10-02-1984 Workshop Meeting
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CITY OF CLERMONT
MINUTES
WORKSHOP MEETING
October 2, 1984
A Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Clermont was
held Tuesday, October 2, 1984 in the City Hall Conference Room. The
Meeting was called to order by Mayor Beals at 7:40 p.m. with the
following Council Members in attendance: Council Members Henry,
Pool, Turville, and Cole. Other City Officials present were City
Manager Forbes and Public Works Director/Fire Chief Smythe.
FIRE CHIEF SMYTHE - FIRE TRUCK BIDS
Fire Chief Smythe appeared before Council to discuss the bids received
for a new 1,000 gallon per minute (GPM) commercial pumper with a 50'
telesquirt. He explained that there two options with the new fire
truck: Option A included a truck with a diesel engine, and Option B
included 12" handrails on the telesquirt.
Mr. Smythe explained that some of the bids did not include a gasoline
engine with this type of truck due to, in part, the weight of the truck,
but most importantly because new emission control standards would take
effect next year when the truck was being built. Due to the new emis-
sion control standards, many companies believe that a gasoline engine
would run too hot when the engine is idling during pumping.
The 12" handrail was requested on the telesquirt for rescue operations
and people climbing up and down the ladder.
The price of retrofitting the City's 1962 Ford Fire Truck with a tele-
squirt was discussed. For $91,682 the truck would be fitted with a 50'
telesquirt, and a new 250 gallon tank, the pump and valves would be
overhauled, and the truck would be repainted.
Mr. Smythe explained that he did not recommend this alternative due to
the age of the vehicle and that some structural modifications would have
to be made to the truck in order to carry the telesquirt.
The Council Members believed it would be best to purchase the American
La France vehicle with a base price of $139,907. There was much
discussion on the benefits and disadvantages of including Option A,
the diesel engine, which would cost an additional $7,340.
The financing was also explained. American La France was willing to
finance the purchase over a five year period of time at a 6.5% interest
rate. The City Manager explained that if the Council wished to purchase
this vehicle, the City should take the required down payment of 20% from
this year's Cash Reserves and place it in the City's Capital Replacement
Fund. In this manner, the down payment would ready when the vehicle was
delivered. The estimated delivery date is one year with no down payment
required until delivery.
It was the consensus of the Council to place this matter on the agenda
for, the October 9, 1984 City Council Meeting.
FIRE PROTECTION OUTSIDE OF THE CITY LIMITS
The City Manager discussed that all Council Members should have received
a letter from the Lake County Board of Commissioners concerning the pro-
vision of fire service outside of the City Limits. He suggested that
before a final decision could be made on this matter, Fire Chief Smythe
should meet with the Minneola and Groveland Fire Departments to determine
what areas would be covered and what revenues would be collected. Once
this information is obtained, a final decision could be made.
There were no Council objections to the Fire Chief and City Manager
looking into this matter and reporting back to Council.
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CITY OF CLERMONT
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October 2, 1984
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K & L CONTRACTORS
The City Manager explained that K & L Contractors had donated to the
City 651' of 6" asbestos cement pipe and 819' of 8" pipe. This is
much more pipe than the City would need, but K & L Contractors
wanted to get the pipe off their inventory, and donated it to
the City Utility Department.
CITY HALL LEASE
The City Manager explained that the lower level of City Hall
(approximately 1,800 square feet) was available for lease.
If there were no Council objections, the City would ask $600
per month for the office space.
Council Member Pool stated that this would be approximately $3
per square foot, and he knew some buildings on Highway 50 were
being leased for over $4 per square foot. The City Manager
stated that this might be true, but there were some limitations
on the City's lease. For instance, the City was allowing only
a four year lease with no renewals, was stipulating for office
use only, and the City could cancel this lease on 365 days
advance notice. The Council had no objections to asking $600
per month for lease of the space, and most felt this was the
minimum that the City should receive.
CITY GARAGE
The City Manager asked the Council if they would have any problems
with obtaining an appraisal of the City Garage property. The City
had some offers to purchase this 1 acre parcel of land on Lake
Minneola which is now barely adequate to meet the City's needs.
Mr. Forbes also explained that the best option would be for the
City to shut down the present facilities and move them to the
land the City owns at the Utility Department. The City also should
try to buy additional property at this location.
The Council Members had no objections to obtaining the appraisal on
the City Garage property.
EXPANSION OF WASTE TREATMENT PLANT
OPERATING PERMIT
The City Manager explained that the City has applied for a new
operating permit to rerate the treatment plant to 700,000 gpd.
Presently the plant is rated at 600,000 gpd. Many weeks ago
the City submitted all required documents to the DER for this
rerating. However, it takes a great deal of time for the
application to be processed.
Several developers were beginning to ask questions, because the
DER was rejecting their permits until the plant was rerated. All
indications from the DER are that there would be no problems with
rerating the plant to the higher capacity, but the process takes
several months.
SLUDGE
The City Manager explained that the City sludge was now rated as a
Class II Sludge by the new DER regulations. This means that the
City must have a general permit to dispose of the sludge on property
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CITY OF CLERMONT
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WORKSHOP MEETING
October 2, 1984
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other than city owned, and that there were many guidelines concerning
Class II Sludge disposal. He also explained that the only reason
our sludge was classified II was we exceed the parameters for Copper.
The amount of Copper in the City's sludge was 940 mg per kg, whereas,
the regulations state that the sludge cannot exceed 900 mg/kg to be
rated as Class I. There was much discussion as to why the Copper
reading was so high, and if some industry in the City was dumping
high amounts of Copper into the system.
The City Manager explained that manholes in various parts of the
City had been tested, and that while some rated slightly higher
than others, there could not be any amount of Copper attributed
to anyone Commercial or Industrial activity.
Paul Bradley from the City Engineer's office explained that this
was not unusual in that the only reason for high readings of Copper
in the sludge was due to concentration. Buck Evans, a resident of
Clermont, also had checked the calculations. He obtained the same
result, in that the reason for the high amount of Copper was due
to concentration. Clermont is not the only city in this predicament,
Leesburg and other cities are having the same problem.
The City has many options for the disposal of Class II Sludge and
one of the options is composting our sludge, whereby it could then
be used by any of our citizens. This method would be looked into by
Mr. Bradley with the expansion of the treatment plant. Mr. Forbes
stated that he thought composting would be very expensive compared
to the other alternatives. The City also was checking the possibility
of using the sludge on our own landspreading site, and the County may
have a landfill site for Class II sludge available within the next two
years. The Council directed the City Manager to check with the DER and
other cities to find out what solutions they were using for this problem,
and to keep them informed on this matter.
RATE SCHEDULE
The City Manager explained that the DER was asking numerous questions
about our proposed rate schedule and some minor modifications would
have to be made to the rate schedule. The changes primarily dealt
with the cost of gallons per thousand and for car washes.
It also was explained that DER regulations state that the rates must
be equal for each of the various classifications, unless it can be
shown that the treatability of wastes are different. He explained
that the City had gotten around this problem by making the rates
all equal, except for charging a disproportionate amount on the basic
service in order have the rates work out in the manner approved by
Council. He stated that although it was not certain at this point,
it appeared that the rates would be accepted by the DER.
SCHEDULE
The City Manager explained the schedule for the expansion of the
waste treatment plant. The present schedule states that plans and
specifications must be complete for the sprayfield and improvements
to the treatment plant by April of 1985. Should the City miss this
deadline, all Federal funds may be revoked. He explained some prob-
lems in that the City has not yet been able to reach an agreement
with the property owner on the purchase of the sixty acres of land
adjacent to the our existing sprayfield. Despite this matter, the
City should go ahead with planning and aerials for this property so
a topographical map could be obtained and proper engineering performed.
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WORKSHOP MEETING
October 2, 1984
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He also explained his concern that if the City did purchase the prop-
erty, there still was .a remote'possibility that the City could not
use it if a CUP could 'not be obtained from the County. The Council
discussed that the County Commissioners could be made aware of the
City's problems so there would be no delays in obtaining the CUP
approval.
Since there were no real alternatives at this point other than the
possible purchase of a more expensive site, Council Members stated
that they had no problems with going ahead with the planning required
for the site under negotiation, even though it has not been purchased.
CONTRACTS
It was explained that the City still does not have a contract with the
City Engineer for engineering services for the expansion of the waste
treatment plant. During a Workshop Meeting held several months ago,
an engineering agreement was approved, but it was subsequently rejected
by the Farmers Home Administration.
The City is now required to sign an engineering agreement which has
been jointly approved by the FmHA and the EPA. The preliminary contract
was reviewed in great detail by the Council with Paul Bradley from the
City Engineer's office. Each page of the contract and the costs were
discussed. A final cost breakdown is as follows:
Total Engineering Costs
$109,000
Additional Services
75,700
,
TOTAL COST ENGINEERING & ADDITIONAL SERVICES
$184,700
There was much discussion as to how these costs were determined, and
whether they were fair to the City. After much discussion with the
City Engineer, it was the consensus of the Council that these rates
were very close the FmHA percentage costs and were fair and equitable
for the City. Mr. Forbes stated that he would put the contract on
the next meeting's agenda for Council approval.
There being no further business,
meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
ATTEST:
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CLERK