HomeMy Public PortalAbout1991-10-15 Regular MeetingCOUNCII, MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING - OCTOBER 15, 1991
The regular meeting of the Bal Harbour Village Council was
held on Tuesday, October 15, 1991, in the Council Chamber at Bal
Harbour Village Hall. The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m.
by Mayor Stern. The roll was called and those present were:
Mayor Estelle Stern
Assistant Mayor Andrew R. Hirschl
Councilman Matthew B. Blank
Councilman James E. Boggess
Councilman Sol M. Taplin
Also present: Carole S. Morris, Village Manager
Jeanette Horton, Village Clerk
Richard J. Weiss, Village Attorney
As a quorum was determined to be present, the meeting
commenced.
2. Approval of Minutes: A motion was offered by Assistant
Mayor Hirschl and seconded by Councilman Boggess to approve the
minutes of the September 11, 1991 Budget Hearing. There being no
changes or additions thereto, the motion carried unanimously (5-0),
and the minutes were approved as submitted.
A motion was offered by Councilman Boggess and seconded by
Assistant Mayor Hirschl to approve the minutes of the September
1991 regular meeting. There being no changes or additions thereto,
the motion carried unanimously (5-0), and the minutes were anpi,ved
as submitted.
A motion was offered by Councilman Boggess and seconded by
Councilman Blank to approve the minutes of the September 16, 1991
Budget Hearing. There being no changes or addition thereto, the
motion carried unanimously (5-0), and the minutes were approved as
submitted.
3. Presentations: None.
4. Public Hearings: None.
5. Ordinance - Second Reading/Public Hearing: An Ordinance
for second reading was read by title by the Village Clerk which
would prohibit the feeding of stray or ownerless cats. Mayor Stern
then opened a Public Hearing for comments. Irma Lyons, 10205
Council Mtg. - 10/15/91 1
Collins Avenue, Bonnie Berman, representing a group of citizens
from the Miami Beach area, Attorney Aaron Sobel, 1124 100th Street,
Bay Harbor, Joel Fine, 941 NE 82nd Terrace, Edie Brodsky, 2310 NE
201st Street, spoke in opposition to the Ordinance and suggested
strongly that Council seek assistance from an animal rights
organization to reach an amicable solution to control the
proliferation of cats in a humane manner. Mr. Ed Cohen, Florida
Director of Friends of Animals, 724 NE 130th Street, North Miami,
addressed Council and proposed that if this matter be given a 30-60
day extension, he would supply an Ordinance providing for breeding
control of cats. Mayor Stern requested that a Committee consisting
of Ed Cohen, the Village Manager, Irene Imlack,1 10205 Collins,
Francine Yatta, 10295 Collins, Gloria Green, 10250 Collins Avenue,
be formed to make suggestions and assist in this matter. Mayor
Stern then closed the Public Hearing. Due to lack of a motion,
this Ordinance did not pass.
6. Ordinances - First Reading: None.
7. Resolutions: None.
8. Interlocal Agreement - One Stop Permitting: Mr. Weiss
advised Council that he has reviewed the subject agreement between
Metro -Dade County and Bal Harbour Village, which would provide a
convenient service to film and television personnel to obtain the
appropriate permits in the municipalities in which they wish to
film. The Resort Tax Committee had suggested the addition of a
provisions allowing Bal Harbour to have some control over the
subject of the filming. However, Mr. Weiss advised this would not
be appropriate. Mrs. Morris explained the procedure presently in
effect in Bal Harbour for obtaining permission to film. Deeny
Kaplan, Director of the Metro -Dade Office of Film, Television and
Print, addressed Council and provided details as to the services
offered by this office and how this Agreement would expedite the
process of obtaining permits. A motion to enter into this
agreement, subject to review by Counsel of modifications made by
Palm Beach and certain other municipalities, was offered by
Councilman Blank and seconded by Councilman Taplin. The motion
carried unanimously (5-0).
9. Martha Kelly, Marketing Representative for Hialeah Race
Track brought to Council's attention that Hialeah Park will
re -open with November loth - January 7th racing dates, invited
Council to attend the opening and requested their support to assist
in keeping this track open.
10. Reports and Recommendations:
A. Mayor and Council: Mayor Stern noted that Mr. Taplin
had been out of town recently and wanted to bring him up to date on
several matters occurring at recent Resort Tax and Council
meetings. She noted that at a recent Resort Tax meeting, Assistant
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91
Mayor Hirschl suggested increasing the advertising budget by
$100,000. Mrs. Morris noted that the subject increase was approved
by Council as a part of the budget for fiscal year 1991-92 and
Assistant Mayor Hirschl noted that Councilman Taplin was, in fact,
present at the Resort Tax meeting wherein this item was discussed
and Councilman Taplin verified that he did ask for an increase in
advertising funds.
Mayor Stern then stated that at a recent Council meeting,
Assistant Mayor Hirschl recommended an increase in the bed tax to
5%. Assistant Mayor Hirschl corrected Mayor Stern and stated that
he recommended only that the Village Attorney investigate the
manner in which bed tax numbers could be increased. Mayor Stern
stated at that meeting that she didn't think the hotels would be in
favor of an increase. Assistant Mayor Hirschl told Mayor Stern
that he had had preliminary discussions with several hotels and he
did not feel it appropriate for Council to speak for them. Mayor
Stern advised that she has spoken to each hotel property and they
expressed their objections to any increase. She stated for the
record that she has spoken with each of the hotels and they are
against an increase in resort tax monies. Attorney Weiss requested
Council's direction as to the manner in which to convey his
research on this subject. Mrs. Morris suggested that it be in the
form of an written opinion.
Assistant Mayor Hirschl stated that although it appeared Mayor
Stern's comments were to put him in an adversarial position,
Council's intentions should be for the betterment of the Village.
Inasmuch as Bal Harbour and Surfside are the only communities with
a 3% resort tax, with Dade County and Miami Beach at 5%, he felt
that it is in the best interest of the Village to review this
matter and not have a deaf ear to the citizenry of Bal Harbour.'
Mayor Stern then voiced her resentment to Assistant Mayor
Hirschl's participation, in her place, in the Bal Bay and Surfside
newspaper published by Mr. K. C. Chetty, as Council had taken a
"wait and see" stand before authorizing participation therein.
Assistant Mayor Hirschl stated that he was told by Mr. Chetty, and
Mr. Chetty confirmed, that Mayor Stern refused to participate on
several occasions. He then contacted other Council members and in
the true spirit of our community and in cooperation with
surrounding communities, Assistant Mayor Hirschl agreed to
participate. Councilman Boggess stated that he was not in favor of
Village Hall Council and staff submitting articles for publication,
but would not object to the newspaper reporting on items relative
to Bal Harbour Village.
A motion was offered by Councilman Blank and seconded by
Councilman Boggess to honor Councilman Sol Taplin, for his many
years of service to and accomplishments on behalf of Bal Harbour
Village, and to present him with a Founders Circle award. The
motion carried unanimously (5-0). Mayor Stern suggested that the
Council Mtg. - 10/15/91 3
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r e c o g n i t i o n c e r e m o n y b e h e l d s o m e t i m e i n J a n u a r y , a s t h e o r i g i n a l
d e d i c a t i o n w a s i n J a n u a r y .
C o u n c i l m a n B o g g e s s p o i n t e d o u t t h a t a t a r e c e n t R e s o r t T a x
C o m m i t t e e m e e t i n g , a v o t e w a s c a s t b y a n a l t e r n a t e , w i t h t h e
C o m m i t t e e m e m b e r p r e s e n t a n d a s k e d t h a t t h e C o m m i t t e e b e r e m i n d e d
t h a t o n l y m e m b e r s a r e p e r m i t t e d t o v o t e , u n l e s s t h e y a r e a b s e n t , i n
w h i c h c a s e t h e a l t e r n a t e w o u l d v o t e i n h i s p l a c e .
B . V i l l a g e A t t o r n e y : M r . W e i s s r e p o r t e d t o C o u n c i l t h a t
S u n d a y s R e s t a u r a n t h a s b e e n s o l d a n d t h e n e w o w n e r s h a v e a d v i s e d
t h a t t h e o n l y m u s i c w i l l b e a n a c o u s t i c a l g u i t a r .
C . V i l l a g e M a n a g e r : M r s . M o r r i s a d v i s e d C o u n c i l t h a t t h e
r o o f a t V i l l a g e H a l l h a s b e e n i n n e e d o f r e p l a c e m e n t / r e p a i r f o r
s o m e t i m e a n d t h e r e c e n t r a i n s h a v e n e c e s s i t a t e d t h a t p r o m p t a c t i o n
b e t a k e n i m m e d i a t e l y t o t h a t e n d . A m o t i o n w a s o f f e r e d b y
C o u n c i l m a n B l a n k a n d s e c o n d e d b y C o u n c i l m a n B o g g e s s t o a u t h o r i z e
t h e V i l l a g e M a n a g e r t o r e c e i v e b i d s a n d a w a r d t h e c o n t r a c t f o r
r e p l a c e m e n t / r e p a i r , o n a n e m e r g e n c y b a s i s . T h e m o t i o n c a r r i e d
u n a n i m o u s l y ( 5 - 0 ) .
1 . N e w s l e t t e r - i n - h o u s e p r i n t i n g / d i s t r i b u t i o n o r
i n c l u s i o n w i t h t h e B a l B a y & S u r f s i d e N e w s : M r . K . C . C h e t t y
p r o p o s e d t h r e e o p t i o n s r e l a t i v e t o p u b l i c a t i o n o f o u r n e w s l e t t e r :
a . H a v e o u r n e w s p a p e r p r i n t e d a n d i n c l u d e d w i t h h i s
n e w s p a p e r a n d h e w o u l d h a n d l e m a i l i n g t h e r e o f a t a c o s t o f $ 9 0 0 ;
b . A s a n i n s e r t a n d h a n d - d e l i v e r e d i n t h e
r e s i d e n t i a l a r e a t h e c o s t w o u l d b e $ 7 2 0 ;
c . B u y o n e o r t w o p a g e s i n h i s n e w s p a p e r f o r B a l
H a r b o u r n e w s . C o s t f o r s a m e w o u l d b e $ 4 0 0 p e r i s s u e .
A f t e r d i s c u s s i o n , i t w a s C o u n c i l ' s d e c i s i o n t h a t p u b l i c a t i o n o f o u r
n e w s l e t t e r s h o u l d r e m a i n a s i s , i n - h o u s e .
2 . U s e o f V i l l a g e H a l l b y a p r i v a t e p h y s i c i a n f o r s k i n
c a n c e r s c r e e n i n g : M r s . M o r r i s s o u g h t C o u n c i l ' s d e c i s i o n a s t o t h e
r e q u e s t o f D r . D a n M i e r s o n t o c o n d u c t a f r e e s k i n c a n c e r s c r e e n i n g
u t i l i z i n g V i l l a g e H a l l f o r o n e d a y . A s M r . M i e r s o n ' s o f f i c e i s i n
c l o s e p r o x i m i t y t o V i l l a g e H a l l , C o u n c i l d e c i d e d n o t t o a p p r o v e
t h i s r e q u e s t .
3 . H e a l t h I n s u r a n c e B i d R e p o r t : M r s . M o r r i s r e p o r t e d
t o C o u n c i l t h a t m a n y b i d s h a d b e e n r e c e i v e d f o r e m p l o y e e s ' h e a l t h
i n s u r a n c e . A m o t i o n w a s o f f e r e d b y C o u n c i l m a n B l a n k a n d s e c o n d e d
b y A s s i s t a n t M a y o r H i r s c h l t h a t t h e h e a l t h i n s u r a n c e r e m a i n a s i s
p r e s e n t l y , i . e . F l o r i d a M u n i c i p a l H e a l t h T r u s t a n d H e a l t h O p t i o n s .
T h e m o t i o n c a r r i e d u n a n i m o u s l y , ( 5 - 0 ) .
4 .
M o r r i s r e c o g n i z e d D r . T h o m a s
w i t h t h e B u i l d i n g D e p a r t m e n t ,
i n p r e p a r a t i o n o f t h i s p l a n
C o u n c i l M t g . - 1 0 / 1 5 / 9 1
D i s c u s s i o n o f t h e A p p e a r a n c e C o d e O r d i n a n c e : M r s .
K e l s e y w h o h a s b e e n w o r k i n g c l o s e l y
V i l l a g e M a n a g e r a n d V i l l a g e A t t o r n e y
a n d p r o p o s e d o r d i n a n c e . M r . W e i s s
4
suggested that due to the magnitude and importance of this matter,
that residents be notified thereof in addition to the advertising
prior to second reading in order to obtain their input prior to
passage. Accordingly, a workshop meeting will be scheduled for
Wednesday, November 6th at 3 p.m.
11. Other Business: Deshane Inc. Publishers
Surfside News . Mr. Chetty requested access into the BaSecurity
District for distribution of
his Hirschl advised Mr. Chetty that he would eh y Assioe obtain
Mayor
permission from the Civic Association and themthin such
Saturday of each month in Village Hall, Y meet the first
12. Adiourn• A motion was offered by Councilman Boggess
seconded by Councilman Blank to adjourn. There being no further
business, the motion carried unanimous) and
adjourned at 11:10 a.m. Y �5-01. and the meeting
ESTELL STERN,/MAYOR
ATTEST:
JEANETTE HORTON
VI_:,LACE CLERK
/tms
1. Before final approval, these minutes were amended at the
November, 1991 regular meeting to reflect the correct address of
Irene Imlack as 10225 Collins Avenue.
2. Before final approval, at the November, 1991 regular meeting,
Assistant Mayor Hirschl stated he quoted incorrect information
relative to resort tax and requested that the minutes reflect the
correct information, as follows: the resort tax for Miami Beach is
5%, which is combined with a convention development tax; Dade
County is 5%, combined with a convention development tax and
Surfside is 2% with no convention development tax and Bat Harbour
is 3% with no convention development tax.
Council Mtg. - 10/15/91
5