HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 120993CITY COUNCIL
WORKSHOP MEETING
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS
DECEMBER 9, 1993
7:30 pm
The Workshop Meeting of the City of Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida, was called to order by Vice Mayor Monroe at 7:30
P.M. in the Assembly Room of the Municipal Complex, 10500
North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
ROLL CALL The Deputy City Clerk called the roll and present were
Vice Mayor Monroe, Councilman Jablin, Councilwoman
Furtado and Councilman Clark. Mayor Russo arrived at
7:37 P.M.
ANNOUNCEMENTS Vice Mayor Monroe stated that the announcements were as
posted on the City's Bulletin Boards.
_ ITEMS BY
CITY MANAGER City Manager Herakovich stated Gardens of Woodberry
residents have been writing letters requesting the
Council to provide funds to construct a retaining wall
along PGA Boulevard. The City Manager's response was the
City would be meeting with Northern Palm Beach County
Water Control District to formulate a landscaping plan;
however, since the bond issue was funded by Northern and
not by the City, Northern would have to make the decision
to provide funds. The City Manager stated the City would
encourage Northern to do so, possibly by using part of
the funds set aside for landscaping. The second item
presented by the City Manager was a recommendation to
hire Greg Dunham of Tallahassee as Assistant City Manager
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS, WORKSHOP MEETING, 12 -9 -93 2
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
ICMA BENEFITS
PROGRAM
at an annual salary of $54,000 per year.
City Manager Herakovich introduced Steve Brindel, an
employee of International City Managers Association, a
non - profit organization which offers a variety of pension
and deferred compensation plans. Mr. Brindel stated the
portable feature of their deferred compensation plan —the
fact that it could go with a city manager or other city
employee from city to city —was a definite plus as it had
no deferred sales charges or penalties. Also, their
program would be an attraction to prospective applicants
for executive positions. There would be no cost to the
City to offer this program to employees since all costs
would be passed on to the participants. The City's
current company does have deferred sales charges. Also
available from ICMA would be a pension plan, which would
be a defined contribution plan as opposed to the current
defined benefit plan now being used. These plans would
be offered on an elective basis to city employees. City
Manager Herakovich stated cost comparisons between the
ICMA plans and the current plans would be prepared for
the City Council.
GARDENS PARK MASTER
PLAN PRESENTATION Sue Miller, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented
the master plan for Gardens Park as prepared by Sam
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS, WORKSHOP MEETING, 12 -9 -93 3
Ferrari. She stated that because of heavy multi -use, the
present fields were in poor condition. The master plan
would develop the adjacent Klock property, providing
space for separate usage fields for soccer and baseball.
The long -term plan would make Lake Catherine the softball
facility, which would require lighting. Mr. Ferrari also
discussed the problems of poor drainage which had
deterred proper turf management, and present poor
vehicular and pedestrian traffic patterns. The new plan
would segregate age groups and activities into separate
areas and relocate parking areas which would allow
parents better control of their children; would allow
- proper turf management by being able to rotate activities
on different fields and providing underground drainage;
new vehicular traffic patterns would allow access by
police and safety vehicles without being a thruway for
the public. Wheelchair access was also included in this
master plan, and City Manager Herakovich stated the
possibility of obtaining partial funding through grants
would be researched. A request had been made to the
MacArthur Foundation to calculate the amount in dollars
of lost impact fees on the donated land. Staff was
requested to report each type of activity and number of
resident and non - resident participants for the past
season, and keep the Council updated on a quarterly basis
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS, WORKSHOP MEETING, 12 -9 -93 4
so that they will be able to determine usage patterns.
RECOMMENDED FINANCIAL
PROCEDURES ent Olson, Finance Director, presented new procedures
that could be implemented in order to reduce expenses for
the City in handling accounts payable, disbursement of
checks and payroll. New procedures would establish
checks & balances, relieve workload of accounts payable
employee, and change payroll from weekly pay period to
bi- weekly pay period. Discussion covered possible ways
to phase in new bi- weekly payroll so employees would not
feel such a hardship. One idea presented would allow
employees to buy back accumulated sick time and to delay
implementation of the plan for approximately six months
to give them time to accrue sick time.
CITY ATTORNEY
POSITION DISCUSSION
City Manager Herakovich stated a dollar amount was unable
to be reached regarding the research projecting the
savings on special projects using an in -house attorney.
The RFP had resulted in five very qualified outside
applicants. Concerns of the Council were that there
could be a conflict of interest if the same firm
represented both Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, however,
this could also be seen as a plus in the fact that the
attorney would know what was happening in both
municipalities. Another concern was dividing the City's
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS, WORKSHOP MEETING, 12 -9 -93 5
work between two attorneys of a firm because of the main
attorney's prior commitments for certain time periods.
Since three of the City Council members felt an outside
firm would be the best choice at the present time and
that the City Council should continue to review the in-
house option periodically, the City Manager was asked to
negotiate a contract, with Thomas Baird of Watterson,
Hyland, Baird, Nichols & Klett, P.A. which would clarify
the issue of costs not now known.
VISIONARY WORKSHOPS
PROCESS
City Manager Herakovich requested time be found for two
days to hold a visionary workshop for the purpose of
determining whether the comprehensive plan needed to be
revised and to priortize projects. It was the consensus
of the Council to determine the mission statement and
definition of strengths & weaknesses of the City in
evening sessions to use for a framework for a one -day
visionary workshop which would be held in late April or
in May.
ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting
was adjourned at 10:15 P.M.
CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS, WORKSHOP MEETING, 12 -9 -93
APPROVAL
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MAYOP RUSS6
VICE MAYOR MONROE
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EXA M. IEF, DEPUTY CITY CLERK
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COONCILMAN CLARK
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