Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting

MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR WORKSHOP MEETING AUGUST 27, 2019 2:00 P.M. A regular workshop meeting of the City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners was held at 2:00 p.m. on August 27, 2019 in the Patricia Shontz Commission Chambers at City Hall, located at 300 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida. MEMBERS PRESENT: Maggi Black, Mayor Deby Weinstein, Commissioner District 1 Nancy Hodges, V ice-Mayor/Commissioner District 2 Doug Andrews, Commissioner District 3 John Douthirt, Commissioner District 4 MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Robert Daniels, City Manager Clara VanBlargan, City Clerk Andrea Gamble, Deputy Clerk Ralf Brookes, City Attorney 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Black called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL City Clerk Clara VanB largan called the ro ll. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Missy Hahn, Treasure Island and Madeira Beach Chamber of Commerce, announced a fundraising golf tournament event to be held on Friday, October 11 , 20 19. A. Performance Evaluation - City Attorney Ralf Brookes - Board of Commissioners This item was moved to be discussed last on the agenda. B. Ordinance 2019-21, Live-aboard Vessels Ordinance Amendment - Linda Portal, Community Development Director August 27, 20 19, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 1 of 5  City Manager Robert Daniels introduced the item and explained the reason for having the live-aboard ordinance on the workshop agenda. Sergeant Richard Trump, Pinellas County Sheriffs Marine Unit, presented the item and answered questions from the Board. He said it would be better if the cities adopted the same regulations so it would be easier to enforce the ordinance. C. Sanitation and Recycling Fees, Verbal Presentation - Jan H Tracy, Program Coordinator, Pinellas County Department of Solid Waste, Stephanie Watson, Program Manager, Recycling Outreach and Programs, Pinellas County Department ofSolid Waste & Ian Boyle, Government Affairs Manager, Waste Connections Ian Boyle, Waste Connections, presented the item and said only 21 % of their recycling material had any value because China no longer takes all the recycling materials. He distributed a handout on the material that is recycled. He answered questions from the Board. Jan Tracy and Stephanie Watson from Pinellas County Department of Solid Waste presented their recycled program and answered questions from the Board. Commissioner Edward Hoofnagle, Indian Rocks Beach, asked if fees would be reduced if items were eliminated from recycling. Mr. Boyle said he was not sure, but everything will still go through the same process. Mayor Black opened to public comment. Robert Preston, 425 S. Bayshore Drive, asked where people could take car batteries and motor oil to be recycled. John Hendricks, 569 Normandy Road, stressed concern about there not being a market for recycling materials and said it should be addressed again in two years. D. Fireworks Contract Discussion Commissioner Andrews asked why the Board was not made aware of the changes made to the fireworks event and that they could not get a barge. He asked about a $17,800 payment made that the Board did not approve. Mr. Daniels said he would check into it to see where the money was spent. Finance Director Walt Pierce explained that the City did not receive a barge for the fireworks, so the City did not pay for a barge. Commissioner Weinstein said they should do away with the fireworks. Commissioner Douthirt said they needed to keep the fireworks because it kept the businesses and restaurants busy and they should not take that business away from them. The City should be seeking donations to pay for the fireworks. Mayor Black opened to public comment. August 27, 2019, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 2 of5  Robert Preston, 425 S. Bayshore Drive, commented he was not in favor of doing regular fireworks because of environmental concerns. He suggested having a laser firework show instead. John Hendricks, 569 Normandy Road, commented that the 4 th of July Fireworks event was a big day for the businesses and restaurants in Madeira Beach. We do not want to take that away from them. A. Performance Evaluation - City Attorney Ralf Brookes - Board ofCommissioners City Attorney Ralf Brookes said he welcomed questions and comments from the Board. Commissioner Douthirt said he would like to evaluate all four Charter Officers at one time on a regular basis instead of wasting time spacing them out. The Board can let the Charter Officers know if they are doing excellent or what improvement is needed. Commissioner Weinstein said that is a good concept, but she would rather start the process by doing the evaluation on the City Attorney now. Mayor Black said they have been discussing whether to do the evaluation on the City Attorney for some time now, so they should let him know now if he is doing a good job. Commissioner Andrews said he had looked at a lot of attorney invoices paid by the City and he does not understand why so many attorneys are needed on the payroll. He does not think all those attorneys are needed and that a lot of mistakes have been made and bad advice had been given. To make sure they are getting the best bang for the buck, he would like to go out for a RFP to see what else is out there. Mr. Brookes is welcome to respond to the RFP and submit a proposal. Vice-Mayor Hodges said there have been times that the City Attorney should have given them advice during a meeting on things to let them know what the consequences would be if they did it this way or that way, etc. That would have helped them to make the right decision at that time. They do not want to risk the City being sued for something not done right. The City Attorney said he would work on it. Commissioner Weinstein said the City Attorney should establish a time when he would be available to them individually to discuss things. That could eliminate a lot of concerns she might have had. In times past, prior city attorneys provided a list of legal issues to the Board that they needed to know about, and she would like that reestablished. She is comfortable in retaining the City Attorney as of right now and they needed to be a bit more proactive as well. The City Attorney said he will work on explaining the consequences for the items and establish times to meet with staff and Commissioners individually at City Hall each week. He will also make a list of legal concerns to report on at every meeting or circulate a memo. Mayor Black said the City Attorney has always responded to her immediately when she called or emailed him. August 27, 2019, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 3 of5  Vice-Mayor Hodges said that the former city manager did the performance evaluation on the Finance Director before leaving in July and the Board was told that the performance evaluation would be brought to the Board for their comments and direction as well because the Finance Director is a Charter Officer and he works at the pleasure of the Board. Commissioner Douthirt said the Board needed to figure out what they would like to do and what would work best for them and the City. Commissioner Andrews said he is in favor of doing the RFP. It is better to have a firm, so they would have one group of attorneys. The City is not in good shape financially, because they keep going outside and getting more · people and he does not know who approved that or who makes that call. An extensive search needs to be done and they might find that Ralf is the best choice, but they will know that unless they go out for the RFP. He would like to combine everything together to see what they are paying for. The City Manager explained why some of the different attorneys are needed. The Board consented to doing the performance evaluations on the four Charter Officers every calendar year beginning sometime after the first of the year. They decided to wait on sending out a RFP for ~ity attorney services until after the they do the evaluation on the City Attorney. Mayor Black opened to public comment. Helen Price, 1339 Boca Ciega Avenue, commented that there is a very good reason City Attorney Ralf Brookes should receive a poor review on his evaluation from the Board. She was shocked to learn that the City Attorney actively participated in sending a letter to the Florida Attorney General with negative and false accusations about their City government. Specifically, he conspired with their District 1 Commissioner to draft a letter against their City Clerk and against their District 3 Commissioner. He tried to get their City investigated and he did that to aid their District 1 Commissioner in her quest to gather evidence to fire their City Clerk and humiliate their District 3 Commissioner. Mr. Brookes knew the information in the letter was not true and he worked with Commissioner District 1 to accomplish what she was wanting to do. He never discussed what he was doing with the Board of Commissioners. The City Attorney should be fighting for their client and not working against it in any way. The City Attorney's number one job is to protect the City. Finance Director Pierce announced a Budget Review Committee meeting to be held the next day at 1:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. The City Manager explained how he will be addressing agenda items to make them flow through easier and be addressed. Some items will be addressed at the workshop meetings and some will be addressed under Staff Reports on the regular meeting agendas. He wants to move the City forward in the best way possible. 4. ADJOURNMENT August 27, 2019, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 4 of5  Mayor Black adjourned the meeting at 3:43 p.m. ATTEST: Clara August 27, 2019, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 5 of 5