Loading...
CC04-21-2025Min LONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION Longwood City Commission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, Florida MINUTES April 21, 2025 6:00 PM Present: Mayor Matthew McMillan Deputy Mayor Brian D. Sackett Commissioner Abby Shoemaker Commissioner Tony Boni Commissioner Matt Morgan Dan Langley, City Attorney William Watts, Acting City Manager Michelle Longo, City Clerk David Dowda, Police Chief Judith Rosado, Finance Director Chris Kintner, Community Development Director 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor McMillan called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. 2. OPENING INVOCATION. Pastor Phil Ayres, with LifePoint Christian Church gave the invocation. 3. THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Commissioner Boni led the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS. Ms. Longo read the following announcements. A. The City of Longwood will host a "Walk for Autism Awareness & Inclusion" on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at Reiter Park. B. The City of Longwood will host the "Longwood Luau," a Hawaiian-themed party, on Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Reiter Park. 5. PROCLAMATIONS/ RECOGNITIONS A. Proclaiming the month of April 2025 as "Autism Acceptance Month." Mayor McMillan read the Proclamation. B. Presentation of the Beautification Award to Jeff Taylor, Owner of Paddy's Pub Longwood, 995 West State Road 434, Longwood. Mayor McMillan presented the Beautification Award to Jeff Taylor. Photographs were then taken. C. District#1 Nomination of the Business Person of the Month Award for May 2025. 4/21/2025/ 1 Commissioner Shoemaker nominated Longwood VFW Auxiliary for Business Person of the Month for May 2025. 6. BOARD APPOINTMENTS. None. Mayor McMillan requested to move public participation before the presentation. There were no objections from the Commission. 7. PUBLIC INPUT B. Public Participation. Charles Bassin, 515 Devonshire Boulevard, Longwood. He spoke about his concerns with installing fiber optic lines, specifically in the Devonshire Subdivision and his property. He described his interactions with the company and their work on his property. His concerns with the company included workers who spoke no English and were rude, the large holes dug in his front yard, trucks were parked on his lawn, not on the street, and his property was littered with cigarette butts and empty drink containers. He had discussions with staff about the company's work performance on his property and indicated he shared that they had encroached on his property beyond the legal right-of-way and the depth that they were digging. He also contacted the City Manager and City Attorney to express his concerns. He described the attempts made to remediate the damage on his property, which included new sod and topsoil, and how it was substandard and poorly attempted. He wants to contact a professional landscaper to complete the work and send the bill to the City. A. Presentation: McDirmit, Davis & Company, LLC will be giving a presentation on the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Audit) for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2024. Tammy Campbell gave a presentation on the highlights of the 2024 financial report. She mentioned that because the ARPA funds were recognized, the City had a federal single audit for the year, which involved additional compliance testing. There were no issues with any of the tested laws or regulations. She stated that there were no current or prior year management comments and that good internal controls were operating effectively. She encouraged the City to keep an eye on internal controls and make it a priority, which is important to continue operating effectively. 8. MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' REPORT A. District#1. Commissioner Shoemaker congratulated Mr. Watts and Michael Aprile on his promotion to Deputy Police Chief. She attended the Tri-County League of Cities Ethics Training on April 17. She could not attend the Easter Egg Hunt but saw on the Facebook page that it was a good event. District#2. Commissioner Boni commented on the concerns brought up during public participation and asked Mr. Watts to address Mr. Bassin's concerns. He attended the Easter Egg Hunt and thanked everyone involved, including Huey Magoo's, for sponsoring the breakfast. 4/21/2025/2 District#3. Mayor McMillan attended the Easter Egg Hunt and thanked Huey Magoo's for sponsoring the breakfast. He congratulated Michael Aprile on his promotion to Deputy Police Chief and welcomed Mr. Watts to his first meeting. He reported that he saw on the news that the Holy Father Pope Francis had passed away that morning. District#4. Commissioner Morgan attended a ribbon cutting for TDT Boxing on April 9. He is working with them and Milwee Middle School and Lyman High School principals to offer their services for free to at-risk children in middle and high school. On April 10, he attended the Rock Lake Middle School talent showcase. On April 11, he attended the Longwood Employee Appreciation Event. On April 12, he attended the Longwood Car Show and worked with the Longwood Historic Society burger booth. He thanked Fox 35 News and Channel 13 for advertising the upcoming Walk for Autism Awareness and Inclusion event on Saturday, April 26, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Reiter Park. He attended the Easter Egg Hunt and thanked all the sponsors and staff. He mentioned the Casselberry resident who was on Fox 35 News who assisted Altamonte Springs Police Officers with an individual they were trying to handcuff at the Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital parking lot. He commented on his bravery and willingness to help. District#5. Deputy Mayor Sackett said hearing that Pope Francis had passed was sad. He attended the Longwood Employee Appreciation Event, the ribbon cutting for TDT Boxing, and the ribbon cutting for Magnolia Yoga & Wellness Center. He attended the Metropolitan Transportation Summit, a joint meeting with the MetroPlan Orlando Board and its Advisory Committees impacts to transportation in Central Florida, held in Lake Mary. He attended the Easter Egg Hunt and thanked all the sponsors and staff. He said he had met with Mr. Bassin, who spoke during public participation about his concerns and agreed this was unacceptable work performance. He mentioned it might be time to review the wastewater fees and increase them to finish Public Works projects. 9. COMMISSION AND STAFF ADDITIONS OR CHANGES A. ADDITIONAL ITEMS RAISED DURING MAYOR'S AND COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS Mayor McMillan discussed the concerns brought up during public participation about Mr. Bassin's property and the contractors. He asked if the City Attorney had any communication with him. Mr. Langley received a voicemail on March 17 and immediately sent it to Mr. Gioielli. He said he communicates with the City Manager when he gets calls from citizens. Mayor McMillan addressed the issues related to the company exceeding the easement and said it would be a private property dispute between two people. The items that are city-related, exceeding the permit requirements, the sod replacement, and the level of service need to be looked into. Mr. Langley stated that this has been a problem throughout Central Florida, and he drafted an ordinance for another one of his clients to address these issues. He said it is a complicated area of the law, and the legislature has done a number on local governments concerning regulating fiber installations and restricting what can be required of the contractors. He stated that this ordinance clarifies that there is a responsible permit holder and that the entity that owns the installed equipment is responsible. The company has to register with the City. That company is directly responsible for the damages. They are required to post a cash escrow that sits in the City account. They sign an agreement that states if they damage not only utilities in the right-of-way but also 4/21/2025/ 3 private property, the City will allow them the ability to correct it themselves, and the City has the right to take that money and use it to correct the problem. He said the ordinance appears to limit the number of issues that his other client has encountered because the companies seem to take it more seriously the fact that there is money actually in a bank account that the City controls. Discussion ensued on the ordinance. Commissioner Boni made a motion to have the City Attorney and City Manager work on preparing an ordinance on fiber optic companies coming into the City. Seconded by Commissioner Morgan and carried by an unanimous voice vote. B. ANY ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA. None. Deputy Mayor requested that Item 10F be pulled for a separate discussion. 10. CONSENT AGENDA A. Approve the Minutes of the April 7, 2025, Regular Meeting. B. Approve the Monthly Expenditures for March 2025. C. Approve the Monthly Financial Report for February 2025. D. Approve an increase in the amount of$84,000 to the Universal Engineering Services Purchase Order No. 25-00293 for Building Official and inspection services for the current fiscal year. E. Acceptance of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (Audit) for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2024. F. Approve a request to purchase a table at the Leadership Seminole Class 34 graduation. Deputy Mayor Sackett moved to approve Items 10A through 10E as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Boni and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. Discussions ensued on Item 10F. Deputy Mayor Sackett said he would like to include the cost of purchasing a table for Leadership Seminole graduation each year in the budget. Deputy Mayor Sackett moved to approve Item 10F as presented and added the cost of purchasing a table at the Leadership Seminole graduation each year to the budget. Seconded by Commissioner Boni and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Read by title only and adopt Ordinance No. 25-2266, amending Longwood City Code Chapter 2, Article I Prohibiting Unauthorized Access to Nonpublic Forums and Prohibiting Audio/Video Recording in areas other than designated public forums. Mr. Langley read Ordinance No. 25-2266 by title only. 4/21/2025/4 Mr. Watts said staff did make a slight change to the language that put a timeframe if there was a trespassing situation involved. He said it was limited to one year as opposed to indefinite. Mayor McMillan opened the public hearing. No one spoke in favor or opposition to Ordinance No. 25-2266. Commissioner Boni moved to close the public hearing. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Sackett and carried by a unanimous voice vote. Commissioner Boni moved to adopt Ordinance No. 25-2266 as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Shoemaker and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 12. REGULAR BUSINESS A. City Commission consideration and approval of a Historic District Matching Grant Application (HG 02-25) for the property located at 151 West Church Avenue. Mr. Kintner presented the Item. Discussion ensued on the Item and the amount of funds left in the grant program fund. It was noted there would be $5,000 remaining in the fund. Commissioner Shoemaker moved to approve Item 12A as presented. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Sackett and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. B. City Commission consideration and approval of a Temporary Use Agreement for Sunshine Pharmacy at 876 South U.S. Highway 17-92. Mr. Kintner presented the Item. Discussion ensued on the Item. Commissioner Morgan moved to approve Item 12B as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Boni and carried by a unanimous roll call vote. 13. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. Watts reported that he received a report from Mr. Capizzi that there were over 5,000 participants at the Easter Egg Hunt. He announced that Michael Aprile was promoted to Deputy Police Chief and Adolfo Gutienez was promoted to Lieutenant. He said in Public Works, Matt Hockenberry was promoted to Deputy Public Works Director. In the Fire Department, to fill in for him, the Training Chief, Chris Clayton, will be the Interim Deputy Fire Chief. He reported that Public Works started their Oxford Road cleanup around the pond. He said there are plans to put some kind of walking path or sidewalk in that area. He said they continue to look for a cost-effective improvement plan for the Ronald Reagan and Church intersection,the hardscape area. That improvement plan will include Florida native foliage in that area, which will combine Reiter Park with the whole area. He emailed the Commissioners about Chick-fil-A's submitted plans to build in the old Pic' N Save plaza. He gave an update on the firefighter mentioned at the last meeting who was injured, and he is expected to make a full recovery. Deputy 4/21/2025/ 5 Mayor Sackett had asked that staff look into some contingency plans for big projects so staff did not have to bring change orders to the Commission when unforeseen issues arise. He worked with the City Attorney, Public Works, and Finance to present some options to the Commission. He said the city code puts a cap of 15% or $10,000, whichever is less, on the City Manager's ability to approve any kind of changes in a project. He presented three options for the Commissioner's consideration. The first is to keep things status quo. The second is to allow for the City Manager to work with the department on a project, obtain quotes, and then determine, based on that project and on the intensity of the project, if the project meets specific criteria to allow for a contingency. It would then be built into the agenda item that would get approved. The third is to apply a blanket contingency to all projects. He did not support this option. However, he wanted to present it as one of the three options for the Commission to consider. He was looking for direction from the Commission on how they would like to proceed with this topic. Discussion ensued on the three options and the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR); a project delivery method that helps oversee the project from bidding to completion. Dealing with change orders during a project, and ways to address those issues were also discussed. The item was tabled until Mr. Watts could get more information on the bidding process and look into the CMAR process. Mr. Watts stated he would work with the city attorney on the ordinance to address the underground and utility projects and with finance on any fee adjustments that need to be made ahead of the budget discussions. 14. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT. No report. 15. CITY CLERK'S REPORT Ms. Longo mentioned that National Volunteer Week is celebrated annually during the third week of April. This year, it will be observed from April 20 to 26 and she thanked all the Longwood volunteers for giving their time, skills, kindness, and dedication to giving back to our community. 16. ADJOURN. Mayor McMillan adjourned the meeting at 7:16 p.m. Minutes approved by City Commission: 05-05-2025. 44- ayor ATT ST• o, , CRM City Cle 4/21/2025/6