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MINUTES OF THE CALNO MEETING held June 4, 1997, 7:00 P.M., Lake Mary
City Commission Chambers, 100 North Country Club Road, Lake Mary, Florida.
1. Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Cindy Gennell at 7:15 P.M.
2. Roll Call
Commissioner Earl McMullen
Board Member Larry Furlong
Commissioner Gary Brender
Commissioner Thelma Williams
Commissioner Cindy Gennell, Chairperson
Commissioner Pat Fernandez
Commissioner Bill Winston
Dr. Elaine Greenwood
Members Absent:
Councilman Tom Hagood, Jr.
Commissioner Whitey Eckstein
Commissioner Grant Maloy
Casselberry
Seminole County School Board
City of Lake Mary
City of Sanford
Winter Springs
Altamonte Springs
Longwood
Seminole Community College
Oviedo
Sanford
Seminole County Commission
3. Approval of May 7, 1997, Minutes
Motion was made by Commissioner Brender to approve the
minutes of the May 7, 1997, meeting as submitted, seconded by
Mr. Furlong and motion carried unanimously.
4. Treasurer's Report
Commissioner Brender said the treasury balance stands at $838.27.
Commissioner Gennell noted they were low on pens and asked if she should
order more. Commissioner Brender said the cost would be approximately $200.
Motion was made by Mr. Furlong to expend $200 for additional
pens, seconded by Commissioner Fernandez and motion carried
unanimously.
5. Local Option Gas Tax Distribution. Presentation by Gail McCoy,
Seminole County
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-1
. J
1 Gail McCoy, Senior Budget Analyst with Seminole County, came forward and
2 distributed copies of the proposed distribution for next year. She said every year
3 it is the responsibility of the County to provide the proposed distribution of Local
4 Option Gas Taxes. They have requested from the cities what their expenditures
5 were. They have received that information, put that into afive-year rolling
6 formula, and sent that out to the cities and CALNO for their review. They have
7 not received any questions or comments from any cities and assumed everything
8 was fine, and would be happy to answer any questions.
9
10 Commissioner Brender asked what was involved and when should they begin
11 the process of changing the allocation formula. Ms. McCoy said as of June 1st,
12 it is locked in for the next year but every year it is reviewed.
13
14 Commissioner Brender said from now until May of next year they can discuss the
15 possibility of making changes. He thought if something hadn't been changed or
16 improved in 15 years, it is due for it. There has got to be another way of
17 allocating those funds based on an entirely new model and suggested this be
18 agendized for a future agenda.
19
20 It was the consensus of the Board to begin discussions and review of
21 possible changes in the allocation of the Local Option Gas Tax at the
22 November meeting at Sanford City Hall.
23
24 Motion was made by Commissioner Fernandez to accept the report as
25 presented, seconded by Commissioner Winston and motion carried
26 unanimously.
27
28 6. Telecommunications Tower Committee. Rough Draft Report
29
30 Commissioner Gennell said she went to the most recent meeting of the
31 Telecommunications Task Force and distributed a preliminary rough draft of
32 where they have gotten to at this point. There was a great deal of frustration
33 because no matter what the cities brought in, the industry couldn't live with it.
34 They finally agreed that the industry bring what they wanted and see if the cities
35 could work with that, but they wanted all of it so it got nowhere. The County
36 gave them a blank map and each city is going about superimposing their towers
37 on the map. The industry was there at the last meeting and was very unhappy
38 with this approach, and she invited them to attend tonight's meeting for a
39 presentation but no one was present.
40
41 Commissioner Gennell said the telecommunications group had drafted an
42 overview of what they thought CALNO wanted and if CALNO feels this is the
43 right direction, they will try to refine it. She asked the Board to review the top
44 three pages to see if this is in the parameters of what they were trying to
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-2
1 accomplish. If it does, she will report back to committee that this is the general
2 direction CALNO would like them to head.
3
4 Commissioner Gennell said for the benefit of those in the audience, the draft
5 states the community goals and standards for visually obtrusive communications
6 towers. The majority of the real concern seems to lie in the enclaves and if they
7 could resolve the enclave issues, that would alleviate a lot of concerns. The
8 object is to get each of the places where towers are allowed to exist identified on
9 that map. Most concerns are distance and height, and asked Sanford staff to
10 compile a page of where everyone is in agreement and in disagreement. She
11 asked Ben Tucker in the tower industry to do the same thing but he submitted
12 nothing.
13
14 Commissioner Brender suggested to advise the Commissioners on this Board if
15 their city has not already drafted some kind of ordinance to work with these
16 tower facilities, they may want to start that process. He thought they should plan
17 to come back together in September and look at this document at that point.
18
19 It was the consensus of the Board to convey to the Committee that they
20 are satisfied with what they have seen and appreciate their work.
21
22 Commissioner Winston asked what each city was doing.
23
24 Commissioner Gennell said Winter Springs has cited five locations, and put up
25 balloons so the citizens could see where they were intending to allow these
26 towers to go up. She noted one site was the bus barn but they wouldn't allow
27 them to put up a balloon so they chose another location nearby. She saw a
28 petition from one location where those people did not care for it. The other four
29 locations didn't draw any complaints. Their ordinance is up for final hearing on
30 Monday.
31
32 Commissioner McMullen said Casselberry has adopted an ordinance and have
33 two tower contracts on city property. He will forward a copy to Commissioner
34 Winston.
35
36 Commissioner Brender said Lake Mary has adopted an ordinance but have not
37 identified sites specific, but the way the ordinance is written kind of delineates
38 certain areas, zoning, distances from residential areas, etc. He directed the
39 Deputy City Clerk to forward a copy to Longwood.
40
41 Commissioner Williams said the Sanford Commission directed staff to look at
42 variances but they have not selected any particular sites and are looking at
43 modifying their ordinance. She would have Jay Marter provide an overview of
44 where they are.
45
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-3
1 Commissioner Fernandez said Altamonte Springs passed an ordinance and
2 designates certain zoning areas where they can be located and is a conditional
3 use or special exception.
4
5 Commissioner Winston said Longwood is in the process of considering an
6 ordinance.
7
8 Mr. Furlong asked if any school sites are being looked at. At Oviedo High
9 School, there is already a tower and the School Board has an interest in having
10 it be eligible where suitable because of the revenue aspect. He didn't want to be
11 forced to have them but would like to have some options if it is a suitable
12 location. He felt it was important for the School Board to be sensitive to the
13 cities' and County's position on where these work and where they don't. In his
14 experience, there is a lot of uproar when it is first proposed but once it goes up,
15 they're not noticed much and in some settings just blend in.
16
17 Commissioner Gennell thought the School Board should adopt a policy because
18 it is to their benefit. She requested Mr. Furlong take the issue of the bus barn
19 back to the School Board because that is one of their desirable locations.
20
21 Dr. Greenwood said they have no tower on the college property itself but there is
22 a County tower in the area.
23
24 7. Economic Development Incentives. Presentation by City of Lake Mary
25
26 Commissioner Brender said they would present Lake Mary's model for the
27 economic incentives program. There are differences in what qualifies for an
28 economic incentive versus what the County and other cities have drafted. He
29 introduced John Litton, City Manager and Jackie Sova, Finance Director.
30
31 Mr. Litton said two years ago when the City of Lake Mary started discussing the
32 possibility of participating with Seminole County in economic incentives, he was
33 skeptical. He was concerned about how it would work and how they could
34 ensure that they weren't throwing general fund dollars out the window. He has
35 now entirely changed his position because he sees it as a win-win situation.
36 This could not happen without the full and complete cooperation of Seminole
37 County. Lake Mary's policy expired in April but during the upcoming budget
38 process, they are going to bring it up with some modifications the Commission
39 had suggested.
40
41 Mr. Litton said the first criteria Lake Mary requires is at least 100 new full-time
42 jobs over five years and those jobs be maintained. He noted all this was
43 evaluated after the fact. There are four companies that have received incentives
44 from Seminole County that Lake Mary has agreed to reimburse Seminole County
45 for, but as of this date Lake Mary has not paid one cent. That will begin next
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-4
1 year. The average wage must be at least $27,500 and gross $5 million over five
2 years.
3 SIDE 1 B
4 There are some target industries Lake Mary wants to come to this area. Lake
5 Mary works closely with Seminole County and utilizes their staff who in turn
6 makes recommendations and makes sure what they say does come. So far they
7 have delivered. Lake Mary doesn't want to be in competition with other entities
8 but wants businesses truly relocating to the area. They don't want businesses to
9 come forward without a specific site. They make these commitments in advance
10 and have to make sure they have the revenues to offset it. They are not going
11 out on a limb to a point where they can't recover and didn't want anything else to
12 suffer. They plugged in a tentative figure of no more than $225,000 during any
13 fiscal year. They also discussed the possibility of setting aside part of the
14 revenues received which exceed the City's return of investment and is using
15 15%, so 15% of this profit is going to be set aside so the City can utilize these
16 funds for community projects such as transportation and infrastructure. They all
17 view this as a win-win situation.
18
19 Ms. Sova said one the requirements of the companies is to bring new jobs: G.E.
20 Capital, 100; HTE, 274; AT&T, 410 and BellSouth, 350. The average salaries of
21 each of these companies are over $30,000 and exceed the minimum
22 requirements. The taxable values are: AT&T, $12 million; BellSouth, $32
23 million; HTE, $12 million; and G.E. Capital, $17 million. Just these four
24 companies will add 11 % to Lake Mary's tax roll.
25
26 Bob Turk, Seminole County Economic Development Commission, came forward.
27 He said incentives have been part of the game in Florida for about three years.
28 It is a necessary evil to be able to do what they want to do. They have done
29 several projects in Lake Mary and Sanford. They talked about the window of
30 opportunity they have experienced and sooner or later, they would not need the
31 incentives. The Commission has now said to wait and see the ad valorem taxes
32 coming back in, they will be putting some of that money back for incentives, and
33 might be looking at it a different way. They have already committed $250,000 in
34 the program next year up to $500,000, or 50% of the new ad valorem taxes that
35 come in. It will take two years to get these companies on the tax rolls and have
36 money coming in. They will be looking at a year down the road every year to
37 see if they really need the incentives. It's nothing they will be doing all the time,
38 it is something new, they need it now to compete, and they will continue to do
39 the best they can. They used the State's GTI Program which is a qualified
40 targeted industry program and a tax refund program for the right project. The
41 State puts up 80% of the money and the County puts up 20% and pays it back to
42 the State over five years. They have agreed with Orange County and Orlando
43 that they are not going to take companies out of their jurisdictions.
44
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-5
1 Mr. Furlong said incentives were designed to try and bring in businesses that
2 would add new capital investments in areas they wanted them to go. The job
3 aspect is very nice. He commended the City of Lake Mary on their policy which
4 is the design program and is what the rest of the country is stumbling around
5 trying to figure out what to do. He had two issues of School Board News with
6 cover stories on how incentives are destroying education. Everywhere else,
7 they give away the tax base so instead of the schools getting money, all they are
8 doing is buying jobs because they are writing off all their property taxes. If a city
9 is going to have an economic development program with incentives, they had
10 better be building a building in the community that's going to generate more in
11 real taxes. If they do that, they receive those kind of numbers and get what the
12 original goal was which is to have the millage rate stay the same or less for the
13 homeowners. The Seminole County School Board is thrilled about the way this
14 is going. The incentive money will be enough to build an elementary school in
15 five years.
16
17 Commissioner Brender stated this was not "corporate welfare". They are getting
18 legitimate returns. In Lake Mary, they have chosen to specifically target what
19 companies they will offer incentives to. As the model changes and matures, they
20 will probably begin working these target industries down. They may not want
21 more of a particular type of business because they are trying to build a recession
22 resistant economy. There will be a great deal of discussion on movements from
23 other jurisdictions. If a company needs to expand and they can't do it at their
24 present location and wants to relocate to Lake Mary, he didn't view that as
25 stealing jobs but as a legitimate growth issue. He pointed out they do not count
26 any secondary dollars--this is pure tax.
27
28 Commissioner Gennell said Commissioner McMullen had to leave the meeting
29 but would provide him a copy of the tape. Commissioner McMullen left the
30 meeting at this time (8:39 P.M.).
31
32 Commissioner Gennell called for a break at 8:39 P.M. The meeting reconvened
33 at 8:46 P.M.
34 SIDE 2A
35 8. Status on Government Cable Channel
36
37 Harlan Wright, Assistant County Attorney, said it was his understanding that the
38 County Board of Commissioners agreed to discuss this but didn't actually adopt
39 the access channel.
40
41 Mr. Furlong thought the County was interested in pursuing the idea. He talked
42 to Oviedo and Lake Mary about what their capabilities are. He has become
43 better informed of what the cities have done and what their agreements are.
44 They have gotten the word out to the school system in Oviedo about utilizing
45 their access channel. He talked to John Litton tonight who will work on some
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-6
1 things for him and he would get out to the Lake Mary area schools. He found
2 there is a lot more capability out there than he believed. The goal is to enhance
3 what is there and to get something there for those who have nothing. He
4 thought they were ready to put together a task force and hammer out proposals
5 and start working with the cable folks.
6
7 Mr. Wright said they were about to go ahead and adopt the Multi-Channel Video
8 Programming Ordinance and distributed copies of the draft. In 1996, Congress
9 passed the Telecommunications Act which changed the rules of the game. It is
10 no longer a question of cable or other forms of video programming distribution,
11 but is a question of everyone who uses their right-of-way is treated in reasonably
12 equal fashion. He wilt be going ahead with the Telecommunications and Right-
13 of-Way Management Ordinance and a draft should be done in September. They
14 are actually the landlords of the rights-of-way. They are acting in a proprietary
15 capacity and are not the irresponsible government bureaucracy they are often
16 accused of.
17
18 Mr. Wright said on Page 3 he got into the band width issue versus access
19 channel issue. Their basic concern is having to treat each company that use
20 part of the rights-if-ways reasonably equal. Obviously, he couldn't ask a power
21 company to provide a channel for video programming and would have to define
22 it in terms of so much band width. The percentage for the cable companies is
23 10% but had not come up with a figure for power companies. If they go to one
24 access channel, it would cause the whole new era ordinance to fall apart. They
25 are afraid they will be missing out on being able to use some of the new
26 information super highway for community and economic development purposes.
27 Studies have already appeared that show that just like good schools, awell-
28 developed telecommunications infrastructure has become a major selling point
29 and where attractive businesses settle.
30
31 Mr. Wright said for shorter-term solutions, there are some alternatives. The
32 school district of Seminole County is going to be the beneficiary of money that's
33 already in the pipeline. It is $2.25 billion per year and will be supplemented by
34 state funds as well as private money. This will be devoted toward video
35 programming and other forms of communication on the Internet. Net casting will
36 be the future. Cable as we know it is a dying commodity. Another solution is
37 called ITFS which is a form of relatively low collar broadcasting. They were
38 concerned about access because access can get expensive. Many communities
39 have to spend all their franchise fees and more because they develop very
40 aggressive access communities. Band width decentralizes and is more flexible.
41 The consensus of the policy makers is they have one access channel and
42 prevents them from doing anything else with the power companies or anyone
43 else using the right-of-way. As soon as that lopsided ordinance gets passed, the
44 cable companies go to court and yell non-competitive, unfair conditions and the
45 access channel is declared void.
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-7
1
2 Commissioner Gennell said Mr. Wright has agreed to sit in on whatever task
3 force meetings they might have and give whatever input he might have. She
4 appreciated the effort on the County's part because there was no sense in going
5 through this exercise at all if they are going to end up with something they can't
6 use very well.
7
8 Mr. Furlong said those entities who have nothing can wait until this is addressed
9 in September. They weren't going to be that far along anyhow and is a lot of
10 research they need to do as an organization. Sometimes if they could work with
11 the cable companies in a partnership arrangement, they would get more done
12 faster than they would if it becomes adversarial. If this ordinance is approved
13 and immediately goes to court, he asked if was worth a court battle for several
14 years and was the County prepared to fight a court battle over definitions and
15 interpretations of laws rather than try to come to some sort of working resolution.
16 Secondly, is there reason other than a perceptual reason why they couldn't work
17 on developing a channel for those who don't have one and in the interim have
18 some sort of hold harmless agreement from the cable companies.
19
20 Mr. Wright said Time Warner in other parts of the country has agreed to band
21 width solutions, or at least more than three access channels. Lake County had
22 threatened to take Time Warner to court if they did not deliver all their
23 commitments regarding access. Suddenly, Time Warner is interested in giving
24 one channel. He would feel remiss if he did not come before his Board with a
25 memo and ordinance that reflected what has been going on in other parts of the
26 country.
27
28 Commissioner Gennell said she did not envision being in any kind of adversarial
29 condition. They are all in Seminole County and if they draft something that
30 basically protects what they are trying to do here, that strengthens what they are
31 working for. Mr. Wright said in this area, the County does not legislate for the
32 cities.
33
34 Commissioner Winston said it seemed to him that Time Warner has been very
35 supportive to this board in this effort. Not only for providing band width but
36 taking care of the financial responsibility for any switching mechanisms that may
37 be required.
38
39 Mr. Furlong said it was his understanding from the cable companies that they
40 don't agree with Mr. Wright's interpretation of the laws. He suggested to put a
41 task force together to continue to gather information and before they make any
42 proposals to any of the government boards, let this be decided on by the County.
43 He saw no reason to hurry it up and leave things on the table.
44
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-8
1 Steven Steck, President and CEO of WMFE-TV, came forward. He introduced
2 Colleen Funk, Chief Program Officer. He said they were present to offer public
3 television's assistance in attaining a government cable channel. He requested
4 the board consider WMFE-TV as a third party coordinator for cable service. He
5 distributed a proposal package. WMFE proposes to act as a servant in being
6 able to help the cities coordinate and offer suggestions on how this cable
7 government channel can come more quickly to fruition. The cities would be
8 responsible for the message and WMFE would be responsible for the medium.
9 SIDE 2B
10 Commissioner Fernandez asked about the costs. Mr. Steck said until he could
11 describe the message, it is difficult to cost the medium, but it should cost much
12 less than if they did it alone.
13
14 Commissioner Fernandez asked the cost to Seminole County every year for
15 what they are currently doing. Mr. Steck said Seminole County Government and
16 Seminole County schools provides a program collaboration grant of $30,000 per
17 year each for program production. It has nothing to do with broadcast
18 distribution or technology.
19
20 Mr. Furlong said if they decided to go forward with this, they would probably
21 develop a RFP outlining the services they are looking for.
22
23 Commissioner Brender asked that Mr. Steck be put on the mailing list.
24
25 Commissioner Gennell asked if this proposition would take the place of what
26 was originally envisioned as a coordinator for this purpose. Mr. Furlong
27 answered affirmatively and would much rather do it this way.
28
29 Commissioner Gennell said in the process, asked if WMFE was offering their
30 services for free in helping them set up. Mr. Steck whatever is reasonable, they
31 had his pledge they would be delighted to help.
32
33 Commissioner Gennell said if Mr. Steck was going to be helping them and since
34 they have never done this, asked that he bring forth three or four suggested
35 program schedules.
36
37 Mr. Wright said he had a copy of the last letter sent by Lake County to Time
38 Warner and they decided not to go to court but just revoke the franchise
39 agreement. He said he would provide the board a copy.
40
41 9. Approval of Revised CALNO Bylaws
42
43 Commissioner Gennell distributed copies of the revised bylaws.
44
45 Motion was made by Mr. Furlong to approve, seconded by
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-9
1 Commissioner Brender and motion carried unanimously.
2
3 Commissioner Gennell said in regard to the cable issue, asked if the board
4 wanted to meet in July and August or assign a task force.
5
6 Mr. Furlong, Dr. Greenwood, Commissioner Fernandez, and Commissioner
7 Winston volunteered to serve on the Task Force.
8
9 Commissioner Gennell said the meetings would have to be posted and someone
10 would need to take notes for the record.
11
12 Commissioner Fernandez said she would check Altamonte City Hall to see if it is
13 available the first Wednesday of the month which would be July 2nd and August
14 6th. She said she would call Commissioner Gennell.
15 SIDE 3A
16 10. Reports from Members
17
18 Dr. Greenwood announced Dr. John Garmon would be taking her place on
19 CALNO and she would be the substitute. She announced the groundbreaking
20 for the new science lab wing was scheduled for July 3rd, 8:30 A.M., some time in
21 August they would have the dedication of the Lake Mary Boulevard entrance,
22 SCC was hosting an international basketball tournament for high school
23 students from overseas in July, and they have 12 summer camps going on for
24 kindergarten and elementary school students and are almost filled. She
25 distributed copies of a newsletter put out by the public relations office.
26
27 Mr. Furlong said the hot issue is the Choice Program, desegregation clusters
28 and the magnet schools. The Lake Brantley renovation project was approved.
29 They have projects going on at Sanford Middle School, Wicklow is behind
30 schedule, Lake Howell is on schedule. The middle school rezonings will be
31 coming forth because they have kids where they don't have capacity and
32 capacity where they don't have kids.
33
34 Commissioner Gennell announced the City of Winter Springs will hold its first
35 Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza at Central Winds Park. The
36 groundbreaking for the pilot project for the Cross Seminole Trail will be June
37 21st at 11:00 A.M. She distributed some information from the League of Women
38 Voters regarding school district size. She thanked everyone for their patience.
39
40 Commissioner Fernandez said the Rio Bravo Restaurant is going to acquire the
41 adjacent property and expand their parking lot, the Club Esprit Apartments
42 plans a Phase 2 which includes some towers, St. Mary Magdalen Church is
43 expanding, and Golden Corral is looking for a place for a new restaurant. They
44 will be having their July 3rd celebration and further details would be published in
45 the newspaper, they had their Public Safety Day on May 17th and an estimated
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-10
1 10,000 people attended. They set up a DUI checkpoint over the holiday
2 weekend and arrested 13 people.
3
4 Commissioner Brender said a lot of development is going on in Primera and
5 there will be a substantial number of new buildings within the next six months to
6 a year. They will be covering all ranges of businesses. There are currently six
7 or seven purchasers of office space looking for something in excess of 100,000
8 S.F., so the Primera and Heathrow areas are booming. There is a 16-acre
9 parcel in Primera that is going for 10,000 to 40,000 S.F. buildings, and three
10 restaurants will be going up in the vicinity of the hotels
11
12 Commissioner Winston said he was pretty sure Longwood did a resolution
13 supporting the government access channel. They replaced their City Engineer
14 and hoped to get road projects that have been backed up underway.
15
16 Commissioner Williams said it was a pleasure to serve as an alternate.
17 Commissioner Eckstein was unable to attend and Commissioner Lassard was
18 about to become a father within a few hours and was at his wife's side. She said
19 Mayor Dale went to London with a team of representatives for the airport. One
20 of Sanford's major goals has been dealing with crime on the west side and their
21 Commission approved an effort that entailed applying for Block Grant monies for
22 community policing. The Block Grant Committee recommended approval but the
23 County Commission will make the final decision. They are also focusing on
24 police patrols using bicycles on the east side. They have had some problems
25 with the Police Department and the Commission decided to hire a consulting
26 firm. They have engaged in an effort dealing with drainage on the west side,
27 and a sidewalk has been built from 13th Street to Goldsboro Elementary School.
28 The Mayor proclaimed the month of June as Community Pride Month for the
29 district she represents and will entail the community coming together to clean up
30 13th Street. They have lost their Finance Director and are looking for a
31 replacement.
32
33 The next meeting was set for September 3, 1997, at the City of Longwood and
34 will be discussing the Juvenile Justice System.
35
36 11. Adjournment
37
38 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:40 P.M.
39
40
41 Submitted by: Mary A. Campbell, Deputy City Clerk
42 City of Lake Mary
43
44 /mac
45
CALNO MEETING
June-04-97-11