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Minutes 1-28-12 Minutes of the Town Hall Meeting Commission Chamber January 28, 2012 Attendance: Mayor Mike Borno Mayor Pro Tem Maria Mark Commissioner Mark Beckenbach Commissioner Jonathan Daugherty Commissioner Carolyn Woods City Manager Jim Hanson City Clerk Donna L. Bartle Mayor Borno called the meeting to order at 10:02 am. He asked everyone to sign in and if speaking to fill out a speaker form for the record. Mayor Pro Tem Maria Mark explained the purpose of the meeting and reported the subjects brought up at the three previous meetings. She introduced Leslie Katz from AmeriCorps Vista and explained she is volunteering at Beaches Habitat and will explain their efforts in the coming months. Leslie Katz, AmeriCorps Vista, stated that Habitat has been building affordable homes at the Beaches. She stated today they will be dedicating another duplex which is at 424 Dutton Island Road and invited everyone to the dedication ceremony at 12:30 pm. She explained they are looking to expand their services and see how they can better serve the beaches. She urged citizens to complete a survey. Mayor Borno encouraged citizens to apply to serve on boards and committees. He explained the handouts that were available and made an announcement about Dog Park Passes. LouEtta Waters, 840 Sailfish Drive, expressed concerns about Royal Palms. She stated the City spent money and bought signs for no parking but people continue to park there still and even under the sign. She further stated she realizes this is a code enforcement issue but wanted to mention the overgrown yards, unkept vacant property and expired tags on vehicles. She added there are two car (repair) garages going on in the residential neighborhood. She requested that her issues be looked at. Commissioner Daugherty said he has the same issues in his neighborhood. Ray Brown, 523 Clipper Ship Lane, asked why City government cannot operate within the inflation rate and what's going to happen if the population increases or the inflation rate takes off. He expressed concern that the Commission does not follow the universal rule of what gets measured gets done. He believes there are no performance goals established and no reporting done to the Commission to say this is what we are doing to control cost. He stated let's control cost, it's getting out of hand. He also explained apparently there is a state mandated goal that every city must meet at some point in the future regarding recycling. He asked what we are waiting on; stating we should start planning and encouraging people now. He explained the City's graduated rates. He believes the base rate is set too high; it either has to be lowered, or the actual graduated rates have to be increased so that the base rate does not impact the structure of those rates. We know that ten years from now we will need more money to maintain it, so let's start putting that money away a little bit each year. He added he is in favor of increasing taxes but he hates fees because you cannot deduct fees from your federal taxes. June Salaun, 1565 Park Terrace E., asked that the City not hire a second dog catcher. She believed it is not necessary for our size. She also wants to see a list of animal control duties and expectations. She would like to see answering the phones and returning all calls within an hour at the top of the list. She reported that she has never had them answer the phone personally and has only had one call returned. She explained a situation that occurred. She also stated she believes the speed limit should be raised from 25 to 30 or even 35. She stated she does not want the Wednesday market moved to Johansen Park since it has been a passive park for 50 years and it should stay that way. It is heavily used and there is no designated parking or no restrooms. She indicated she was shocked this week when she called the main switchboard at City Hall three times and got no answer. She stated one time, she left a message but it was never returned. She suggested some type of rollover so that someone always answers the phone. She also expressed concern about the limited parking at Town Center. She stated she believed something should be done to increase the parking and allow people to park and use the businesses there. Mayor Borno explained that some of the parking is privately owned, but the City is looking into it. Commissioner Daugherty explained a proposal coming from Chris Hionides for a three -story parking garage. Ms. Salaun further indicated she collected at least 1000 signatures for the Dog Park, but now she can't afford to use it. She believes it should not be a money maker and it's ridiculous that you have to have keys and cards to get into it. Nancy Whittington, 1861 Beachside Ct ., thanked the Commission for taking the time to have these meetings. She asked what the City is going to look like in 10 or 20 years, especially in fiscal responsibility. She asked that we look at what we have and make good use of it, stating please look at the dollars. Cindy Corey, 394 8 Street, thanked the Commission for having these meetings, stating it is important to have participatory government, open government and friendly government. She commented that water bills should be kept fair. She also stated she believes the city should encourage citizens to recycle and produce less waste. She explained she rescues dogs from local shelters and commended the Animal Control Officer for reaching out to the rescue community to find homes for dogs. She indicated that she is appalled at the condition of the animal facility in Atlantic Beach, stating it is not ventilated properly, doesn't have light, and the kennels are way too small. She explained this is one example of where money should be spent, but does not agree with spending millions of dollars on a Police Building. She complimented Animal Control Officer, Dee Zagari, for her help and kindness and reported that she has recently left the city to go to Neptune Beach. She believes the Animal Control Officers should be friendly and proactive and try to solve problems not try to bust people. She believes that the City needs to review the whole aspects of animal control including policies, tickets, fees, and facilities. She further explained she wants the environment and tree preservation to be a priority and for the City to encourage and educate citizens to preserve trees. Rich Dunham, 1740 Ocean Grove Drive, requested a roundabout or traffic light at the 5 -way stop. He mentioned one way to help pay for it is to sell the artwork by the street. Mark Tomaski, 448 Snapping Turtle Ct. W., stated he likes the idea of a parking garage and suggested encouraging the owner of the property with a graded taxation, in other words, maybe 20 percent, 40 percent, 60 percent, 80, 100 over a five -year period to help that person get started. In return, the City could have some input on the architecture so we make sure it will fit in with what we'd like to see in our City. He commented about the roundabouts in Fernandina Beach being very efficient and stated he would like to see a roundabout put in the Strategic Plan as a long -term goal for 5 or 10 years from now. Discussion ensued about the possibility of roundabouts. Mr. Tomaski thanked the Commission for having these meetings. Minutes of the Town Hall Meeting on January 28, 2012 Page 2 of 3 Mayor Pro Tem Mark spoke about the possibility of continuing Town Hall meetings. Commissioner Beckenbach stated he thought they spoke about having them once a quarter at alternating locations. Discussion ensued. Jim Smith agreed that one would be enough. Tom Trost suggested that the Commission put a priority on the things that were discovered through the Town Hall meetings and then put action to it in the way of a performance goal and maybe in that quarterly meeting have a report back to the community regarding what's been done on all the suggestions. Commissioner Woods stated she believes that some of the ideas expressed fit in with her hopes for an organizational review. Ms. Corey expressed hope that Committees or a voice from the citizens take place when reviewing changes to the Animal Control issues. She also suggested having Strategic Planning in the Chamber rather than at Adele Grage. Commissioner Daugherty reported on a meeting he had on Thursday with the owner of the vacant Palms property, Chris Hionides, to discuss the lot. He indicated Mr. Hionides offered to give us a proposal for building a police station on the lot. He explained Mr. Hionides will work on it and if it comes in cheaper we may want to look at it. He explained they also met about a proposal for a parking garage at Town Center behind Al's Pizza. He encouraged the Commission to help in any way since the parking situation is a mess at Town Center. Commissioner Woods asked Mr. Hanson about a previous request at that location. Mr. Hanson explained what he remembered but stated he would have to look at the proposal for clarification. Discussion ensued. Sally Clemens, 1638 Park Terrace W., asked who owns the blighted property where the florist shop used to be and how can we pressure them to clean it up. Commissioner Daughter explained that something is going in there and believes it's a convenience store. Jim Smith, 73 Oceanside Drive, asked if it would be economically feasible to buy the property and make it a park or something useful. Commissioner Daugherty stated the number he threw out was 2.5 million, but normally you don't pay what they originally want. No one else wished to speak so Mayor Borno adjourned the meeting at 11:10 am. 000,444.4, ,r/ ze, Donna L. Bartle, CMC City Clerk Minutes of the Town Hall Meeting on January 28, 2012 Page 3 of 3 pok