City Council Workshop

City of Palm Coast City Hall 160 Lake Avenue Minutes Palm Coast, FL 32164 www.palmcoastgov.com COUNCIL WORKSHOP Mayor David Alfin Vice Mayor Eddie Branquinho Council Member Victor Barbosa Council Member Ed Danko Council Member Nick Klufas Tuesday, November 9, 2021 9:00 AM COMMUNITY WING City Staff Denise Bevan, Interim City Manager William Reischmann, City Attorney Virginia A. Smith, City Clerk • Public Participation shall be in accordance with Section 286.0114 Florida Statutes. • Other matters of concern may be discussed as determined by City Council. • If you wish to obtain more information regarding the City Council’s agenda, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 386-986- 3713. • In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, persons needing assistance to participate in any of these proceedings should contact the City Clerk at 386-986-3713, at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. • City Council Meetings are streamed live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/PalmCoastGovTV/live. • All pagers and cell phones are to remain OFF while City Council is in session. A CALL TO ORDER Mayor Alfin called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. B PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG C ROLL CALL Deputy City Clerk Leslie Howington called the roll. All members were present. D PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Public Participation shall be held in accordance with Section 286.0114 Florida Statutes. And pursuant to the City Council’s Meeting Policies and Procedures: (1) Each speaker shall at the podium, provide their name and may speak for up to 3 minutes. (2) The Public may provide comments to the City Council relative to matters not on the agenda at the times indicated in this Agenda. Following any comments from the public, there may be discussion by the City Council. (3) When addressing the City Council on specific, enumerated Agenda items, speakers shall: (a) direct all comments to the Mayor; (b) make their comments concise and to the point; (c) not speak more than once on the same subject;  (d) not, by speech or otherwise, delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the City Council; (e) obey the orders of the Mayor or the City Council; and (f) not make any irrelevant, impertinent or slanderous comments while addressing the City Council; which pursuant to Council rules, shall be considered disorderly. (4) Any person who becomes disorderly or who fails to confine his or her comments to the identified subject or business, shall be cautioned by the Mayor and thereafter must conclude his or her remarks on the subject within the remaining designated time limit. Any speaker failing to comply, as cautioned, shall be barred from making any additional comments during the meeting and may be removed, as necessary, for the remainder of the meeting. Members of the public may make comments during the public comment portion of the meeting. Please be advised that public comment will only be permitted during the public comment portions of the agenda at the times indicated by the Chair during the meeting. Mayor Alfin explained the purpose behind holding Workshops and encouraged a cohesive atmostphere. Jim Petochick and other citizens spent an hour this morning with Carl Cote who educated the citizens on what it takes to make road changes. Mr. Petochick thanked him greatly for sharing his knowledge. Robert McDonald has been coming to these meetings for a long time and has learned a lot, which is good. This city has two women who run this city very well - - Acting City Manager Denise Bevans and City Clerk Virginia Smith. If they were not here, we would be in trouble. They sit as the anchors. They keep the city running every day. Mike Martin spoke about the L Section pointing that there is no neighborhood park there although it is in the planning documents of 2004 to have one by 2009 or 2014. Also, the neighborhood sign “Matanzas Woods” was taken down after wildfires and not replaced. Mr. Martin asked the Council to please consider providing new Matanzas Woods signs. E PRESENTATIONS 1 ORDINANCE 2021-XX ACCEPTING THE DISTRICTING COMMISSION REPORT AND REVISING THE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS Mr. Jose Papa presented on accepting the Districting Commission’s report and revising the City Council districts. Mike Martin was the chair of the Districting Commission and is present to answer any questions the Council may have. After two meetings with staff, the Districting Commission recommends Alternative #4 to the Council for consideration. Mayor Alfin thanked Mr. Martin and asked Interim City Manager to prepare a letter to each member of the Districting Commission to let each know that we appreciate the work they performed.  Council Member Danko asked for an enlarged map that is easy to find on the website. Council Member Danko also requested the two final Alternatives to be presented in like manner at the Council Meeting. Mayor Alfin asked City Attorney Bill Reischmann that with the trigger in the charter for districting being the census which is every 10 years, is it possible to perform an analysis more often because the City is growing tremendously. City Attorney Reischmann advised that both are addressed in the City Charter. Article 9 provides for mandated districting review when a new 10 year census is available. Article 8 provides for an adjustment in the districts as long as it is not within one year of an election. The same constitutional standards apply. One caveat is that in the latter case, statistics would be required to guard against any challenge. Mayor Alfin asked Mr. Papa if there is a plan in place to notify those voters whose districts have changed. Mr. Papa knows of no plan in place. Mayor Alfin asked Ms. Bevan to create a plan. City Attorney Bill Reischmann suggested working in tandem with Supervisor of Elections on this. 2 RESOLUTION 2021-XX APPROVING THE CDBG CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL PERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION REPORT FOR THE PROGRAM YEAR OF OCTOBER 1, 2020 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 Mr. Jose Papa provided a background on what the City does with the CDBG funds. Discussion ensued regarding how to best serve the community with the remaining funds. 3 RESOLUTION 2021-XX APPROVING THE EXECUTION OF A FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT PROJECT AGREEMENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PART 2 ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH ADDING WATER ACCESS AT WATERFRONT PARK Mr. Carl Cote made a formal presentation on what has been discussed before. It must be applied for each year and the projects can be spread over three years. There are three parks in one construction project. Mr. Cote stated the good news is that we have been awarded this grant and can move forward. Council Member Branquinho asked about matching funds. Mr. Cote stated that the entire project is available for use with matching funds and added that when bids come in we will know what our costs will be. Mayor Alfin asked how the decision was made to use this property. Mr. Cote advised that this is City of Palm Coast's only direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway. Mayor Alfin confirmed with Mr. Cote that these are “water dollars”. The design accommodates all types of vessels -- row teams, canoes, and boats. The education purpose is regarding safety. F PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Remainder of Public Comments is limited to three (3) minutes each.  There were no comments. G DISCUSSION BY CITY COUNCIL OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA Vice Mayor Branquinho acknowledged to Mr. Martin that this districting review is new to most and asked if there were any major disagreements within the Commission. Mike Martin stated that there is an active candidate for District 2 and Alternatives 1, 2, and 3 would have removed him from eligibility. The Commission wanted to make sure he would not be redistricted out of eligibility. They were totally objective and nonpolitical and insisted on keeping him in his district. The Commission was mindful that redistricting a citizen could change their polling place. They unanimously voted for Alternative 4 because it had the least amount of change with the most equitable spread of citizens. Council Member Klufas had learned that staff were incredibly helpful, and the Commission was cohesive. He thanked all concerned. Council Member Barbosa agreed with Mr. Martin’s request to put up the signs and adding a park in the Matanzas Woods section. Council Member Barbosa approached the task of hiring a City Manager, and he suggested leaving the garbage task to the new City Manager. Council Member Danko agreed with new signs and a park in Matanzas Woods. Council Member Danko readdressed live streaming the Workshops and requested an update. Council Member Klufas thanked the Council for allowing him to participate remotely. Council Member Klufas suggested the new signs for Matanzas Woods be tied to one of the Strategic Action Plan items that he had brought forward and have them be artsy with a community driven design to them and get people involved. Council Member Klufas thanked the Fire Department for the incredible Hall of Terror and stated he is looking forward to the City’s Veteran’s Day event. Vice Mayor Branquinho agrees with the signs needed for Matanzas Woods, and reminded everyone that Thursday is Veteran’s Day. He invited all to come and join us as we honor veterans. Vice Mayor Branquinho agrees with Council Member Danko regarding the live cameras for Workshops. After Covid, we could hold Workshops in the smaller room like we used to. It would bring the Council Members closer and save on air conditioning and electricity. Mayor Alfin congratulated Council Member Klufas on his newborn niece and welcomed back and congratulated Lauren Johnston who returned from maternity leave. Mayor Alfin shared that Flagler County and City of Palm Coast have partnered together to honor Veterans, and he invited all to join us on Thursday, November 11th from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Flagler County Building. There will be a guest speaker, and veterans and their families are welcome to join City of Palm Coast City Staff in Central Park for a Barbeque luncheon afterward. It is free for veterans and their families, and requires preregistration. Register at the Palm Coast Community Center or call 386-986-2323 to register. We honor our veterans who allow us to go to sleep at night and wake up safe. H DISCUSSION BY CITY ATTORNEY OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA City Attorney Bill Reischmann had nothing to discuss. I DISCUSSION BY CITY MANAGER OF MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA Interim City Manager Denise Bevan responded to Council Member Danko by sharing that the next three meetings will be live video streamed because of the nature of the meetings – Business Meetings and a Special Business Meeting. December 14th is the next Council Workshop. If we return to the floor for Workshops, we do have technology challenges. Council Member Klufas supported the idea of moving back to the floor in a smaller groups. Council Member Barbosa asked what the problems would be. Interim City Manager Denise Bevan advised that quality of audio and video would be affected. Mayor Alfin asked how the City Council makes the decision to return to the floor. City Attorney Bill Reischmann provided a brief history that due to Covid, the prior Council thought it best to allow a larger room for Workshops. So the discussion was and still could be based on spacing people out. Vice Mayor Branquinho advised that the prior City Manager made the decision to move the Workshops to the dais. The Council did not vote. The Plexiglas partitions were installed at Vice Mayor Branquinho’s request. It is easing up now, but there are still people dying of Covid. The Plexiglas is removable. Mayor Alfin requested the Interim City Manager bring forward a presentation based on consensus conversation today to determine how we can expedite returning to a safe meeting. Council Member Danko asked if there were no partition in the back of the room, can the cameras swing to view the back of the room. Doug Akins confirmed and added that the issue comes in with audio. When the partition is opened, there is feedback. Council Member Danko confirmed that there was live audio streaming in the past when the Council held Workshops on the floor. Mr. Akins confirmed that the cameras could work, but without the partition up, there is feedback. Vice Mayor Branquinho stated that if we are unable to stream live with video and audio, then it makes no sense to move to the floor. Council Member Klufas recalled that there were no microphones in the partitioned room. Mayor Alfin reiterated his request for the Interim City Manager and staff to return with a plan that makes the most sense for the Council and for the safety of the public. J ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 10:11 a.m. 4 WORKSHEET