Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 02-24-1976 Regular — reading text

dollar spent. Another question I had was whether the City should provide, with tax dollars, a parking facility period. I was totally unprepared to debate the issue j I tonight. That is why I asked for two 0' i I weeks. think all members of Council I should take a closer look at what we are J doing. I don' t think we need to rush into spending $ 215, 000. There is a 60, 000 difference in appraisals. There is too big a spread and I think we need to take a look at it. Mr. Rigdon said that his only question  7("- - - 127 is the 8% we are going to pay on the un- paid balance. I think we need to re- negotiate. I think this is a little too high. I am not in favor of the property on Brooks Street. I think if we are going to buy property for downtown we should buy I where you people are talking about. We will have paid $ 275, 000 at the end of 20 years and that is a lot of money. I can understand the position you people are in. You merchants gave the right of way to four- lane Main Street and I think we owe you something for that. But I think you should give the City Council a chance to negotiate. I think it is out of line. I' m not going to vote tonight but 1m in favor of downtown if we can get it in line. Mr. Hunt said, I don' t know how long it has been since we carried a bond, but, one other question I have is that the 8% interest rate we are talking about paying on the unpaid balance is tax free. I would imagine that our bond rating would be AAA. An AAA bond carries a lot less interest than 8%. I will say that if I voted to buy property for municipal park- ing, the property that is proposed is the property to buy. I just need more time. There are just too many questions to ans- wer. Mr. Baughman stated that we have always depended on Charlie Evans to get us the lowest interest rate. What if City Manager and City Clerk could help solve this thing for us. City Manager said that in one case where the interest rate is involv~ the owner wanted a great deal more than the appraisal. We talked about lowering the taxable prin- cipal and raising the interest rate, which is not taxable to the owner. This was at I the recommendation of one of the members of the committee. Mr. Hill moved that the matter be tabled for two weeks for further study. Motion was seconded by Mr. Brock and carried unanimously. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM CITY Mayor recognized Mr. Hank Boudolf, Chair- BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE man of the City Beautification Committee. Mr. Boudolf stated that some of the pro-  Ii' .........._,._......,.'__.-''---_...-..'--'--',.''''--._;._-''-...~""..........'...;..___."~._~-. 1/ 76 128 ..~;(/ perty being discussed for possible parking lot has beautiful trees on it, and if at all possible we would like for these trees to be preserved. Mr. Boudolf presented the following recommendations and cost estimates for Council consideration: It is requested that City Council approve the following: A. Water Source and Sprinkler Systems Expenditure for labor and funds for city to provide a water source to eight 8) medians, and a soaker sprinkler system to thirteen ( 13) medians. Estimated Cost $ 4, 541. 00 B. Plantin~ Expendlture of funds to provide for the plants and planting materials for the thirteen ( 13) medians Estimated Cost $ 7, 503. 00 Expenditure for all labor to prepare the soil and to plant the plants for thirteen ( 13) medians Estimated Cost $ 3, 475. 00 C. Total Cost of Project 15, 519. 00 It is understood that a sum of $ 5, 000 is already in the current city budget for city beautification. As indicated pre- viously, many civic organizations have expressed their intent to materially con- tribute to this project. We further under- stand that funds for labor for projects of this nature are also available. Mr. Tom Owens and Mrs. Margee Zant of the City Beautiful Commission will serve as over- all project coordinators and public support coordinators respectively. We have been advised that the Department of Transportation has mailed the landscape