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CC12-07-2020MinLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida MINUTES December 7, 2020 6:00 P.M. Present: Mayor Richard Drummond Deputy Mayor Abby Shoemaker Commissioner Matt McMillan Commissioner Matt Morgan Commissioner Brian D. Sackett Dan Langley, City Attorney Clint Gioielli, Acting City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk David P. Dowda, Police Chief Chris Kintner, Community Development Director (Zoom) Shad Smith, Public Works Director (Zoom) Craig Dunn, Information Technology Director Judith Rosado, Financial Services Director (Zoom) 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Drummond called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. MOMENT OF SILENT MEDITATION 3. THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Commissioner Sackett led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS. Ms. Longo read the following announcements. A. There will be a Community Chanukah Celebration held on Thursday, December 10, 2020, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., at Reiter Park, 311 West Warren Avenue. B. The "Downtown Longwood Food Trucks" will be held on Thursday, December 10, 2020, from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at Reiter Park, 311 West Warren Avenue. CC 12-07-2020/1 C. The City of Longwood will host a Holiday Showcase on Friday, December 11, 2020, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Reiter Park, 311 West Warren Avenue. There will be holiday music, dance performances, as well as a magician. Food will be available for purchase. D. The "Downtown Longwood Cruise -In" Car Show will be held on Saturday, December 12, 2020, from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. in the Historic District of Longwood located off Church Avenue. E. Longwood Movie in the Park will be held on Friday, December 18, 2020, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Reiter Park, 311 West Warren Avenue. This is a free event and the movie will be The Polar Express. F. Santa visits Longwood neighborhoods will be held on Saturday, December 19, and Sunday, December 20 from 11:00 a.m, until 6:00 p.m. or however long it takes to finish each area. Routes are only within city limits and are as follows: Saturday: East of Ronald Reagan Boulevard Sunday: West of Ronald Reagan Boulevard 5. PROCLAMATIONS / RECOGNITIONS. None. 6. BOARD APPOINTMENTS. None. 7. PUBLIC INPUT A. Public Participation. None. 8. MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' REPORT District #5. Commissioner Sackett said he appreciated the flags were lowered for the remembrance of Pearl Harbor. He said Babe Ruth has finished and he was there for a couple of trophy presentations. They were presented after the last game was played and the winning top two teams received their trophies and recognitions. He noted now that the park is free it can be cleaned up the way it needs to be. He reported a spike in the water bill has happened again. He also inquired if a system could be put in place to notify people if their bill is going to increase and give them an opportunity to address any issues. Mr. Gioielli said we are in the middle of swapping out meters. He reported they have had some inconsistencies in the meter reading dates, which have fluctuated as a result of some personnel issues. He was not suggesting it to be the only impact but probably has some impact. He CC 12-07-2020/2 also stated staff is reviewing some systems that would allow notifications and alerts either to the homeowners or to the City for future consideration. Commissioner Sackett said 31 years ago, we had the Fall Festival that took up every street in this City and he was glad to see it was back. He noted it was COVID smart, had over 150 displays, and smart placements for the food trucks. The event had a good turnout and great weekend weather. He also commented that the flags for the holidays look gorgeous and the decorations are perfect. He also mentioned the Santa playing the red piano was phenomenal, the DJ was a good choice, the kids buying little products was a great idea, the Santa up on the stage worked out nicely, there was a general atmosphere of people having fun, and the night ended with fireworks. People were thrilled that Longwood is doing things. He said we are doing it right and safely and we live in the best of Cities. He expressed his condolences on the passing of Linda Jacobs, who worked in the Clerk's office and will be missed. District #1. Deputy Mayor Shoemaker expressed her condolences on the passing of Linda Jacobs. She also was impressed with the Arts & Crafts Festival and noted it was nice to see so many vendors and patrons. She said she enjoyed great food and company with the Longwood Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) on Thanksgiving. Due to COVID concerns, she did not celebrate with any family. She attended the Sanford Airport Authority's 2020 Ladies Clay Shoot again this year. She thanked the Sanford Airport Authority for putting that on. She also attended the Employee Lunch and thanked Ms. Ricci for putting on a fabulous lunch. Everything was nice and it was good to see we are continuing to focus on employee development, recognition, and positive comradery. She reported she facilitated the Leadership Seminole Class 29 Law and Justice Day where Commissioner Morgan and our past two-time Mayor Ben Paris were present. She expressed how phenomenal the Leadership Seminole Program is and how Denise Ward is the best coordinator. Celebrate the Season was fabulous and she waited in line for an hour at Belle's Food Truck. They had fantastic food. She was happy to see events being COVID safe and moving forward because that is important for our community. District #2. Mayor Drummond said the Longwood Arts and Crafts Festival was an amazing event. He attended with his family on Saturday and Sunday. He said last week he attended CALNO, the Council of Local Governments, held at Seminole State College. They had a tour of some of the services they offer at the college. He noted Longwood is one of the few communities in this area that is doing all of these live events. Most places do not want to go through the effort of getting it approved through the Health Department and making sure everything is COVID CC 12-07-2020/3 safe. It is amazing to see what we have going on in Longwood right now. The Longwood Annual Employee Luncheon was last week and he thanked Ms. Ricci. It was a wonderful chance for the Commissioners and City employees to get together, break bread, and talk. He noted at the start of Celebrate the Season at Reiter Park there did not seem to be many people but by the time they had the fireworks at 8:30 p.m. that park was full of people. They were having so much fun between the live band and the DJ who had the kids and adults dancing at the park. It was so much fun. He thanked the City and staff for their hard work and Mr. Capizzi and Mr. Rinaldo for all of the things they are doing at the park. District #3. Commissioner McMillan said as the newest Commissioner he felt he needed to explain himself. At the first meeting during Commissioner Morgan's report, there was a vote on closing the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Taurus Group. He had decided to dedicate his report to story time and was not going to make it even longer by talking about his experience with that process. He stated he wanted to explain how he voted. He said, on September 21 he spoke as a citizen and made some comments that we approach that proposal by outlining what our priorities were. He had specific concerns and one mentioned was the city was giving up the title in exchange for leases. He did not go anymore beyond that other than to monitor negotiations because Longwood has five Commissioners, not six. He quickly realized there would be a lot of moving parts. He did not want to get in the way, he would not know what the proposal looked like, and did not think it was going to be anything formal until he took office. He said he did communicate with staff during his transition and was meeting the directors and getting feedback and monitoring the communications. His biggest takeaway from the whole process was there was never a formal proposal. He was aware of the debate within the community. The most striking observation was that there was a lot of anxiety and many different interpretations and reactions. He reported when asked about the deal or proposal he would listen and respond to his knowledge they are nowhere near an agreement and he believes the taxpayers of the City pay salaries to very good professionally credentialed staff that review and handle these matters. He stated he was grateful for the Commission that took the time to deal with the concerns of the public and was committed enough to have that three-hour Special meeting. He believed they voiced serious concerns, including the one mentioned specifically about the lease. There was a rejection of that by vote. At that time, he was convinced that would probably kill the deal and make the numbers not workable. He was not surprised there was not a significant response from the other side following the meeting. There was a suggestion that the City was supposed to do a counterproposal but they had already done that at the meeting by giving a list of concerns. It was upon the Taurus Group to CC 12-07-2020/4 provide feedback. He noted, seeing none and seeing how the rest of my Commission voted, I voted with my fellow Commissioners to close that RFP. He said I was briefed in my training I am not allowed to abstain from something even though I did not participate. That is why I voted no. Commissioner McMillan said in his last report, he went with story time and not doing that again this time. He went in a different direction, the direction of philosophy and transcendentals. He noted that some people may have heard of this expression before: "The true, the good, and the beautiful". He is trying to be positive by seeking more truth, more goodness, and more beauty in our City. He felt if we could express ourselves in those ways we can make for a better future. He gave an example of each and that was the format of his report. When we talk about the truth, it is facts, science, and law. An example is the water meter issue. He also referenced the Taurus Group and the potential sale of public land. He heard concerns that staff and the Commission were going to go into some deal and sell the property for less than what it was worth. He said there is a statute under Florida Law and a provision in our City Charter that requires more than that before any of that can happen. The section in our Charter 3.10.7 requires the adoption of an ordinance to approve any City's conveyance of any City property. State Law Section 166.041 requires the ordinance be adopted after having at least two readings and a public hearing. He wanted to reassure anybody who had any anxiety about the sale of assets that the law exists and protects the rights of citizens and taxpayers in the property the city owns. There is a long process and our Commission and Staff take that very seriously. He went on to the good. Celebrate the Season was a good event. It was smooth and achieved what you want in an event. He was very impressed with it. He noted some folks from the St. Andrews Society that attended the Ceilidh event also attended. He accompanied some of them to Connelly's where they stayed and patronized a Longwood business. As he made his way down Church Avenue to Reiter Park around 11:00 p.m., it was quiet and peaceful and there was no sign there had been an event there at all. He expressed kudos to the Parks & Recreation Board volunteers and Leisure Services staff for executing what he considered a good event. He said as for the beautiful, I am not a poet, but beauty is the study of arts and aesthetics. The beauty that he saw in Longwood this past month was the new Circle K Gas station, which is located on Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Longwood Hills Road. He stopped by once it was open. If you go during the day and look out of the window or while filling up your gas tank, you can look across the street and see the fallen officer's memorial and public art display by Jeff Sonksen. District #4. Commissioner Morgan said on Wednesday, December 18 Mr. Gioielli held an event at Jerry's Pizza for each department head. All of the CC 12-07-2020/5 Commissioners and Mayor attended. On Friday, December 20, the Christian Sharing Center had their Free the Homeless event and gave out Thanksgiving meals to those in need. They handed out 400 meals by 10:30 a.m. before the official tour of the facility with Sheriff Lemma and other elected officials in the community. He gave a shout out to Nina Yon at the Christian Sharing Center and said she has done a good job. He reported they rarely close but did today because they were cleaning and exterminating the entire facility because of COVID and making sure, they are always being safe. Commissioner Morgan said Happy Post -Thanksgiving to everybody. He also noted he is very thankful for his family, wife, son, and mother. On December 1, he offered his services to an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) student at Winter Springs High School who is a Longwood resident. He gave an overview of ESE students and services. He also noted he has helped and assisted over thirty families find services available for parents of special need students. If you have a special needs student and are in Central Florida say the word and he will accompany you and your family as an advocate for free. Commissioner Morgan said the luncheon with staff at the Longwood Community Building was great and Ms. Ricci and staff did a great job setting that up. He spoke about Leadership Seminole and why he feels it is important to attend as an elected official. It brings you around Seminole County with other leaders from all different backgrounds and gives you the layout of the land of Seminole County. The class on December 4 was about the sheriff's office and what they are responsible for. He noted the take-home for him was the amount of work they do with mental health. In other cities he has lived in, if somebody was struggling with addiction they lock them up and throw away the key. The addict goes back out into the world, uses again, and repeats the cycle. In Seminole County, they are forward thinking and have an O-Pod and A - Pod initiative that provide addicts with the help they need so they can be contributing members of society. He credited this to Sheriff Dennis Lemma's leadership. He reported that same day he met with Bernie Falco who has started online tutoring for kids. He is going to try to help him get into Longwood Schools. He noted the tutor is a Seminole County teacher and they will be more informed on what the student is working on. Commissioner Morgan also reported that the lighting of the tree ceremony and Celebrate the Season were outstanding. He thought Mayor Drummond did a good job up on stage. He also noted he was proud of what the City was able to do with that event when most cities are not having any. He did not say that to make fun or besmirch them, only saying that this City is leading the way and this was another example CC 12-07-2020/6 of it. He noted the event was outstanding, Santa's workshop was a genius idea, photos with Santa was cool, and the fireworks were awesome. Great job from the Parks & Recreation Board, Mr. Capizzi, and Mr. Rinaldo on this event. He reminded everybody about the Community Chanukah Celebration at Reiter Park on Thursday, December 10 with the world-famous singer, songwriter Ary Lesser. They are also going to have a dog show and a juggler called Cool Hands Luke. He offered his condolences on the passing of Linda Jacobs who was a beloved employee and friend to many and retired from the Clerk department in 2018. On December 17 and 18, Longwood Historic Society is presenting a socially distanced 7-foot Santa and you will have to book a reservation. It will be held at the Bradlee -McIntyre House. Commissioner Morgan asked if the new tree ordinance includes multi- family and commercial properties. When a developer builds several clustered homes on a City block there are no tree management plans to save, replace, or fund a treebank. These are commercially developed homes that have no management plan in place in that environment. An example would be Baywood, Oakmont, and what is happening now on Land and Rosedale. Mr. Kintner responded it does apply to multi -family properties. Commissioner Morgan asked if there is any movement with getting the City of Longwood and its events on the Nextdoor app. Mr. Gioielli said the Clerk and I have had an informal meeting and are to set up another meeting. She was researching some technology to make sure whatever information we needed to capture and store for public records requests were able to meet that requirement. We are both in agreement with the Commission to move forward with that and using it as another vehicle to share what we do here in the City. We just need a little more time to get it off the ground. 9. ANY ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA. None. 10. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve Minutes of the November 16, 2020, Regular Meeting. B. Approve the Monthly Expenditures for November 2020. C. Approve the 2021-2024 Combined Operational Assistance and Voluntary Cooperation Mutual Aid Agreement for Joint Traffic Operations. CC 12-07-2020/7 D. Approve the 2021-2024 SunRail Combined Operational Assistance and Voluntary Cooperation Mutual Aid Agreement. Commissioner Sackett moved to approve Items 10A through 10D as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Morgan and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS. None. 12. REGULAR BUSINESS A. City Commission approval to waive an outstanding lien associated with 500 East State Road 434 related to a code violation for a dumpster enclosure that has been affected by a recent change to the Longwood Development Code (LDC). Mr. Kintner presented the Item and noted a change was done in the Longwood Development Code to set specific triggers for what would constitute the placement of a dumpster enclosure around the dumpster. In 2005 the requirements to have a dumpster enclosure was put in. The unwritten implementation of that was anytime the dumpster moves, the dumpster enclosure needs to be put in around it. The issue that we were running into over the years was the definition of when a dumpster moves can be unclear because anytime you pick one up to empty it, it moves. The Code does not give any guidance about what constitutes moving it from one part of the property to another. Recently, we rectified that with the tree ordinance and included language that had specific triggers for when a dumpster enclosure would need to be put around a legally non -conforming dumpster. Since we changed the code and put in specific triggers, this situation would not have been in violation once the dumpster was moved and put back; staff is recommending waving the lien to that location. Commissioner Sackett moved to approve Item 12A as presented. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Shoemaker and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 13. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Gioielli thanked the Commissioners for their praise of staff and Leisure Services for the events. He reminded the Commission about the Holiday showcase on this Friday. It involves the business Elevate which has choreographed dancing and children's events. He said there has been an increase in COVID cases in Seminole County specifically in the City of Longwood. The good news is we see a positivity rate that has decreased since my last report and we are anticipating the first round of vaccines to CC 12-07-2020/8 arrive within the next couple of weeks. The Emergency Manager and the Florida Department of Health have taken the appropriate steps to make sure they are prepared to receive and properly store the vaccines in special refrigerators and freezers that are required. In 2019, the Commission viewed a presentation regarding the Revenue Sufficiency and Funding Analysis for the Water and Wastewater Utility System. He has asked that the presentation be refreshed to include the most recent data, and then have a presentation come before the Commission to move forward with their input on how to make sure our Water and Wastewater Utility System is properly funded in the future. The Dog Track construction for the Alta Apartments has started and is another positive sign for our City. The Police Forum was last completed on November 10 at the Community Building. The next one is scheduled for December 8. Mr. Gioielli said regarding the direction the Commission gave staff on exploring the possibility of a new Fire Department, many staff members have met several times and are evaluating our first steps to include weighing every option for a site location. He said he knows there has been some conversation about West State Road 434, but we were doing our due diligence to make sure we had explored every option. Staff will come back to the Commission and present some other site location options. He said at our last meeting, we met with a well -regarded group called the Architects Design Group who specializes in public safety for Police and Fire. He noted they would probably move forward in using them as a consultant and allow them to provide direction on every step of the process including grant opportunities they feel confident may be available to the City of Longwood for Police, Fire, and maybe even a proposal for a public safety facility that combines Police and Fire. Mr. Gioielli said at previous meetings, the Commission had asked staff to move forward with an RFP for a consultant for Health Insurance. He stated there was a conversation last year and he wanted to see what the Commission's wishes were for vetting out Health Insurance for the next fiscal year. If interested in exploring options, staff would come before the Commission at the next meeting with an agenda item asking for funding for a consultant. He noted this would be to make sure we explore every option using a professional that represents the City to get the best rate for our taxpayers while offering the best service for our staff. The downside is that there is a cost with a consultant but at the same time we may be able to explore and identify better rates or maybe more plans and options to give our staff. The last RFP for the City regarding Health Insurance was seven years ago in 2013. While staff finds PRM to be very easy to work with and very helpful and supportive, from a Human Resources standpoint, they offer some parameters and give us some not CC 12-07-2020/9 14. 1s. to exceed limits. He asked if it was the direction of the Commission to move forward with an RFP. Mayor Drummond said the last time we had an RFP was in 2017. We discussed this last year and decided not to go out for insurance only because we had some variables with our Health Insurance costs or our payouts. He asked if this would be a good time to go out for an RFP with the current health situation. Mr. Gioielli said if we stay with PRM, there are increases every year but there would be a cap and we would know what our maximum exposure is going into planning for the next year. Whereas if we go to RFP, there are no caps at all and while we could find a better rate or because of our exposure over the last couple of years, find ourselves in a position where we are paying a higher rate than the max cap offered by PRM. Ms. Ricci said when we went out for RFP in 2017 it was for Property and Casualty specifically. It has been since 2013 that we have taken Health out. She stated she thinks it would be appropriate to go out every five to 10 years at the most, but I have checked with other area entities and many of them have stayed where they are for a long time. It is a choice of the Commission. Discussion ensued on the previous RFP process, hiring a consultant, and determining whether or not to search for another Health Insurance. It was the consensus of the Commission to stay with the current Health Insurance with PRM. Mr. Gioielli said staff is currently focused on replacing the sidewalks in Columbus Harbor based on the timing and the fact that they were in worse shape. Staff then plans to move to Rangeline Road. It has a larger impact on more people and is more of a throughway. Then, we are going to move to Hidden Oaks. He said we evaluated Hidden Oaks, and while we agree there is work that needs to be done, we do not feel it is in a state where we should alter our course. If we stay on this course we are planning on hitting Hidden Oaks by the beginning of February. He reported, unless the equipment does not arrive, we are planning to have the new wireless microphone system installed in the Chambers this Friday. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT. No report. CITY CLERK'S REPORT. No report. CC 12-07-2020/10 16. ADJOURN. Mayor Drummond adjourned the meeting at 6:57 p.m. Minutes approved by City Commission: 12-21-2020 Richard Drummond, Mayor ATT9ST Michelle Lonto, CIVIC, FCRM City Clerk 1 n CC 12-07-2020/11 This Page Left Blank Intentionally. 1 fl CC 12-07-2020/12