Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting

THE CITY OF MADEIRA BEACH, FLORIDA PUBLIC NOTICE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS R ~iO M ETI The Board of Commissioners of the City of Madeira Beach, Florida will meet at City Hall, located at 300 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida to discuss the agenda items of Oty Business listed at the time indicated below. I 2:00PM APRIL ZS, 2015 . ·,·.!· CONFERENCE ROOM I A. CALL TO ORDER-The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. B. ROLLCALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Travis Palladeno, Mayor Elaine Poe, Vice-Mayor Terry Lister, Commissioner District 1 Nancy Hodges, Commissioner District 2 Patricia Shontz, Commissioner District 4 STAFF PRESENT: Shane B. Crawford, City Manager (CM) Thomas Trask, City Attorney (CA) Aimee Servedio, City Clerk (CC) Vincent Tenaglia, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director (ACM/FD) Dave Marsicano, Public Works/Marina Director (PW/MD) Doug Andrews, Parks & Recreation Director (PRD) C. ITEMS: 1. DISCUSSION ON TEMPORARY SIGN EXEMPTION ORDINANCE CHANGES Thomas Trask, City Attorney CA: A few years ago, the City adopted a resolution and ordinance, similar to one in Dunedin, to specifically address business income by allowing certain signs to be placed that would otherwise be in violation of the sign code. Currently, A-frame and flutter signs are permitted if the unemployment rate was over 7%. The CM approached the CA since this policy has been working well for business and have an ordinance allow A-frame and flutter signs, regardless of the unemployment requirement. There were several sections of the code that needed to be amended to change the definition of portable signs and clarify the types of signs that would be allowed. "Sandwich sign" was deleted and replaced with A-frame sign, and the definitions were standardized throughout the code. The ordinance draft that is presented today would allow businesses to use no more than one A-frame sign and no more than two flutter signs. This needs to be addressed, because the time period to allow (under the current code) has expired. CM: The solution of using these signs for businesses is working for everyone. Commissioner Lister: It looks like we have found some common ground with businesses. This ordinance does not address all the banner down at John's Pass. He thinks that a compromised agreement with the 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting I1 banner situation also needs to be addressed. The CM agreed and noted to the City Clerk to add that as an item at the next Workshop. CM: The CA was a great help on pulling this together. There are a lot of banners throughout the City from the VFW and their "Thank You Vets" signs to restaurant advertisements. Commissioner Shontz: The history of this was that these banners would overtake areas and would not be aesthetically pleasing. CA: Advised that this be addressed sooner than later because once enforcement goes down, problems arise. He doesn't know of a City that allows banners. Consensus was to present Ordinance 2015-04 for a first reading at the next BOC Regular Meeting. 2. DISCUSSION ON RENTAL INSPECTION ORDINANCE Elaine Poe, Vice-Mayor Commissioner Poe: This sentence oversteps what the City can do legally. She has met with both the City Manager and City Attorney and they saw no objection to removing this sentence. Consensus is to amend the ordinance and present it at the next BOC Regular Meeting. 3. DISCUSSION ON SHORT TERM RENTALS Elaine Poe, Vice-Mayor Mimi Anglen: People moved in next to her and rented the house by the week. They were allowed to do this by the City for six months. Finally, they got a three month renter, then the house was rented by the weekend, monthly renters, and even this last weekend, there was another party with many children and several adults. These types of people lie and say that they are a relative of the property owner. It has become such a nuisance and frustration. She hates to keep calling the sheriff and make noise complaints. Moose Anglen: These problems are in residential areas. The people that come aren't bad people, they are here for a vacation. He has an issue with property owner who bought this property with the intent to do short term rentals. CM: The people doing this are smart and they coach the renters what to say. The ordinances are in place and enforcement. Mr. Anglen: He called the sheriff over the weekend, and after the sheriff left, the party made as much noise as possible in retaliation. Residents should deserve peace. CM: Asked Mr. Anglen to have a meeting with himself and the Code Enforcement Officer. Commissioner Lister advised that they keep calling and record these issues. This is just one horror story representative of many. Mrs. Anglen: Could we get a community enforcement group together~ Vice-Mayor Poe: She has tried and tried. People are eager to help until they realized the depth of the issue and the amount of work that needs to be done. CM: Putting these ordinances on paper and working on enforcement are two different beasts. The City has been working on trying to get a handle on these situations. This is a big issue and the Code Enforcement Officer will be working with the couple. Vice-Mayor Poe: She has researched over fifteen ordinances and has put together a draft that pulls from the best ordinances. She contacted the Pinellas County Something. She believes that even though 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting 12 businesses have rights, but so do the residents. Most of the people renting these properties don't even live in the City. They live out of City and out of state and collect the money via the internet. This is our ordinance, we should be able to have them support our ordinances. There are way more people in homes than what is allowed -15 in a home suited for six, 30 suited for eight. When people come here and say they are grandfathered in, it is prior to 2006. If they cannot prove taxes have been paid, they cannot be grandfathered in. She wants to increase the fines, she wants to go to $1,000 for the second offense. If we don't do something to get their attention, it won't work. We need something in the books that says "NOT IN MADEIRA". These perpetrators are not getting the message. One of the suggestions, is for inspections. Properties that are grandfathered in, need to be inspected. There are strict rules for pools around rental properties. Three communities have added a section to exclude sexual predators. In New York, 72% is short term rentals. She estimates that Madeira Beach is near 50 - 60%. Mayor Palladeno: He is in support of the Vice-Mayor. Vice-Mayor Poe: We would not be changing the existing ordinance, we will be added safety measures. CA: What Anna Maria did, was to require a license and have regular inspections. A rental agent must also be employed and the health and fire safety requirements must be in compliance. We can prohibit from doing things that aren't exempt under the state. Parking and garbage removal are issues, these are things that the City can regulate. The Vice-Mayor is asking, do we have the authority to proceed on working on this ordinance. Mayor Palladeno: His concern is that this endeavor will be fruitful. He does not want to waste the staffs time on something that we cannot enforce. Vice-Mayor Poe: How behind do we want to get on this? If we are at 50% now, what will the state of the City be next year? Mayor Palladeno: He supports, he just doesn't want to overtax staff with something that might not be worth it. CA: The City would definitely need more staff for enforcement. Mayor Palladeno: He wants to ensure that however we move forward that it is cost effective. CM: The role of the Board is to create the public policy. The administration and execution of the policies are the responsibility of the City Manager. If this is something they want to move forward on, we will need more staff. He believes that in dealing with Short Term Rentals, the City will need two Code Enforcement Officers and someone as support doing computer research for over a year to get a handle on the situation. We could also just up the enforcement on all the current zoning codes - that could also help. 4. DISCUSSION ON AMENDING THE PINELLAS COUNTY EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ALS FIRST RESPONDER AGREEMENT RESOLUTION Travis Palladeno, Mayor Mayor Palladeno: Explained that he serves as President of the Pinellas County EMS Board and that these are the recommendations they have discussed to present to the County. This resolution was drafted based on a resolution from Dunedin with a few minor changes. 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting I3 CM: Wanted to ensure that the County would provide funding to maintain the costs for water rescue in the future. He does not want to have to cover extra costs that would be initially covered by the County in the future. He asks that a stipulation that the County agrees to fund maintenance as well. Consensus was to move forward and present the Resolution with the change that "maintenance" be added to Section 2. 5. DISCUSSION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE BOC RULES AND PROCEDURES Shane B. Crawford, City Manager and Aimee Servedio, City Clerk CM: The main addition that staff needs to include in the policy is in regards to the Dais Log. The Dais Log is included because there are times when an item gets finalized after the packets go out but before the meeting. A brief section will be added to the agenda to go over any new documents and explain them to the Board so they will be aware of the item on which will be voted. He'd also like to add giving the City Clerk authority to open all the Commissioners· mail that is delivered to the City. She could alert Commissioners in regards to time-sensitive items and put all other mail in the mailbox. He asked the City Clerk about the Government Access Channel. The CC confirmed that this would continue once the Chambers and A/V Room is up and running. The last item he wanted to review was the hard copy postings of the agendas. The agenda is posted on the website and at City Hall, he believes the library is still appropriate but all other sites are not needed and too old-fashioned for the sophistication of this City. The CC inquired about postings in other buildings in the Madeira Beach City Centre, but the CM did not think that was necessary. Consensus was to make the aforementioned changes and draft a resolution to adopt the new BOC Policies and Procedure Manual. 6. DISCUSSION ON CHARTER REVIEW IN REGARDS TO THE SELLING OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTY Pat Shontz, Commissioner District 4 and Shane 8. Crawford, City Manager CM: This item was requested by Commissioner Shontz. As the Charter currently reads, the City cannot easily accommodate developers when they become interested in City property- be it a parking garage or a condominium development near John's Pass. The CM has had history serving as a County Commissioner and always saw that position as that of a trustee. A Commissioner is representative of the people and has been elected to make these decisions for the community- if those decisions are wrong, it will be reflected in the next election. Commissioner Shontz: When she first served on the Board of Commissioners, there was no such limitation on the City. This stipulation stunts progress. The Board of Commissioners was elected to represent the will of the people. If they were elected, they should have some power to actually make the decisions they were elected to make. Whoever put this in the Charter did not want to make these types of decisions so they put it back on the people. She also noted that the average resident may not fully understand all of the nuances of development and property use. She has had a discussion with a former Commissioner who opined that if this was removed someone could sell John's Pass Park down the road. Maybe that could happen in twenty-five years- but that would be on that Commission. If the people were against an item, the meetings are open and public-they concerns can still be voiced. This is the twenty-first century, we cannot have stipulations in our Charter that retard progress. 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting 14 CM: The former Commissioner mentioned was also concerned about the slight raising of the millage rate in the last budget. There are definitely community incentives for certain developments and City-private cooperation. The mechanics of this is that if the Board wishes to proceed, this item would go out to referendum and be presented to the citizens of Madeira Beach. They would decide if they wanted to give the Board the power. Marilyn Afflen: Brought up the fact that a few years ago, the City Commission wanted to sell the Snack Shack. She used this as an example of where this might be problematic. CM: If the Board wants to maintain a low millage rate, there needs to be new ways to invent revenue. Things cannot remain stagnant and there is a lot of opportunity for growth and private partnerships that could create a lot of incentives for residents. Commissioner Lister noted that it may be a good idea to add a super-majority requirement for such sales to pass and the CM agreed that, that could easily be added. Commissioner Lister: Brought up having a Special Election, so this will be the only item that citizens will vote for or against. The CM also noted that there should definitely be some public education on this item. With scheduling for these educational programs, a regular election in March may end up making the most sense. CA: Confirmed as of now, the Board wants to change Section 1. 7 of the Charter, with no limitations on City parks. A referendum would require an ordinance presenting the Charter change, a resolution to define the ballot language needs to be adopted, and the language needs to be submitted to the Supervisor of ~lections by December to give them ample time to add it to the ballot. Consensus was to have the CA draft and ordinance to move forward. 7. DISCUSSION ON CITY COMMISSION SALARY SURVEY Shane B. Crawford, City Manager and Aimee Servedio, City Clerk CM: The City Clerk's Office put together a survey by the request of Vice-Mayor Poe. The BOC in Madeira Beach seem to be in the low to middle end of the surveyed cities. Nobody gets rich running for City Commission. However, there still needs to be some incentive and some recompense, especially for working Commissioners that need to take off work to make some of these meetings. This is for the future of the organization. Vice-Mayor Poe: The Commissioners have not had an increase in over ten years. She has put together an increase based on the cost of living. In the last nine years, there has been about a 25% increase in the cost of living. She presented this to Board for discussion. CM: He recommends forfeiting the pension, which is a small percent of a small salary, and up the increase. He also mentioned that right now, people who work full-time need to make up some of that time taken off. Vice-Mayor Poe: Originally came up with an increase to $6,000 for Commissioners and $9,000 for the Mayor, but was told why not bump that up to $7,000 and $10,000. CM: This may warrant a millage rate raise, but this raise would be for the next commission, not the current one. Consensus was to increase the next Mayor's salary to $10,000 and the next Commissioners' salaries to $7,500. 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting IS  8. DISCUSSION ON FEES AND PERMITTING FOR BEACH BUSINESSES Doug Andrews, Parks & Recreation Director PRO: There businesses being ·run on the beach that are outside the City's control and sometimes knowledge such as yoga classes, destination weddings, etc. Basically, he'd like to initiate an impact fee for these types of uses for the beaches. He will go over this with the ACM/FD and the CA. He has spoken to some of the businesses and have not been reluctant at all -they even expected it to eventually happen. The City is doing its own events on the beach, and there just needs to be better strategy and organization. CM: It's not necessarily about the fee, this is more about the regulation and organization for businesses that use the beaches. Between now and the next BOC meeting, the PRO and the ACM/FD can work out some of the details with the CA, if given the consensus by the Board. CA: Also added he would like to do some kind of agreement with these businesses to ensure that they are property insured and licensed, as well as establish some consequences for not having the appropriate coverage. Mayor Palladeno: Thinks this is a good idea and also commended the Parks & Recreation Department for their work on the volleyball tournament that took place over the weekend. Consensus was to have the PRO and ACM/FD work with the CA and create parameters and establish a policy and impact fee for beach businesses. D. ADJOURNMENT- The meeting was adjourned at 4:41 p.m. Date approved: 0\0 foq f 2.0IS Travis 1J>alladeno, MAYOR Submitted by Aimee Servedio, CITY CLERK 04/28/2015 BOC Workshop Meeting 16