Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting

MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR WORKSHOP MEETING JULY 28,202 I 6:00 p.m. The City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners held a regular workshop meeting at 6:00 p.m. on Ju ly 28, 202 1, in the Patricia Shontz Commission Chambers at City Hall, located at 300 Municipal Dri ve, Madeira Beach. Florida. MEMBERS PRESENT: John B. Hendricks, Mayor Helen " Happy'· Price, Vice Mayor/Commissioner Di strict I Nancy Hodges. Commiss ioner District 2 Doug Andrews. Commissioner District 3 Dave Hutson, Commiss ioner District 4 MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Robert Daniel s, City Manager C lara VanBlargan, City Clerk Thomas Trask, City Attorney 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hendricks ca lled the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. ROLLCALL City Clerk C lara VanBlargan called the roll. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Hendricks opened to public comment. There were no public comments. 4. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION A. Renewal of Law Enforcement Services - Robert Daniels, City Manager City Manager Robert Dan iels expla ined that the contract in front o r the Board is the current one. The new one will come be fore the Board alter some decisions have been made on it. Captain Mike Leiner presented to the Board and answered questions and comments by the Board. July 28 , 202 1. BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page l or 9 Mayor Hendricks said the school crossing guard has been in there for years, and he was surprised the school board does not cover it. Captain Leiner explained the school board does not fund that. Commissioner Andrews commented on the good job Cory and Jared are doing. Captain Leiner said that makes his job easier when things are working out well for the City. He will pass that information along. The City Manager said the Vice Mayor wanted to add a CPO to the ranks in the contract with the Sheriffs Office. He got the costs for that and included them in the packet. The contract is not formalized yet until a decision has been made. Mayor Hendricks said that it is about $175,000 for the first year for one more deputy. The Board discussed the cost of the renewal contract: • Without the additional officer, the annual renewal cost is $1,395,468, an 3.29% increase from last year. • The annual renewal cost with an additional officer is $224,544, a 16.62% increase from last year. • The one-time startup costs to add an officer is $70,825. Mayor Hendricks said they could hire another code enforcement officer for less than that. The City Manager said he spoke with Vice Mayor Price, and she is thinking about the professionalism and spirit of cooperation they get when having a deputy doing it. Commissioner Hodges said she agreed with her, but they are not the size of St. Pete Beach, and that is a lot of money to put a third person on. Commissioner Hutson said sometimes it feels like they do not have enough enforcement on the City's ordinances, such as dogs on the beach. He asked if the schedules could be adjusted so the officers could be out at different times to see what is going on. Captain Leiner said people should call the Sheriffs Department directly when they see something so they can go and address it then. If a follow-up is involved, they shift that to the two CPOs. Mayor Hendricks said they have an issue with kids jumping off the John's Pass Bridge and the boardwalk. When caught, they are told not to do that anymore. After the officer leaves, they are right back doing it. He would like to see a little more proactive action, whether ticketing the parents before someone gets seriously hurt or a fatality. That will be the same for kids on golf carts. Something needs to be done about them. Captain Leiner said having a tag is helpful. The City does not have an ordinance regulating golf carts, making it harder for the deputies when some of the cities in the county do not have an ordinance regulating them. Commissioner Andrews asked if it makes more sense for them to put an ordinance in place regulating golf carts. Captain Leiner said that would be the City's call. It all boils down to the state statute. If someone has a golf cart, an ordinance must be passed allowing them. There are different July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 2 of9 rules. It is illegal for a golf cart to drive down Gulf Blvd. because they are not allowed on state roads. They can cross if the state allows it, and they must have a tag. The City Manager said he needed direction from the Board to stick with the two CPOs or add another one. He will have the contract renewal finalized and brought back to the Board for approval. The Mayor said they needed a consensus. The City Attorney said they could not take a vote at all at a workshop. Captain Leiner said whatever decision he can forward a contract for it as soon as possible. B. Bid out for engineering services or hire an engineer to work as an employee inhouse - Board of Commissio11er.~ Mayor Hendricks said he brought it up because of the amount of money they are paying for engineering services. They paid over $500,000 last year alone for the service. They were being charged for every email, phone call, etc. They were paying a lot of expenses that should have been part of the contract. It is time to bring it in-house or put it out for bid to get another engineering firm and have those things clarified, so they do not get charged additional fees for something. Commissioner Andrews said engineering services are needed because they do not have anybody on staff with an engineering degree. He does know how much work Al has done for the City, although he may not agree with everything he does. He asked about the cost of hiring an engineer to work in-house and how long the person would be needed. At some point, the City will be built out, and there is not a lot of land in the City. There are not a lot of things they can do going forward. He does not mind bidding the service out and could be convinced either way. He does not know if the City could afford an in-house engineer, or they do it with a strict consulting fee like with the attorney and the HR person. Mayor Hendricks said he had spoken with an engineering firm to get an idea of what that person would cost and was told $70,000 to $100,000 a year. If that is true, it would be a no-brainer to hire someone, but he does not know if that figure would draw in the right person. The City Manager said those figures are in the ballpark of what he had gotten. Commissioner Hodges asked if they could bring somebody on Board for a certain amount of time as needed. The City Manager said that would be hard considering they must certify all the engineering plans, which is a function of having an engineer. It does not cost anything to run an ad. When Jamie was the public works director, he brought several continuing services engineers on Board for the different projects coming up. They could go through the contracts to see if they already have somebody. Mayor Hendricks said he understood that the position would be paid for with building funds. As the building department grows with the new facility, the employee would pretty much be paying for themselves instead of the money coming out of the General Fund. July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 3 of9 Commissioner Andrews said they need an agreement that would benefit the City instead of being one-sided. They also need to know ifthere would be enough work for a full-time person because their current person is only there two days a week. There would need to be other tasks they can do with City staff if they are full-time. It is time to handle things and control the amount of money going out the door. They need to be looking at the billing and approving it before paying. Mayor Hendricks reviewed the engineering job description distributed to them. There are functions listed that can be done in the City. One is serving as the floodplain manager. They already have that person, but perhaps the engineer can help to lighten the load. The City Manager said they would be doing more projects to involve someone with the extra expertise and do some inspections instead of paying an outside engineer. That would save some money. The Mayor agreed and said that was cost savings to the City because they had paid out another $200,000 to Deuel and Associates to do that. Financial Consultant Andrew Laflin said he would caution against charging it to the building fund because there are statutory requirements about what can be charged to the building fund relating to enforcing the building code. They are good if the civil engineer is performing services relating to enforcing the building code. They must look at the full functions of that individual. The Mayor said they also go over the plans that come in for development, homes, and other things. Most all of it would be building department functions the same as the engineering firm doing it now. He recommended pursuing to bring it in-house. The City Manager said he would get with Sean and Andrew on it. C. Court of Honor - Robert Daniels, City Manager The City Manager said the Court of Honor is a tribute to the armed forces of each branch. They have been working on putting a benefit night on at the Cambria. Individuals made an offer within the community to bring their philanthropists to an event and donate some money. That was one of the things they could not do because of COVID. An owner of the Cambria reached back out to him about doing it. The event will probably be scheduled for the end of September or the first week of October. The donations will make up the difference to get the project done. Commissioner Hutson asked what the project entailed besides a sign and the cost. The City Manager explained it and said the cost estimate is between $80,000 and $100,000. They currently have about $40,000 and looking to match the rest through the benefit. Commissioner Andrews said for the 9/11 Memorial, a group came to them wanting to put in a 9/11 memorial, and they worked hard raising the money and went to New York to get a piece of the tower that came down. He asked who was knocking on the City's door to ensure they did it other than it got brought up in a meeting two years ago. Is there a group heading the charge, and is there a group that is willing to donate? Are any of the local American Legions and VFWs all for it, ready to go, and prepared to donate money because they donate money to things too. The $40,000 is not a drop in the bucket. Are they going to end up taking the $80,000 to $100,000 out of the City's budget? They can have the events, but at the end of the day, they will be the July 28,2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 4 of9 one picking up the rest of the tab. The City Manager said he did not know because it predated his tenure there. He asked Commissioner Hodges if she knew where it originated. She responded that when Mr. Evans was the city manager and they were doing the budget, there was about $4 l ,000 left over, and he said they could use it towards the park and work on the rest of it. At that point, there was no particular party involved like with the 9/11 Memorial. Commissioner Andrews said he never heard it brought up. They are just bantering it around just to put something in that park. They could do something, but is it the right way to spend the money if nobody's clamoring for it? He is sorry for bringing it up. He is not anti-military by any means. Instead of doing it, they could take the money and donate it to the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund or something like that. Why are they dedicating money to something not being discussed? Commissioner Hodges said when it was brought up, she believed that the people at Bay Pines, American Legion, and others said they were interested in being a part of it. So, they are not the only ones doing it, but there is no group. Mayor Hendricks asked if they had donated any money toward it or if it was the City's money sitting in there. Commissioner Hodges said they now have $39,000 because they had taken money out to do the survey when they had drawn up the plans. She did not think any other facility had participated. It was verbal when they said they wanted to participate. Mayor Hendricks said someone needed to touch bases with the American Legion, VA, Elks, and the VFW to see if they would walk the walk. The City Manager said he would reach out to them. The Mayor said the City has already invested $40,000, which is more than a generous contribution. He thinks that is what happened to them on the 9/ 11 Memorial. They thought they could get donations, which did not occur, and the City ended up paying the balance. He will be interested in the event and seeing what it generates. D. Pesticides and Fertilizers - Commissioner Andrews Commissioner Andrews said he thought the item would be put on the August agenda. He is nowhere near ready to discuss it at any intellectual level. He asked that it be placed on the August agenda, and he will do his studying until then. Mayor Hendricks said that was fine. He did some research online. They have all known red tide has been around for years. He mentioned a document he had distributed before the meeting that scientifically documented a red tide episode in 1844. They have it in England, Alaska, the North Sea, and other places. It is not necessarily something just the gulf has. He does not doubt that Piney Point exacerbated it. From what he could find, they have had it much worse than what that outbreak was. He also made calls to companies that do lawn spraying for fertilization and bugs, etc. He will look forward to August. Commissioner Andrews said the idea to put the item on the agenda was from a resident's public comment at the last meeting. He thought it was a very interesting topic. He does not know if it was related to red tide. Commissioner Hutson asked what the county was doing about it because they have stopped July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 5 of9 sales on fertilizers from May through the summer. Instead of doing something as a City, perhaps they could pressure the county or different beach communities to do something. The fertilizer places are not going to do something special just for Madeira Beach. They say they will, but will they? The Mayor said the county stops the usage of fertilizer totally from June I through September 30. The company he had spoken to that day said companies abide by that. They do not spray and do not carry the nitrogen. They use a liquid fertilizer and do not spray within a seawall or gutter, so it does not wash into the storm drain. There are restrictions on what can be used on the lawns. Commissioner Hutson asked if they could stretch it out another month on each side because there are long-lasting fertilizers. The Mayor said that is something to bring up with the county commission because all they can do is for Madeira Beach. Commissioner Hutson said that was probably more effective than anything they can do as a small city. Mayor Hendricks asked to move pesticides and fertilizers to the August workshop. E. Decide to do an RFP for proposals to build and operate a high and dry facility at the Marina - Board of Commissioners The City Manager said he separated the topics, but he wanted to get the Board's direction on both those issues. There have been interests in them both from different companies. They obviously cannot spend $30 million to build a high and dry. If somebody else wanted to spend the money to build it to the City's specifications and run it, that would that be something the Board would decide on. Mayor Hendricks said he did not think Cardno did them any favor at all. He wanted them to be realistic but not just reach out to one company and come up with a figure. If other companies are interested in coming to Madeira Beach to build it and run it on a long-term lease, then there is got to be a reason, and that is to make money doing it. To say it will cost $30 million and be 20 years before turning a profit made no sense when he looked at their feasibility study. Cardno needs to go back to the drawing board and talk to other people besides making a phone call to one company and deciding the figure to put down. Because they have other companies interested, it needs to be put out for an RFP to see what they get. Commissioner Hutson said the plan was to have public works at the Marina and wondered if they could still do that if an outside company builds it and runs it. The Cardno plans did not show enough room for public works and their vehicle parking. Mayor Hendricks said they could do whatever they want with the RFP as far as the design goes. If incorporating the public works building, they could use the air space for the public works building. If it is taking up another part of the Marina, it would be taking up space for parking boat trailers, etc. He does not know if it will fit or have enough property for a public works building that is not incorporated into the Marina facility. The City Manager said they are still looking for properties that will fit the bill within their locality. That could also be a proposal as part of the RFP process. The Mayor said they could also carve out more on the ground floor on the backside for space. July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 6 of9 Commissioner Andrews said putting out an RFP is great if they are not spending any more money. He does not think they could justify that to the public at the moment. They did not get what they were looking for out of Cardno, and they did not get their money's worth. It is important to build a public works facility at some point. It would be difficult to find commercial property in Madeira Beach to build a public works building. And, with the inflatable prices, they probably would not want to encourage that. Because the public works building is an important part of the scenario, they might want to build a smaller high and dry to incorporate it with parking and a restaurant and not jamming that property up. If they spend $30 million, they could buy the Holton property and build whatever they want there. Mayor Hendricks said it might be that they end up with a restaurant and a public works building there in the long run. They must see what the RFP brings. Mayor Hendricks said they would move forward with an RFP for the Marina with a high and dry facility and incorporate the public works building at the north end. The City Manager asked if the second one is for the restaurant and the Mayor said yes. That will knock out Item F. Mayor Hendricks said the existing ship store was built to support a second floor, which was the intention. He thought the Cardno plan was to knock the entire ship store down. F. Decide to do an RFP for proposals to build and operate a restaurant at the Marina - Board of Commissioners This item was discussed with Agenda Item E. Closing Mayor Hendricks said the Interlocal Agreement for the library had been voted on by four of the five cities. He would like to direct their two library representatives to move forward with the Library Board voting on reducing the Library Board membership from ten members to five. That has already been approved by four of the five cities. The other mayors have also talked about it. He would expect the Library Board to vote as put in the Interlocal Agreement. The City Clerk said there was confusion about the city manager candidate interviews, and she needed clarity on that so she could make the corrections on the meeting calendar. The HR Director has them scheduled as group meetings until clarification is received. Also, the Financial Consultant added meetings to the calendar that he would like to talk about and get a consensus on to finalize the dates. The Board discussed the interview process for hiring a city manager. It was clarified they wanted the interviews to be with the individual commissioners and individual candidates on August 10 through August 13 at City Hall. The interviews will be in person, and those that cannot make it to July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 7 of9 City Hall can interview by Zoom. The Mayor said not just a phone call; he wants to look someone in the eye when interviewing them. Commissioner Hutson said the timing might not be right if they have people coming in from out of state. The Mayor said it would be hard to find someone with coastal experience from out of state. They need Florida candidates. Commissioner Andrews said he had no problem interviewing somebody over the phone if they cannot make it there. If they are taking somebody from out of state, there are a lot of costs associated with that, so that better be a real good candidate if they are going to move them there. It must be upfront as possible, and they do not all have to choose the same people to interview. If they like somebody, they can sell it to the rest of the commissioners. They can narrow the list down to who they want to interview. It does not have to be a limited number of candidates in the group. Mayor Hendricks said the only tight date on the calendar he saw was August 17. The City Manager said, for the record, he has nothing to do with the process. The process is that of the Commission. Commissioner Andrews said he had not accused him of that. He wanted to keep the process as straightforward as possible. He has an issue with the fact that the information is now sitting in public, and he was upfront about not wanting it that way. No accusations were thrown around. He was a little taken back that their idea, plan, and procedures were misunderstood. He cannot blame it on the City Manager because he is not part of the process. Nobody else is there, so he is just blurting it out. Mayor Hendricks said he had gotten an email from Sean, and there was some going back and forth. Mr. Trask had responded that it did not have to be in public when doing it one-on-one, so that got cleared up. Sean was just a little confused and thought they would be doing them in a group setting, which was not the case. It was not what he understood at their meeting when it was set up. Financial Consultant Andrew Laflin discussed items to be brought forward and necessary meetings he needed and received a consensus from the Board on the following: • Include the sanitation fee increase ordinance for first reading and public hearing on the agenda for the 2:00 p.m., Monday, August 9, 2021, BOC Special Meeting - first item of business before the city manager candidate selection item • Include a resolution to amend the FY 2021 budget on the agenda for the 6:00 p.m., August 11, 2021, BOC Regular Meeting • 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, August I 8, 2021, BOC Budget Workshop Meeting • 5:45 p.m .• Wednesday, August 25, 2021, BOC Special Meeting before the 6:00 p.m., BOC Regular Workshop Meeting to adopt the sanitation fee increase ordinance. 5. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hendricks adjourned the meeting at 7: 14 p.m. July 28, 2021, BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 8 of9 ATTEST: C lara YanBlargan, MMC, MSM , C ity Cl J uly 28, 202 1. BOC Regular Workshop Meeting Page 9 of 9