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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995 03 15 City Commission Special Minutes .. SPECIAL MEETING CITY COMMISSION CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS MARCH 15, 1995 The Special Meeting of the City of Winter Springs City Commission was called to order by Mayor John F. Bush at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: Mayor John F. Bush, present Deputy Mayor John Langellotti, present City Manager John Govoruhk, present City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher, present COMMISSIONERS: Larry Conniff, present John Ferring, present Cindy Gennell, present David McLeod, present (arrived 7: 12 p.m.) Wage and hour issue: Mayor Bush asked if there was anyone from the public who wanted to speak on this issue before the Commission considers it. There was no one to speak on this issue. Attorney Kruppenbacher stated that over the last few months the City Manager, the Finance Director, the Police Chief and City Attorney have been in discussions/negotiations/debate, with the U.S. Department of Labor regarding an audit that they conducted in which they identified certain issues regarding a failure to pay overtime compensation for hours worked. When first calculated the figures were roughly $180,000 + for both, Parks and Recreation Dept. and the Police Dept., at the time they were initially calculated there were certain facts that at that particular point in time, I don't believe the Dept. of Labor had analyzed thoroughly or completely, we have had multiple meetings since then. We would ask for your authority tonight to be able to expend up to the sum of $106,000 to negotiate and conclude a settlement with the Dept. of Labor. The $106,000 represents the total cost of dollars being paid out~ the $180,000+ they wanted from us was exclusive of FICA, Social Security and withholding, the $106,000 would be inclusive of FICA, Social Security and withholding. Attorney Kruppenbacher said the sum for Parks and Recreation is $38,000+change, then adding in FICA, pension contributions, and worker's compo for a total of $45,000+ change~ the Police Dept. would be $49,992, adding in FICA, withholding, pension and worker's compo the total is roughly $59,000+ change. At the $106,000 figure we would conclude this issue. We ask for your authority to be able to resolve at this time. Motion was made by Commissioner Conniff to allow our City Manager and City Attorney to finish negotiation with the $106,000 cap. Seconded by Commissioner Ferring. Discussion. Commissioner GenneU mentioned that she had on two other occasions asked for a breakdown list dividing the Police Dept. from the Parks and Recreation Dept., both times she was advised it was forthcoming and she still hasn't received it yet. Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 2 Commissioner Langellotti asked why the sum went from $186,000 to $106,000. Attorney Kruppenbacher said negotiations, based upon the facts and evidence that we were able to produce both record and otherwise that justified that correction. Discussion. Commissioner Ferring asked the City Manager if he was satisfied with the way this is coming in at this particular point. Manager Govoruhk said based on everything that we discussed and went through, yes sir. Commissioner Gennell asked what was the initial amount including the FICA, Social Security, etc. Finance Director Harry Martin said it would have been $225,000-$230,000. Commissioner Gennell also asked the status of the State Attorney's investigation. Vote on the motion: Commissioner Ferring: aye; Commissioner Langellotti: aye; Commissioner Gennell: aye; Commissioner Conniff Motion passes. Mayor Bush thanked Manager Govoruhk and the City Attorney for the hard work they did on this Issue. Attorney Kruppenbacher stated at this time we are scheduled to go into, pursuant to Chapter 286.011 an executive session, closed meeting, to discuss the lawsuit settlement strategies and negotiations and strategies regarding the case. The Court Reporter got in touch with me a few moments ago and is on her way and will not be arriving until the earliest 7:30 p.m., the latest 7:45 p.m., if we could simply take a 20 minute break in this meeting, the regular public meeting, and then come back to it once she gets here, then we will go through the process under Chapter 286.011. Mayor Bush asked if there is any citizen present who would like to speak on any other topic at this time. Diane Back, Seneca Blvd., asked the Commission to stand by their decision regarding the conservation easement granted to the City for the benefit of the residents of Tuscawilla and asked the Commission not to sell them out. Barbara Mitchell, Mimosa Court, read a letter she had sent to the Commission on March 10th regarding the connector road in Tuscawilla; she asked the Commission to please continue your valiant efforts to keep our City of trees beautiful. Tom O'Connell, Seneca Blvd., spoke regarding the Oviedo Crossing Mall and the northern connector road. Mayor Bush called for a recess at 7:20 p.m. Mayor Bush reconvened the Special Meeting at 7:45 p.m. Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 3 Attorney Kruppenbacher stated that Ms. Gael Parry, the Court Reporter is present and mentioned his appreciation on her coming at such short notice. Mayor Bush said Commissioner Gennell asked a question for the City Manager concerning the progress of the State Attorney's investigation. Manager Govoruhk stated that the State Attorney is in the process of the investigation, and that is all he can say at this time. Manger Govoruhk also gave Commissioner Gennell the copy of the Police Dept. and Parks and Recreation breakdown that she asked for. The State Attorney overseeing this investigation is the Chief investigation Ron Seibert. Mayor Bush said at this time he is announcing the Attorne.y/Client session under Florida Statute 286.011, the subject matter of this meeting shall be confined to the settlement negotiations and strategies session related to litigation expenditures. The commencement time of the meeting will be approximately 7:50 p.m., the length of the meeting will be 1 1/2 hours. The names of the persons attending will be: Mayor John F. Bush, Commissioner Conniff, Commissioner Ferring, Commissioner Langellotti, Commissioner Gennell, Commissioner McLeod, City Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher, City Manager John Govoruhk, Special Attorney Keith Bricklemeyer and Court Reporter Gael Parry. Attorney Kruppenbacher stated for the record there will be no off the record discussions during that meeting, it will all be recorded by Ms. Parry, she will record that within a reasonable period of time following this meeting tonight, transmit it to the City Clerk in a sealed envelope, and it will remain sealed until conclusion of the litigation. We are meeting on the litigation regarding the City of Winter Springs vs. The City of Oviedo, the two lawsuits, Veria and Rouse and the City of Oviedo vs. The City ofWmter Springs eminent domain action. When this meeting is over we will come back to the Chambers and adjourn in the Chambers and then go into the other portion of the public meeting. Mayor Bush closed the closed executive session at 10:20 p.m. and reopened the special meeting and announced the termination of the closed executive session. Mayor Bush stated the transcript will be made public record upon conclusion of the litigation. Mayor Bush call a recess at 10:20. Mayor Bush reconvened the special meeting at 10:35 p.m. Attorney Kruppenbacher stated with regard to the current pending lawsuit involving the eminent domain action filed by the City of Oviedo against the City of Winter Springs with regard to the two lawsuits filed by the City of Winter Springs visa vi Viera Co., Rouse Co., and the City of Oviedo; we have pursuant to the City's Commission's direction Mr. Ferring, Mr. Govoruhk, Mr. Kruppenbacher and Mr. Bricklemeyer met with the developer regarding the negotiation of a settlement regarding the dispute, there are three options for you tonight: 1. One is to by direction that you are not going to settle this matter and we are to proceed toward defending all actions, procuring all actions accordingly, per your prior direction. 2. The second is to accept a settlement agreement, which was provided to you tonight and accept the terms as proposed in that agreement. 3. The third option ;'':I''''--l~F':':~'~ ,- Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 4 would be to authorize the City Attorney's office and the City Manager to offer a counter settlement or adopting what you consider you want to adopt and offering that settlement to Viera, Rouse and Oviedo regarding the pending litigation and all matters relating to the development of the mall, that would resolve all issues between the City of Winter Springs, City of Oviedo, Rouse and Dada regarding the mall and as we presently understand the issues, and the easement. In the event that VieraIRouse and Oviedo agree to that response to this document, with modifications, to then direct that your City Attorney's office and City Manager immediately take the steps to permit the City of Winter Springs to legally adopt and implement that settlement. That would involve having that document as redrafted brought back to you for final approval at a City Commission meeting and any other necessary steps that we identify to be done legally. Attorney Kruppenbacher stated those are your three options, the third option, in order for you to understand that, Mr. Bricklemeyer will review with you that options in terms of what the details would be on that offer from us to them. Mr. Bricklemeyer stated he will highlight the areas that the settlement agreement deals with and then he will go back and refer to specific paragraphs and provisions that may be considered as part of the counter offer. Mr. Bricklemeyer stated that the settlement agreement deals with the mitigation of impacts that would result from the mall on the City of Winter Springs. The first of those is the access from the connector road, Oviedo Crossings Boulevard and it's intersection with Winter Springs Blvd. and basically provides for traffic control devices and traffic enforcement to insure cut-through traffic through the City is minimized once that road is constructed and the mall is open. There is a provision that requires the annexation of a parcel, called Parcel 14, it is in the Oviedo Crossing DR!, on the Northwestern comer of the project. Provisions require the construction of a bike path and pedestrian walkway from S.R. 426 connecting back to the bicycle and pedestrian circulation system in the Oviedo Crossings project itself Provisions governing the mechanism for enforcing the restrictions that are necessary to insure that we do eliminate cut-through traffic, particularly with respect to D- turns and the configuration of the intersection. There are general provisions dealing with impacts of the project on Winter Springs and the requirement for payment of 1 million dollars to the City to mitigate those impacts. There is a reference to the other revenues that the City will derive as a result of the implementation of the settlement agreement by virtue of the annexation in the form of impact fees, advalorem tax revenues and other revenues that will come to the City. There are a number of development restrictions with regard to the property that abuts the Tuscawilla properties on the north and west boundaries of the Oviedo Crossings project. There is a requirement for the extension of Pine Ave., a general agreement to try to eliminate the Greenway tolls for this section of the Greenway. An agreement by the City to terminate it's conservation easement which is the subject of the condemnation suit, to not object to the DR! as it goes forward. To the termination to the current lawsuits and the reimbursement of legal fees to the City. Those are the general areas that the agreement governs and I'll go back and reference individual paragraphs and proposed modifications for your consideration. Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 5 Mr. Bricklemeyer said with regard to paragraph 2-C of the agreement, deals with the sketch which is included as Exhibit "A", for the design of the intersection. That sketch would be modified to include a reference to what is included as Exhibit "D" to the agreement, which is a design for some additional construction in the median of Winter Springs Blvd., at it's intersection with Oviedo Crossings Blvd. We would add to that paragraph that the City of Winter Springs would have approval of the final engineering for that intersection~ since this is a conceptual sketch and we would add that the modifications that might occur subject to the agreement of all parties would be modifications that would be subject to a provision that no payment would need to be made as between the parties to secure agreements to modifications. With respect to paragraph 3-A, which deals with the annexation of Parcel 14, the annexation of that property is currently proposed subject to some limitations and to an expiration date. That paragraph would be modified to make the requirement for the annexation of Parcel 14 an absolute requirement without contingencies. Further there would be a requirement that the County agree not to object to that annexation into the City of Winter Springs. With respect to paragraph 4 the technical drafting with regard to one of the provisions to insure that the parenthetical "if possible" applies to construction in the right-of-way, and not to the construction itself And that the construction of the bike paths and pedestrian walkway system be completed prior to the C.O for the mall. Page 10, which is a part of paragraph 5-A, dealing with the police enforcement mechanism, we would include a requirement that there be a representation in the agreement that there is no development that will occur in what is defined as the northeast parcel, other than roadway and drainage facilities associated with that road. That there is no other residential or non-residential development. Continuing in that same paragraph on page 11, there is a discussion about the limitations that we would be bound by in terms of modifications that might be made to the intersection and we would simply clarify that those limitations are limited to the intersection within the northeast parcel. In paragraph 5-B, deals with the control of the V-turns, the interlocal agreement that is referenced in that paragraph must be in place prior to the C.O. for the mall. That paragraph would also require that the Sherifl's Dept. approve the enforcement of traffic regulations in this particular area which is outside of the boundaries of the City of Winter Springs. In paragraph 6, deals with the million dollar payment, we would provide some clarifYing language to the provision that the payment made prior to Oviedo issuing a final certificate of occupancy, to insure that the developer would not be permitted to secure a certificate of occupancy either from Oviedo or from the County for the mall prior to the payment of the million dollars. In paragraph 7-B, dealing with the additional financial benefits, just some technical changes to eliminate the language dealing with "it is anticipated" that the developer shall pay impact fees to Winter Springs. In paragraph "D" of paragraph 7, the reference to the benefits of the taxes to the Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 6 school system would be identified as direct benefits and benefits to the City of Winter Springs, City of Oviedo and Seminole County. In paragraph 11 which requires the City to terminate it's conservation easement, the provision currently requires that that termination occur at the front end of this transaction; the alternative that we would include would be that the City would provide a license over that easement for the construction of the roadway and related facilities, the City would execute the termination of easement document that that document would be held in escrow and that the easement would in fact be terminated upon the delivery of the million dollars at the end of the transaction. Including as part of the references in paragraph 11 to the litigation, the two lawsuits other than the eminent domain suits would be dismissed as is envisioned under this draft, the eminent domain action would be abated pending conclusion under the settlement agreement. Paragraph 15-C is part of the default provisions, and this paragraph would be deleted. Paragraph 23 discussed the exhibit "D" which is the entrance features that would be constructed in conjunction with the construction with the construction of the intersection and that provision would be changed to identifY both the City of Winter Springs and Tuscawilla instead of just Tuscawilla as it is currently drafted. As a general matter we would provide that the agreement would be recorded so that we would be certain that the subsequent owners of various properties would be governed by it. Commissioner Ferring said he would like to address the people here tonight before he makes a motion; for the past year or better, the City of Winter Springs has been involved with this project regarding the Oviedo Mall. We have gone through and worked through long endless hours trying to come to an amicable settlement that would be agreeable to all; it may not make everybody happy but I think it's a fair agreement on my part. I will be the first to say that I opposed this agreement tremendously in the beginning; as I did my research and analysis things started to appear much clearer that if you look on balance what this City has to gain, what Tuscawilla has to gain, as opposed to what the opposite would be of going into a litigation process that could possible be drawn out for years. Where the cost to the taxpayers would run into the seven figure area possibly. We sat down in earnest, the developers, their Attorney's were completely forthright, they were honest, they were sensitive to the issues that we addressed and I think that we've done to the best of our possible ability in conjunction with our own consultants, our own traffic experts, come up with a package that I can feel comfortable with, where it will not and I say not, have a major impact on the Tuscawilla Community. I feel over time it will benefit the Tuscawilla Community greatly as it will the rest of the entire City of Winter Springs. We have made great strides and there is no clear cut winner and there is no clear cut looser, I believe that we have done the best we possibly can and I think in my own mind I can stand and speak to anybody in this City and say the decisions that we can across and that we are putting forth were done with all of the considerations that we could possibly put into it. Nobody is ever going to be happy a lot of things we wanted we didn't get, but a lot of things we did Special Meeting City Commission March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 7 get and one of the things was first and for most is that we put in place funding mechanisms and design criteria that will provide for the safety and well being of Tuscawilla imperperity. There may come a point where the residents of Tuscawilla may be angry at us for the ridged standards that we have set forth because it is going to inconvenience them tremendously. But, this is the way it has to be if you want to protect the community. I believe in dealing with the principals that we dealt with, their Attorneys that we addressed these issues. I've done the best I can and this Board has done the best they can, the negotiating team, the rest is up to this Commission and myself to make a decision that will be beneficial to this entire City and the community and especially Tuscawilla. Motion was made by Commissioner Ferring that we select option 3, to have our Attorneys and City Manager go back and modifY this contract settlement agreement with the terms as outlined by Mr. Bricklemeyer and subsequently bring it back to us for our approval. Seconded by Commissioner Conniff. Discussion. Mayor Bush asked if there were any comments from the public. Moti Khemloni, President of the Tuscawilla Homeowners Association, stated if at all possible the Commission not take any action tonight, defer it until the party that feels very much aggrieved has a chance to take a look at and give you proper public input. We feel that we need to take a chance to take a look at it and beg you that you not take any action in a rush, as you can see it is very late; this meeting was not very well published to where a lot of people had input as to what was going on, and I think just to have public input would be meaningless if you don't give full opportunity for the public to review the options and give you their input. Jim Mathews, Seneca Blvd., stated this is going to be a very significant thing, not just for the people in Tuscawilla, not just for the people in Chlesea Woods where I live, not just for the people east of Tuscawilla Rd., but for everybody in this City. The reason it is because others and myself have taken a very had look, as you all have, at the traffic impact and many of the other things that this proposed development brings to our City. This effects everyone and accordingly my own feeling is that the people in the City of Winter Springs have a right in a forum to more fully express their feelings pro and con, rather than deciding this at a time late a night when everyone is tired and when the people have not had the opportunity to even note the meeting that is being conducted tonight is being conducted. So I would ask you to please defray the decision on this for the purpose for getting public comment and input and certainly after having received that input, you consciences still tell you that you must go forward with this, I think you will at least have the understanding of the people of the City ofWmter Springs for having made a decision not only with courage but certainly in the sunshine as well. Attorney Kruppenbacher reiterated the motion: modifY option 3 as written by Mr. Bricklemeyer, present it to the opposing parties, Oviedo, RouselDada, if they accept it, take the steps to then bring it to you to have it legally implemented. Discussion. Vote on the motion: Commissioner Ferring: aye; Commissioner Langellotti: aye; Commissioner Gennelt: aye; Commissioner McLeod: aye; Commissioner Conniff: aye. Motion passes. Special Meeting City Commission The meeting was adjourned at 11 :05 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, ~~~~ Margo M. Hopkins, City Clerk APPROVED: March 15, 1995 94-95-15 Page 8