Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 04-05-2001 Special — reading text

145 A Special Meeting of the City Council of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was held on Thursday, AprilS, 2001, at 5: 30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, with the following members present: Councilmen: Clay Carnathan, Janet Baggett, Jim Dowling, Jim Tucker, Dr. Wayne Pullen, Chuck Kelley, and Mike I Anderson. Absent: Mayor Glover Also Present: Reid Silverboard, City Manager; Helen Spencer, City Clerk; Jerry Miller, City Attorney; Joyce Shanahan, Finance Director; Department Directors and Media The Mayor Pro Tern called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone. He requested speakers limit their remarks to three minutes. Ita'l."" il.,~ Dr. Pullen called a point of order that the Mayor Pro Tern term expired 3- 31-01. Dr. Pullen moved to nominate Janet Baggett as the Mayor Pro Tem. Mr. Tucker seconded motion. Mr. Carnathan called a point of order that the motion is an issue that is not on the agenda. Mr. Tucker pointed out the meeting was advertised to include any other business to come before Council. Mr. Carnathan moved to table the motion until next Council meeting. Mr. Dowling seconded motion and it carried by a vote of 4 to 3 with Carnathan, Baggett, Dowling, and Kelley in favor and Tucker, Pullen, and Anderson opposed. f1ItDl;~_ Discussion on exercising the termination for convenience provision of the ( Library construction) contract. Dr. Pullen moved to direct staff to investigate the expense of terminating the contract for convenience and to report back at the next regular meeting of City Council. Mr. Anderson seconded motion. Kathleen Reynolds, 305 Main Street, Destin, attorney representing the contractor, requested clarification whether the motion is to direct staff to investigate the cost of rescinding the contract or to direct staff to investigate the expense of considering the relocation of the library. She was unsure one necessarily requires the other and expressed her concern they were skipping an intermediate consideration, which is expense of relocating the library. She questioned if it was necessary to rescind the contract in order to accomplish what seems to be what some members of Council would like to accomplish. She what suggested might need to happen is consideration of whether the library could be re- Iocated without rescinding the contract and the expenses that would be affected by that. The Mayor Pro Tern explained the motion on the floor is for Council to direct staff to find out the I expenses of rescinding the contract. Jim Quigley, 134 Ferry Road, expressed he is not for or against any location at this point. He suggested Council to sensibly and honorably work it out. Valerie Wenzel, 29 Country Club, Sha1imar, spoke against the motion. She mentioned the citizens put a Vision Plan in place, spent a lot of time on it and wanted a library downtown. She suggested Council keep in mind they are creating a climate of political instability where developers will not want to come to the ar~ if they see certain things going on where Council starts something then change their mind, or with new people in and they do not like it so they go on a mission to stop a contract. She stated as a developer she came to the area because of the CRA and the direction she felt Council was going at that time. 146 4- 5- 01 ILI8ltAJ.Y~ WOH~ Mrs. Wenzel said she invested her hard earned money and she wanted to be a part of changing the City and improving it. She said at this point, based on just the library issue alone, she regrets her investment and she is hoping she will change her mind and a lot of other peoples minds. She said it will be very difficult to have any credibility after this situation should Council rescind the contract. She said the City needs to take a strong stand, hold its ground and move forward with the project. Rob Harrell, 39 Meigs, Shalimar, spoke against the motion. He agreed Council does not want to follow the pattern of making a decision then come back and change its mind. He stated he and his wife just invested several thousands of dollars in renovation to open a coffee house downtown. He said in making that decision a major factor was they were told the library would go in that particular location and in reliance on that they took action they probably would not have done before that but they assumed in doing that they could rely on the integrity of the Council to do what it said it would do. He said whatever considerations may have been initially on whether or not to put the library downtown, this Council has made that decision, let the public know that is their decision, and they relied upon that, and now the question is what does Council do from this point forward. He requested Council follow the path of highest integrity, to do what they said they would do. Bob Ready, 317 Sudduth Circle, spoke in favor of the motion. He agreed Council should determine the cost of Iocating if they start to change the existing contract. termination and should also look at the cost of re- Gerard Perillo, 216 SE First Street, spoke against the motion. He stated before initiating a five- story development downtown he read the Urban Master Plan and the vision that he has had to create over nine months of trying to sell the vision of downtown right now as is, is very difficult. He said he started receiving phone calls from people he pulled from Destin and Niceville with concerns based on an article that the new library site is in jeopardy. He said rescinding the contract would make his work more difficult and there are many investors sitting and watching what is happening. He said if the library falls or his project falls, there would be no more private investment. He expressed Council has the future of Fort Walton Beach in their hands based on this one decision. David deVaux, 348 Marie Circle, spoke against the motion as worded and suggested the motion be changed to address the options of other locations, not just canceling the contract but allowing the developer to consider another location and what it would take to move the location. He requested Council include in the motion what it would take to use the same developer to build it in a different location. Carol Sterns, 2 Ipswich Circle, spoke against the motion. She voiced support of the contract already decided upon by the previous Council that researched it for a number of years, and came to a decision based on the facts that had been researched over a number of years. She urged Council to move forward with what they already decided to do and felt most of the city residents probably do support it, but they do not speak up. Urban Armbruster, 210 Hudson Drive, stated that downtown would not be made or broken by the addition or deletion of the library. Doug Murphy, business at 130 Miracle Strip Parkway and President of Fort Walton Beach MainStreet, spoke against the motion. He expressed it is fiscally irresponsible and addressed the advantages of having a library in historic downtown. Millie Thrush, 316 Sudduth Circle, spoke against the motion and requested Council to stay on track with what has been set in motion. Steve Medina, 322 Yacht Club Drive, spoke against the motion. He stated for the last six months he has been looking very seriously to invest in an office downtown but it has been put on hold because of the chaos created regarding downtown, and that affects him as a potential investor. He expressed the library proposal makes sense and asked Council not to mess with the library. Bill Garvie, 315 Shell Avenue, SE, spoke against the motion. He mentioned in all his travels to small and large cities the library was always downtown and the center of attention. Michelle Anchors, 322 Yacht Club Drive, congratulated Council on the progress that has been made on some difficult decisions during the past few years and on taking the step of change.  4- 5- 01 147 C' ." '''','', , ..' .' ",,. ,'. .' .... .... Allen Sterns, 2 Ipswich Circle, citizen-at- large member of the Vision Plan Stewardship Committee, spoke against the motion and requested Council come to a decision quickly so it does not cost the citizens any more money. Susan Myers, 31 Bay Drive, SE, spoke against the motion. She pointed out a change order of any magnitude is very expensiveand Council is talkingabout an enormous change order if the contract is rescinded. She urged Council to make the fiscally responsible decision. She mentioned the library location is very consistent with the Vision Plan of having a public building the citizens can be proud of and it will be a legacy for all time for future generations. I Jerry Ehlers, 355 Gardner Drive, NE, spoke against the motion. He spoke against any further investigation of the costs because it will be very expensive to change the location. He mentioned it is part of the Vision Plan and read portions of a report on how libraries in other cities have benefited the downtown area, have become an important economic decision, and are good anchors for a downtown area. Jack Weatherford, 207 Buck Drive, spoke in favor of the motion. He agreed the economics of the situation is a very important aspect of the situation. He stated the voting public has spoken their desire and Council should take the high road to honor their wishes as opposed to the commercial interest. He expressed support of rescinding the contract. Brenda Brown, 53 Silva Drive, spoke in favor of the motion. She expressed her opposition to the library downtown because of safety reasons. She spoke in favor of rescinding the contract for changing the location or leaving it at its current location. There were no further public comments. Dr. Pullen moved to amend the motion to include the cost of changing the location. Mr. Tucker seconded the motion. Mr. Tucker described his options of doing nothing or to cancel the contract and stated he did not wish to do either one. He expressed his desire to negotiate with the contractor the choice of building at another location. Dr. Pullen expressed he did not really want to rescind the contract as it is but would like to see the library moved