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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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