Loading...
01-02-1940 Regular MeetingAnk MW CITY OF CLERMONT MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL HELD AT THE CITY HAIL, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1940, 7:30 P.M. The meeting was called to ord,:r by president O.F.Keene, other Councilmen present being R.L.Lassiter, F.B.Roe, and R. M. Stackhouse -absent, A.M.Johnson. Mayor H.C.Brown, City Attorney Geo.F.Westbrock, Marshall H.S.Cleaver, Street & Water Superintendent R.F.Anderson, and Tax Assessor -elect, W.M. Thomas were also present. Minutes of the meetings Dec.5 and Dec 19, were read and approved. Mr. Stackhouse made a motion that all tax money received be kept in a funds separate from the General Fund.. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rog, and when put to a vote, carried. By motion of mr. Stackhouse, seconded by Mr. Roe, and carried, the following bills were approved, and ordered paid when funds are available - 41063 In'terest & Sinking Fund 4074.79�ransfer 4 Del. Tax Note Fund 1422.29 transfer 5 Spec.Refunding Exp.Fund 271.56,transfer 6 W. F.Williams 25.00 �; 7 Interest & Sinking Fund 500.00 transfer 8 Citizens Bank of Clermont 4596.50 Int. 9 Geo. F. Westbrook 66.50 1070 R.F.House 125.00 1 Ti.S.Cleaver 125.00 2 R.F.Anderson 85.00 3 Geo. F. ?,Vestbrook 2500 . 4.John P. Achord 25. 00 5 Mrs. Rose M. Sharpe 10.00 6 Fla Telephone Corp 15.80 '�, Fla Public Service Co 0. K. Ice Co 310 9 ; 1. 5 9 Sanger Builders Supply 19.82' 1080 Clermont Press 22.50 2 Dorothy House 31.671--' 3 Cash -payroll & pwtty 148.86 1 F. R. Roe 9.70L,/, i Dr.E.M.Coleman 3.00`, 6 Achnrdfs Garage 7 Postal Development Co 3.75.j 8 Cash -Fire calls 18.0011/ 9 Interest & Sinking Fund 812 .95 '�ransfer 1090 Del. Tax N6te Fund 375.12�transfer on new bonds The bill of C.H.Willard was approved for payment as soon as tracing of survey and blue print for record is received. Mr. Roe made a motion, seconded by Mr. Stackhouse, that the City Clerk furnish. the Mayor a list of all unpaid City occupational licenses. "'hen put to a votel, the motion carried. Veyor Browngs report was read and he asked th-t a letter received by him from Mr. r",eo. Westbrook, City Attorney, be read in full. At the conclusion of the reading of the letter, Mr. Roe made a motion that the letter be published in full, as it contained information of interest to all the property owners in Clermont. When put to a vote, the motion carried. A copy of the letter in full appears following these minutes. Marshal Cleaver's Report was read and approved. Report of the fire c4ief was read and ordered filed. The Committee named to have the alley clayed in block 81 was continued. CITY OF CIE RMONT Minutes of City Council, man.2, 1939 page 2 Mr. Stackhouse made a motion, seconed by Mr. Lassiter, that the ordinances on collection of water accountsbe enforced. Iglen put to a vote, the motion carried. Por. Stackhouse made a motion that in all cases of street paving next to a lake shore, where the assessment lien for all the paving wass assessed to the property on the side of the paving opposite the lake, the City Clerk cancel one-half the assessment, provided the property owner relinquishes all _ private rights to the property on the lake shore side of the p _ paving. Mr. Lassiter seconded the motion, and when put to a vote, the motion carried. Mr. Lassiter made a motion that all special assessment liens for dredging lakes be cancelled. The motion was seconded by Mr. Roe, and when put to a vete, carried. The Council then adjourned, to meet at the call of the president for re -organizing for +.he coming year. City Clerk Aft President Mty Council rN January 2, 1940 Mr. H. C. Brown - - - Mayor, City of Clermont Clermont, Florida Dear Mr, Brown: Some three weeks ago, I received a letter from you, sent by direction of the City Council, expressing the thanks of yourself and the Council for my efforts in connec- tion with the refunding of the debt of the City. My failure to respond more promptly is not due to any lack of appreciation of your letter, but because of the fact that I wished to explain more fully what is yet re- quired of the citizens of Clermont to make the refunding a complete success. Of course I appreciate greatly the kind words of your letter, and, while it is said with no conceit on my part, I rdalize that I have had perhaps more to do with the settlement of our financial problems than any other one man, yet my efforts would have been fruitless had I not received the cooperation of the Mayor and the City Council. No one could have received any better cooperation than I have had from all officials of the City, and to you and the members of the Council is due much of the credit which you ascribe to me. It now becomes necessary to remind the Mayor, the City Council, and all of the citizens of Clermont of the further steps necessary in our refunding program. It is true that we have the agreement of a large majority of the credit- ors; it is true that the bankruptcy suit was brought to a successful conclusion in the Federal Court, in spite of oppo- sition; it is true that, by decree of the Federal Court, all of our former indebtedness has been wiped out, and we have been refinanced with a current debt of only 50% of the former debt, and greatly reduced interest; it is true that sufficient taxes have been collected to pay the first installment of in- terest on the new bonds, and such interest is being paid today on such bonds as are in the hands of the Exchange Agent, the Citizens Bank of Clermont. These are all facts, but much more remains to be done. The language of the learned Federal Judge who heard our case is very pertinent here: "Your majority creditors have done their part in agreeing to one of the most lenient settlements ever known; your law- yers have done their part in successfully overcoming the opposition of a few; and the Court has done its part when it places in effect the plan of composition agreed to by the City and a large majority of its creditors; it is now up to _ the people of Clermont to make the plan a success. It is necessary to collect 75% or more of all taxes levied to make the payments ordered by the Court; it is necessary to collect ALL of the paving assessments within a reasonable time, for, out of these paving assessments must be paid the cost of refunding, and, eventually, the retirement of a large portion of the new debt. The City remains under the jurisdiction of the Federal Court; the exact language of the decree is "the City shall promptly and diligently enforce the collection of all taxes and assessments". Under this decree, any member of the Council, the mayor, the City Attorney, and the City Clerk, —• may be cited for contempt of the Federal Court if any of us neglect our duty. I hope all citizens of Clermont will under- stand that the City officials have NO DISCRETION WHATEVER about this. They must enforce the collection laws, or they may be sent to jail for failure to do so. Taxes become delinquent on April 1, and under our charter the City Clerk must forthwith certify all delin- quencies to the City Attorney, who must -bring foreclosure proceedings with due diligence. Neither .the Council, the City Clerk, nor the City Attorney, can do anything other than to comply frith the law. As to Street Paving Assessments, they are ALL past due and payable at this time, but the City may pursue an orderly and reasonable course in their collection, first noti- fying all property owners (which is now being done) and, in the event the property owner makes no effort to pay the assess- ments within a reasonable time.9 the same duty as to foreclosure exists as in the case of taxes. There will, of course, be come cases of hardship, where property owners can not pay even the small amounts re- quired to save their property. These are regrettable, but I must again remind you that the City has no discretion. To car- ry out the order of the Court the City must do one of these two things: 1. Collect the taxes and assessments and dispose of the proceeds as is provided in the decree. 2. Reduce to the possession of the City by fore- closure all properties upon which taxes and assessments are not paid. When this is done no official can be held negli- gent in his,duty, and will not be punished by any Court. I mention the foregoing in order that you, the Council, and all taxpayers may know just what must be done; and not with any idea that it will be necessary to bring any foreclosure suits at all. The response of the taxpayers so far has been most favorable, and in the orderly c onduct of the City affairs, it will develop that obligations will be met as they fall due. There are, however, a few individuals who have made statements to the effect that they have not paid any taxes in the past, and will not pay in the future. To those who take that position I say, not as a threat, but as a promise, that so long as I am City Attorney I shall endeavor to see that every property owner bears his just proportion of the cost of govern- ment, and I shall do all that is in my power to see that the tax laws are enforced against all persons alike. May I add further, Mr. Mayor, that in my judgment —• taxes in Clermont need never be any 4igher than at present; in fact, at the end of the third year, if we carry out our part of the agreement four mills of the present levy will be dropped. And with the new buildings that should naturally follow our re- lief from financial troubles, the .assessment should increase from year to year, providing more funds without increase in millage, and the payment of the paving assessments with bonds and coupons automatically reduces the debt, so that the require- ment for interest is also reduced. The whole plan of settlement is a workable, correctly devised plan, and requires only the cooperation of all property owners to insure its success. No taxes having been collected for nine or ten years, no assessments corrected until this year, there are naturally some inequalities of assessment at present. These are not the fault of any one person, but the result of con- ditions that have existed for years. In most cases, the inequality exists not because of an overassessment, but be- cause of the under -assessment of other similar properties. When the property owner reflects that he has paid no city taxes for many years, the matter of a few dollars more or less, should not be seriously considered; but for the coming year every effort to make a fair assessment should be made - and all should bear this in mind - The City assessment must be made on the basis of the actual cash value, not 30 or 40/ of value, as is the case in the County assessment. I think you, and all members of the City Council, understand that I have previously stated that I would not ac- cept any compensation for services in the bankruptcy and other refunding matters, and I renew that statement here. Notwith- standing the large fee allowed by the Court, part of which of courme must be paid to my associates in the case, I will accept only the actual expenses I have incurrAd. The taxpayers of the City should understand that all expenses of refunding are paid from funds which would otherwise go to the bondholders, and no tax is being levied for that purpose. As you know, I have retired from State and County politics, and it is my desire to retire as City Attorney,,so that my entire time may be devoted to the Postal Colony Company, which I am convinced is one of the greatest assets of our City, and that it can be made much more valuable than it now is. However, if satisfactory with the Council, I will gladly contin- ue as City Attorney until all matters in connection with the refunding are completed and things working smoothly. Apologizing for the length of this communicationp and with best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year, I am, Sincerely, City Attorney Am