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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. CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 3 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 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 4 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 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 5 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. CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 6 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 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 7 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 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 8 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 CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 9 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. CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 11 in order to accommodate the attorney client session. Councilman Clark seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous 5 -0 vote. CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING, 5/30/96 PAGE 12 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 f_ Vi v C� MAYOR LAUREN FURTADO���,�.,_ t� COUN T WQ41 N LINDA MONROE COUNCILMAN ERI� BLIN COUNCILMAN DAVID CLARK ATTEST: U CINDY HARVEY, DEPUTY CITY CLERK