisfied with occupational license fees to warrant research as to what the problems were for these businesses. Vice Mayor Furtado stated that if the numbers were high enough on any question with dissatisfied or very dissatisfied answers then the City should look into the reason why the business answered that way. City Manager Herakovich stated that the last two pages of the report concerned the demographics of the types of businesses that responded. Vice Mayor Furtado stated that the survey did not cover in -house services and suggested that the new Growth Manager do a survey to research how those that deal with the City on a regular basis felt about in -house services. Vice Mayor Furtado referenced the Golf Digest project and the different services they would use as they proceeded through the approval process. Mayor Russo stated that if the Golf Digest project was not started by July it probably would not become a reality. Mayor Russo stated that if the problems are solvable and the City takes too long to solve them, that was a big mistake. Mayor Russo stated that the CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 ITEMS BY MAYOR AND COUNCIL 7 Golf Digest people have been told that the City would work as hard as it could and as fast as it could. Vice Mayor Furtado stated she remembered the luncheon that the Council attended with Golf Digest when they were considering Palm Beach Gardens as its location and that it was such a long time ago she was surprised that the project hasn't come through the process faster. Vice Mayor Furtado stated that for projects such as this she would like to see a process that the developer could be walked through to facilitate the approval process. Councilman Clark stated that Golf Digest made a premature announcement and did not bring anything (plans, etc) to the City for over a year. Vice Mayor Furtado Vice Mayor Furtado thanked Councilman Jablin for all his work towards improving education and pointed out that The Post is getting more diffinitive in their reporting. Vice Mayor Furtado reported that more municipalities were getting involved in opposing the high speed rail project, as well as Martin County. Most of these entities wanted Tri -Rail finished and run more efficiently. Mayor Russo Mayor Russo stated he brought this item before the Municipal League, stating that he felt this should be a Municipal League CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 8 issue. Mr. Horniman would be getting all the information. Mayor Russo stated he also told the Municipal League that he would like to see the League get out of the position of directing what was going on, but to accept what was going on with the concurrency issue. Mayor Russo felt the Municipal League should be more of a player than a leader in the concurrency issue, because the decision was that of the School Board and the County. Mayor Russo stated that there was a petition drive for "Students First" and the position of the Municipal League is that the petition did not have to be signed by every city. Presently there is something in the Legislature that would amend that requirement so that a petition would have to be signed by every city. The County Commission has sent to the State asking them to have them consider approval of a item that was petitioned by 66% of the population. The Municipal League was not in favor of this proposal because they would no longer be protecting every city because the 8 largest cities could control any issue. The Municipal League wanted 66% of all the cities, however, Mayor Russo did not agree. Mayor Russo stated that he thought Students First was a great movement, however, felt the time was right for charter schools. Councilman Clark stated there was an article in the newspaper CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3113197 recently that reported that the areas that have a large number of smaller school districts do better because there was more ability to be mobile between the school districts and still live in the same area. Vice Mayor Furtado Vice Mayor Furtado reported that the Neighborhood Task Force met with residents of Town Hall Homes twice on Saturday and Sunday. The Town Hall Homes section really got involved and a lot of input is being received from the residents. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 P.M. APPROVAL CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 3/13/97 recently that reported that the areas that have a large number of smaller school districts do better because there was more ability to be mobile between the school districts and still live in the same area, forcing the school districts to compete to attract and retain students.. Vice Mayor Furtado Vice Mayor Furtado reported that the Neighborhood Task Force met with residents of Town Hall Homes twice on Saturday and Sunday. The Town Hall Homes section really got involved and a lot of input is being received from the residents. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 P.M. CITY COUNCIL, WORKSHOP MEETING, ,1'3`,97 / 10 CI` seph R. kusso I � _ . iI i F t., i_ I... Vice Mayor Lauren Furtado Councilwoman Linda Monroe Councilman Eric Jablin Councilman David Clark Attest: A Cindy Har'Jlly, Deputy City Cgrk