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HomeMy Public PortalAbout10 11 19 MeetingMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING HELD BY THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 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 Commissioner Joan K. Orthwein Commissioner Donna White Commissioner Also Present & Participating: IV. Minutes Gregory Dunham Edward Nazzaro Edward Allen Rita Taylor Town Manager Asst. Town Attorney Police Chief Town Clerk A. Regular Meeting of September 13, 2019 and Budget Hearing Minutes of September 13 and September 24, 2019. Commissioner Orthwein made a motion to accept the minutes of September 13 and September 24, 2019, and the motion was seconded by Commissioner White with all voting AYE at roll call. V. Additions, withdrawals, deferrals, arrangement of agenda items The Board of Adjustment Hearing was withdrawn and postponed to the November meeting. VI. Announcements A. Regular Meetings and Public Hearing 1. November 8, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 2. December 13, 2019 at 9:00 A.M. 3. January 10, 2020 at 9:00 A.M. 4. February 14, 2020 at 9:00 A.M. 5. March 13, 2020 at 9:00 A.M. 6. April 10, 2020 at 9:00 A.M. Mayor Morgan called attention to these dates. VII. Communication from the Public (3 min. maximum) There was none. VIII. Board of Adjustment Hearing This was postponed to the November meeting. IX. Reports A. Town Manager 1. Utility Undergrounding Town Manager Dunham asked Steve Rosa from Comcast Cable to speak. Mr. Rosa stated that Comcast turned on the equipment on Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. September 20, 2019. Comcast will now need to go to the existing customers and mount weatherproof boxes which will have the optical receiver inside. He added they would do the first 99 customers, starting on the south side of town and working north, which would take approximately six weeks, and then the system would be turned over. Mr. Rosa stated Comcast would be tagging homes with door hangers to let residents know Comcast would be digging in their yards. Once they are finished with a home, they will then tag the door to let them know to call Comcast for service to be switched to fiber optics. Vice Mayor Stanley asked the Town Manager if a letter could be sent out so residents would know what needed to be done. Mayor Morgan agreed and told Mr. Dunham to send out a letter to the AT&T/Comcast customers that would be affected. Mr. Tim Sherrif from Comcast added that they would be digging a trench in the yards and may have to go through landscaping at some homes, but they would try and put it back the best they can, but he wanted the Town to know in case complaints were made from residents. Mr. Dunham then gave an update from AT&T that they should be finished splicing before Thanksgiving. 2. Guard House at Place Au Soleil Town Manager Dunham stated the job at the guard house had been completed and passed inspection, but they found chips in the Formica and the contractor will be correcting that issue. 3. Curb Construction at 3259 Polo Drive Town Manager Dunham told the Commission the curb was doing its job. Vice Mayor Stanley said he had received a lot of positive feedback from residents about the curb and them wanting to know when more were going to be put in. Mayor Morgan was pleased with the positive feedback and Commissioner Lyons wanted to know what the next steps were going to be. Commissioner Orthwein suggested that the Town should look at the areas that needed to be done the most and do everything at one time to be budget friendly. Mr. Dunham stated that there were also straight-aways in Town that were regularly impacted as well as the intersections and he showed a product that is used in overflow parking areas that are grass. Mayor Morgan added he thought that was a good approach but felt the Town should take baby steps because he doesn't like the aesthetic look of curbs going up the straightaways. Commissioner Orthwein wondered if this could all be done at the same time the streets were being done with the CIP project to be more economical. Town Manager Dunham answered that Baxter Woodman would be at the November meeting so they could find out then if a particular street wasn't going to be done for several years, then they would need to go ahead and get a curb put in. Mayor Morgan asked when the beta site could be finished, and Mr. Dunham said it could be done very soon. Vice Mayor Stanley said that as long as the Town was careful with the aesthetics, the residents seemed to be positive the Town is taking action on this issue. 2 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. 4. Baxter Woodman Update Town Manager Dunham said the 50% Design Review Meeting on September 26, 2019 to approve the alignment of the piping, proposed placement of new fire hydrants, service lines and any lines that go under AlA will be jetted and that residents will still have water during construction. He added that on Sea Road and Little Club Road they were trying to save money by doing an open -cut trench that would be right where the pipe is as opposed to milling the entire pavement since new overlays will be done later. Mr. Dunham said that on County Road the pipe is proposed to be installed on the east side of the right-of-way, where there is only ten feet of right-of-way, and the pavement is not always within the right-of-way. It needs to be decided, when the restoration is done, whether the pavement is going to go where it is supposed to go or be replaced where it is currently with the water main on the east side since it has to have 10' clearance of sewer mains and it's being done with the potential of new sewer mains in the future, he added. Mr. Dunham said they agreed upon the alignment and the installation method, most of it being bored due to the Australian Pines, but trenching will be done where possible. Mr. Dunham also relayed that bidding would be done in alternates, which, he said, is a common practice. Town Manager Dunham went on to add that Boynton Beach had a boil water notice issued that affected some of the Town's residents who are on Boynton Beach water. He added that he found out about the boil water notice two days after it was announced. Mr. Dunham wanted the Commissioners to know he was going to be talking to the Boynton Beach manager regarding this. He went on to mention that 3400 Polo Drive was being torn down and that he put the white road bumps back up in Mrs. Brophy's yard while this is being done so it doesn't damage her yard. Commissioners Lyons and Orthwein both commented on how kind that was for Mr. Dunham to do that for her and thanked him for it as well. Lastly, Mr. Dunham stated that 16 notices had gone out to residents regarding their dirty roofs and eight of them had been cleaned and the other eight were going to receive a notice of violation at this point. B. Architectural Review & Planning Board 1. Meeting Dates a. October 24,2019 at 8:30 A.M. b. November 21, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. c. December 18, 2019 at 8:30 A.M. d. January 23, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. e. February 27, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. f. March 26, 2020 at 8:30 A.M. Mayor Morgan called attention to these dates. C. Finance Director 1. Financial Report for September 2019 3 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. Commissioner White wanted to ask CFO Tew what the Local Government Financial Report submission to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research was to which Mrs. Tew answered it was a new mandatory report required by the state of Florida and this was the first one so that is why she mentioned it in the Summary and Highlights portion of the Financial Report. She added that if any of the Commissioners would like to see the report, she would gladly provide it to them. Commissioner Lyons had a couple of questions regarding the Income Statement. He asked Mrs. Tew to explain the variance on page four in the Inspection Fees. Mrs. Tew explained that the City of Delray Beach is contracted to perform the Town's inspections for all the building permits. She added that she is bound to budget the same amount that Delray budgets for revenue and they only budget $300,000, which she thought was a rather large underestimate of what they collect. She went on to say it happens every year and that it was a wash and adding that next month there would be a resolution to adjust and amend the Town's budget specifically for that revenue and expenditure. Commissioner Lyons then went on to page five and wanted to know what the Federal Grant was, to which Mrs. Tew answered that it was Hurricane Irma. Commissioner Lyons then went to page six and asked what the Capital Outlay variance was since they had budgeted $132,500 and only spent $14,462. He wanted to know if the $118,000 difference was going to be used. Mrs. Tew said that money was going to be for the server, but since the Town migrated a lot over to the cloud that much money wasn't needed. Commissioner Lyons then went to page eight and asked about the Capital Outlays for the streets and asked if the reason that a variance was there was due to timing issues, which she answered in the affirmative. Commissioner Lyons went down to Legal on that same page and stated that we had underbudgeted, to which Mrs. Tew answered that it was still fluid because there were still outstanding bills for the month of September. 2. Water Usage as of September 30, 2019 D. Police Chief 1. Activity for September 2019 Chief Allen asked that his report be accepted as presented. The Mayor declared all reports accepted. X. Items for Commission Action. A. Lien Reduction Request - 2775 Avenue Au Soleil Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro explained to the Commission that a letter had been received from Zachary Mazure with a proposal on the property. Mr. Nazzaro stated the key terms being a $430,000 purchase price, a mandatory knock -down demolition of the home as part of the settlement, $50,000 settlement for back violations/fines. Town resident, Daniel Stanton, who owns the neighboring property at 2765 would like to expand his current home and assemble both parcels. Mr. Nazzaro stated this new proposal was addressing three concerns. The first being the Commission wanted something nice at the entrance of Place Au Soleil and he believed that is what Mr. Stanton wanted to 4 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. accomplish. The second thing being the payment has been raised from $20,000 to $50,000 for the back violations/fines. The third thing was the timing issue of having to foreclose on the property, then demolish, sell it, etc., where this offer brings more immediacy to getting it done. Town Clerk Taylor administered the oath to Mr. Cory Carano, Mr. Daniel Stanton and Mr. Zachary Mazur. Mr. Cory Carano, the real estate attorney for the estate, stated he was representing Mr. Peter Carbone for the estate of Richard Lavoie and was asking for the lien reduction pursuant to the Town Code Section 2.76. He added that Peter Carbone had been appointed over the estate on June 11, 2019 and a compliance update by the Town was given on August 8, 2019 with Mr. Carbone resolving the problems. Commissioner orthwein asked if you could transfer a homestead from an estate to heirs to which Mr. Nazzaro answered that it got into legalities with homestead protection, etc. Mayor Morgan asked Mr. Carano if there were any other heirs to which Mr. Carano answered there were four additional to Mr. Carbone. Mayor Morgan then asked if any of them lived in Florida and Mr. Carano said the Carbone family lived in New Jersey and the Lavoie family resided in Florida. Mayor Morgan asked if any of the heirs on either side had the intention of taking the property and Mr. Carano said they had not but if an agreement couldn't be made they would hold on to the property because they had homestead rights. Mayor Morgan stated that Mr. Carano was trying to maximize the amount of money that was going to go to the estate. Mr. Carano used Riviera Beach having a 5% standard policy on their property liens as an example and reiterated that he believed their offer of $50,000 was sufficient. Mayor Morgan stated his concerns for the residents of Place Au Soleil and for the enforcement of the Town's Rules and ordinances. The Mayor added that this property had violated the rules for too many years resulting in the significant lien and although it was not the purpose of the Town to cash in on liens it was the responsibility of the Town to enforce the rules and ordinances to make sure those standards were maintained. Mayor Morgan stated he believed the $50,000 offer was woefully deficient and asked what the standard for lien reductions in Gulf Stream was. Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro said there had only been one other lien reduction in Gulf Stream and it was 150 of the amount. Mr. Carano continued to say multiple times that he didn't understand why the Commission didn't think $50,000 was a significant amount of money. After doing a bit of math, Mayor Morgan stated that Mr. Carano was offering the $50,000 so that the estate would walk away with roughly $350,000. Mayor Morgan stated that he believed $150,000 was the number he was willing to start with to settle a two -million - dollar lien, which he thought was being very generous by the Town. This still gives money to the estate that they would not have had, it enforces the Town's standards and rules and discourages future violations. Mr. Carano argued that the fines were for landscape issues and a pool that wasn't covered properly. Commissioner White spoke up at this point and stated there were more than landscape issues. She said 5 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. the garage door was broken and bashed in, the roof was caving in and the entire property was in disrepair and that she knew all this because she lived across the street. Commissioner White also pointed out that none of the heirs ever came down to help when things were bad. Vice Mayor Stanley asked if the contingencies on the contract were regarding timing of the demolition, etc. Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro said that a demolition permit and cash payment within a certain amount of time would need to happen before releasing the lien. Town Resident, Daniel Stanton, stated that he wanted to be compliant with the architectural codes and expectations of the Town for the overall look of the property. He added he would like all the contingencies related to the lien to be taken care of prior to him signing off, as well as who was going to take care of the demolition and what the Town was looking at as far as timing on all of these details. Mr. Stanton said that he was looking at a 9400 sq. foot home with a detached guest house, as well as keeping the tennis court. Mayor Morgan stated that what he was hearing Mr. Stanton say is that he would like to demolish the Lavoie building, unify a title, have the Town eliminate any lien on the property and work on re -addressing easements to enable a single home with a guest house and tennis court. Commissioner White asked if he was wanting to demolish his home as well or just add an addition to which he said that was a consideration but there were setback issues. Commissioner White asked about the tennis court, to which Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro said it would need to be grandfathered in. Mayor Morgan believed it was in the Town's best interest to have current resident take the property and develop it like Mr. Stanton wanted to do. Commissioner Lyons agreed with the Mayor that this would be a great solution. Mayor Morgan stated that whomever demolished the property, whether it be the Town or the buyer, it would need to be demolished, seeded and irrigated because it would take some time for the plans to go through the approval process. Mr. Stanton asked how long the process would take in entirety to which Town Manager Dunham and Vice Mayor Stanley said he was reasonably looking at March, 2020. After a bit more deliberating and arguments back and forth, Mayor Morgan asked for a number from the Commission that would be acceptable for Mr. Carano to take back to the heirs. Commissioner Lyons started with $100,000, Vice Mayor Stanley said $125,000, Commissioner White said $125,000, Commissioner orthwein said $125,000. Mayor Morgan then said he would come down to $125,000 and asked Commissioner Lyons if he would make it unanimous. Commissioner Lyons said he didn't want that number just sitting out there and would like to hear back from the heirs in a certain amount of time. Mayor Morgan then told Mr. Carano that the estate needed to respond within 14 days with an acceptance or rejection of the $125,000. Vice Mayor Stanley moved to approve a lien reduction at the Lien Reduction Hearing in the amount of $125,000 in the Town Commission's Agreement to reduce the lien to $125,000 and is 2 Minutes of Town Commission Regular Meeting & Public Hearing Held October 11, 2019 @ 9:00 A.M. subject to acceptance by the property owner within 14 days and contingent on the other condition that the property will be demolished. Commissioner White seconded the motion and all voted AYE at roll call. B. Adoption of Personnel Policy Handbook Revisions Town Manager Dunham stated the handbook was originally developed when Scott Harrington was manager in the 90s and has been revised three times since then in 2004, 2007 and 2015. He added that when he came on staff in 2017, it was a goal of his to update the handbook after first reading it due to new laws, etc. Mr. Dunham went on to highlight the items that were new, changed or deleted because they were no longer relevant. He added that 900 of the handbook was staying the same. Mayor Morgan asked who had helped him with the updates, to which Mr. Dunham gave credit to Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro, CFO Tew, Chief Allen and Lt. Haseley. Mayor Morgan was impressed and said the sections added need to be added. Commissioner Lyons wanted to make sure the HR Legal Compliance was taken care of, to which Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro said that he had anticipated that question and had looked through it very thoroughly. Commissioner Lyons also asked about actions including a Town Manager and the chain of command. He wanted to know if something was said, for example harassment, and it involved the Town Manager, who would they go to then. Mr. Nazzaro stated that it was designee or supervisor, to which Commissioner Lyons thought it should go to the Mayor or any one of the Commissioners. Town Clerk Taylor stated that the Charter put the responsibility in the lap of the Commission as far as hiring and firing for the Town Manager, Town Clerk and Police Chief, but didn't say anything about complaints. Mr. Dunham then added that something else that needed to be put in the handbook was if there was a grievance made or an appeal to the Town Manager's decision it needed to go before the Commission in a public meeting. Commissioner White questioned the "at will" employment, to which CFO Tew answered that Florida was an "at will" state. Mr. Dunham added that he liked to go with due process procedures if possible. Commissioner White also asked if the HRA was a separate insurance policy to which CFO Tew replied that it was a benefit of $3,000 per year given by the Town to be used for medical expenses not covered by insurance and it rolls over each year. Commissioner Orthwein moved to approve the revisions to the Personnel Policy Handbook. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Stanley and all voted AYE at roll call. C. Items by Mayor & Commissioners There were none. X. Adjournment. --Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 10:53 A.M. Ke -6- Baser` sistant Town Clerk III