07-13-1983 Workshop Meeting
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CITY OF CLERMONT
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MINUTES
WORKSHOP MEETING
July 13, 1983
A Workshop Meeting of the'City Council of the City of Clermont was
held Wednesday, July 13, 1983 in the City Hall Conference Room.
The Meeting was called to order by at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Beals with
the following Council Members in attendance: Mayor Pro Tem Pool,
Council Member 'Turville, Council Member Dupee, and Council Member
Cole. Other City Officials present were City Manager Forbes and
Finance Director Saunders.
GRANT FOR EXPANSION OF WASTE TREATMENT PLANT
City Manager Forbes explained the status of the expansion of the
waste treatment plant. He explained that the City's 201 Plan was
complete and a formal application for the grant was required to be
submitted on Friday, July 15, 1983. He explained. the grant docu-
ments, and Mayor Beals signed all the required grant certifications.
Mr. Forbes will hand carry the grant application to Tallahassee on
Friday morning. The application will also include engineering docu-
ments and a complete cost breakdown between the City, State, and
Federal governments. It was explained that the figures were in the
process of being calculated and that the City Manager would meet
with the City Engineer on Thursday afternoon to complete the ap-
plication.
The purchase of additional land for the City's landspreading project
was also discussed. The City has been discussing the possibility of
purchasing land with a number of land owners near the present land-
spreading site. As of yet, no options have been obtained, but the
City Manager was hopeful that one would be obtained in the near future.
It was explained that in the Department of Environmental Regulation's
instructions for wastewater management grants that a clear site cer-
tificate must only be presented at the time plans and specifications
are submitted, i~ the grantee has a Step 2 plus Step 3 grant such as
Clermont's. Step 1 includes the City's 201 Plan, Step 2 is a prep-
aration of the City's plans and specifications, and Step 3 is the
actual construction of improvements. Since it will be many months
before the plans and specifications must be submitted, the City
should have time to purchase additional property. The City Manager
stated that he would be discussing this matter with DER Officials in
Tallahassee on Friday, and was hopeful'that there would be no prob-
lems.
The engineering agreements that would be submitted with the application
would be unsigned"it. was recommended that before any agreement was
signed, the City Engineer give a complete explanation of the costs in-
volved and what the contract covered.
One of the reasons the application was so difficult to prepare is be-
cause the cost breakdown between the City, State, and Federal govern-
ment was changing. It appears as though the Federal EPA is now will-
ing to exempt the City from the current advanced treatment review
process. This would mean that the EPA would fund 55% of the total
project cost for the treatment plant expansion and landspreading system.
This does not mean that you can take the total project costs and multi-
ply it by 55%, because not all project costs are eligible for funding.
The Federal government's standards are only 40 mg per litre for bio-
logical oxygen demand (BOD) and 60 mg per litre for suspended solids
in secondarily treated effluent, whereas, the State and Local regu-
lations require 20 mg per litre (BOD) and 20 mg per litre for suspended
solids. If the State and Local requirements are more strict than the
Federal requirements, the Federal government will not pick up the extra
costs to meet the State and Local requirements. It was further discussed
that the latest letter from the EPA indicated that they would recognize
the City's landspreading process and reimburse the City for its land-
spreading system. As soon as a complete cost breakdown is submitted,
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CITY OF CLERMONT
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MINUTES
WORKSHOP MEETING
July 13, 1983
it will be given to the City Council.
PROPOSED 1983-1984 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET
DR Form 420, Certificate of Taxable Value from the Property Appraiser's
Office,was discussed with the Council Members. It was explained that
the instructions on the original form were from the State were in error,
which resulted in an erroneous revenue figure in the proposed budget.
Finance Director Saunders submitted three new pages for the Council's
Proposed Budget Workbooks. The City's proposed m~llage was discussed,
and the Council agreed to reduce the millage from 2.793 to 2.595 for
this fiscal year. This millage rollback is designed to allow the
City to receive exactly the same funds from the property tax as in the
previous year. It was explained that in order to receive any additional
funds from property tax (excluding new growth), the City would be~n~qu~red
,to file an advertisement of a Notice Of Tax Increase. The Council
Members felt this was not necessary at this time and agreed on the lower
millage rate. The first tentative public budget hearing will be held
on Tuesday, September 6th at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.
The Finance Director was directed to place this information on the DR
Form 420, along with the millage rate of 2.595 and return it to the
Property Appraiser's Office.
The City Manager read through the Budget Message and explained some
changes which were necessary to reflect the new millage rate and pro-
posed expenditures. He explained that total expenditures in all funds
were at a slight reduction from the previous year, largely due to the
fact the City would be spending less Revenue Sharing money. The
Budget Message was reviewed page by page and the expenditures, revenues,
and financial condition of each of the funds was discussed. There was
a lengthy discussion of the Sanitation Fund and the City's incentive
program on garbage collection. Council Member Turville believed that
the City's method of allowing sanitation workers to go home when the
work was completed each day needed better management because he could
not believe that the garbage was always properly picked up. He felt
that better managment would improve productivity, and that the hours
worked each day by the sani tat ion workers' (li.d';'n'o~L :jus~t ify'"thelip;rogram ;:;,,;uco
Much discussion on the pros and cons of this system ensued.
The Council Members agreed that over the next few weeks we would go
through each department individually and review the capital requests,
and line item expenditures. The General Fund - Administration
capital requests were reviewed. Finance Director Saunders explained
his request ~or three,~ ceiling fans, a microfilm reader/printer,
and a copy machine. There were no Council objections to these capital
expenditures or the line item expenditures. The City Manager explained
that additional funds were budgeted under Code Enforcement since the
City's present building inspector would be retiring in June. He,
explained that these additional funds would be necessary to allow a
replacement Code Enforcement Director to work with Mr. Nagel for a
limited period of time to receive proper orientation to the new job.
The Capital Expenditures by the Police Department were explained. The
Council Members reviewed requests for a fingerprint comparator, ~ new
telephone system (three line system instead of the present two line
system), two legal file cabinets, three personal lockers, and one chair
for a dispatcher, one new radar set, and two cameras. The Council
Members had no problems with these expenditures, although they did re-
quest that the $430 budgeted for two cameras be investigated as to the
type of cameras and lenses.
The Council Members also reviewed a request by the Police Depart~ent
for an addition to their building for storage. The City Manager ex-
plained that due to expense of expansion, it might be beneficiali for
the City to proceed more rapidly with the sale of unclaimed proPrrty
which is presently taking up a great deal of space in the Policel
Department. The Police Department is in the process of reviewing a
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CITY OF CLERMONT
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MINUTES
WORKSHOP MEETING
July 13, 1983
policy for the disposal of surplus property and in the future will
be disposing of said property in a regular manner. It was also
explained that once records were taken from the Lake Avenue Well
Building and microfilmed, some space would be available for the
Police Department's use. It was also discussed that the Chief
had requested one new man for the department. The possible need
of a second investigator was discussed in great detail, however,
it was pointed out that with the tax reduction bill on the ballot
in one year, now was not the proper time to expand Police personnel.
Mr. Forbes explained that the alternative would be to fund $2,000
in the Police Budget for the part-time Police Officers Program.
This would allow extra officers to help at special events or during
special times of the year. This system is working well at this time
and the City Manager stated that he was enthusiastic about the poten-
tial of the Program.
The Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
~ 4, ):3. r3-f~~
Charles B. Beals, Mayor
Attest:
w~ J~- )
Way~ Saunders, Clty Clerk