HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 053096CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
MAY 301 1996
The Special Regular Meeting of the City Council of the
City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to
order by Mayor Russo at 7:30 P.M. in the Assembly
Room of the Municipal Complex, 10500 North Military
Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
ROLL CALL The City Clerk called the roll and present were Mayor
Russo, Vice Mayor Furtado, Councilwoman Monroe
Councilman Jablin, and Councilman Clark.
ANNOUNCEMENTS Mayor Russo stated that the announcements were as
posted on the City's bulletin boards.
PRESENTATIONS:
TAX ABATEMENT City Manager Herakovich reported that one of the goals
of the North County Economic Development Committee had
been to coordinate economic developments in the North
County communities, and that they had requested staff
to research tax abatements by each municipality and a
report whether each City Council was interested in a
tax abatement program. The only negative response to
date had been from the Village of Tequesta. Finance
Director Kent Olson presented two possible tax
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 2
abatement /economic development plans formulated by the
finance directors of the North County communities, and
listed the pros and cons of the plans. Vice Mayor
Furtado expressed the opinion that the County's tax
incentives were very good and favored the City
adopting similar incentives as well for development of
raw lands and which were not available in some of the
other municipalities. The Vice Mayor favored working
with the other municipalities but allowing for the
individual differences between the municipalities.
Councilwoman Monroe expressed agreement with the Vice
Mayor and commented that the cons seemed to outweigh
the pros in the plans presented. Councilman Clark
agreed and stated his preference to pursue bringing
businesses into the City by other avenues rather than
tax incentives. Councilman Jablin discussed the
different needs of the northern municipalities and the
difficulty of finding one program to fit the needs of
all. Mayor Russo favored tax incentives for larger
companies than for those covered in the proposed
plans. Some suggestions for other incentives to be
explored were to speed the development approval
process, and to provide incentives unique to Palm
Beach Gardens.
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ORDINANCES:
ORDINANCE 9, 1996 City Manager Herakovich provided background for
discussion of Ordinance 9, 1996 - Calling a Special
Election for the Purpose of Charter Amendments, and
explained that this item would be changed to a
workshop and would not be considered for first
reading. City Attorney Baird distributed copies of a
draft ordinance, reviewed statutory requirements
regarding charter amendments which could be adopted by
ordinance, and others which required a referendum.
City Attorney Baird explained that the draft ordinance
did not include terms for City Council members, which
the City Council members agreed would remain at three
year terms as previously discussed. The City Attorney
explained that the ordinance for Charter amendments
must be adopted by the end of June in order to meet
notice requirements. The possibility of holding a
special meeting on July 2 for adoption of the
resolution for a bond referendum was discussed. The
City Council discussed whether funds for purchase of
recreational lands should be included in the bond, and
scenarios for working more closely with the MacArthur
Foundation for land acquisition were described. staff
was directed to conduct further research. The City
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Council discussed the language of Charter amendment
questions to be placed on the ballot, and recommended
changes and corrections. The discussion encompassed
several items including the City Manager's
appointment, removal, and powers -- including hiring and
firing of City employees; and replacement of the Merit
Board system with a new personnel system. The
procedure for obtaining absentee ballots was
clarified. The question of how to respond to
residents who questioned Council members' positions on
ballot items was discussed. Mayor Russo expressed his
position that the response should reflect the City
Council's opinion as a whole, especially on ballot
items where a majority decision had been made on items
which would improve the operation of the City, and not
the individual feelings of Council members. Other
Councilmembers expressed their opinion that their
individual feelings on items could also be discussed.
Vice Mayor Furtado made a motion to direct staff to
work on Ordinance 9, 1996 and to bring the Ordinance
back to the City Council in its final form.
Councilman Clark seconded the motion, which carried by
unanimous vote of 5 -0.
ITEMS BY FOR
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COUNCIL ACTION:
COUNCILMAN JABLIN Councilman Jablin reported that the joint School Board
and County Commission meeting had included discussion
of concurrency and the one -cent sales tax proposal.
Councilman Jablin expressed concern that The Municipal
League had made several comments that did not reflect
his own position or possibly that of the other City
Council members, and suggested that the City Council
pass a Resolution supporting the proposed Concurrency
ordinance and the one -cent sales tax, for distribution
to other cities. Councilman Jablin explained that the
Ordinance was tied to an unnamed proper funding
source, which could be another source other than the
one -cent sales tax, and also contained other controls
to provide a comfort level for developers; however,
the development community did not seem comfortable
with the ordinance in its present form. Mayor Russo
expressed his opinion that the questions raised by the
Municipal League would help pass the issue when it was
placed on a ballot, and felt that the City Council
should not endorse the Ordinance at this point.
Councilman Jablin suggested that the City Council not
endorse the Ordinance, but endorse the concept of
concurrency and the concept of a funding source.
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Mayor Russo recommended that all of the City Council
members attend the next meeting of the Municipal
League and also the Municipal League Board of
Directors meeting to express their opinion. The City
Manager clarified the meeting times. Councilwoman
Monroe expressed her opinion that new schools should
be constructed where needed rather than to tie the
hands of the School Board by restricting schools to
certain municipalities. Mayor Russo expressed his
position that it was time to protect the interests of
the residents of the City. Mayor Russo indicated that
he would present the position of the City Council to
the Municipal League Board of Directors at their next
meeting.
COUNCILWOMAN MONROE Councilwoman Monroe reported that she and Planning and
Zoning Director Walton and his staff had met with the
landowners west of the Slough as well as
representatives of the equestrian community, and that
the matter would continue to be pursued. Councilwoman
Monroe reported that Commissioner Marcus had
questioned the letter sent by the City regarding the
requested CRALLS designation for Military Trail had
omitted the designation was to be temporary, and
Councilwoman Monroe also reported that she had learned
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DOT would not approve a temporary designation that
there might be a serious error in the model. The City
Manager explained that research would continue to
determine how the possible error would affect a
CRALLS designation. Mayor Russo commented that if a
temporary designation was not possible that so much
further study and research would be required that the
July deadline could not be met, which might hurt the
Golf Digest project. Councilwoman Monroe suggested
that with the cooperation of the MacArthur Foundation
the Golf Digest project could be handled in another
manner. It was the consensus of the City Council to
proceed with research on this matter.
VICE MAYOR FURTADO Vice Mayor Furtado reported that the Florida
Transportation Commission would be meeting in West
Palm Beach on June 13. A Florida Department of
Transportation public hearing would be held at the
West Palm Beach auditorium on June 20 regarding I -95,
for which the City Manager would provide a
representative to attend. Vice Mayor Furtado
recommended that a representative for the City attend
a meeting on June 3 where the Solid Waste Authority
would consider an approximate 36% increase in the
solid waste disposal assessment because of the
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increase in recycling, and might possibly decide to
have trash pickup only once a week instead of twice a
week. The Vice Mayor reported that a recommendation
had been made at the North County Governmental meeting
to include the business survey in the occupational
license mailing, which would not be as expensive as
separate mailings and would target the proper people;
the entire group had volunteered to make comments on
the survey; and another suggestion had been made that
the Mayor meet with business people on a quarterly
basis. The tree relocation project was discussed.
City Manager Herakovich recalled that the City Council
had directed staff to increase the fee slightly, and
indicated that staff would be instructed to inform
residents that fees might change by the time their
trees were scheduled for planting.
CITY MANAGER REPORT City Manager Herakovich reported that a schedule of
City Council meeting dates for May through September
1996 had been distributed, which reflected the
timeline for four major projects currently underway:
the bond referendum, charter amendment, budget, and
EAR visioning. The City Manager clarified specific
items on the chart and explained that minor changes
would be made to reflect recent discussions. Mayor
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Russo recommended that a town hall meeting be
scheduled for the week before the election. The City
Manager announced that BallenIsles residents continued
to call regarding the land use amendment application
and that a letter had been drafted to explain the
process, which would be sent to any resident who
called. The City Manager announced a meeting of the
Beautification and Environmental Committee on June 4,
and indicated that a list of possible projects would
be provided; and also announced that programs had been
established to deal with juvenile delinquency
complaints experienced at Westwood Gardens and Garden
Lakes. The post office had agreed to become involved
in the designation of commercial addresses to help
firefighters more readily identify addresses in
emergency situations. City Manager Herakovich
announced that the communication tower petition had
been approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission by
4 -3 vote and that it would be scheduled for City
Council consideration, probably at the June 20
meeting. The City Manager explained that
representatives of North Palm Beach Country Estates
were encouraged to attend and that there would
probably be a large crowd. Discussion ensued
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 10
regarding the best way to handle speakers who were
representing others. City Manager Herakovich
expressed her thanks and that of the Assistant City
Manager for the funding provided for them to attend
the Florida County and City Managers Association
Conference, and indicated that they had learned a lot
but had concluded that the City was more progressive
than most and the City Council was more open to
changes than others they had heard about. During
discussion of bond counsel, Mayor Russo questioned how
an individual knew about this matter before he had
learned of it, to which the City Attorney responded
that he had requested that individual's assistance.
It was the consensus of the City Council to enter into
an RFP process for bond counsel.
CITY ATTORNEY REPORT The City Attorney provided an update on a current case
in which settlement negotiations included a request to
change an individual's termination to resignation. It
was the consensus of the City Council to make the
requested change. Attorney Baird requested that the
City Council hold an attorney client session with
Attorney Waterson to discuss the trial in another
case. Councilwoman Monroe made a motion to change the
time of the next regular meeting on June 6 to 7 P.M.
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in order to accommodate the attorney client session.
Councilman Clark seconded the motion, which carried by
unanimous 5 -0 vote.
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ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, motion was
made by Councilwoman Monroe, seconded by Councilman
Clark, and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting
at 10:45 P.M.
APPROVAL
MAYOR JOE U O
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C� MAYOR LAUREN FURTADO���,�.,_
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COUN T WQ41 N LINDA MONROE
COUNCILMAN ERI� BLIN
COUNCILMAN DAVID CLARK
ATTEST:
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CINDY HARVEY, DEPUTY CITY CLERK