Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED WORKSHOP MEETING September 20, 2016 Page 1 of5 A Workshop Meeting of the City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners was held at 5:00 p.m. on August 9, 2016 in the Patricia Shontz Commission Chambers at City Hall, located at 300 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida. Mayor Palladeno called the meeting to order. MEMBERS PRESENT: Travis Palladeno, Mayor Housh Ghovaee, Vice-Mayor Terry Lister, Commissioner Nancy Hodges, Commissioner MEMBERS ABSENT: Ellaine Poe, Commissioner CITY STAFF PRESENT: Shane Crawford, City Manager Vicent M. Tenaglia, Assistant City Manager Aimee Servedio, City Clerk Thomas Trask, City Attorney Dave Marsicano, Public Works/Marina Director Michelle Orton, Planning and Zoning Director A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Palladeno called the meeting to order at 5:01 pm. B. ROLLCALL City Clerk Servedio called the roll. C. TOPICS 1. DISCUSSION OF RESOLUTION 2016-27 MPO APPOINTEE- Mayor Travis Palladeno (Mayor Palladeno skipped to item two of the agenda because their guess was not currently in attendance to discuss item one.) Following the discussion of topic two, Mayor Palladeno moved back to topic one. He invited Dr. Finity to address the commission. Ms. Finity introduced herself to the commission. She stated that she was born and raised in New Jersey until 1972 at which point she moved to Houston Texas. She taught at the University of Houston for 10 years. She had a joint appointment with department of education and social sciences. In 1982 she moved to her parents Condo in Upham Beach, Florida. She started her career as a senior management training instructor for the Jack Eckert Corporation. She then became the development manager for Inns Brooke. She ended her employment with Corporate American as the director of training for the Conoco Corporation. She then started a consulting business called Course Correction where she has since worded with major corporations across the wor1d. She decided to run for the commission in 2013 and beat out the incumbent. She was reelected in 2015 and has a great reputation in the community. She was appointed as a liaison between PSTA and FOOT and hoped to create positive change. Safety was a huge issue in her community on Gulf Boulevard and they have had 19 deaths on that roadway since they started keeping records. She indicated that she worked closely with FDOT to get cross walks and lights on Gulf Blvd. She worked with them on a light at the school in the community and on replacing incorrect signage. She asked them to please consider her to be the representative for the Big Sea. Mayor Pelledeno asked what she can bring to Madeira Beach. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES- MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED WORKSHOP MEETING September 20, 2016 Page 2 of 5 Ms. Finity indicated that Forward Pinellas is looking to integrate land use and transportation planning. There are issues like State Road 60 and East West Bay Drive that need consideration. The person representing the cities needed to be able to get to know their individual issues. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee asked how many of the mayors, council members and county commission members does she know. Ms. Finity indicated that she knew all of the county commissioners because of the role her husband had. She said that she also knew all of the mayors because she served on the mayor's council. She knew about 40% of the commissioners by name. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee commended her for her service. Ms. Finity stated that she also manages the American Legion Post 305 in her spare time. Commissioner Hodges asked what Ms. Finity thought she could offer and how would she help Madeira Beach promote tourism. Ms. Finity stated that she is not the person to organize tourism but would guide and direct them to those who could bring tourism. Commissioner Lister asked what her preferred routes for are getting people from Downtown St. Petersburg to the beaches and how to get people from Tampa to come to Pinellas County. Ms. Finity indicated that people needed choices on how to travel, whether it was by ferry or bus. Commissioner Lister asked if she would feel comfortable driving an autonomous car. Ms. Finity stated that she can't wait. Mayor Palladeno next invited Commissioner Kennedy up to speak. Ms. Kennedy thanked the mayor for coming to the business luncheon. She appreciated the accolades received by the mayor. Madeira Beach had been the middle community that they work with. She stated that she felt she brought experience as a commissioner and had not had anyone run against her. Planning had been her great love. She currently had been an expert in mixed use. Jim Kennedy, the chairman, currently had been an advocate for the beach communities. She had great instruction from the board. They were all on the same page. They were having their next forum on water transit on the ]lh_ She has three projects that they just submitted. She would like to see the sidewalk project through the process. Mayor Palladeno asked her what she had accomplished for Madeira Beach while sitting on the board. Ms. Kennedy stated that she worked with Ms. Finity on several projects. She stated that she is a great person. She commented that her connection with the commission will help and she stated that she would like to serve for two more years. Mayor Palladeno commented that the majority of the board is made up of PSTA members and feels that this is steering things to involve PSTA and not really opening it up to other issues . Ms. Kennedy stated that they have three PSTA member on the board. She is a huge advocate for the ferry. They need to work on the local trolleys and on marketing to get people off the roads. She commented that she felt that the board believed other things were also very important. Mayor Palladeno indicated that this item would be on tonight's agenda. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED WORKSHOP MEETING September 20, 2016 Page 3 of5 Mr. Crawford stated that it couldn't be on the agenda due to the budget hearing. He asked if they can have a ballot for the commissioners to fill out. The attorney commented that he was not sure and will look into it. Mr. Crawford stated that they would schedule it and if they could not do a ballot that they would have to make a motion. 2. DISCUSSION OF UNDERGROUNDING UTILITIES - David Marsicano, Public Works Director and Steven Tarte, CPWG Mr. Crawford said in their last meeting they discussed the undergrounding of utilities and funding that could become available in the future for this project. The budget that they were about to approve, did not include the borrowing of an additional $3,000,000. There had been some chatter about money becoming available in 2020 for Gulf Beach beautification projects. They needed to decide if they wanted to continue with plan B to remove utilities running east and west and leaving utilities that are running north and south. If the city received another $3,000,000 in funding undergrounding utilities, they would be paying to remove wires that they recently had installed as part of plan B. He said Mr. Marsicano and Tarte were in attendance to discuss the issue with the commission. He stated that staff is recommending that they would continue burying everything until the budget was exhausted. They believed that this would take them to approximately 144th Street. At that point they would call a time out. They would know then if the referendum was approved and more funds are available. Mr. Tarte indicated that they started with a feasibility study about three years ago. The underground conduit was completed. They were waiting for Duke to mobilize and install their transformers which are used to electrify the system and .then pull the wires and poles down. He received an email last night, and Duke Energy was expecting to begin on the first of October. The first phase is a test to see if they can work within the right of ways under the sidewalks . It was a little more expensive, but it would keep the utilities in the right-of-way. With the additional money coming, it would make sense to continue undergrounding on the west side. They had been engaged by the City of Indian Rocks Beach and they were starting on the southern end and they would go until they had exhaust the funds and take a break until they receive more funding. Mayor Palladeno asked Mr. Tarte how long it will take to get to 144th • Mr. Tarte responded that it could take until the end of 2017. Mr. Marsicano indicated that it could take longer because they are five months delayed on the current project. Mr. Tarte indicated that Duke is overwhelmed with all of the current projects going on. Mayor Palladeno stated Big Sea is meeting at the end of the month to discuss with the rest of the council about the renewal for the penny. They would have this agreement set up with the county prior to the vote that would take place in March. If it passed then they could move forward. He asked Vince if they could borrow against it. Vince commented that he will have to look into it. They might get better rates if they waited until it was active. Mr. Crawford commented that there were plenty of cities that needed help undergrounding utilities on Gulf Boulevard. He asked the mayor to advocate for this. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES-MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED WORKSHOP MEETING September 20, 2016 Page4 of5 Mayor Pelledeno responded that they would need to put some funds away for maintenance costs. Mr. Tarte indicated that if they put the utilities in the ROW they would not have to pay for maintenance. Commissioner Lister asked why there was a slow down on the three-block section they recently completed. Mr. Tarte indicated that there was difficulty in working on the west side. It is very congested. Duke also has a tremendous work load right now. Commissioner Lister said the north side looked primed for redevelopment. He asked, why are they moving from north to south as opposed to starting at Johns Pass. Mr. Tarte commented that John's Pass is undergrounded except for the poles. This section was completed except for the stree_t light wires, which is a minor piece of the project. Mr. Crawford indicated that most of the development was going to be off of Gulf Boulevard. Mayor Palladeno asked if everything from 144th to 155th will be maintenance free. Mr. Tarte stated that it will be maintenance free. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee inquired regarding the cost comparison with other cities. Mr. Tarte responded that it is the same. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee asked what the profit margin to the contractor is. Mr. Tarte indicated that he was not in a position to tell him that, but he can get this information for him. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee asked if the utility lines have a life span. Mr. Tarte responded that they do but he was not working on these. He was working on the conduit lines and pole boxes. Mr. Crawford asked for a thumb up to revert to plan A. Vince stated that if the city asked a bank in 2017 for funds that won't be available until 2020, they would not get great rates. He indicated that he would look into all options. Mr. Crawford asked the clerk to let it be known that there was a consensus to revert back to plan A. Mayor Palladeno moved back to topic one. 3. DISCUSSION TO ELIMINATE CHAPTER 74 - VEHICLES FOR HIRE, OF THE CITY ORDINANCES - Aimee Servedio, City Clerk The City Clerk said she had asked Mr. Trask if this chapter was still applicable because they no longer regulate taxi cabs. They used to check vehicles and references on the drivers. Mr. Trask indicated that they do not need this chapter anymore. The attorney commented that he spoke with Mr. Trask and he had no objection. Mayor Palladeno asked the Commission what they wanted to do. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES- MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED WORKSHOP MEETING September 20, 2016 Page 5 of 5 Commissioner Hodges cornmented that they had enforced this code for a long time. To get a taxi license you had to take a state exam. Currently they did not regulate Uber drivers. You only needed a license from the city if you are based in the city. Commissioner Lister stated that he feels this will turn into autonomous drivers. D. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Palladeno adjourned the meeting at 5:48 pm. The September 20, 2016 BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes were approved on _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Maggi Black, Mayor ATTEST: Clara VanBlargan, MMC, MSM, City Clerk