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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-1029 Special Commission Meeting SUMMARY MINUTES Special City Commission Meeting Thursday, October 29,2009, 10:00 a.m. City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida ATTENTION ALL LOBBYISTS: CITY LAW REOUIRES YOUR REGISTRATION PRIOR TO ENGAGING IN LOBBYING ACTIVITIES BEFORE CITY STAFF, BOARDS, COMMITTEES OR THE CITY COMMISSION. PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK FOR FORMS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS The meeting was called to order by Mayor Edelcup at 10:00 a.m. with the following officials present: Mayor Norman S. Edelcup Vice Mayor Lewis J. Thaler Comm. Roslyn Brezin Commissioner Gerry Goodman Commissioner George "Bud" Scholl (absent) City Manager Rick Conner City Attorney Hans Ottinot City Clerk Jane A. Hines, CMC Assistant City Manager/Services Jorge Vera 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Action: Bob Welsh led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Mayor Edelcup gave opening remarks noting that Item 4A would be heard first, followed by Item 3 C. [City Clerk's Note: An Addendum to Agenda was distributed prior to the meeting adding Item 3C, a discussion by Miami-Dade Public Schools Representative; with additional information for Item 3B, correspondence from R.K. Associates, and Item 4A, Correspondence from Calvin Giordano & Associates.} 3. DISCUSSION ITEMS 3A. Discussion regarding Parking. Action: [City Clerk's Note: City Manager Conner distributed a Memorandum regarding a Report on the City's Municipal Parking Lots.} Mayor Edelcup noted that this item is to hear comments regarding how our parking is laid out throughout the City as to locations and rates. City Manager Conner handed out a report on the City's Municipal Parking Lots and presented renderings of graphs, a map of the Sunny Isles Beach Parking Lots, and of Central Island Parking. He noted that the Commission adopted Ordinance 2009-325 which simplified and unified the parking process. The hourly rate for the individual meters is $1 an hour, and the Master Meters is $2 an hour. City Manager Conner showed a rendering of Central Island Parking, and Assistant City Manager Vera reported that Atlantic Boulevard has 2-hour Residential Only Parking, and two hours for anybody visiting City Hall if our parking lot is full, and that will remain the same. There will be 19 parking spaces in the Pelican Community Park area, and we looked at North Bay Road from North to South and allocated some green areas which is resident parking only, Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida and in speaking with the City Manager, it can be Residential Only Parking ifthey buy a City permit. We could also put a meter there for people to park, and that is something that we would like to discuss. The blue lines are metered parking that we originally placed close to the Senator Gwen Margolis Park area, and the red lines are no parking. Public Speakers: none Mayor Ede1cup noted on the 2nd and 3rd page of the handout, that the bottom portion is only showing a total amount, not monthly amounts, for the Ramada Marco Polo or Special Parking Permits. Marco Polo is a lot more than $11,000 per year, and City Manager Conner said it will be corrected. Vice Mayor Thaler said in the 1751h Street area there are no signs and the people are parking on the street to go to the beach, and that is part of the problem. One of the more important things to address here is the sign situation within our whole City so that residents and non- residents know where they can and cannot park. City Manager Conner agreed and said that is why Assistant City Manager Vera initially started this process. We knew we would be doing all the signs at the end of the project and so the signs are now being produced, and that is why we wanted to come to you with a plan so we can go ahead and get them installed. Mayor Edelcup said we have that same problem here in our parking lot at City Hall, he has seen many people park and go to the beach, and this parking is meant for City Hall, the Library and the Post Office, and we need to come up with a way of enforcing that. City Manager Conner said we installed signs about two weeks ago on each end of the Parking Lot describing the use of the Lot, so we can start the process of enforcement. Vice Mayor Thaler asked ifthere is a way to put a time limit on how many and what they can park in our Parking Lot. City Manager Conner said we have discussed setting aside areas such as Library Parking Only: 2-Hour Limit, Tony Roma's Parking Only: 2-Hour Limit, etc., and we are working on developing a Policy and we will come to the Commission very soon with a definitive program. Mayor Edelcup said that we also need to remind our own employees that they are not to use the ground level for parking, it is really meant for visitors to the City, and City Manager Conner said we now have a Policy in place and will start enforcing that. Commissioner Goodman said we have some streets where people buy overnight parking, you can put up a parking meter and utilize those streets for parking during the day. City Manager Conner said that is what we are looking at, which is the combination parking, if you want to park there and you are not a resident, you can buy the ticket and put it on your dash, but if you are a resident, you can buy the pass. We also discussed having two passes, one for 24- hours a day, with different rates. Assistant City Manager Vera clarified that the idea is to have metered parking and dual permitting, 24-hour and 12-hour. Mayor Edelcup said he thinks the philosophy is to establish different rates for different parking and we should bend towards no free parking areas, basically that all areas are collectable for a fee. City Manager Conner asked that the Commission give them an informal nod to move forward, we will go ahead and get the plans ready, get the signage calculated and come back to the Commission with a final version, and we would like to do it very quickly. Mayor Edelcup asked the City Manager to come back to them within 30 days with that plan. 2 Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 3B. Discussion regarding an Agreement between the City of Sunny Isles Beach and R.K. Associates for Police and Crossing Guard Services on 183rd Street. Action.' [City Clerk's Note: Correspondencefrom R.K. Associates was distributed prior to the meeting.) City Attorney Ottinot reported that Raanan Katz had requested an opportunity to discuss an arrangement that he had worked out with the City on the stanchions on 183rd Street. City Attorney Ottinot said that the City had stanchions on 183rd Street and Mr. Katz came here and requested a temporary removal of the stanchions based on certain conditions which were approved by the City Commission, including the return of the stanchions on 183rd Street one week before School opens, and Mr. Katz would assume all the liability. Subsequently after that agreement was worked out, Mr. Katz asked for a modification to that agreement to continue the removal of the stanchions and he would be responsible for payment of one Police Officer and two Crossing Guards. Mr. Katz also agreed to give a donation to the Sunny Isles Beach School Trust Fund. Public Speakers: Raanan Katz; Dan Katz; Mitch Cutler; Arnold Shevlin Mayor Edelcup said he had asked the City Manager to give him a breakdown of what that cost has been running for the two-month period of August 29 to October 29, that total is around $16,000, which is $8,000 per month, and of that, $11,000 is for the one Policeman, and $4,700 is for the two Crossing Guards. City Attorney Ottinot said that is correct, and for the record, Mr. Katz had agreed to pay for that until a light was installed at 182nd Street. Raanan Katz clarified that he knew what he agreed to, however, the only issue was the safety of the kids going to school. He handed out a site plan of the RK Village Plaza, showing where children are walking to school, and after monitoring the area, there are 0 to 2 kids walking to school in the morning on his side. Most ofthe parents coming from the north, go to Publix, park their car, and walk their kids to school. He said he has a $100 Million Liability Policy and the City is insured. He doesn't mind making a donation to the right cause but this one is not needed. He said that they are diligently working together on the traffic light, and the bottom line is we pushed as hard as possible but things didn't work out. Mayor Ede1cup said in looking at the chart with the four alternatives, he would think that Mr. Katz would want to put them into the record. Mitch Cutler, Accountant for RK Associates, said there is a minimum three-hour charge for a Police Officer, ifhe is there for an hour, he has to charge for three hours per shift, which is six hours per day. Other alternatives are: 1) If there were no Police Officers and two Crossing Guards at the intersection for two hours each shift, the cost would be $2,262.96 per month; 2) If there were no Police Officer and one Crossing Guard at the intersection for the two-hour shift each, the cost would be $1,131.48 per month; 3) Ifthere were no Police Officer and two Crossing Guards at the intersection for one and a half hours for each shift which would be 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., the cost would be $1,697.22 per month for each sift; and 4) If there were no Police Officer and one Crossing Guard for one and a half hours for each shift, in the morning and in the afternoon, the cost would be $848.61 per month. The current cost is approximately $8,300 per month. Mayor Edelcup said he was unaware that we were charging a three-hour minimum, and that should be corrected to reflect only the actual hours worked. He happens to support his request as it relates to doing away with the Police Officer being Mr. Katz's expense. He 3 Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29,2009 Cily of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida believes the Crossing Guards are important and he is supportive of the first suggestion here ofthe two Crossing Guards for two hours each shift. He too has looked at that location noted that it is really the job of the Crossing Guards, and he doesn't really see the necessity of having a Policeman there. Basically the school was set up for Crossing Guards to handle most ofthe major intersections and not Police, and he also recognizes his comment that part of the traffic configuration of flow over there is unrelated to the shopping center, that it is either related to the Texaco Station and/or Publix flowing in and out of there. Chief Fred Maas said when this discussion came up at a previous meeting, no one from the Police Department or Public Safety was asked to be there. When he learned about it later, he would have told the Commission that the value of a Policeman there at that particular time for that designated purpose would not be of value equal to the cost, because when the Police Officer leaves, you have the same safety issues and the same dynamics of the intersection, pedestrians, difficult turns, and turns that are coming from the thoroughfare into the driveway blocking traffic coming east. It is basically because of the school, and we know that the majority of the stores in the shopping center are not open, and so we have a different set of dynamics in the afternoon when most of the stores are open. They are also correct, that the number of students crossing there are not so much the issue, nor the side they are on, but the number of pedestrians that are residents and visitors to our City that are staying here. With regards to the three hours charged for a Police Officer, we are under contract, there is a minimum, Mr. Katz was treated the same as everyone else, this was the reason they tried to contact his office when the decision was made to have an Officer there. Mayor Edelcup said that ChiefMaas' first comment was most germane to the issue, that the cost really doesn't justify itself based on what we are getting for that cost, and again, it just reinforces what he was saying, that we need the Crossing Guards there but we certainly don't need to burden Mr. Katz with the cost of a Policeman there. The Crossing Guards do the job, and our Police would probably be better off doing Police work. ChiefMaas said two things have occurred, we added a grade to the school which is an additional 250 children, and next year it will be even worse, it is bringing in more vehicles which had added to the dynamics of that intersection. Mayor Edelcup said if we did get the traffic light on 182nd Street, that would alleviate a lot of the problems at the 183rd intersection, and maybe what we need to do is the next time we are meeting with FDOT is to ask Chief Maas to be in attendance as part of the team to express his opinions as well. Mayor Edelcup noted that we have similar problems at 1781h Street as well as 1751h Street, and so 183rd Street isn't the only intersection that has this problem, and once we have addressed 183rd, we need to look at 1781h and 1751h as well because we should be trying to have a uniformed system throughout the City. Mayor Edelcup clarified that the only thing we are talking about right now is whether or not to retain the Police at that intersection. Vice Mayor Thaler asked the City Attorney if a note was sent over to Mr. Katz giving him the rates of the Police Officer before the agreement was signed, and City Attorney Ottinot said that the City Manager was dealing with RK with respect to fees, and City Manager Conner said he did not send the fee schedule personally, it was his understanding that it was part of the process that was provided to them. Police ChiefMaas said all the jobs that are handled through the Police Department are handled by 4 Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida the Off-Duty Coordinator Sandra Block and when a company requests for off-duty, there is a contract and an informational sheet that is provided to them. He said Ms. Block was continuing to call RK to get this established and that is where the three-hour minimum for the Officer coming in would have come into place. Mayor Edelcup said as he recalls at the time discussions with Mr. Katz were started he had instructed our City Manager and City Attorney, since it was an agreement between the Commission and Mr. Katz, to negotiate, and the instruction he gave was that it be at cost, and so Ms. Block may have tried to call and at that point he stopped that proceeding and instructed the City Manager and City Attorney to handle the negotiations directly, and so the answer to Vice Mayor Thaler's question is no. Vice Mayor Thaler said he has a problem because it appears to be money against safety, and it is more important to save one child or resident from an accident than the money that is involved here. He said there is a real easy way out of this one, if the candles are put back up, the Police Officer would be gone, and the numbers would be reduced to a Crossing Guard which is basically what Mr. Katz is asking for. The City would be paying for the Crossing Guard not Mr. Katz and that would solve every one of our problems here. Arnold Shevlin said they have had numerous discussions with the City Manager and staff about this issue since we came before you and asked to have the candles removed so that CVS would have proper access and would actually open the store. If the candles were to go back up, there would be severe financial damages. Their agreement with the Commission was proffered based on the fact that we would expedite working together with staff to obtain a traffic light. We have spent a lot of our time with consultants, worked closely with the City's consultants (Kimley-Horn) to try to get a traffic light approved. We had a meeting last month with FDOT, and FDOT based on a Warrant Study that was submitted, denied the traffic light, and they said to come back with new numbers justifying keeping 183rd Street open, and getting a new signal at 182nd Street. On October 23, we circulated a letter to the City Manager summarizing what happened at the last meeting with FDOT saying there are three concerns that FDOT has about the traffic light: 1) we need almost a 60% variance in order to get traffic light spacing; 2) there is a stacking issue; and the biggest issue 3) the Traffic Warrant, and their argument was in Kimley-Horn's report to the Commission and to FDOT that they were basing their Warrant Study on the fact that 183rd Street was going to be completely closed, and that was the only way they were able to get it to work. So part of our question today to you is to bring on another consultant that believes they can redo the Warrant Study to keep 183rd Street as a right turn right out, spend another $5,000 to $7,000, let them work in conjunction with our existing consultants. Mr. Shevlin said that they came before the Commission to take the candles down, open the intersection, and Mr. Katz agreed to pay for a Police Officer to protect the children. At the Commission meeting, we never discussed how long or how much. Once we got a bill we said that these numbers are astronomical and they are not justified. We spent time monitoring the intersection and in the letter that we sent to the City Manager we came up with one other alternative in the interim. There is an intersection at 951h Street and Collins Avenue in Surfside, there is a sign, and a stop bar 40-feet before you get to the intersection that says "Stop Here", and the intersection is open. There is another sign right at the corner that says "Do Not Block this Intersection", and if we take time out and try that instead of putting candles up it would keep the intersection open, it would avoid people from backing 5 Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeting Oclober 29,2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida up onto Collins Avenue. Vice Mayor Thaler said he thinks this is something for staff to look at in the future, and Mayor Edelcup agreed, and said to give that suggestion to staff. Vice Mayor Thaler said he thinks as Commission Brezin suggested to put it on hold at this point, and let our staff go through this and advise us. We hear this at a workshop and come back with another report whether this is feasible, or a traffic light is feasible, or if we are going to get a light, there is also a FDOT meeting on the light November 5, 2009. He said that they would give us an answer on the 51h based on the report that they had. Mayor Edelcup thinks that the suggestion to review this idea is a good suggestion, and that could be done in a week. The meeting with FDOT will take place next Thursday, next Friday we need to resolve this whole issue but he is going to throw another item into that hopper and that is to have the City Manager come back with what is the best method to provide the safety of the children with or without Police, with or without Crossing Guards, and how many, because he still goes back to what the Chief was saying that it is a misuse oftime for our Policemen, and if you feel it is necessary to add more Crossing Guards than lets add more Crossing Guards but at least the Police will get back to what they should be doing. And so he is instructing the Manager to come up with a new plan again under the theory that whatever the agreement was with Mr. Katz that the Manager would set the cost and the system which would still speak to the original agreement, and we will live up to that original agreement. In that agreement it left it to the Manager to determine what was needed and the cost. He would suggest that we have the meeting next Friday morning (November 6), and Commissioner Goodman said also in the event that FDOT refuses us the light we have to discuss that too, and Mayor Edelcup said that is a whole separate thing and he would instruct the City Attorney to look into the situation if we were to go back to where we were in August what are all the legal issues that the City faces if we were to impose those traffic barriers going back up and how that affects the City legally. Mayor Edelcup said what he is suggesting to the City Manager is to review the current status of what we are doing, and he has it within his power because of the way that agreement was written to change it any way he desires as long as it meets the safety requirements that this Commission is looking at. City Attorney Ottinot said that the agreement basically allows him to determine the cost, and not anything else, and Mayor Edelcup said what he is suggesting right now is to come up with a plan to spend the right amount of money, to get the right amount of safety, with the right complement of people. We will set a time for next Friday when we have all our calendars. 3C. Add-On: Discussion/Presentation by Paul Greenfield and/or Jose Dotres from Miami-Dade County Public Schools regarding Overcrowding in Sunny Isles Beach Community School K-8. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Added this item via Addendum to Agenda. This item was taken out of order and heard after Item 4A.} Paul Greenfield, Administrative Director in the Region Center 2 Office of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, thanked the City for their ongoing support. He explained that there is a process that takes place annually in Miami- Dade County Public Schools called the ABC Process for Attendance Boundary Committee. They look at every school and, other than open schools that are Magnet Programs, every school is boundaried. When they make these boundaries, particularly for the development of 6 Summary Minules: Special City Commission Meeling Oclober 29, 2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida a new school, they project, they look at mapping software that they have, and they look at existing numbers of students that are attending other Miami-Dade Public Schools, but they don't have the number of students attending private schools or Charter Schools. Four years ago when the boundaries were drawn for Sunny Isles Beach Community School, 800 students were projected to attend from Kindergarten to 61h grade, plus 100 students from private schools, and the school opened with nearly 1,100 students and is still growing. Mr. Greenfield said Bob Welsh attended the ABC Committee meeting and made an outstanding presentation of the unique situation involving Sunny Isles Beach, and the Committee supported it, and Sunny Isles Beach is now a targeted school for a boundary change for the 2010/2011 school year. He said they will not break up in any way the City, it will remain in tact. They are looking to make changes, maybe targeting children in the lower grades although they may have siblings attending and they don't want families sending children to different elementary schools, and so they will make some exceptions. Sunny Isles Beach Community School is at about 96% of capacity right now. Public Speakers: Paul Greenfield; Bob Welsh Vice Mayor Thaler said one thing not covered is the children that are already in the school and shouldn't be that are using addresses of other people, or rented apartments in this City that are legal or not legal, how do we stop that? Mr. Greenfield said it is an ongoing fight in every great school, the mapping software that we use to draw boundaries are also used to identify students attending a school who do not live within the boundary. We provided a list of names and addresses to Principal Weisman to identify, and she got back to him and said virtually all those names with the exception of three, are staff member's children, and normally the District does honor these children. For other children they send out mass mailings, and the ones that come back, they follow up on and ask for identification and proof of address. When they are identified, there is no grace period, they are drawn out of that school and sent to the school they should attend. However, they don't have the manpower to follow-up on them, and visit their homes to make sure they do live there. Commissioner Goodman said there are many ways to research these children, ie. the parents deduct them from their income tax as their dependents. Vice Mayor Thaler said we have an IT Department that is available to set up programs and to work with the school in dealing with some of these people that are there illegally. Mr. Greenfield will mention it to Dr. Weisman and any assistance that the City can give they would be open to. Mayor Edelcup said Mr. Greenfield's comments today have demonstrated that they are on top of the situation and that is what we were really asking for. Knowing that we may be in a situation resulting in overcrowding, he would like them to consider keeping the special rooms in the school, the art rooms, the music rooms, and the special facilities that makes us a special school. Mr. Greenfield said it is their intent, even ifthere is slight overcrowding next year, to never do anything that would damage the integrity of the educational programs, both in the arts as well as the regular classroom. Mayor Edelcup said that this City will always try to support the School Board and its decisions, and at the same time look out for the benefit of our own residents. He is also predicting that in the future when all the apartments are sold on the east side of Collins Avenue and young families move in, we could have a situation where the school can't accommodate all the children, and maybe we would be fortunate to find more land but that that would happen in the future and we will deal with it at that time. 7 Summary Minules: Special Cily Commission Meeling Oclober 29,2009 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Mayor Edelcup asked if we have determined ifthat payment on the Interlocal Agreement has been made, and Mr. Greenfield apologized for the delay as they are a huge District with many Interlocal Agreements, and there was some confusion as to whether the school would budget for that annual payment, or if it would be the Board, and clearly it is an obligation of the Board. It will be paid soon and it will now be established in the System, and in the future it will be paid on a more timely basis. [City Clerk's Note: Item 3A was heard after this item.} 4. RESOLUTIONS 4A. A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, Awarding Bid No. 09-09-01 and Entering into an Agreement with Tenex Enterprises, Inc., for the Median Closure at 175th Terrace on Collins Avenue and SR AlA/Collins Avenue at 183rd Street Streetscape Improvements Project, in an Amount Not to Exceed $487,634.00, in Substantially the Same Form as Exhibit "A", Based on the Pricing, Terms, and Conditions Listed in the Bid Response, Attached Hereto as Exhibit "B"; Authorizing the Mayor to Execute Said Agreement; Authorizing the City Manager and City Attorney to Do All Things Necessary to Effectuate the Terms of the Agreement; Providing for an Effective Date. Action: [City Clerk's Note: Correspondence from Calvin Giordano and Associates was distributed prior to the meeting. This item was taken out of order and heard first.} City Clerk Hines read the title, and City Manager Conner reported noting that there was only $27 difference between the second and first lowest bidders after corrections to the calculations of the lowest bidder were made, and are well below the original estimates. We should be able to complete parts of the project for the stimulus funds that will be available. City Manager Conner noted that Tenex have stayed on time with their other projects and within budget. Public Speakers: none Commissioner Brezin noted with the stimulus funds that we are getting from the Metro Planning Organization, it is only costing our City approximately $31,000. Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve this resolution, as revised. Resolution No. 2009-1495 was adopted by a voice vote of 5-0 in favor. [City Clerk's Note: Item 3C was heard after this item.} 5. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Edelcup adjourned the meeting at 12:22 p.m. '. ,,"' I Approved by the City Commission on Nov. 1,2009 Respectfully subtriltted by: '..... ~~~;: Jane A. Hines,\CMC, City~Clerk .' " Preview Page 1 of 1 City of Sunny Isles Beach 18070 Collins Avenue Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160 (305) 947-0606 City Hall (305) 949-3113 Fax MEMORANDUM TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Commission FROM: Jane A. Hines, CMC, City Clerk DATE: 11/19/2009 RE: Summary Minutes for the October 29, 2009 Special City Commission Meeting RECOMMENDATION: Attached for your consideration are the Summary Minutes for the October 29, 2009 Special City Commission Meeting. REASONS: N/A A TT ACHMENTS: . Summary Minutes http://sibagenda.sibfl.net/agenda/Preview.aspx?ItemID= 127 &MeetingID=O&MeetingDat... 11/12/2009