HomeMy Public PortalAbout05 08 2020 Regular MeetingMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING BEING HELD BY THE TOWN
COMMISSION, OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM ON FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020 AT 9:00
A.M., IN THE WILLIAM F. KOCH, JR. COMMISSION CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL,
100 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM, FLORIDA. NOTE: THERE WAS LIMITED PUBLIC
ACCESS TO TOWN HALL. THIS TOWN COMMISSION MEETING WAS ABLE TO BE
ACCESSED ONLINE, INCLUDING ALLOWING FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.
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 A. Lyons, Jr. Commissioner
Joan Orthwein Commissioner
Donna S. 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 April 9, 2020
Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve the minutes of
the regular meeting on April 9, 2020. The motion was
seconded by Commissioner White with all voting AYE at roll
call.
V. Additions, withdrawals, deferrals, arrangement of agenda items.
There were none.
VI. Announcements.
A. Regular Meetings and Public Hearings
1. June 12, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
2. July 10, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
3. August 14, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
4. September 11, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
5. October 9, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
6. November 13, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.
VII. Communication from the Public (3 min. maximum)
A. Letter re: Potential Purchase of 2,500 sq. ft. on south end
of Banyan Road.
Mayor Morgan asked Town Manager Dunham to give an outline of
what the Davis's wanted. Town Manager Dunham explained that the street
penetrated into the middle of their lot and they are wanting the
opportunity to square up the lot and that the goal in the future is to
Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
Held May 8, 2020 @ 9:00 A.M.
probably put a new house on this lot. If the staff was to do this, it
would give them more square footage and therefore they would be able to
achieve a higher FAR for a house, he added. Town Manager Dunham stated
the letter was just an introduction under public comment and the staff
would be adding all the details surrounding the current house and what
potentially could be built. He added that sides of houses that are
adjacent to water changes the setback requirement, makes them larger,
and this house is surrounded on three sides by water. Town Manager
Dunham went on to explain that the Town never uses that portion of the
road and it is literally in their front yard, with site walls that come
up to the edge of the driveway. He added that staff wanted to look for
any impact that may result for emergency vehicles. Town Manager Dunham
stated the goal was to give a summary at the next commission meeting.
Vice Mayor Stanley stated he had looked at the plat and spoken to Blaine
Dickinson, the attorney of record for the applicant, and had gone over
in greater detail what Town Manager Dunham just summarized. Vice Mayor
Stanley told them what the Town would be expecting if it is ultimately
approved. Mayor Morgan asked Vice Mayor Stanley to stay in touch with
Town Manager Dunham and Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro so they could
have a thorough presentation at the next meeting.
VIII. Reports.
A. Town Manager
1. Utility Undergrounding
Town Manager Dunham stated Comcast had reached a point of
not having the necessary equipment to lay the drops they needed to
finish the houses. He added that the equipment had arrived from
Virginia, Comcast would finish laying the drops and would then begin to
make appointments with the residents to switch over to the new
equipment. Town Manager Dunham stated he did not have as good of news
from AT&T and that they are the only ones the Town owes money to for the
undergrounding at this point. He explained how he had received a phone
call from a gentleman who introduced himself as being a person new to
the project replacing Annika. Juan, the representative from AT&T,
proceeded to tell Town Manager Dunham that the Town would need to sign a
new contract because the cost had gone up. Town Manager Dunham added
that the Town had received nothing in writing only the phone call from
the individual, but he had asked them to give him more information on
the reasoning for the cost change. He added he would be contacting
Danny Brannon, then an attorney that worked with the Town on the
original contract with AT&T. Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro explained
that the Town is waiting on an exact amount from AT&T with a cost
analysis comparison to the original quote as well as information on how
much work had been completed. He added that the contract was from 2017
and was an actual cost contract which allows for any conditions in the
field if they are different from the field conditions that existed at
the time they provided the quote. He added, they shall bill and the
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Town shall pay an additional cost. Mr. Nazzaro stated the caveat is
those conditions or circumstances that AT&T could not have reasonably
anticipated when they entered into the contract. He added that they
were doing some research into why the price increase had occurred, what
circumstances led to that increase and why they were not reasonably
anticipated. Mr. Nazzaro stated that in the event that most of the work
had been done, then why had the work been done with the inflated costs
that were significantly more than the contract price estimated.
Vice Mayor Stanley asked if they knew a dollar amount to which
Town Manager Dunham answered that it had been suggested at over a
million dollars. Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro stated the contract
price was for $420,000 so they were confused as to if a lot of the work
had already been done, why this increase is happening now. He added
they had reached out to Gary Renick, who negotiated the contract with
the Mayor and AT&T in 2017. Mayor Morgan stated that there were other
towns that this has happened to so they wanted to do some investigating
because this is coming at the tail end of the project and if there were
any changes in the field, they were adapted to by FP&L and Comcast
without any change in fees and were able to work around any difficulties
they found in the field. Mayor Morgan reiterated that the Town was
engaging Mr. Resnick and they were going to take a very firm position on
enforcing the existing contract. Town Manager Dunham stated he had
spoken to Danny Brannon, who was involved in the undergrounding effort
at Palm Beach Shores and Mr. Brannon had told him that AT&T had done the
same thing to them in the amount of $800,000.00 and that their
commission had voted not to continue. Town Manager Dunham had requested
more information from them because he didn't think they were as far
along in the process as Gulf Stream. He added that AT&T only had about
eight to ten cut overs from the old system to the new left to do and had
already started to take down some of their wiring. Commissioner
Orthwein asked if AT&T had quit working and if there was an estimated
time of their return to which Town Manager Dunham answered that AT&T had
quit working with no estimation of a return time. Commissioner Orthwein
stated that the power lines couldn't be taken down until all the work is
complete to which Town Manager Dunham agreed. Mayor Morgan stated there
were several options available but that it was premature to elect one or
the other and added that AT&T was taking this seriously since they had
left the job. Mayor Morgan stated to get the information, talk to
counsel, Mr. Brannon, our engineering analysts and hopefully revisit
this before the next commission meeting.
Mayor Morgan reminded everyone that when the Town began phase
two, the bids were increased a bit from FP&L and Comcast, but were
reasonable given the time lapse, but with AT&T it was almost double what
they had charged before and that is when the Town engaged Attorney
Resnick to begin negotiating with them to bring the number down. He
added that they had even discussed not installing AT&T lines in the Town
of Gulf Stream but after evaluating it, decided there were enough
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residents that still used AT&T land lines, so they needed to proceed.
Mayor Morgan said the fact that they were no longer regulated as a
utility also puts pressure on the relationship with them.
2. Place Au Soleil Proposed Subdivision Update
Town Manager Dunham reminded everyone that at the last
meeting they were all set to meet with Mr. Glickstein and Mr. Kupi
regarding 2900, but then everything went south with COVIDI9 and it was
put on hold. He added that they would be meeting in the next week to
discuss the status of that situation.
3. Baxter & Woodman Drainage/Street Recommendations
Town Manager Dunham stated that in February of this year,
the Town engaged Baxter & Woodman to form an inventory of the problem
locations with drainage, ponding and rutting in the entire core area.
He explained that there were two basic parts to the analysis which would
be expanding the roadways and then the ponding and drainage difficulties
with the infrastructure, which would be the swales and catch basins.
Rebecca Travis, from Baxter & Woodman then made a Power Point
presentation of the draft report on minor drainage and roadway
improvements. She stated the study area included Polo Drive, Gulfstream
Road, Old School Road, Banyan Road and Lakeview Drive. The preliminary
cost estimate had a 20% contingency on it. The drainage improvements
portion was 16% of the total amount and was around $40,000. The road
widening portion was 84% of the total. She added that the costs were
under the assumption that the town would either contract the work to a
contractor already in the area or do a piggyback contract on another
contract because the asphalt and rock quantities were relatively small
for a contractor to mobilize the equipment. Commissioner Orthwein
stated the drainage things were great but she was concerned about adding
bits and pieces on the sides of the road because she thought it would
look un -uniform and after walking the streets a lot lately, she felt
they were dangerous in some ways because of their being uneven and
wanted to know if this would now add to the problem. Ms. Travis
answered that this brought up the timing of the CIP with the water main
replacements in the core and this study for the drainage improvements
and possibility of doing widening work at this time frame would be an
initial shot at taking care of some of the more obvious drainage issues
and doing the widening to just address the rutting. She added that
Commissioner Orthwein was correct in that this would not be a real fix
for the road. Ms. Travis stated the large issues with low spots in the
roads and inconsistent sloping would be addressed when they came in and
did the water main work because they were going to tear up the road. She
said it was a question of if they wanted to address the minor issues,
rutting and widening now or wait until the core work for the water main
replacement and possible sewer work. She added that maybe wait and do
everything all together in several years when it comes up on the CIP
schedule. Commissioner Orthwein asked if it would be reasonable to do
the drainage work now and wait to do the road and wondered if it was two
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years, five years, how far away until the core is being done. Ms.
Travis answered that it would be two or three years. Town Manager
Dunham stated the goal on Polo was to make it consistent with the width
on the very south end all the way from one end to the north end and
likewise on Gulfstream Road where the pavement width was 15' down to
Lakeview and then up to 18' north of that. It was on those two major
streets that we were trying to make those consistent, he said.
Mayor Morgan thanked Ms. Travis for the thorough and detailed
analysis that was exactly what the Town asked them to do. He added that
it would be put on the Town website so the residents could see exactly
how it might impact each of their homes. He added that the point of
this was to, in the short-term, make the two main roads more consistent
in width and also address the issue of extremely narrow roads. Mayor
Morgan stated it also addressed, for a very modest cost, the drainage
problems the Town had experienced for the 30 years he has been here, and
he thought it was something the core residents should evaluate and
consider. Vice Mayor agreed with Mayor Morgan and asked Ms. Travis for a
little more narrative about what kind of overlap there might be when
they started repaving and re -doing the roads. Ms. Travis agreed to add
a short paragraph to the report. Mayor Morgan added if a resident was
reading this report on-line they may question the removing of the
landscaping and wondered how much landscaping would be interfered with.
Ms. Travis answered that it wasn't too bad but if they were putting
pavement where there was grass or landscaping, then that would have to
come out. She added there were a couple of mailboxes that would have to
move as well as some people had put pavers or asphalt along the road so
those would have to come out. Ms. Travis stated that the Town would not
be replacing landscaping if it was in the right of way or in the way of
the widening. Town Manager Dunham asked Ms. Travis to have an updated
CIP Schedule that could be put on-line for the residents to see where
the Town was at in relation to the schedule. He added that the staff
would go out road by road and inventory what impact on actual
landscaping there would be. Commissioner Lyons suggested a financial
feasibility analysis to see if it was affordable with the Town's budget.
He added that he liked putting it on the website to get it in front of
the residents to look at but he didn't think it would make an impact on
any individual property in any material way and thought it would be for
the betterment of the entire core area and was in full support.
Ms. Travis stated there was one line -item in the cost estimate to
root prune some trees where there is some root intrusion into the street
and some restoration of aprons on the new edge of the pavement.
Commissioner Lyons thought the biggest challenge would be restoring the
aprons so they looked proper and wondered if the Town would be doing
that. Ms. Travis answered in the affirmative. Vice Mayor Stanley
stated that Town Clerk Taylor would note that a lot of the residents
have a driveway removal agreement recorded against their property if
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they have improved it in the last 10 or 15 years, which says when the
Town does work, they must pay to put it back.
Mayor Morgan brought up the experiment the Town did with putting
a curb along Polo and how it was met with a favorable reaction and
wanted to know if there was consideration of putting in another curb.
Town Manager Dunham answered there were other candidate curbs. Mayor
Morgan asked Ms. Travis if the Town attached this core work to an
existing contract, how long would everything in their proposal take and
how would that affect the AlA project if the Town used their contractor?
Ms. Travis stated the water main portion would move forward as scheduled
and they would tack this on to the end which would become a change
order. They would then get a price from that contractor for the change
order. She added that if he was already bringing in the equipment to
lay asphalt and road rock, which he would be, then that would offset
mobilization and demobilization and his overhead and be a little bit
less than if somebody just came in as a separate project. He would then
add a month or so to the end of the water main, which is scheduled to
end in December.
Town Manager Dunham asked Ms. Travis to comment about Palm Beach
County having many contracts that cover this kind of work and
piggybacking off them. Ms. Travis explained that Palm Beach County has
a type of annual general contract that has a line item contract with
pricing for some of the things the Town is proposing to do. The Town
can then enter into a contract with the contractor that has the county
contract, or even a local city, and take advantage of the pricing on
those line -items, she added. Vice Mayor Stanley stated this is
something that should be done towards the end of the rainy season, which
would be July 15 to October 15, which may not lend itself to
piggybacking. Commissioner Lyons asked Ms. Travis if she had a sense of
what the cost would be if the Town didn't piggyback to which she
answered she had already put a lot of fluff in the cost estimate and had
a 20a contingency. She said the Town could take that off and she had
also inflated the line -item pricing. Commissioner Lyons said he
understood but wondered if she could give some kind of range so he could
process the piggyback vs. not piggybacking because it impacts the season
and the Town doesn't want to have to wait another year. Ms. Travis
didn't think it would be that disruptive to any contractor to come in
and do the drainage improvements as those could be done within a couple
of weeks. She added that it would be the road widening that would be
disruptive and dependent on the weather, but it would be a 10 to 20
percent saving if the Town could get a piggyback contract.
4. COVID 19 Update
Town Manager Dunham stated that the statistics could be
found on-line, but the most significant changes were the openings of
golf courses, parks, natural areas, boat ramps, community pools and
tennis courts with restrictions on use. He added the next thing that
had been discussed, but not decided, was the opening of the beaches.
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Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
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Mayor Morgan asked if private beaches were included in that, to which
Town Manager Dunham answered in the affirmative.
5. Streetlights in Place au Soleil Update
Town Manager Dunham stated all the equipment was in and
they had been hand -digging some wiring, but he didn't think they had
started installing the poles and globes. Commissioner White stated she
hadn't seen any work going on but with being quarantined, she wasn't
sure. Town Manager Dunham stated there were 26 poles and once they have
been installed, the Town will decide if there are any dark spots and if
any more need to be added.
7. 2775 Avenue Au Soleil-Release of Lien
Town Manager Dunham referred to Assistant Town Attorney
Nazzaro who stated there was a sale. He added that the Town had
released the requirement that the house be demolished and if it was to
sell over $430,000, then the Town would take a percentage of that, but
it did not sell over that amount. The Town has received $125,000 for
the lien and it has been sold to a Gulf Stream resident who plans to
demolish the house and is on track to be on the next commission meeting
for demolition and approval. Commissioner White stated that Chet
Snavely had bought the property and he planned to demolish the house and
sod the property at this point. Mayor Morgan stated it worked out very
well for the Town and Commissioner Lyons added that Mr. Snavely was a
stand-up guy for solving this problem for the Town.
B. Architectural Review & Planning Board
1. Meeting Dates
a. May 28, 2020 @ 8:30 A.M.
b. June 25,2020 @ 8:30 A.M.
c. July 23, 2020 @ 8:30 A.M.
d. No August Meeting
e. September 24, 2020 @ 8:30 A.M.
f. October 9, 2020 @ 8:30 A.M.
Mayor Morgan brought attention to these dates.
C. Finance Director
1. Financial Report for April 2020
Town Manager Dunham stated the report represented 580 of
the Town's budget and they were beginning the budget process for the
next fiscal year. There were some adjustments that needed to be made
internally for things not anticipated, such as COVID-19. Mayor Morgan
asked what the $1,500 for sanitation supplies was for and added that was
a lot of masks. Town Manager Dunham answered that the Town wanted to be
prepared for whenever they are needed because when all the COVID-19
started you had 39 cities in Palm Beach County who couldn't find the
equipment needed to do their jobs. He added that it included the N95
masks that the Police Department use. Commissioner Lyons asked if the
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Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
Held May 8, 2020 @ 9:00 A.M.
Town had all the PPE equipment needed to which Town Manager Dunham
answered in the affirmative.
D. Police Chief
1. Activity for April 2020
Chief Allen asked that the report be accepted as
submitted. He added that at the last meeting they had one vehicle being
reported as stolen during the month and had a second vehicle two days
later which is still at large, which is unusual for the time frame. All
officers are wearing their protective equipment when needed and so far,
all have been safe. Mayor Morgan stated that was a good point and asked
if any of the Town staff, Police Department or maintenance crew had
contracted the virus, to which Town Manager Dunham answered that no one
had contracted the virus. He added that one employee had gone to check
their antibodies, but the test came back negative. Mayor Morgan
accepted both reports as submitted.
IX. Items for Commission Action.
A. Amendment 001 to Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between
Palm Beach County and the Town of Gulf Stream.
Town Manager Dunham stated this is an agreement that the Town
has participated in for a long time and it just needs to be renewed.
The County uses our population to help get the funding from HUD to
direct it to low-income people for their needs. Commissioner White noted
that the dates were wrong on the second page to which Assistant Town
Attorney Nazzaro agreed that he had noticed that as well, but it was
sent to us by the County. He added he would let the County know to
change the dates before we executed the agreement. Vice Mayor Stanley
made a motion to approve the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.
Commissioner White seconded the motion, and all voted aye at roll call.
B. Resolution No. 20-2; A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF
THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA,
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR OF GULF STREAM TO SIGN A CERTAIN "STATE
ROAD AlA WATER MAIN IMPROVEMENTS -PHASE 2" AGREEMENT WITH
FOSTER MARINE CONTRACTORS, INC.; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Town Manager Dunham explained the resolution to approve the
contract for the AlA water main improvements with Foster Marine
Contractors. He added they were the low bidder and it had been vetted
by Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro. Mayor Morgan asked if there were
any questions. There were none, so Town Clerk Taylor read Resolution
20-2. Vice Mayor Stanley made a motion to approve Resolution 20-2.
Commissioner white seconded the motion with all voting aye at roll call.
Minutes of Town Commission
Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
Held May 8, 2020 @ 9:00 A.M.
C. Items by Mayor & Commissioners
Mayor Morgan commended the staff, particularly Town Manager
Dunham and Assistant Town Attorney Nazzaro who have attended the 56
daily EOC meetings, as some of them can be long and contentious, but
they have attended every one of them religiously, representing our Town
well and keeping us abreast of any changes in development.
X. Adjournment.
Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 10:30
nee Basel
sistant Town Clerk
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