Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting

MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORKSHOP MEETING DECEMBER 17, 2019 2:00 p.m. A workshop meeting of the City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners was held at 2:00 p.m. on December 17, 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, Vice Mayor/Commissioner District Doug Andrews, Commissioner District 3 John Douthirt, Commissioner District 4 MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Robert Daniels, City Manager C lara VanBlargan, C ity C lerk Ralph Brooks, City Attorney 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Black called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL City C lerk C lara VanBlargan called the roll. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Rodger Gerstung, 171 E. Madeira Avenue, distributed a copy of the j ob posting for the Marina Manager position recently filled by the City Manager. He stressed concern that the person hired did not meet the requirements for the position, and that a person w ho worked at the Marina for the past 17 years that met the requirements did not get hired for the position. Mr. Gerstung said he had met with the City Manager on Friday, and he would not answer why he hfred someone without the required qualifications for the position. City Manager Robert Daniels said per the City Charter, the city manager hires and fires the personnel, and the person he hired for the position met the requirements for the position but not in the Marina business. Mr. Gerstw1g said the Board of Commissioners hired the City Manager, and he is making decisions that the residents must live with long after the city manager no longer works for the City. Mr. Daniels said he is happy to meet with M r. Gerstung outside the Board meeting. December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 6 4. DISCUSSION ITEMS Commissioner Andrews said due to the discrepancy yesterday over the staff turnover percentage for FY 2017 and FY 2018, he had the City Clerk provide him a copy of the staff memo written by former city manager Jonathan Evans he included in the FY 2019 salary and compensation study provided to the Board. He would like to place that as Agenda Item H to go over the numbers. Commissioner Weinstein suggested placing the item on another agenda since the workshop meeting agenda had been set. Finance Director Walt Pierce said he was asked to verify the figures, and he had the numbers but wanted to verify them with the HR Coordinator before providing them to the Commission. Commissioner Andrews said it would only take 30 seconds to verify it, and then the topic can be dropped. The City Attorney said the Board needed to consent to add or not to add the item and then have the City Clerk to announce the vote. The City Clerk announced each Commissioner's consensus, which was 3-2, not to add the item to the agenda. A. RCS Pinellas, Inc. (help & hope for people in need) - Melinda Perry, RCS Pinellas Melinda Perry, RCS Pinellas, presented the item. B. Update on Marina Audit and the steps taken on that to follow the advice of the Forensic Auditors - Robert Daniels, City Manager City Manager Robert Daniels said this is an item that has been very divisive in the community. It had been debated since the forensic audit started in 2018. If digging up the past, the divide will continue. It is important to focus on the issues needing to be dwelt with in the future within the community. Out of the 25 recommendations, three recommendations are left to be handled, which are the security fence and the gate issue the contractor is currently handling. The other is to address the surveillance cameras issue. A contract will be coming to the Board in January for the surveillance cameras. Commissioner Andrews said Commissioner Weinstein had mentioned yesterday that they learn a lot from their history, so they do not make the same mistakes in the future. There are a lot of questions gone unanswered because the former city manager would not address them. A lot of the issues will not go away if they continue to sweep them under the rug. There are costs associated with them moving forward. The City's Public Information Officer sent out a press release stating that the forensic audit report showed that the Marina losses totaled more than $550,000. Then the Tampa Bay Times reported on that information. Commissioner Andrews asked if that was a true statement, and the City Manager said no. Commissioner Andrews asked that there be a retraction stating the truth. Commissioner Weinstein called Point of Order and said they needed to stay on topic. Commissioner Andrews responded that he was on topic. December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 2 of6 The City Manager and Finance Director Walt Pierce continued the update. Commissioner Andrews said he would like a comparison for 2018 and 2019 for the Marina. He asked the commercial revenue for this year and last year. Director Pierce said he would prefer to wait until the audit is completed and approved with the adjustments or not. He could compare those to 2018 and make a side-by-side comparison. Commissioner Andrews said he would like that information to show how well the Marina was doing. Commissioner Weinstein called Point of Order. Commissioner Andrews said he was discussing the topic. Director Pierce said the Finance staff and the City's auditor did see improvement from the previous year. Commissioner Andrews said it had cost $50,000 for the examination audit, $250 or $275 to implement, $125,000 a year to maintain, and now, he is guessing they lost about $250,000 in commercial fuel revenue. He would like to know the budget line item the money is in at the next meeting. The City Manager said they deal with unaudited and audited figures. If there was an error, it was probably due to an unaudited number. Lesson learned they should not be using unaudited figures. Director Pierce said, as stated in his staff memo, the FY 2019 unaudited figures for the Marina displayed revenues exceeding expenditures for $256,353.36. The City Clerk had a planned appointment and was excused by the Board at 2:41 p.m. Mayor Black opened to public comment. Reese Noran, 363 Medallion Blvd., stated why he thought the audit was a forensic examination and not a forensic audit. Helen Price, 13319 Boca Ciega Avenue, commented on why there were hard feelings about the Marina. Everyone thinks that the audit was used to rid an employee that had worked for the City for almost 20 years and was very well-liked by everyone except for certain people on the Commission at that time. Dave Marsicano, Certified Marina Manager, 5227 104th Way North, commented on Exhibit A, the audit recommendations given by Carl, Riggs & Ingram. He said he was not an employee of the City when the audit was received. He had resigned on December 27, 2018, and the audit was released to the employees on January 11, 2019. The City had released to the press a false statement that there was $550,687.17 missing. Dan Casey, 573 Johns Pass Avenue, said he has been renting a boat slip from the Marina for about five years and had never received anything free from the guys at the Marina. Rodger Gerstung, 171 E. Madeira Avenue, commented that the Marina is a hangout place and where the heart of the people is. There were no issues with the Marina. There were a lot of events December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 3 of6 there, and to see those people at the Marina run under the bus is terrible, and it is disappointing to know that an employee who had worked at the Marina for almost 17 years did not get the Marina position. Director Pierce gave the history of how the forensic audit started and explained that when the auditor completed the City's audit, he brought to his attention some concerns he had with the audit. There were fuel numbers and numbers in the store that did not add up. There were things in the audit he did not agree with, but the results caused some positive things to happen. If he had the opportunity to redo the audit, he would do that but in a better way. Commissioner Andrews disagreed with Mr. Pierce wanting to do another audit. He had asked John Houser, the City's auditor, at a Commission meeting if he had asked for an audit. Mr. Houser replied that he commented to Mr. Pierce was there was a communication problem between the Finance Department and the Marina and suggested that there be an internal investigation to resolve the communication problem. Mr. Houser said it then morphed into this. The initial intent of the audit was to find fraud but instead was an unfair examination at the cost of $50,000. Mayor Black recessed the meeting at 3:09 p.m. and reconvened at 3:13 p.m. C. Annual LMS (Local Mitigation Strategy) Verbal Presentation Report - Linda Portal, Community Development Director Community Development Director Linda Portal presented a PowerPoint presentation on the item and explained the purpose of the annual local mitigation strategy and how the county contributed to that effort. She answered questions by the Board. Mayor Black opened to public comment. There were no public comments. D. Discussion on conflicting language from the BOC Policy Handbook - Ralf Brookes, City Attorney City Attorney Ralf Brookes reviewed the item. He said the language in the City Charter only allows special meetings to be called by the Mayor, by a majority of the Commission members, with no less than twenty-four hours' notice in writing to each member and the public. The request must be in the Sunshine, a noticed public meeting. The language differs in the handbook adopted by the Board of Commissioners. It allows the city manager to call a special meeting, but for the city manager to call a special meeting would require a charter amendment voted on by the electorates. Commissioner Weinstein said the language in the handbook allowing the City Manager to call a special meeting needed to be removed to follow the Charter. The City Manager said he had a problem with the language in the handbook because he cannot do that. The City Attorney said the majority vote must be in the Sunshine. The City Manager cannot poll the Commission outside the December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 4 of6 Sunshine. It must be in a noticed public meeting. The Board can adopt an ordinance to place a charter amendment on an election ballot allowing the city manager to call a special meeting. Commissioner Andrews said the City Manager should be able to call a special meeting in case an emergency occurred. The Commission members cannot always get together to call a special meeting if an emergency occurs. The City Attorney said in City Charter, Sec. 5.4, 11, it states that the city manager can perform such other duties as are specified in the Charter or may be required by the Board of Commissioners. Commissioners Andrews asked if that language would allow them to authorize the City Manager to call a special meeting without it going to a referendum. The City Attorney said the Charter does not provide for the city manager to call a special meeting. Perhaps a resolution could be passed allowing it, and the language be added in the handbook, but he is not sure. Commissioner Andrews commented he would love it if they could do that. Mayor Black opened to public comment. There were no public comments. E. Discuss topics to be added to the January 21 st Town Hall meeting - Commissioner Andrews The Mayor suggested that the City Manager put out something to the public, asking what the public would like discussed at the meeting. The City Manager suggested that the agenda be limited to two or three items. Commissioner Andrews asked that an overall update on all the construction on the roadways going on be one of the topics. Commissioner Weinstein suggested that the City Manager give an update on the idle speed, minimum wake zone. The City Manager said he is hoping to have a resolution on the January meeting agenda regarding that and then on the agenda following an ordinance changing the speed zone on Crystal Island. Mayor Black opened to public comment. Helen Price, 13319 Boca Ciega A venue, said she thought that the purpose of the Town Hall meeting was to see how much development citizens are willing to tolerate. The PDs to be negotiated in the future. She was hoping they could come to some type of consensus on that. Mayor Black said she would like to add the opening and closing of the bridge. F. Consultant law firms the City currently uses - City Attorney Ralf Brookes - City Attorney Ralf Brookes reviewed the item and named all the attorneys the City is currently using. He will bring something for approval to the Board at the next regular meeting. December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 5 of6 Commissioner Andrews said the City Attorney is supposed to get approval from the Board each time when wanting to bring in an outside attorney. He does not understand why there would be engagement letters before having an issue. The City Attorney said he could bring that agreement to the Board for approval. The City Manager said he would like to put out an RFP for special magistrate services. G. Policy on future payment of legal fee requests from elected officials, charter officers, and city staff, to be included in the BOC Policy Handbook The City Attorney explained the process taken when a request for reimbursement for attorney legal fees are received. The invoices are immediately forwarded to the City's insurance agent for review and approval. If the insurance company denies a claim, the claim can be brought to the Board to decide approval. He explained how the insurance company also could provide advancement for legal counsel so an elected official, charter officer, or city staff person can defend themselves whether they prevail or do not prevail. The insurance company can seek reimbursement if they do not prevail, but they not always do that. Following discussion, the Board consented for the City Attorney to bring invoices received for reimbursement oflegal services to the Board of Commissioners to decide approval if the insurance company denied the claim. Mayor Black opened to public comment. There were no public comments. 5. ADJOURNMENT Vice Mayor Hodges adjourned the meeting at 4: 14 p.m. ATTE T: Clara anBlargan, MMC, MSM, City Cler December 17, 2019, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 6 of6