CITY OF
COMMISSION MEETING
TUESDAY, JUNE 10,
2008
REGULAR MEETING – 5:30
PM
MINUTES
The North Lauderdale City Commission met on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at the Municipal Complex.
The meeting convened at 5:35 p.m.
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE –Vice Mayor Cangemi gave the invocation.
2.
ROLL CALL – Clerk called roll. All present,
with the exception that Commissioner
Mayor
Vice Mayor
Commissioner Gary
Frankel
Commissioner Rich Moyle
Commissioner David G.
Hilton
City Manager
City Attorney Samuel S. Goren
3.
MINUTES
a.
May 29, 2008 – A motion to approve the minutes as submitted was made by Commissioner
Moyle. Seconded by Vice-Mayor
Cangemi. All yes.
4.
PRESENTATIONS - None
5.
PROCLAMATIONS - None
6.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION
Sheriff Al
Lamberti: Sheriff Lamberti addressed the Commission to
speak about the transition of a transfer of former North Lauderdale Police
Officers’ City of
Richard Brickman,
President – Broward
Vice Mayor Cangemi said there are no out of pocket expenses to the
City? Mr. Brickman responded, no, that
the money comes from the 401 Plan or the individual officers themselves. He said the City would only be the conduit to
write the check, and FRS only needs one check from the City. Commissioner Moyle asked, “can we do this” and Mr. Sala said they
have been working on this for the past several months and it is his
understanding that the City can not do this.
Mr. Sala said he will send a formal letter to them, rejecting the
request. Mayor Brady said, if Coconut
Creek did this, why can’t we if it is just a transfer of funds. Commissioner Hilton said he is curious as to
why it can’t be done. Mr. Sala said he
has a letter from Ronald Clare in Sheriff Lamberti’s office saying that the
employee needs to go directly to FRS, and not through the City. Further, Mr. Sala said he has had numerous
conversations with Joyce Morgan in
Vice Mayor Cangemi made a
motion to direct the City Manager to arrange to meet with FRS to get the matter
resolved as soon as possible.
Commissioner Hilton seconded the motion.
All in favor.
Paula Hocenic: Ms. Hocenic addressed the Commission
regarding the
Andrea Kennedy: Ms. Kennedy addressed the Commission regarding
Marguerita Flajole: Ms. Flajole said she has lived in her
townhouse on
City Attorney Sam Goren said since the last Commission meeting he met
with Public Works Director Mike Shields and looked at public record data. He said it is an issue that Commissioner
Frankel, City Commission and City Administration have been concerned about for
a number of years. Further he said the
plat goes back to 1972 and said it is a unique piece of property. Mr. Goren explained that there are no public
streets in this development and although the easements were dedicated, there
are no other publicly dedicated streets or roads, and the developer never
conveyed the water and sewer lines or the laterals to the City. Mr. Goren gave examples of other developments
that did convey those items to the City.
Mr. Goren further said that the City, because of a health and safety
issue, is making an exception and going ahead and repairing a leak and
assessing the cost which is under a thousand dollars. But, he said the bigger fix is to have the
community form a homeowners association to have a unified voice and Mr. Goren
offered his pro bono services to assist in doing that. Further he said that you cannot fix water and
sewer lines on a per property basis, because they are all connected. Mr. Goren also explained that they could
individually offer the city a conveyance to the property, if the City wished to
accept it. Mr. Goren further stated that
the Commission, Administration and Staff are not taking the issue lightly and
want to work to resolve the issue. Mr.
Goren said a first step is that all the owners must be identified. Andrea Kennedy spoke again and said she will
try to contact the owners to urge them to convey their property but is
concerned about future financial responsibilities. Mr. Goren said that the conundrum here is
that they do not know what the costs will be, until the problem is defined. City Manager Sala said that the City needs a
release from the homeowners before the City can go on the private property to
do repairs.
Ronald Johnson: Mr. Johnson questioned what the conveyance of
the property means and why they have to do that. Attorney Goren and City Manager Sala
explained that the City has only permission to walk on the easements, but
doesn’t have permission to touch the pipes.
Mr. Johnson spoke of the problems with the water leaks as well as the
problems in the roads.
Bruce Tumin,
Luis Carrillo,
6268 Blvd. of Champions: (Signed up, but
did not address the Commission)
7.
OTHER BUSINESS
a.
ORDINANCE – First Reading: Mid-Year
(3/31/08) Review and Budget Amendment
Commissioner Moyle made a motion to read.
Seconded by Commissioner Hilton.
Attorney read title:
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
Mr. Sala asked the Finance Director, Debbie Sears, to give an overview of
the mid-year budget. Ms. Sears gave a power-point presentation. She highlighted some of the items that were a
part of the agenda backup which was a detailed explanation of the four
different operating funds which are General Fund; Fire/Rescue Special Revenue
Fund; Utilities Enterprise Fund and the Information Technology Internal
Services Fund. Ms. Sears showed the mid-year
review and went over some year-end projections and asked for some amendments
for the 2008 year. She said over all the
budget is being achieved, but there are a couple of “housekeeping” items which
require Commission approval to move funds within two departments. Ms. Sears showed some of the favorable and
unfavorable variances. She said clearly
a lot of the reason for the favorable variances is the pro-active approach that
the City Administration has provided to get the costs down in various
departments. She said also, in the
revenue section, some of the reasons for the decrease in revenue from what was
expected are due to the economy. But she
said the costs coming down in some departments are offsetting the loss of
revenue in other departments.
Commissioner Moyle made a
motion to approve the mid year budget amendment on first reading. Seconded by Commissioner Hilton. No discussion. Clerk polled Commission. All yes.
b.
RESOLUTION - Preliminary Fire/Rescue Special Assessment Program
Commissioner Moyle made a motion to read.
Seconded by Commissioner Hilton.
Attorney read title:
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, RELATING TO THE PROVISION OF FIRE RESCUE
SERVICES, FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS IN THE CITY OF NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA;
ESTABLISHING THE ESTIMATED RATE FOR FIRE RESCUE ASSESSMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2008; DIRECTING THE PREPARATION OF AN ASSESSMENT ROLL;
AUTHORIZING A PUBLIC HEARING AND DIRECTING THE PROVISION OF NOTICE THEREOF; AND
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Debbie Sears gave a power-point presentation overview of the Fire Department highlights and said the main difference from last year is the opening of the Public Safety Complex. She outlined some of the Fire Rescue statistics and reminded the Commission about the assessment itself and said there was a 3 year rate study done last year. She said this is the second year of the three year rate study. She said basically you recognize that your need a rate increase in the first year, and then smooth it over in the next two years. She said the small increase from last year is $6.00 per year for single family and $10.00 per year for multi-family and also small increases in the Commercial, Industrial-Warehouse and Institutional Property Use categories. Mr. Sala said this is the second year, however, the third year, looking ahead, there may be a possibility they will come back to the Commission to allow an adjustment.
Commissioner Moyle made a motion to adopt. Seconded by Commissioner Hilton. No
discussion. Clerk polled
Commission. All yes.
RESOLUTION NO. 08-06-5337 PASSED
AND ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY
City Attorney Goren said that at the next Commission meeting the North
Lauderdale Water Control District will present an assessment to be considered
at the September 12th meeting.
8.
REPORTS
a.
Summer Camp –Mike Sargis gave a verbal report on the start of the Summer Camp program
and said they have a little over 500 kids registered for the first session and
a little over 550 for the second session.
He said they are using the second floor of the high school building, and
invited the Commission to visit any time, as the kids enjoy when the
Commissioners come by. Mr. Sargis said
they will have some activities in the evenings and he will put in on the
Commissioners’ calendar so they can participate. Mr. Sargis also said that as part of the
budget process last year they did raise the fees for the program which is
$450.00 for eight weeks and is still one of the less expensive in the area,
which is one reason why it maxed its capacity early on in the registration
process. He said there is a waiting list
of just under 100 kids, and that of those registered, 97% are
9.
COMMISSION COMMENTS
Vice Mayor Cangemi thanked Mike Shields and Mike Sargis for the help of
their crews in working on the wall project.
He said mostly he would like to thank City Manager, Richard Sala. He said he doesn’t think most people know
that this is a wonderful thing and spoke about the accolades he has heard
regarding bringing Wyland to our City and getting this done. He also said there are many things going on
which are positive, such as the new Fire House.
Mr. Sala said we have to bolster the investment and protect it and that
the wall is a cornerstone of the community and that surrounding cities would
have loved to have the opportunity.
Mayor Brady also thanked the city manager and said Wyland is a great
artist and said most of the services for the project were donated.
Commissioner Moyle said that some have said it is a foolish expenditure,
but that it is short-sighted to not realize what a historic honor it is to have
Wyland in our City. He said this is
something given to our community and for
Commissioner Moyle further spoke about a resident’s comment about not
going to the voters for specific things such as the wall project and he would
like residents to understand that they are a democracy in a republic and that
essentially it means the general election for elected officials takes place and
that is a democracy. He said once the
officials are elected everything that is allowed by State Law to be done as a
project or repair is up to the officials sitting on the dais. Commissioner Moyle further said that the
reason they sit on the dais is to make decisions in a democratic way.
10.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS
Mr. Sala reminded the Commission about the events of the week with regard
to the Wyland Wall.
11.
CITY ATTORNEY COMMENTS
Mr. Goren said he will provide a memorandum, in rebuttal to Mr. Tumin’s
assail on the Commission, regarding the facts and findings that he addressed
with the Finance Director. Mr. Goren said
the City is totally above board, is consistent with the constitution and that
there was nothing that required voter approval except the’79 bond issue and the
’04 bond issue for the fire station which were validated by a court proceeding
and voted on by the public.
12.
ADJOURNMENT – There being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 7:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia Vancheri