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11-17-1987 Workshop Meeting WORKSHOP MEETING November 17, 1987 A Workshop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Clermont was held Tuesaay, November 17, 1987, in the City Hall Conference Room. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Pool with the following Council Members in attendance: Mayor Pro Tem Turville, Council Member Huff, and Council Member Cole. Also present were City Manager Saunders, Finance Director Van Zile, City Planner McAllister, City Engineer Springstead and City Attorney Baird. LAKE WINONA BRIDGE City Manager Saunders explained to the Council that only one bid was received for the replacement of the Lake Winona Bridge. Cone Con- struction in Tampa was the sole bidder on this project at $382,000. Mr. Springstead explained that he had spoken with two prospective bidders who indicated they would have b~d the job, but did not because they did not have time to prepare their bids. However, they stated they would be interested in doing the job for the City. Now that the project has been bid twice and all bids-rejected,' the possibility of the City Engineer and City Manager negotiating a price with on~ of the bidders was discussed. It was the con- sensus of Council that this would be the next course of action. City Attorney Baird advised that should an acceptable price be arrived at with one of the bidders, the other bidders would have to be offered the opportunity to the job at that price. If others did indicate that they would be willing to the job at that price, the project would then have to be rebid. City Manager Saunders explained that the Lake Winona Bridge bid was not on the agenda for the next meeting, but that he would bring the matter before Council and recommend rejection of the bid, so the City could move forward as quickly as possible with the negotiations. City Engineer Springstead also explained that three bids had been received on the East Avenue Sewer Extension Project, and recommended that the low bid be rejected due to the bid forms not being completed correctly. He felt that if there was a problem later on with the job, and additional work had to be done, there could be major problems due to the manner in which the bid forms were submitted. City Manager Saunders stated that he would discuss these bids with City Engineer Springstead, Public Works Director Smythe and Utility Director Davis, and that the item is on the agenda of the next Council Meeting. PROPOSED HIGHLANDER ESTATES SUBDIVISION Ch~rlie True, Engineer for Gene Langley's project, presented an overview of the proposed subdivision and recreational dedication to Council. Mr. Langley and he explained that in the computation of the recreational dedication, that they had taken credit for 1.22 acres of right-of-way that has been set aside along Grand Highway and also had used the sixty foot right-of-way around Clear Lake, which they had requested to be closed along with other streets in the area. City.Manager Saunders stated that the following three major issues must be dealt with by Council concerning the~r request: 'e - WORKSHOP MEETING November 17, 1987 Page -2- 1. Whether or not to give credit for the approximately 1.25 acres of additional right-of-way along Grand Highway, 2. Whether or not to close the sixty feet of right-of-way that the City now has around Clear Lake, which would be returned to the City as part of the required park dedi- cation, and 3. Whether or not the computation of $30,000 per acre for improvements is an accurate computation. Mr. Langley proposes to spend $36,000 in improvements to the park area, for which he would take 1.25 acres of credit toward the land dedication. After considerable discussion, it was the consensus of Council that a park around the lake would not be as beneficial to the City or to the residents of the area as would a more compact park located on the west side of the lake, between the lake and East Avenue. It was also the consensus of Council that the $30,000 per acre figure was a reasonable figure to use when calculating a reduction in land for monies to be used in improving the park areas. Mr. Turville requested that at least 2.5 acres of property be included in the dedication. Mr. True and Mr. Langley indicated that they would resubmit a revised proposed parks dedication recommendation to the City for further con- sideration. Mr. True also explained that he would be preparing the legal descrip- tions of the required easements to the south of their property and for the proposed sewer line on the Blackburn property. At this point (approximately 8:15), Mr. Langley, Mr. True and members of the audience who had attended with them left the meeting. FIRE AND POLICEMEN'S PENSION FUND City Manager Saunders and Finance Director Van Zile explained to Council the changes that must be made in the Fire and Policemen's Pension Plan in order for the City to remain eligible to receive State Insurance Premium Tax monies. After much discussion of the economic impact on the City if the changes were not made, it was the consensus of Council to place this item on on the agenda of a future meeting. City Manager Saunders stated that this matter would be placed on the agenda of the November 24, 1987 meeting. Council Member Turville stated that he would like the police officers and firemen to vote on the additional benefits that are to be considered for inclusion in the pension plan, and to express to them that it is the Council's desire to include the benefit that the majority of employees preferred. BOND ISSUE The possibility of the City issuing a bond to obtain funds based upon the recently adopted one cent sales tax was discussed. Mr. Van Zile and Mr. Saunders indicated that they had spoken with investment bankers and were in the process of compiling a five year capital outlay plan for the City, but at this p~int could not see the benefit in bonding the money until specific projects were established on which to spend it. e e WORKSHOP MEETING November 17, 1987 Page -3- PERSONNEL POLICY REVISIONS City Manager Saunders advised Council that he was in the process of revising the City Personnel Policy, but there was one item he would like to address regarding holidays. He explained that we were contacted earlier in the week by a reporter from the Sentinel doing a survey on holidays in governmental units, and out of the thirty units surveyed, Clermont provided the lowest number of holidays to its employees. Mr. Saunders continued by stating that he ~new Clermont was the lowest in Lake County by providing only seven paid holidays, and that he believed nine paid holidays would be more in line with the rest of the County. Mr. Saunders also stated that nine paid holidays would be included in the proposed revisions to the per- sonnel policy. One of the additional proposed holidays would be for Christmas Eve, and Mr. Saunders asked the Council their feelings toward granting that additional holiday for this year, prior to the revisions to the personnel policy being made. Mayor Pool stated that he had been at City Hall on Christmas Eve last year, and observed very little activity. City Manager Saunders stated that Christmas Eve day was always very slow, and that emergency service personnel would still work as usual on holidays. It was the consensus of Council that this matter should be addressed at the November 24, 1987 Council Meeting. There being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. ~e r!C~ Attest: ~ Ifl(j?city Clerk