Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 09-23-1980 Regular — reading text

Mr. Gary Spradling pointed out that there are sidewalks on a portion of Mooney Road, but past Bass Lake, it terminates and the children are walking on the street. It is an enormous safety hazard. City Manager stated that this is a County road, not a City road. This should come out at the committee meeting. Mrs. Robert Padeen, 511 Mooney Road, stated that there has been contact with the County Commissioners and that there will be another meeting with the commissioners in two weeks. DEDICATION CEREMONIES Mayor announced that there will be dedication CIVIL DEFENSE BLDG. ceremonies and open. house at the new Civil Defense SEPT. 25TH Building on September 25 from 4- 6 p. m. PUBLI C HEARING RE: Mayor opened a public hearing for the purpose of OPERATIONAL BUDGET consideration ofthe tentative operational budget FOR CITY OF FWB for the City of Fort Walton Beach for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1981. Mr. Rigdon moved that the dollar figure as presented for budget for FYE 1981 be approved. the Motion was seconded by Mr. Bishop. Mayor called for comments. Mrs. Betty suggested that one area in . Gerri tz which Council cut expenditures would be the could J.' Recreation Department and also suggested that I Council not approve paying for trips for individual i, ;, teams to go to meets or tournaments. Mr. Baughman said he is still concerned that there is no cost of living increase for City employees in the budget. Mr. explained his No vote on the budget. Grant I fully appreciate the financial problems and take no issue with that. He stated that he felt Council  07q L 9/ 23/ 80 I ,--. had not done its part on the money the Ci ty gives to other agencies. thing One was that we were to assess the requirements of the Humane Society. Nothing has been done yet. Mayor asked Mr. Sundy, Chairman of the Humane Society Co~ ttee, to look again at the Humane I Society operations. 1 City Clerk explained that the budget did include 5% increase, which Council granted effective June 25, in 1980. the budget. There is not an additional 5% included a Mayor said, we discussed at the meeting that in June July if there are funds, we would or look at the possibility of another 5% raise. Mr. Rigdon replied, this administration has always inves ted our funds and had funds gi ve our employees to raises and I feel we will reach that goal around March or April. Mr. Baughman said this is a decision for us to make, and we have not made it. City Clerk explained, basically all we have done up to this point is pass a tentative budget which gives the City a means to operate as of October 1. You cannot set exact figures until after the election in October. At that time we will go through a legal process to adopt the final budget. The only other alternative would have been to adopt last year' s budget, and that wouldn' t have been realistic. Mr. Sundy asked if the intent is to reduce the Humane Society budget'? Mr. Grant replied, we need to redefine whether or not the Humane Society could provide the services that the contract provides, or if they can' t, what does it take for them to be able to do it. My per- sonal feeling is it will take two to three that times what we are presently giving them to do what the contract calls for. 1 In reference to Mr. Grant' s comments on contributions to other organizations, Dr. Houghton stated that Counci 1 worked with the Chamber of Conunerce and we have reduced that budget. I think this Counci 1 has been interested in trying to reduce cost factors. Mr. Baughman said he wanted to remind Council that the Society is not a give- away program. Humane It is a servi ce that we buy. We are paying roughly the same money that we paid seven years ago. I think there is some question whether they can provide the service they were providing seven years ago. It is my 280 9/ 23/ 80 understanding that they are going to come back to us with a recommendation. I think it is something we need to consider because it is not enough. Mr. Grant said, my whole issue is not the financial aspects of this budget. What I take issue with is trying to pass this budget, when the things that Council were supposed to come up with-- J.." we as the City administration has done an outstanding job of preparing the budget as far as they can go-- but the parts that we are responsible for, we haven' t done yet. I cannot agree to pass on it. Mayor called for the question and motion carried with Mr. Grant voting NO. REQUEST FOR REPLACE- Mr. Al Sparks, a County resident, requested that MENT OF WATER FOUNT- water fountains which have been damaged or ~ emoved AINS AT GOLF COURSE at the Golf Course be replaced. Ci ty Manager explained that when the Ci ty put in shallow wells at the Golf Course, some of the water fountains were damaged, and in some places there was not potable water where the fountains were located, therefore they were removed. We are in the process of replacing the fountains. MIN UTES Mayor presented the minutes from the August 26 and September 9, 1980 meetings. Mr. Baughman moved that the minutes be approved as presented. Motion was seconded by Mr. Bishop and carried unanimously. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM Mayor presented the following recommendations from THE COUNCIL AS A the Council as a Committee of the Whole, and Mr. COMMITTEE OF THE Baughman asked that the items be voted on separately: WHOLE 1. Recommend that the total bid package for City insurance coverage be awarded to Long Insurance