Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout04 12 19 MeetingMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING HELD BY THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM ON FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019 AT 9:00 A.M. IN THE WILLIAM F. KOCH, JR. COMMISSION CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL, 100 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM, FLORIDA. I. Call to Order. Mayor Morgan called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. II. Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Morgan led the Pledge of Allegiance. III. Roll Call. Present and Participating: Scott W. Morgan Mayor Thomas W. Stanley Vice Mayor Paul Lyons, Jr. Commissioner Joan K. Orthwein Commissioner Donna S. White Commissioner Also Present & Participating: Gregory Dunham Town Manager Edward Nazzaro Staff Attorney Edward Allen Police Chief Rita Taylor Town Clerk IV. Minutes. A. Regular Meeting of March 8, 2019. Commissioner Orthwein made a motion to accept the minutes of March 8, 2019, and the motion was seconded by Commissioner White with all voting AYE at roll call. V. Additions, withdrawals, deferrals, arrangement of agenda items. Mayor Morgan noted that there would be an addition to the agenda adding Attorney Sweetapple as the first report under Item VIII. VI. Announcements. A. Regular Meetings and Public Hearing 1. May 10, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 2. June 14, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 3. July 12, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 4. August 9, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 5. September 13, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 6. October 11, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. Mayor Morgan called attention to these dates. B. Mayors Proclamation proclaiming April 2019 as WATER CONSERVATION MONTH. Town Clerk Taylor stated that the Mayor was declaring Water Conservation for the month of April and the Town is calling upon each citizen and business to help protect our precious resource by practicing water saving measures and becoming more aware of the need to save water. VII. Communication from the Public (3 min. maximum) Kristine de Haseth wanted to make the Town aware that she is teaching a Civics course at Gulf Stream School to seventh graders on how they can get involved at a local level. She said what is usually taught in high school is State Politics and National Civics but nobody ever talks about what you can do locally. After the class, the students (all 24 of them) are going to be attending the next Commission Meeting to Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. witness part of the meeting. She is also encouraging them to make public comments at that meeting. The Town Commission all thought it was a great idea. VIII. Reports A. Attorney Sweetapple Attorney Sweetapple stated that he was in attendance to speak about one of the remaining public records cases. Of about 44 cases that were brought into public realm by the O'Boyle group, including Mr. O'Hare, one was lost by the Town and four were conceded by the Town to keep from running up fees and to cut off any fee entitlement to the plaintiffs. The O'Boyle group is attempting to settle some of the cases that are still pending, of which one is coming up for trial in a couple of weeks, he said. Attorney Sweetapple went on to explain how they have demonstrated, through the evidence obtained, that this was part of a scam to generate attorney's fees for the O'Boyle Law Firm. He went on to state that the plaintiffs are seeking $61,000 in attorney's fees in the case coming up. Jones, Foster reviewed the records and recommended an offer of $10,000. Attorney Sweetapple went on to talk about people who have settled for nuisance value but that the whole goal of the plaintiffs in this situation is to create a nuisance and get nuisance value, or money that is not really owed. He wanted the Commission to keep in mind the large picture and not just look at the small picture. He stated that they are also seeing this as an opportunity to develop evidence and make a record in court that there are abuses in regard to the fee entitlements that are trying to be created. The O'Boyle Law Firm billed $44,000 and the Town's response was $8,700 that was really incurred. He stated that it comes down to a business decision by the Commission as guardians of public funds. Mayor Morgan then summarized that the total fees presented by the plaintiffs was $61,000 and they are demanding $35,000 as settlement. Commissioner Lyons asked if there could be more hearings and this tending to go on and on. Attorney Sweetapple stated that they had one hearing coming up and that a decision should be made after that hearing. He added that it doesn't mean the Town can't appeal or the plaintiffs can't appeal but it would be very difficult to overturn a ruling unless there is a legal error. Commissioner White wanted to know if the judge presiding over this case had presided over any former cases with Gulf Stream, to which Attorney Sweetapple assured her that she had not. Commissioner White went on to ask if Attorney Sweetapple knew of which way this judge tended to lean and Attorney Sweetapple said that he knew she was bright, analytical and patient. He said that he was happy to present this case to her. Commissioner Orthwein asked, if when presenting this case, would Attorney Sweetapple be presenting the entire picture regarding the plaintiff. Mr. Sweetapple answered by giving some examples of different angles they would be coming from and that he planned to subpoena Mr. O'Boyle, as well as Jonathan O'Boyle. Attorney Sweetapple added that at The O'Boyle Law Firm and their billings, there are over one dozen timekeepers who put in billing on this matter, which is a small public records case. V, Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. Mayor Morgan asked Staff Attorney Nazzaro if he had any additional comments to which he stated the specifics to this case were redactions from the invoice, which were straightforward, not fishing for a lot of documents. The invoice was produced about eight months later so there was not a lot of discovery or deposition work that would have been needed to go into this case. He went on to say that Mr. Sweetapple would be able to present that to the judge and as he indicated this would be a good case to litigate and this offer is not one he would recommend the Commission accept. Mayor Morgan then asked if anyone was in support of accepting the offer. Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to reject the settlement offer as presented and direct the Town's Counsel to move forward with the case. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Orthwein with all voting AYE at roll call. B. Town Manager 1. Undergrounding Report Town Manager Dunham asked Steve Rosa, from Comcast Cable, to give an update. Mr. Rosa explained that everything was still moving forward and all the pipes had been proofed that the previous contractor had put in but he is still waiting on the design to come back from engineering. He reiterated what was discussed at the Commission Meeting in March and estimated the project would be finished in approximately two and a half months. Commissioner Lyons wanted to know if at the completion of the project every household would have fiber optics to which Mr. Rosa replied that if the customer was a Comcast customer, then yes, but if not, they would have to become one to get it installed. Once he verifies that everyone has been switched over from the legacy plan to the fiber optic plan they can talk about the poles coming down. Mr. Dunham asked if AT&T and Comcast could be working simultaneously, to which Mr. Rosa said it could be done as they could work on different streets at the same time, but he believed that his crew would be done before AT&T even began. 2. Street Lights in Place Au Soleil Town Manager Dunham stated that he and Mayor Morgan had attended the annual board meeting for Place Au Soleil and were advised by the board that they may be interested in replacing the 25 old FP&L streetlights, preferring to have the same street lights that are in the Core. He mentioned that there was a budget included in the undergrounding to put the street lights in the Core so that would be a good gage as a starting point to figure out a budget if the Town were to move forward over in Place Au Soleil. After speaking with FP&L, Mr. Dunham was informed that whenever a Town or City decides to put in private lights, replacing FP&L street lights, FP&L requires the Town to take out all of FP&L services, meaning the Town would not be able to use FP&L conduits, the wire that is already in the ground or the handholds that are beside the street lights. Essentially, the Town would have to start from scratch just like they had done in the Core, he said, and believed removing all the old FP&L infrastructure would be at a cost to the Town. Mayor Morgan added that the more the Town delves into this project, it is becoming increasingly difficult with more expenses that 3 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. seem to keep popping up._ He added that Gulf Stream is primarily a town of private roads with two sets of public roads, those being the Core and Place Au Soleil, and in order to have uniformity and continuity in the Town, the decorative street lights in the Core should be continued to the public roads in Place Au Soleil bringing more consistency and uniformity to the Town. Mr. Morgan said the initial thought was that you remove the FP&L pole and stick in a decorative pole, which they now know is not how it works, and furthermore you have to separately meter the lights, with each light having a separate meter so they can monitor the electricity being used. Mr. Dunham then explained that each light would have a separate meter, but it wouldn't be at the light, it would be located at the transformers and each transformer can service six or seven lights. Commissioner White stated that the current lights in Place Au Soleil are in disrepair, which is why they suggested getting new lights to begin with and thus wanted to stay consistent with the Core in getting the same design. If it is going to cause major issues, she wondered if there were other designs through FP&L that are comparable and could be looked at. Mr. Dunham answered it was definitely an alternative and he had spoken to FP&L about this and was advised there were several choices to pick from. If the Town decided to go that route, then it would be much simpler with just having to lift the current pole off and replace it with a new decorative pole and then there would be no issue with replacing the infrastructure. Commissioner Orthwein reminded the Commission that they first looked at using FP&L decorative poles but there were only two choices at that time and they did not like those options. Mr. Dunham believed that there were probably more options now and he was expecting a catalogue to be arriving soon. Commissioner Lyons brought up trenching and looking ahead as to what may need to be done down the road. Mr. Dunham replied that he wasn't sure that they would trench, but probably missile it, depending on the length. C. Architectural Review & Planning Board 1. Meeting Dates a. April 25, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. b. May 23, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. c. June 27, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. d. July 25, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. e. No August meeting f. September 26, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. Mayor Morgan called attention to these dates. D. Finance Director 1. Financial Report for March 2019 Town Manager Dunham noted that the report represents six months of the Town's budget year and pointed out that CFO Tew's summary of highlights was very worthwhile. There were no questions or comments from the Commission. 2. Water Usage as of March 31, 2019 E. Police Chief 1. Activity for March 2019 4 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. Chief Allen stated that during Spring Break, the Police Department had utilized the Gulf Stream School for Active Shooter Training and that training will be ongoing to always stay on top of things. Chief Allen asked that his report be accepted as presented. The Mayor declared all three reports be accepted. IX. Items for Commission Action. A. Proposal for Engineering Services for State Road AlA Water Main Improvements - Phase 2 Before Rebecca Travis began her proposal, Town Manager Dunham explained that the proposal Matthews Engineering was presenting is what the Commission asked them to do for this fiscal year, 2018-19. Ms. Travis stated the proposal for consideration was to do the design work for the water main that would extend primarily along AlA from Golfview Drive up to Sea Road then turning west to County Road and then up to Little Club Road and connecting with the interconnected winged beach on the north end. The work includes design and permitting as well as bidding services. There would be a strong consideration of the Australian Pines along the corridor, hopefully being able to drill under any trees that they couldn't modify the alignment to miss. She added the schedule would be to start the design complete for bidding around December/January so that when Spring rolls around the Construction Contract would be ready to start during the off-season. Mayor Morgan noted that it was a 10 -inch water main being proposed, whereas Phase One was a 12 -inch water main on AlA. Ms. Travis stated the new one was indeed a 12 -inch to which Mayor Morgan stated that it needed to be corrected on the agreement. Mr. Dunham asked if the difference between a 10 and 12 inch was going to provide better pressure to which Mr. Jason Pugsley, Vice President of Baxter & Woodman, Inc., agreed that it would. Mr. Dunham also wanted to know if this would help the pressure in the lines in the Core that dead end, to which Mr. Pugsley agreed that it would. Mayor Morgan asked what conclusions they had come up with regarding the Australian Pines. Mr. Pugsley replied that they were going to do their best in areas where they don't have existing meters to reconstitute to try and directional drill, which would be non-invasive shooting underneath those trees. In other areas they will be working with the Town's arborist to make sure the impacts to the root structures of those trees are properly negotiated. He added they are aware of the sensitivity and desire to maintain that feature among AlA, so it will be a critical part of their design, even if it is one of the most difficult parts of their design. Mr. Dunham stated that the Town had just received an analysis of the tree inventory and management plan from Bartlett Tree Experts and there are 758 Australian Pines on AlA. Ms. Travis said they would be meeting with Mr. Frank of Bartlett Tree to which Mr. Pugsley added that he thought this was perfect timing for the replacements as the Town is at the end of the undergrounding. There is a lot of infrastructure there and conduits, so being able to coordinate part of their design with the utility companies, all the as -built information should be fresh in their minds, he said. Mr. Dunham asked about a time frame for the Town to begin bidding this out. Mr. Pugsley 5 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. said that January/February would be the time to get the low -bid contractor, vet them to make sure they are qualified, get them going on shop drawings, have those reviewed, inspected and sent back then have he contractor be able to procure his material and, in the summertime, complete his on-site construction activities. He stated that they were looking at a six to eight month period with the intended completion day being the end of August, early September. Mayor Morgan asked if Baxter & Woodman was the new name for Matthews Engineering, to which Mr. Pugsley replied that it was. Mr. Dunham stated they would make the appropriate name change in all the paperwork. He then went on to make a comment about the proposal to let the Commission know that $185,000 was totally covered in the budget and all the funds would be coming from the Water Fund and not the General Fund. Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve the proposal from Mathews Consulting for engineering services in the amount of $185,000 for AlA water main improvements. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Orthwein with all voting AYE at roll call. B. Designation of Voting Delegate & Alternates to Palm Beach County League of Cities Town Clerk Taylor explained this was business that had to be taken care of on a yearly basis. She stated that currently the Mayor has been the voting delegate with all the other Commissioners and Town Manager being named as alternates. Mayor Morgan said it was reasonable to continue in like manner. Commissioner Orthwein made a motion to make the Mayor the voting delegate and the Commissioners and Town Manager alternates. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Stanley with all voting AYE at roll call. C. Ordinance No. 19/1 - THIS IS AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE TOWN'S CODE OF ORDINANCES AT CHAPTER 42, BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS, ARTICLE II CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS, SECTION 42-27, ISSUANCE OF PERMITS; INSPECTIONS, TO CLARIFY THE PROCESS FOR SUBMISSION OF BUILDING PERMITS; DELETING SECTION 42-28, COUNTY TO PROCESS APPLICATIONS; FEES FOR SERVICE, IN ITS ENTIRETY; AMENDING SECTION 42-29, CONSTRUCTION ABANDONMENT, TO ADD REGULATIONS THAT ADDRESS THE EXPIRATION OF TOWN ISSUED SITE PLANS, TO BE RENUMBERED 42-28; AND ADDING A NEW SECTION 42- 29, DEMOLITION PERMITS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (First Reading) Staff Attorney Nazzaro explained that this was the exact same Ordinance that was presented in February. The change addresses the time period between demolition and construction, he said, and added that at last month's meeting the consensus was to change the figure that was originally proposed at 30 days to 60 days based on the input that was procured from architects and contractors, so the proposal is exactly the same with the exception of that time change. Town Clerk Taylor then read Ordinance No. 19/1 by Title on first reading. Vice Mayor Stanley moved to approve Ordinance 19/1 as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Orthwein with all C.1 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held April 12, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. voting AYE at roll call. D. Resolution No. 19-02 - A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND STAFF FOR THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM TO ENTER INTO A LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Manager Dunham stated that this was a "hallelujah day" in that the DOT had finally approved a landscape plan for the entrance to the Town of Gulf Stream on the north side in the Town's efforts to try and hide the concrete poles where the undergrounding ends. The DOT and FPL have both approved the plan but it requires a maintenance resolution, he said. Mr. Dunham then passed around a rendering from Dave Bodker showing what it was going to look like and added that the Town is very limited in what is allowed to be planted, so the intent is just to take the attention away from the concrete poles. Commissioner Lyons asked if the poles had to be there, to which Mr. Dunham explained that the undergrounding has to come up somewhere and it just happened to be right in front of St. Andrews. A question was asked from the public why there couldn't be a hedge put in front of the poles. Mr. Dunham explained that this is the DOT's right-of-way and they won't allow anything in front of the poles. Mayor Morgan added that this was done in conjunction with the St. Andrews Club to try and beautify that area. Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve Resolution 19-02 as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Lyons with all voting AYE at roll call. D. Items by Mayor & Commissioners There were none. X. Adjournment. Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 10:03 A.M. 7