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11-05-2003 Workshop Meeting CITY OF CLERMONT MINUTES WORKSHOP MEETING November 5, 2003 Page 1 A Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Clermont was held at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 5, 2003 at the City Council Chambers. Mayor Turville and Council Members Ash, Caputo, Mullins and Renick were present at the meeting. Also present were City Manager Saunders, Administrative Services Director Joseph Van Zile and Utilities Director/Engineer Tamara Richardson. Mayor Turville welcomed those present. The first item of discussion was a request by Shannon Elswick. Mr. Elswick addressed the City Council regarding his desire to relocate a Barbershop Harmony Group to the Clermont area and would like to utilize Jenkins Auditorium on Tuesday night for rehearsals for no charge. Mr. Elswick stated the group would be agreeable to paying the building opening charge but are requesting that the hourly rental be waived. Mr. Elswick continued by stating that their group could provide performances for the City. After a discussion there was a consensus that Mr. Elwick should meet with Chamber of Commerce representatives and City Manager Saunders to come up with a proposed agreement to present to the City Council for consideration. The next item on the agenda was Jan Sheldon representing the "Moonlight Players". Ms. Sheldon gave an overview of the Moonlight Players current situation and their financial challenges. She stated that the players will need some type of help to survive in the future and the help could be either monetary or possibly a location for performances. After a discussion there was a consensus that City Council would see if there was any assistance that the City could provide in the future for the Moonlight Players. Mr. Greg Mahalic, Economic Development Director for Lake County, addressed the City Council regarding the proposed relocation of the Iron Man North America Corp. to Clermont. Mr. Mahalic stated that Iron Man North America is proposing to move their corporate headquarters, along with a minimum of 16 full time jobs to Clermont and that they are eligible Enterprise Florida Incentive Tax Credits due to the jobs that they are creating. Mr. Mahalic further stated that this is federal money and requires a $16,000 local match and Lake County has committed to the match but is requesting the City of Clermont to share this responsibility in the 3rd and 4th years. Mayor Turville suggested that as soon as the details have been received regarding the location of the Corporate Headquarters that the council could consider Mr. Mahalic's request. Mr. Mahalic stated that he would provide the City with additional information as it becomes available. City Manager Saunders explained that the next item on the Agenda is a review of the alternative analysis for the west wastewater treatment plant. Mr. Vic Godlewski, with Boyle Engineering presented a summary of the report along with their recommendation to close the west plant and reroute sewer to the east plant. He further stated this would require an expansion of the east plant to accommodate the additional flow from the west side. Mr. Godlewski explained the costs associated with both options and some pros and cons associated with the options. After considerable discussion it was the consensus of Council that a revised budget for alternative 2, which is to close the west plant, be established with an definite route for the force main that will transport the west side sewer to the east side. Council Members expressed their concern over the route in relationship to lakes and the impact on other areas of the City. CITY OF CLERMONT MINUTES WORKSHOP MEETING November 5, 2003 Page 2 Mr. Godlewski stated that he would work with City staffto better define a route for the force main and adjust the budget as necessary. City Manager Saunders stated that as soon as the information is available he would schedule another meeting for City Council to review. City Manager Saunders stated that the next item for discussion was the Center Lake Project. Mr. Saunders gave a history of the project which was to be a flood control and water treatment project partially funded by the Lake County Water Authority. City Engineer Richardson gave additional information regarding the project. City Manager Saunders stated that there were considerable delays in receiving the permits from the St. Johns Water Authority and now the contractor for the job has backed out of project leaving the City with the options of trying to see if the second Iow bidder would be willing to do the project, which City Engineer Richardson said would cost the City an additional $70,000 over the low bid. City Manager Saunders stated that it was staff's recommendation that the City reconsider the scope of the project and eliminate the flood control part of the project and concentrate only on the water quality portion of the project which includes swells around the lake to catch the first flush of rain water. City Engineer Richardson stated that she has had discussion with the Lake County Water Authority and they have indicated that they may be interested in doing some larger projects in the future and that the runoff from Hwy 50 going into Center Lake could possibly qualify for one of their future projects. After considerable discussion City Engineer Richardson stated that she would recommend that the Council modify the project as stated and request the Lake County Water Authority to amend the grant to allow the City to amend the project in hopes of retaining the grants funds that have been put aside for this project. It was the consensus that the City staffmove ahead and meet with the water authority for modification of the project as discussed. The next item to be discussed was the proposed personnel policy regarding employee's background checks. Administrative Services Director Van Zile provided a document to each Council Member and reviewed the major points of the background process. There were no proposed changes. Mr. Van Zile stated he would provide this item at a future meeting for approval by the City Council. City Manager Saunders stated that the Lake Community Action Agency is requesting that the City provide a name of the City's representative for the upcoming year for the Lake Community Action Agency. Mr. Saunders stated that Council Member Ash was currently serving in that capacity. Ms. Ash stated that she would be willing to continue. Mr. Saunders stated that the City is also allowed to provide the name of an alternate in the event that Ms. Ash cannot be present. ARer a brief discussion Council Members agreed due to the complexity of the issues that the Agency address, that an alternated would be ineffective and decided not to name an alternate. Mayor Turville asked if there were any other items to be discussed. The issue of illegal parking on Highland Avenue, between Bloxam Avenue and Highway 27 was discussed. Mayor Turville stated that he has received additional complaints about engine braking problem of semi trucks on SR 50 and Mr. Caputo advised the same problem exists on Hancock Road. Mr. Saunders stated that he has made several calls in the past to the Department of Transportation to see ifsignage could be placed on Hwy 50 to control this problem. Mr. Saunders suggested that possibly a resolution from the City Council may be the next step. CITY OF CLERMONT MINUTES WORKSHOP MEETING November 5, 2003 Page 3 City Manager Saunders advised that the City could possibly be eligible for a CDBG Grant to assist with the stormwater project on Bloxam Avenue. After a discussion it was the consensus that the City move forward with meeting the requirements for grant application. City Manager Saunders informed the City Council that a proposed closing date for the purchase of the Bell property has been scheduled for the following week. He stated than an environmental assessment for the site has been completed for the site that indicated there were no problems with the site. Mr. Saunders further stated that an asbestos assessment of the structures has been completed and asbestos was found to be in some of the structures and that could result in the worse case scenario of approximately $100,000 in demolition cost. Mr. Saunders stated that staff had anticipated that asbestos would be found in this facility due to the age of the structures. Council Member Mullins discussed with the Council the issue of smoking in the City parks and stated that he had received complaints regarding smokers around groups of children, including City workers that had been smoking in the area of children in some of the parks. Council Member Ash stated that she was surprised by the significant decrease in the amount of overtime used by the Police Department for the current month and stated that she did not understand how there could be such a significant decrease without creating some other type of problems. City Manger Saunders stated that he would direct Chief Story to provide a report explaining the decrease that has been accomplished over the last month. Council Member Ash stated that she had been given a form regarding the Organized Crime Drag Enforcement Task Force overtime and that Lori Conlee is listed on the form as "Detective." Ms. Ash questioned whether Ms. Conlee was still working with the Task Force or had been placed on patrol as had been indicated by City Manager Saunders. She also questioned why Officer Conlee was listed as a detective on this form. City Manager Saunders stated that Officer Conlee has been working road patrol and that he was not familiar with the form Ms. Ash was referring to but he would find out the status of the form and report back to the City Council. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:38 p.m.. Attest/ / //~ Tracy Acl~oyd, City C~ol~k