HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998 06 03 Minutes
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MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN SEMINOLE COUNTY
(CALNO) MEETING held Wednesday, June 3, 1998, Lake Mary City Commission
Chambers, 100 North Country Club Road, Lake Mary, Florida.
1 . Call to Order
Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance
The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Cindy Gennell at 7:25 P.M.
2. Roll Call
Deputy Mayor/Commissioner Cindy Gennell, City of Winter Springs, Chairperson
Deputy Mayor/Commissioner Gary Brender, City of Lake Mary
Commissioner Ron Sargent, City of Longwood
Commissioner Tom Hagood, Jr., City of Oviedo
Commissioner Grant Maloy, Seminole County Board of Commissioners
Larry Furlong, Seminole County School Board
Members Absent:
Commissioner Brady Lessard, City of Sanford
Vice-President John Garmon, Seminole Community College
Commissioner Eddie Rose, City of Altamonte Springs
Commissioner AI Clark, City of Casselberry
3. Approval of Minutes: May 6, 1998
Motion was made by Commissioner Tom Hagood to approve the
minutes of the May 6, 1998, meeting as submitted, seconded by
Larry Furlong, and motion carried unanimously.
4. Treasurer's Report
Deputy Mayor Brender said the account still stands at $923.26. He received a bill for
the flowers for the Council Secretary in the amount of $42.80 so that will be drawn out
this month.
Chairperson Gennell said she would be ordering pens and would be requesting a
withdrawal slip to cover the expenses.
Motion was made by Commissioner Tom Hagood to accept the
Treasurer's Report, seconded by Larry Furlong, and motion carried
unanimously.
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 1
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Chairperson Gennell said the new police and fire pension information was vetoed.
Deputy Mayor Brender felt next year it would come back before them differently and
Jackie Sova would give an overview at that time. She heard from the League of Cities
that the fire and police have been trying to do this for several years, and the overall
feeling was if it didn't go through this time, they were giving up.
Chairperson Gennell stated CALNO had said they would entertain a resolution in
support of Sheriff Eslinger's work program, and would be done in September or as soon
as they could.
5. Program A: Update on Education/Government Cable Channel Television Issue
Chairperson Gennell said there was no representative from SCC but she understood
this was on their agenda. SCC will be sending a new representative to CALNO in
September. She noted that Lake Mary and Casselberry entered into the interlocal
agreement subject to a resolution reserving their right not to be caught up in the
budget. Only Longwood and Altamonte Springs have not signed on but she would be
working with them through the summer.
Mr. Furlong said the School Board has been gathering information from around the
country to try to develop a clause they would ask the cities and counties to include in
any franchise agreement updates relative to the education component to make it clear
that the education channel is a requirement. They are still drafting some language.
Whenever they raise that subject with Time Warner, they say they already have an
education channel. If that was an education channel, he didn't know if the School
Board had ever asserted themselves to say what they would like to put out. Time
Warner constantly dances around that subject because they are making money off of
that channel and there is no community education channel. This would clear that up
in the future. This doesn't impact anything they are doing as far as the School Board is
concerned, but down the road it would enable them to assert themselves if they found
collectively they have more need and would clear up whose government is over that.
He said if any city was involved in imminent franchise agreements to let him know and
he would try to get some draft language to them as soon as he could. He asked about
the County.
Commissioner Maloy said he was not aware of the time frame of the contracts. At the
last meeting it was his understanding the Board voted 3 to 1 to move forward with
negotiating with Time Warner to put in a channel to broadcast the County Commission
meetings. He was not at that meeting, had not looked at the minutes yet and was not
sure what happened.
Chairperson Gennell said the resolution adopted by Lake Mary states that the City shall
not incur any financial obligations or expenses by its participation in the Councilor
execution of the interlocal agreement unless the Commission votes to expend public
funds. Secondly, the City may opt out of the interlocal and terminate its membership
without cause or penalty upon written notice to all persons on the attached interlocal
agreement. She provided a copy of the resolution to Commissioner Sargent which may
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 2
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help his commission. She asked that the Councils be appointed during the summer
and advised that she had been appointed to Winter Springs and Larry Furlong to the
School Board's.
6. Program B: New Pension Information Regarding the Police & Fire Issue
Presented by: Jackie Sova, Finance Director, Lake Mary
This issue was vetoed as noted earlier in the meeting and was not discussed.
7. Program C: Local Option Gas Tax Distribution for Calendar Year 1999
Presented by: Stephanie Kobrin, Principal Budget Analyst
Seminole County
Stephanie Kobrin, Seminole County Department of Physical Services, Office of
Management and Budget, came forward. She distributed a summary of the tax
allocations (copy attached). She advised her office had prepared a new revenue
manual with information on revenues in the County.
Commissioner Hagood asked how they could change the interlocal agreement where
the County gets two-thirds. Commissioner Maloy interjected he thought it was a State
Statute. Chairperson Gennell said it was her understanding from Lee Constantine and
Owen Shepherd years ago that this body was responsible for the gas tax being
implemented. She suggested to research this issue and bring it back in the fall.
Commissioner Hagood said this was based on what is spent on the roads. He asked if
anyone had anything that talks about the percentage of revenues that come from the
different sources, if there was any way to track which revenues were generated in the
County and which were generated in the municipalities, and if there were other
mechanisms to do the distribution.
Ms. Kobrin said she was not sure how specific the statute is on how to determine the
distribution. It was possible to amend the interlocal agreement but there were different
conditions based on what they wanted to do.
Mr. Furlong said something they needed to be aware of dealt with impact fees and the
County's portion of the Local Option Gas Tax versus the cities' use. He thought it also
had something to do with the One-Cent Sales Tax. The County's portion all went for
roads and some were not the County's road network. There was an inequity on the
cities' side but conversely, money that could have been utilized to repave streets was
not available because it was pledged to the major thoroughfare network whereas the
cities' were not.
Chairperson Gennell suggested for each entity to have somebody on staff who has a
thorough understanding of this. She suggested that Commissioner Hagood research
this and bring it forward in September.
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 3
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Commissioner Hagood asked if there was another five cent sales tax available. Ms.
Kobrin said this tax only goes up to six cents. Commissioner Hagood said there was an
additional five cents of gas tax the County could levy.
Mr. Furlong said when the public voted on the sales tax referendum for roads, the
interlocal agreement and projects specific, there was discussion in the legislature
because all the cities and counties were lobbying for more gas tax authority. The
authority was granted but by. that time, Seminole County's referendum was down the
road and then got approved. As he recalled, the additional gas tax of five cents, for a
total of six, they levied one penny for mass transit but there was another five cents
never levied in Seminole County because of passage of the One-Cent Sales Tax. He
asked if that was still available and something that should be looked into.
Commissioner Hagood asked if it would be possible to find out what other data is
available, such as the source of the revenues. Ms. Kobrin said they would have to
coordinate with all the municipalities in order to put something together.
Chairperson Gennell said they should ask for a copy of the initial interlocal agreement
which sets forth how it can be changed and periodically reviewed. She said she would
put on the September agenda that Commissioner Hagood would give a "thumbs up" or
"thumbs down" on the local option gas tax.
Chairperson Gennell pointed out this was the first time this money was being used for
trails.
Chairperson Gennell presented a pen to Ms. Kobrin in gratitude for her presentation.
8. Reports from Members
Commissioner Brender said dinner was from the Olive Garden and dessert from Lake
Mary Cheesecake.
Commissioner Brender pointed out a new aerial of the City of Lake Mary that was shot
in late March that shows most of the development going on. He would be happy to
point out the developments if anyone was interested. He said the aerial next to the new
one was from 1996.
Commissioner Brender pointed out a layout of the trail program that would be going up
Rinehart Road. Lake Mary has allocated about $400,000 for the trailhead which will
include a park and concession facility located at the intersection of Lake Mary
Boulevard and Rinehart Road.
Commissioner Sargent had no report on the City of Longwood.
Commissioner Hagood apologized for not making the last meeting but he was at the
birth of his fourth child. The Board expressed their congratulations.
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 4
1 Commissioner Hagood said the City of Oviedo just had a goal setting session and one
2 of the goals set was to go forth with a trailhead in the old downtown. They are also
3 going to work with the park to connect the Oviedo Trailhead to Cady Way. They are
4 putting in a sidewalk to connect Railroad Street to the new trailhead which will have a
5 park, rest rooms, etc. They want to have the Florida Scenic Trail swing through some
6 of their parks and the sports complex.
7
8 Commissioner Hagood said they passed a recreation bond last year and part of that
9 was to build sidewalks. They have found that getting a reliable sidewalk contractor was
10 impossible as well as getting anything built. They had tried to build a concession
11 stand/rest room facility in the middle of four of their baseball fields and received prices
12 ranging from $500,000 to $600,000.
13
14 Commissioner Brender said he was in Tallahassee last week for a gymnastics
15 competition with this daughter. They have a gymnastics arena which the City of
16 Tallahassee built. It was a very impressive 27,000 S.F. facility with meeting rooms and
17 exercise center. He asked if they, as a county, need to get involved in developing a
18 county-wide health/wellness facility which might include gymnasiums. He pointed out
19 Tallahassee was also building a 50-meter olympic pool.
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21 Commissioner Hagood said he tried to generate interest for the City of Oviedo building
22 a joint complex, but received a lot of opposition from staff.
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24 Commissioner Brender said the Tallahassee facility has been open about 10 months.
25 Their estimated expenses are just under $1 million a year and the estimated revenues
26 are $600,000 to $700,000. They charge for use and have over 1,500 kids involved in
27 the gymnastics program.
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29 Chairperson Gennell said Kissimmee has a gymnasium/fitness center that was
30 fantastic.
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32 Commissioner Brender said Tallahassee spent $3.5 million building the facility along
33 with the extra space for a pool and other things. He thought to do something like that
34 as a county, locate it centrally, would be something to think about. Everyone spends a
35 lot of time developing ball fields and he would like to see some other sports.
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37 Commissioner Sargent said there are two basic occupations in Tallahassee, one being
38 the college and the other government jobs which explains why they would have the
39 need and make use of such a convention center. The college draws a lot of people to
40 the gymnasium with classes, schools, competitions, etc. As UCF grows, that may
41 happen in Orange County but here they don't have that kind of base to go on and are
42 more diversified.
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44 Chairperson Gennell said the majority of the taxes goes to schools and they are
45 building some spectacular gymnasiums that are available for other uses. She was
46 surprised that Seminole County has no public swimming pools.
47
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 5
1 Commissioner Hagood said the Oviedo pool is very popular. They have family
2 memberships for three or four months during the summer which are between $50 and
3 $75, and they can use it every day if they wanted.
4
5 Chairperson Gennell said it might be something to put in the budget where it doesn't
6 increase taxes and can be an allocation two or three years down the road.
7
8 Commissioner Maloy said there are a lot of expenditures going on with the trail, the
9 book supply in the library system was expanded, and helping out with parks systems.
10 He thought the County was trying to get away from getting involved with things that
11 have heavy manpower and ongoing operational costs.
12
13 Commissioner Hagood had the idea of building a facility and letting somebody else run
14 it.
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16 Chairperson Gennell said they have not had any meetings in Winter Springs since the
17 last CALNO meeting. There has been heavy use on the trail. They will hold a
18 fireworks show at Central Winds Park on July 4th. They have 75 unclaimed bicycles
19 that are going to be auctioned off to kids 15 years old and under from 6:00 P.M. to 9: 15
20 P.M. at the fireworks.
21 SIDE 18
22 She planned to attend the League of Cities Conference. She had tapes of different
23 issues and would be glad to loan them out or provide copies.
24
25 Commissioner Gennell said she was Chairman of the Trails Task Force and their focus
26 is where the next parts of it go. She asked Commissioners Hagood and Sargent to
27 provide her with an enlarged map of their city, preferably with rights-of-way and parks
28 colored in green, as soon as possible.
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30 Commissioner Maloy said the County had discussions on the courthouse situation and
31 various plans were put forward by a consultant. It centers around the County buying
32 the Sanford City Hall. Sanford wants $6 million but it is appraised on the tax rolls at
33 $3.5 million. The consultant said it would cost about $4.5 million to fix up and would
34 provide enough office space just for the clerk of the courts offices. It comes out to $180
35 per S.F. to refurbish the building for additional office space and some land that is
36 involved. The moderate priced courthouse space goes for $145 per S.F. with regular
37 office space going less than that. His questioned if if was a good value for the
38 taxpayers and expressed concern. Most of the proposals have an annex building built
39 just south of the current City Hall. A couple of years ago, the City of Sanford wanted
40 the County to keep it in downtown. There was an interlocal agreement drafted that
41 says the City was going to make concessions on impact fees for water and sewer, chip
42 in for parking lots and that sort of thing, and the Mayor said they were not going to
43 honor that agreement anymore. He got the feeling the City was not enthused for
44 keeping the courthouse there. The purchase of City Hall would be discussed on
45 Tuesday.
46
47 Commissioner Hagood mentioned Oviedo was starting to annex Duda (157 acres).
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 6
1 Commissioner Maloy said he had been trying to get information on the conference
2 center but could find nothing on who owned it or where the money is coming from.
3 They say the money is coming from the Tourism Development Commission from
4 tourism development taxes and projected revenue of what the new hotel would bring in.
5 He thought that was risky because they were projecting 75% occupancy. The County's
6 projected revenues from the bed tax collected on the hotel at 75% occupancy would be
7 $400,000 a year. No one has said what happens if the occupancy was low. The
8 Tourism Board nor anyone on his staff has seen any details on it.
9
10 Chairperson Gennell said she was the representative on the Tourist Development
11 Council. It never comes from them but they sit and watch for things to come to them
12 and nothing has come. Everything they do has to be submitted to the County
13 Commission as a budget so they budgeted money for a fund for development of a
14 conference center. They have been stockpiling a bit each month in the eventuality that
15 the Tourist Development Council would have some seed money to help something get
16 up and going. She wasn't sure if anything would come before them.
17
18 Commissioner Brender said Lake Mary had the Sandy Ridge development on Rinehart
19 Road but has since been denied and has gone away. There is another developer
20 looking there for 100,000 square feet of conference space with a headquarters hotel,
21 although there is nothing yet on paper. The conference centers spread out around the
22 County are money-makers. When they get into the 250,000 to 400,000 S.F. convention
23 center, the problem is whether they can draw that kind of convention, and whether
24 Sanford can draw a conference center. He said the City of Sanford went to Brooksville
25 Development (Sandy Ridge), talked to them about developing that convention complex
26 on Lake Monroe, and Brooksville turned them down.
27
28 Chairperson Gennell said she was tired of having to go to Orange County for a
29 function. This year is worse because events they had taken to the Hilton on Ivanhoe
30 and the Shriners have outgrown those facilities, and now they have to go to
31 International Drive. The County needs a conference center. She felt they were losing
32 some opportunities for commercial development that know they don't have a place to
33 meet.
34
35 Commissioner Brender said that had been a big topic of discussion among corporate
36 headquarters long the 1-4 Corridor. There is a rumor that some of those corporations
37 are looking to put in seed money to the Lake Mary/Heathrow Chamber to try to develop
38 at least a 50,000 S.F. facility.
39
40 Mr. Furlong said the School Board just had a work session on their five-year capital
41 plan, and the largest overcrowding is at the elementary school level. They will have
42 pretty good capacity when they complete the Lake Brantley renovation. They are still
43 planning to build a new middle school across from Carillon which will give them pretty
44 good capacity at the middle school level for the next few years. Some blips have come
45 through the system where there are big classes for some reason which happens from
46 time to time. They are looking at doing primary learning centers. They are going to
47 build some additional buildings on some of their larger elementary campuses to relieve
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 7
1 current overcrowding and provide additional student spaces. He explained there may
2 be kindergarten, first and second grades in one building and third, fourth and fifth in
3 another. They are going to see how economical it is. There is a perceived educational
4 benefit to the smaller school.
5
6 Commissioner Hagood questioned why they don't build two story elementary schools.
7 Mr. Furlong said they are looking at doing that and they already have a couple, but
8 there were safety concerns in case of a fire.
9
10 Commissioner Hagood said elementary schools don't have the need for student
11 parking so elementary could have a lot of students.
12
13 Mr. Furlong said the elementary schools are big and the legislature is wanting them
14 half as big, but that doesn't mean they're half as expensive to build. By using the two-
15 story design as an option, a lot more sites are opened up than they had before.
16 Commissioner Brender interjected they need 13 acres for elementary, 27 for middle
17 and 67 for high school.
18
19 Mr. Furlong said they were going to undertake some major renovations at Woodlands
20 Elementary and Lyman High School. There will be new elementary schools and a new
21 middle school. They are going to upgrade and add considerably more security systems
22 to the existing schools.
23
24 Commissioner Brender asked the areas for the elementary schools. Mr. Furlong said
25 the Oviedo area would get one. The overcrowding of elementary schools is County-
26 wide but the worst area is Oviedo. There are only a handful of elementary schools that
27 don't have portables which can be fire, vandalism and burglary hazards. The
28 legislative direction and parents want smaller class sizes which presents the need for
29 more classrooms. In an existing building, that means they must have portables.
30 Despite what was in the newspapers about the legislature and the wonders they did for
31 schools, Seminole County didn't come out very well. They are scrambling and he
32 advised not to look for much in class size reductions, and those working for the public
33 school system shouldn't look for much of a raise. There is not as much to go around as
34 they would have hoped. The FCAT scores came in and was a good showing for
35 Seminole County and probably the best look at where they stack up compared to the
36 other counties in Florida.
37
38 Commissioner Hagood pointed out the school system was one of the reasons Seminole
39 County was growing.
40
41 Chairperson Gennell asked how many School Board members were up for re-election.
42 Mr. Furlong said Barbara Kuhn was not running so her seat is open, and Sandy
43 Robinson and Jeanie Morris are running for re-election. He pointed out this election
44 would determine a lot and is a very important election for the County. They just
45 completed their evaluation of the Superintendent and four board members said he was
46 outstanding, one member thought he was terrible.
47
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 8
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Mr. Furlong said the City of Sanford and the School Board are trying to build a pool at
Seminole High School and have applied for a grant. They are having some difficulties
working out the details with the City of Sanford. That would be a public pool on school
property. They would provide school functions but there but would also be public
swimming.
Chairperson Gennell announced the next meeting was scheduled for September 2,
1998, at the City of Longwood.
9. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:50 P.M.
Minutes prepared and
submitted by:
Mary A. Campbell, Deputy City Clerk
City of Lake Mary, Florida
CALNO MEETING
June 3, 1998 - 9