City of Davenport City Commission Minutes of May 9, 2016

Transcription

1 Minutes of the Workshop of the City Commission of the City of Davenport, Florida, held Monday, May 9, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the Commission Room after having been properly advertised with the following members present: Mayor Darlene Bradley, Commission Members: Vice-Mayor Bobby Lynch, HB Robinson, Tom Fellows and Crystal Williams. Also present: City Manager Amy Arrington and City Attorney Kirk Warren. Mayor Bradley declared a quorum present and the meeting was opened. BUSINESS 1. REQUEST TO AMEND CHAPTER 18 OF THE CITY S CODE OF ORDINANCES TO ALLOW FOR A LEAK ADJUSTMENT POLICY, LATE FEES AND UPDATED CONNECTION COSTS The City Manager voiced her request to amend Chapter 18 of the City s Code of Ordinances to allow for a leak adjustment policy, late fees and updated connection costs. This would include the following three items: 1. Establish a Leak Adjustment Policy Staff was recommending the following language be added to Chapter 18: A water leak resulting in higher than normal consumption that results in extraordinary excessive water use will be eligible for a leak adjustment. Extraordinary consumption will be at least 35,000 gallons for one month usage. - The three highest months over a 24 month period will be averaged. - This amount will become the adjusted monthly consumption. - Customers will only be eligible for one adjustment every 24 months. - Customers must submit proof that a leak was repaired Receipts Signed affidavit 2. Create a late fee for customers who do not pay by the due date Staff would like to amend this policy to include the following language: - Bill due on the 1 st - If not paid by the 10 th assess a $10 late fee - If not paid in full by the next month, customer will be eligible for disconnect. Discussion ensued with the Mayor pointing out that sometimes she didn t get her bill until almost the 1 st. Commissioner Robinson further added that they needed to consider those that relied on social security checks and only got them on specific dates.

2 It was the consensus to move the date to the 15 th and keep the late fee at $ The City Manager advised that the citizens would be noticed of this change through the City s website, the water bills, its Face Book page and the marquee. 3. Update the City s connection costs Amy pointed out that the fee is intended to cover the costs of the meter that is being installed. However, the fees in place now did not. Staff will verify these figures and if in agreement with everything discussed, Staff will work with the City Attorney and get started on an Ordinance and present it to them. 2. DISCUSSION OF THE APPOINTED EMPLOYEE S EVALUATIONS The City Manager advised that with the exception of Commissioner Robinson they had completed the reviews and Staff was asking for Commission direction for the next step in the evaluation process. The Commission proceeded to share their thoughts and review on each employee. City Clerk Mayor Bradley pointed out that the City Clerk pretty much worked solo. She worked for the Commission but they didn t have to really follow up on her because they all knew she was doing a great job. She had given her really good points. Also in speaking to the Clerk, she had voiced possible help with her Cemetery duties. In addition, hiring another bi-lingual employee would help her. Commissioner Fellows shared his observation and need for an assistant for the City Clerk. This met with agreement from the rest of the Commission and they asked that she monitor her workload/hours for a 30 day period. Commissioner Williams suggested looking into an intern to also help out. City Attorney Mayor Bradley voiced that she had some concerns regarding the Attorney s lack of negotiation of the contracts, but had found that it wasn t his fault but the City Manager not getting back to him in order to do his job. As their employee he should let them know when he wasn t getting the things needed to be able to do his job so that they could get onto that person. She was concerned that he had too much on his plate with other jobs and was not giving the City 100% of his attention. She felt that he needed to talk to the Commission; and also felt that they should view and approve his invoices. 2

3 The City Attorney pointed out that the City Manager and himself had a good working relationship and further added that she was very busy. Commissioner Fellows pointed out that his initial concern whenever they had first started the evaluation process was that the City Attorney didn t need to be evaluated. The Attorney had always given the City good legal advice and felt he was doing a good job for them. City Manager Mayor Bradley pointed out that the City Manager was going a great job and that she too also had a lot on her plate as well. She had stayed proactive and focused. It had been a busy year and the City had accomplished a lot. By delegating things out to her Department Heads it had allowed her to focus on being a City Manager. The one thing she would point out was not being advised of shortness of staff and her having to cover their duties. Her other concern was the absenteeism of the Finance Director. She felt that Amy needed to follow up on this and get him on the City s disability insurance and get someone in to do the job. Mayor Bradley also voiced her desire for the City Manager to institute a follow-up plan to citizen complaints. Vice-Mayor Lynch advised that he too had met one on one with the City Manager and had also voiced his concern about David. Mr. Fellows pointed out that if he had a real problem or concern with the employees then he would have the one on one with them. He was very happy with the performance of the City Manager. He felt that it wasn t the job of the Commission to micro manager her job. It wasn t their position when it came to her employees. The City Manager knew her job and would let them know when the time came. They didn t need to be made aware of the day to day operations of the City. That was her job. Mr. Fellows further noted that they had an excellent staff and needed to compensate them accordingly. They needed to determine whether or not some type of merit increase was justified. The City Manager asked that since they couldn t make a decision at the Workshop that this item be placed on the May 23 rd Agenda for consideration. She also wanted to have them consider moving the evaluation period from July to March. This would allow any outgoing Commission to evaluate the employee before leaving office in April. Citing further the unfairness of the incoming Commission in only being two months in office and having to evaluate the employee. 3

4 3. REVIEW OF THE BUDGET OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES BUILDING The City Manager explained that certain items were removed from the scope of services to reduce the amount of construction management fees; and as requested at the last meeting, staff was providing a list of additional items that were still needed for completion of this project. These additional items included: 1) Duke Energy (run electric from North Blvd.) $5,000_+/- 2) Electrician Services $9,050 3) Building Furnishings $3,000 4) Back-up Generator $25,000 +/- 5) Landscaping / Irrigation $will price this out 6) Entrance Gate / Fence $12,500 These additional items would amount to approximately $54,550. Commissioner Robinson voiced his appreciation on the tour of the facility and questioned any kind of provision for storm shutters. Chief Torrance responded that there was none, but a very good idea for this facility. Mayor Bradley questioned if they were still shooting at July for the grand opening and where was the money coming from for this. Staff responded that they were still looking at July for the grand opening and funding would be through impact fees. 4. REQUEST TO APPROVE THE COMMUNITY GRANT APPLICATION FROM THE DAVENPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC The City Manager announced that the Davenport Historical Society was requesting a grant for the replacement of the Blue Star Memorial Highway Sign. Mayor Bradley announced that she had reached out to DOT and they had been very responsive. They were not aware that the sign was missing but would look into it and try to locate it. She asked the Historic Society to give them a little bit of time to see what they would do. If this was the fault of DOT or their contractors, then they should help pay for this sign. Davenport Historic Society President Harriet Rust and representative for the group voiced her appreciation on the Mayor s follow-up. She also expressed the importance of the Blue Star Memorial Highway and what it meant to its citizens and the need to educate the young people of the responsibilities of being citizens of the United States. Commissioner Fellows expressed the need to approve this request and show their support. 4

5 5. DISCUSSION OF DONATING CITY OWNED LOTS TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Mr. Steve Tiner, representative for Habitat for Humanity, took the floor and outlined an applicant s requirement in order to qualify for a Habitat for Humanity home as opposed to some beliefs of getting a free home. Mayor Bradley voiced her pleasure and pointed out that it was a win-win situation for the City. The City had lots that were sitting empty and building a home on them would bring in taxes for them. Vice-Mayor Lynch questioned if Habitat for Humanity worked with just donated lots or did they buy property. Mr. Tiner responded that they dealt mostly with donated lots. The City Manager informed them that she had forwarded a list of lots to Karen Tiner. She further added that the donation of these lots would need to be brought to them for approval. 6. DISCUSSION AND STATUS UPDATE ON THE 2016 CITY GOALS Met with Reiss to kick off hydraulic model project. Met with Reiss on sewer to move forward with expansion. Met with Furr Wegman on Master Plan for Lake Play and property owned by the School Board. She should get a proposal in a few days for approval at the May 23 rd meeting. Staff met with a group on a retirement plan and is waiting on costs. Reminder of Budget Workshops set for August 2 nd and August 4 th at 6:00 p.m. Police Department is hosting Bike Rodeo for June 4 th. Community Garden is full at the Police Department. Vegetables will be distributed to the citizens. Click it or Ticket starts May 23 rd. All City employees have been trained in CPR and the new AED units. Looking at providing the service to the residents. Building Permit Tech Clerk started today. A lot of the old developers are coming back and looking at doing something in the City. Public Services will be working on putting down millings at the Community Center. Camp Play is getting a lot of interest. Enrollment is for 1 st to 6 th grade children. ed monthly Departmental reports to them earlier. Talked with Kim with Tagarelli Construction and still interested but need to check with concrete provider on pricing. Bucket truck is scheduled for tree trimming throughout the City. Football field has been seeded. 5

6 Updated the Commission on the sewer smell issue. Amy informed them that DEP had made an inspection and pointed out two areas that need serious attention. The City has not been successful in finding anyone to fill the Utilities position with the required qualifications. Staff has been talking about moving James Clark to the lead Service Worker position and bringing in a firm to help with the plant operations. Staff is still very aware of the budget and do not plan on exceeding it. But if there was any, would make sure it is covered. Mayor Bradley pointed out that whenever they had hired James that the only way they could afford him was to get rid of the other firm. She further questioned would he take a cut in pay and how were they going to pay for the other company. Amy responded that James would go back to an hourly employee and most likely with the overtime he would not be seeing a reduction. Amy added that Central Electric would be the company that they would be using. They currently did the electric at the plants. They had two employees on board that were licensed operators. She emphasized that this would be a temporary thing until they found the right person to fill the position. Commissioner Williams asked when was DEP coming back and inspecting their correction to the sewer issues. Amy responded that they wanted them to respond back to them with a plan within 15 days. Received call from a resident at Crows Nest about smell coming from the Center Crest sewer plant. Staff will be investigating this further. Announced that Davenport Arts & Cultural Alliance are hosting Artists in the Park June 18 th from 9am to 12pm around Lake Play. In the audience, Mr. Abel Gonzales of 8 E. Cypress Street provided further detailed info on this event. Sign at Lewis Mathews Complex will be put up next week. Four lights are up but not operational but will follow up on this. 7. REVIEW OF THE MAY 23, 2016 REGULAR MEETING AGENDA Mayor Bradley questioned the cost of the fireworks display and how much had they received so far. Public Services Director Kelly Callihan informed them that they currently had $15,000 - $16,000 and hoped to raise $20,000. They were looking at spending $15,000 on fireworks and using the rest for advertisement, entertainment, banners, etc. Amy announced that she would also be adding the Resolution extending the terms for the Charter Review Committee to the Agenda. Regarding the demolition of the properties on Murphy Street, Mayor Bradley asked if the new owner would be paying for the demolition or was the City still stuck with 6

7 demolishing it. The Attorney responded that the City would be stuck with demolishing the house. Commissioner Fellows asked that they look at July to have the meeting on the review of the Charter so that everyone would be in attendance. Commissioner Williams referenced and outlined the and letter from Abel detailing the order of events in the review of the Charter. It was their job to review the proposed changes and either agree or disagree with them; and them rehashing the Charter was superfluous. Commissioner Lynch agreed. There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made by Mayor Bradley and seconded by Vice-Mayor Bobby Lynch. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing minutes are true and correct. Raquel Castillo, City Clerk 7