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HomeMy WebLinkAbout_2009 05 19 Joint Meeting with City of Oviedo MinutesMAY 1.9, 2009 The City Council of the City of Oviedo, Florida, and City Commission of the City of Winter Springs, Florida met in a work session on Tuesday, May 19, 2(}09, Oviedo City Hall, 400 Alexandria Boulevard, with the following present: City of Oviedo Councilman Dominic Persampiere, Steve Henken, Keith Britton, Stephen Schenck, and Mayor Mary Lou Andrews; City of Winter Springs Commissioners Jean Hovey, Rick Brown, Gary Bonner, Sally McGinnis, Joanne Krebs and Mayor John Bush; Oviedo Ciiy Manager Richard Gestrich; Winter Springs City Manager Kevin Smith; and Oviedo City Clerk Barbara Barbour. Mayor Andrews called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. City of Oviedo Water Conservation Initiative Presentation. Utilities Manager Joe Grusauskas and Water Conservation Coordinator Jay Stainer provided a presentation on the City of Oviedo's Water Conservation Initiative. Mr. Stainer answered questions from the meeting attendees about the conservation program. Commissioner Brown suggested the City Managers get together and discuss how they might look at expanding the Oviedo Water Conservation Program and Winter Springs Beautification Program to cover both cities and the possibility of sharing positions. Commissioner Hovey asked if the program has been taken to the schools and presented to parents through PTA meetings. The Council and Commission .discussed reclaim, conservation, and beautification programs. General Discussion City Manager Richard Gestrich advised that he and Winter Springs City Manager Kevin Smith discussed joint efforts, sharing services, joint operations, sharing EDC coordinators and grant writers, and lobbyists. Commissioner Brown stated he was at Lake Nona this week to tour the Medical City and during the presentation he heard somethings that got his attention. He stated two days before the tour he was at an Economic Development Seminar on Transportation held by Philip Laurien, and he was disturbed that their entire focus and direction was on the 17-92 and I-4 corridors but yet there is a big push happening with the Research Center of UCF and with the Medical City. He went onto state that he knows Bill McDermott has had conversations with the Medical City folks at Burnham and at Nemours and they are telling their employees and all the folks they are bringing in that the place to live is in Seminole County. He stated we have the 417 as a major connector and there is absolutely no plan at the local, State or Federal level to look at any funding for any kind of mass transit between the I-4 corridor, the eastern suburbs, and out to Medical City and UCF. He advised that the estimate now for tolls for the 417 alone, for someone to live in the UCF area and work at the Medical. City will cost upwards of $1,000. He advised this was a huge opportunity to be on the forefront of working with our lobbyist or public relations or whoever we need to work with jointly to get some infrastructure development plans in place in the early stages of this to start looking at how we address the critical mass transit component that is going to be so important in the development of the Medical City. He went on to state all these people have to live somewhere and these people have no way but to clog 417. City Council Minutes, May 19, 2009, Page 2 Mayor Andrews stated that when she and Mayor Bush attended METROPLAN that has been a discussion item. She advised they have brought up SeminoleWay because the 17-92 corridor seems to dominate and METROPLAN is doing a few studies with street cars and bus transit from the SeminoleWay area to the Medical City. She suggested the two cities need to lobby together and combine this with SeminoleWay. Councilman Schenck agreed stating we need to get their attention to this area. Deputy Mayor Persampiere stated the group could take the first step to a lot of different steps as they go forward He stated there is no reason for our cities to compete and that we should put our minds together, putting our staffs together, and start to look at sharing services and joint operations. He also suggested looking at how the two cities Land Development Codes mesh and how they do not mesh, how our services mesh, lobbyists, Economic Development Committee (EDC), grant writer, issues with the Chamber. He went on to say that we need to be one common voice and to put together a Blue Ribbon panel which would have citizen appointees from both sides and let them look at what we can do together and what we do separately. Mayor Andrews stated it is apparent when she attends meetings that the two city staffs are already working together on common issues. Deputy Mayor Persampiere stated there are 11 elected officials responsible to their constituents and that if we can start to show a plan on how we can all work together it would not be a hard sell. Commissioner McGinnisstated she believed the success of this collaboration is to pick one issue, work on it, and succeed; and if it works then we're on the way. Commissioner Bonner agreed with Commissioner McGinnis and suggested an issue that neither city does particularly well -Economic Development. He stated he believed that Economic Development would be an area that they could jointly work to the mutual benefit of our communities. Mayor Bush stated he agreed with Deputy Mayor Persampiere that we need to move on this but he believed they should let the City Managers get together to set the stage to decide what to tackle first. Commissioner Joanne Krebs stated she totally agreed and she would like to give her list of ideas of what Oviedo does well and what she would like to see for Winter Springs to -her City Manager. City Manager Kevin Smith stated that Water Conservation is something they are interested in and if Winter Springs could provide some help in urban beautification those two areas would be a good place to begin. He stated he agreed with Commissioner Bonner, and he and Mr. Gestrich have had this conversation, Economic Development seems to be the area for them to consult and share in the cost. Mayor Andrews stated that she believes if the two cities appeal to Seminole County as a collective City Council Minutes, May 19, 20(?9, Page 3 body they will understand how serious we are. Councilman Henken stated he believed the key to this is that we are two happening cities on the way up and we are going to start to work together and that message needs to be sent to the Seminole County Commission. Mr. Gestrich explained how four cities in Pennsylvania joined forces in the 1984s and stated he believe they could do Economic Development and Professional Crrant writing because they go hand in hand. Mayor Bush stated he believed they needed to know about Oviedo's success with the lobbyist because that was something Wintei Springs has never considered. Councilman Henken provided information on our Federal and State lobbyists. The Council and Commissioners discussed lobbyists. Commissioner Brown stated he agreed with Mr. Gestrich but he thought there were actually five areas. He stated they are relatively easy to accomplish and that would be the EDC and grant writer, joining up with lobbyist and then water conservation, beautification, and the arborist. Councilman Britton stated he would like to add, and it came from CALNO, was that we create a joint city services directory describing what services each city provides allowing the citizens to go to one reference site. There was discussion of a Public Information Officer which would allow for consistency of message. Councilman Henken stated all things brought up were great but we need to think long term with things such as water treatment and that Oviedo may be able to assist with water and Winter Springs with sewer. Councilman Henken addressed the tornado sirens and the hospital. Mayor Bush suggested both cities work together to ge# the Oviedo Mall back to life. Out parcel restrictions were discussed and Mayor Bush stated he believed Winter Springs needs to step up and do whatever they can. Councilman Schenck stated the Mall needs to step up and look for some help also. He advised the city and the chamber have reached out for the last year and a half before the Mall entered into discussions with them. He agreed with Deputy Mayor Persampiere regarding the restrictions that the County can take care of and with a joint voice from both cities that are affected seeing the need for it: Mayor ,Andrews addressed the Mall area where Winter Springs and Oviedo comes together and the possibility of having a hotel and convention center off the 417. Deputy Mayor Persampiere stated if the word starts to get out that the 11 of us are cooperating, when the Mayors go out to do their jobs, they will pay attention. Councilman Henken stated a lot of businesses fail because they are the wrong business. He City Council Minutes, May 19, 2009, Page 4 suggested the Commission and Council get together and decide what businesses they want and send the Blue Ribbon Economic Development task force to go out and solicit those businesses. He suggested the possibility of sharing a Public Information Officer. Mr. Gestrich asked that each elected official funnel their suggestions to their respective City Managers and the Managers will meet and compile the list. Mayor Andrews suggested both Cities attend each others SeminoleWay meetings and show support for each other. Consensus was for the Managers to meet and then the Commission and Council meet again. Mr. Smith advised their 4~ of July will be a SO`~ anniversary celebration this year and invited everyone to attend. Meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m. ~t`JkLGth.~e.,e ii f2.t=c ~ ~„r'rt. .~i _r2-L-c~:c Mayor City Clerk ,~ c~ r ~ ''~•, .~ ,,.o ,,,,...... ~ ~, ,E, +•. '' O :~ z >IS ~ ~ . ~*+ t • ~,. •p: %., .. . bQ1~ e,,: