Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 11-08-05 ‎(regular)‎ — reading text

fiftieth year having established in Fort Walton Beach in 1955 and will celebrate it's anniversary on November 15, 2005. NOW THEREFORE, I, Mike Anderson, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Fort Walton Beach, do hereby proclaim the week of November 14th, 2005 as AMERICAN EDUCA TION WEEK" AND ANNETTE P. EDWINS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WEEK IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Fort Walton Beach to be affixed this 8th day of November, 2005. MIKE ANDERSON, MA YOR  c v CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 8, 2005 Consent Agenda Approval of Minutes: Council Workshop June 21, 2005 Council Workshop October 25, 2005 Regular Council Meeting October 25, 2005 City Clerk) Council Action 1st 2nd Vote: r-"'~. Agenda Item Number: CA- 1 1......  198- A MINUQ OF THE COUNCIL WORKSHOP ttOrlNG OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA JUNE 21, 2005 INTRODUCTION A Council Workshop Meeting of the City Council of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was held on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 7: 00 p. m. with the following members present: Mayor Mike Anderson Councilmen: Mike Holmes, Jim Tucker, Dr. Wayne Pullen, and Jim Hartwell Absent: Bill Patterson, Bob Campbell, and Mike Minich. Also Present: Joyce Shanahan, City Manager; Helen Spencer, City Clerk; Mike Burton, Finance Director; Toni Craig, City Attorney; and Department Directors. CALL TO ORDER The Maypr called the meeting to order. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Mayor led in the Pledge of Allegiance CHOCTAWHATCHEE BASIN ALLIANCE Presentation by Philip Ellis and Joy Brown of the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance ( CBA) on the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System ( NPDES) Permit Compliance Proposal. Mr. Ellis gave an overhead presentation that included an organizational overview of the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance' s ( CBA) role; the importance of the CBA; the Water Quality Regulations; the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System that is an EPA program administered by the FDEP; the municipal separate storm sewer systems ( MS4' s) in the Choctawhatchee Watershed; the permit requirements; and how the CBS can assist the City achieve maximum compliance with the six minimum control measures that include public participation/ involvement, public education, outreach, illicit discharge detection/elimination, construction site runoff control, post- construction runoff control, and pollution prevention/ good housekeeping. The presentation included details of a proposal for the City to subcontract with CBA to accomplish the measures on an annual basis, a 3-4 year cooperative agreement contract then reassess the partnership, and to provide the annual report for permit compliance tailored specifically for each MS4, at a cost of $ 50, 000 on an annual basis for the next three years to assist the City in implementing the NPDES. Discussion included the total service area of the watershed for the City; the breakdown of costs for seven of the MS4' s identified in the Choctawhatchee watershed to cover the $ 450, 000 cost per year; the absence of five MS4' s identified in the breakdown of costs for a proposed partnership; and the benefit of exceeding the minimum requirements to improve and protect the water resources of the area. Mr. Ellis mentioned that OWC will provide costs and that CBA is pursuing the bases, DOT and UWF with the goal to bring everyone in the watershed together; addressed the difficulty in determining the breakdown in costs and clarified that those who do participate would not be financially responsible for the share of the proposed cost of those who do not wish to participate, that the cost would have to be re- evaluated and perhaps scaled down. He clarified the CBS' s desire for a three or four year partnership to begin with the next budget cycle in October and that a product can be produced that the City would be comfortable with. The City Manager commented there will be staff level discussion on the issue and received a consensus of Council that it be included in the budget. c-\ J 198- 8 r- J 6- 21- 05 ACCREDITATION CEREMON~ o Accreditation Ceremony - Jacksonville, FL. The City Clerk provided hotel reservation and travel information to those intending to travel to Jacksonville June 28th - 29th to attend the Police Department Accreditati.o~ ceremony. Mr. Hartwell expressed disappointment in having to cancel his plans to attend the ceremony but that he would be there in spirit. BUILDING HEIGHTS Dr. Pullen put forward an idea of building lower height buildings along the water then increasing in height as they go toward the middle of town to help decrease the amount of damage during a hurricane and would affect the property values. CODE ENFORCEMENT Dr. Pullen addressed code enforcement and mentioned the citizens want stronger code enforcement and it was discussed at the CRA & MPB workshop they want stricter code enforcement. He commented it is a catch 22 because the City Administrators work very hard for code enforcement and have a tremendous amount of open cases and spent a lot of time on and effort to paperwork get compliance then when Administration presents a case to the Code Enforcement Board, they are somewhat disappointed when the Board does not recognize their effort and they would like to see at the first meeting of the Code Enforcement Board to be fines given and so on, and in fact, they do not and give them another two months, three months, and so forth; yet the Administration has already done that for the people. He said the Code Enforcement Board has rights and responsibilities established by Florida law and they feel they have a duty to do their thing and some of them don' t want to appear to be rubber stamping t he Administration, but t hey are the judge and j ury f or the citizens, as they should be. He said another interesting fact is when Administration schedules cases before the Board that many of the cases immediately come into compliance. He suggested a solution, try to get the code enforcement cases to the Board earlier so then the Board can take the responsibility of giving them a fine rather than Administration spending three, four months, six months. He stated if the Code Enforcers had the sequence if this is not done and they do not comply with this time it will be before the Code Enforcement Board and then they will take jurisdiction and responsibility for it. He wanted to throw out, why don' t they attempt to get the cases to the Board earlier, it would give the Code Enforcers a deadline for the people they are working with, and give it a try to see if they get better code enforcement and not a lot of spinning wheels of the code enforcers. Mr. Tucker expressed satisfaction with the City Manager' s process and expressed reluctance to put a boot heel on the citizens too quickly, and wished to give the more time to resolve their people problems. Dr. Pullen mentioned that the Board, if they know the person has been coming into compliance, they sit there and look at him in six months and they will give them a long period of time; in other words, the Board does that and they have that to do it. He said if the Board was ability given the responsibility earlier, the people would not be hammered any sooner but it would also relieve the Code Enforcers of shuffling a lot of paperwork. The Mayor received confirmation that the Code Enforcement Board had not made the request. Dr. Pullen mentioned tnarState law says the Code Enforcement Board cannot tell the Administration then to brmgthem the cases, but it Council' s responsibility to look at some of these things and it is just his observation after going f our years to the Code Enforcement Board meetings and found it interesting how quickly all the cases come into compliance when they have to go to the Board. The Mayor mentioned there was discussion in the past on the issue with arguments on both sides and at the time Council decided to continue with the process as it was, but if Dr. Pullen wished to present it to the new members, he has that prerogative. Dr. Pullen stated he was only making a suggestion for another approach, and felt the City Attorney could set up a time table that would meet the requirements.  1 9 8. C 6- 21- 05 o o TELECONFERENCING Mr. Hartwell brought up the issue of teleconferencing. The Mayor mentioned a copy of a legal opinion has been placed in Council' s boxes. The City Manager mentioned an article from