11-15-93 v MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF ATLANTIC BEACH CITY
COMMISSION HELD IN CITY HALL, 800 SEMINOLE ROAD, AT 6 :30 PM ON
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1993.
Present were Mayor Fletcher, and Commissioners Rosenbloom,
Shaughnessy, Waters and Weiss. Also present were City Manager
Leinbach, City Attorney Jensen, and City Clerk King.
Mayor Fletcher called the meeting to order and explained the
meeting was being held for the purpose of receiving a status report
from attorney, John DeVault, relative to the city' s law suit with
Jacksonville; This would be followed by a question and answer
period.
The city attorney provided each commissioner with a copy of the
amended complaint and a transcript of Jacksonville' s motion to
dismiss. John DeVault also distributed copies of the interlocal
agreement, and reports of other similar cases.
Mr. DeVault explained the 1968 Florida Constitution contained a
prohibition against dual taxation. Later legislation broadened the
scope of the law and the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the
purpose of the law was to assure that each taxing authority would
pay its own way and not receive benefits at the expense of another
governmental unit. He indicated he had strongly stressed this
provision in the hearing the previous week before Judge Martin.
Mr. DeVault felt that by entering into the interlocal agreement in
1982 with the four Duval County municipalities, the City of
Jacksonville acknowledged that the municipalities were entitled to
equitable adjustment in matters relating to services, and had
agreed to an 18 . 8% millage differential . He indicated the
complaint charged Jacksonville with breach of the 1982 agreement
and requested a rebate of funds and interpretation of certain parts
of the agreement. The complaint also challenged the millage
differential between the county and the city. Mr. DeVault said
Jacksonville had filed a motion to dismiss, their main arguments
being that all the parties to the agreement were not included in
the law suit and that the agreement indicated the differential
would never be less than 18 . 8% but included no provision for a
greater differential, which Atlantic Beach was seeking. Mr.
DeVault said he expected to receive a ruling from Judge Martin in
2 - 4 weeks. He expected to get a trial date in the spring and
hoped the matter could be settled through mediation.
Discussion then ensued and Mr. DeVault indicated he felt the city
had greater leverage and had a better chance of receiving a rebate
by charging Jacksonville with breach of the interlocal agreement
than by charging them with dual taxation. He indicated he had
asked the court to require Jacksonville to abide by the agreement
which could result in rebates or a reduction in millage, or
Jacksonville may prefer to provide certain services. It was felt
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Minutes of Special Called Meeting
November 15, 1993
advisable to continue the work of the advisory committee to be able
to provide realistic figures in the event Jacksonville wished to
negotiate.
Mayor Fletcher suggested Mr. DeVault proceed to get a trial date
and file motion to mediate. The city should start to prepare
factual information to back up its case and plan an offer the city
would be prepared to accept. Commissioner Waters felt he would
rather continue with the law suit and have a decision from a judge
and Mr. DeVault indicated he would propose to proceed in both
directions and in the event negotiations were not successful, the
city would then proceed with the trial .
Commissioner Waters inquired in the event of a negotiated
settlement, who would write the agreement and it was agreed Mr.
DeVault would draft the agreement; if it went to court, the judge
would write the terms.
In response to a question from Commissioner Rosenbloom regarding
the best and worst aspects of the matter, Mr. DeVault indicated the
possibility of having to pay rebates to Atlantic Beach would be one
of the biggest concerns to Jacksonville. Over a period of four
years, which was the statute of limitations, the rebates could
amount to five or six million dollars. However, Mr. DeVault
indicated the interlocal agreement was very general and did not
specify the obligations of the City of Jacksonville as precisely as
he would like.
It was agreed future dealings with the City of Jacksonville should
be through Mr. DeVault who would work with Charles Arnold,
Jacksonville ' s General Counsel, and Mr. DeVault would be the
spokesperson for the city. It was agreed to get a trial date as
soon as possible and Mr. DeVault recommended a bench trial rather
than a jury trial .
In further discussion, Mayor Fletcher indicated he felt the work of
the previous committee had been completed and indicated he would
appoint a fact finding committee to develop the data to be used in
the event further negotiations are undertaken with Jacksonville.
At Mayor Fletcher ' s request, Ray Salman agreed to chair such a
committee.
Commissioner Shaughnessy moved to establish a five-member fact
finding task force to assist in developing facts in connection with
the law suit with Jacksonville. The motion was seconded by
Commissioner Weiss and was unanimously approved. It was agreed one
commissioner and one staff member should serve on this committee
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Minutes of Special Called Meeting
November 15, 1993
and the mayor appointed Commissioner Shaughnessy to represent the
city commission and city manager was asked to present his
recommendation relative to staff appointment at the meeting on
Monday, November 22, 1993.
There being no further discussion, Mayor Fletcher declared the
meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Lyman T. Fletcher
Mayor/Presiding Officer
ATTES T:
Maur n king
City Clerk
MINUTES OF THE WORKSHOP MEETING OF ATLANTIC BEACH CITY COMMISSION
HELD IN CITY HALL, 800 SEMINOLE ROAD, AT 7:30 PM ON MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 15, 1993.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Fletcher. Present, in
addition to the mayor, were Commissioners Rosenbloom, Shaughnessy,
Waters, and Weiss. Also present were City Manager Leinbach, City
Attorney Jensen, and City Clerk King.
The meeting was held for the purpose of discussing goals and issues
to come before the city commission within the next two years. At
the workshop meeting on Monday, November 8, 1993, Mayor Fletcher
had provided a list of issues to be discussed. The mayor indicated
he would like to assign areas of primary responsibility to each
commissioner and following discussion, responsibilities were
assigned as follows:
COMMISSIONER ROSENBLOOM: Budget
Solid waste
COMMISSIONER SHAUGHNESSY: Code Enforcement
Beautification and
Interlocal Agreement Task Force
COMMISSIONER WATERS: Zoning
Parks & Recreation
Community Development Corporation/
Habitat
U.S. Navy liaison
COMMISSIONER WEISS: Awards committee
Stormwater management (with emphasis
on the Seminole Road ditch)
Safe Neighborhoods committee
MAYOR FLETCHER: Water and sewer committee
Town Center
Parking study
Discussion ensued and Mayor Fletcher felt the Safe Neighborhoods
committee should be activated. Police Chief David Thompson
indicated a large number of people had been involved but no one had
been appointed to chair the committee and it was not active at the
present time. He felt a smaller committee whose members would be
committed to meeting on a monthly basis, would be more effective.
The City Manager was directed to contact the committee members to
ascertain which members would be interested in continuing to serve,
and report back to the city commission.
In discussion relative to the various boards, it was agreed the
boards should be independent of the city commission but it was
agreed to provide the commissioners with either the minutes or a
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Minutes of Commission Workshop
November 15, 1993
report of the actions of the boards so they would be informed of
those activities.
Discussion ensued relative to the Nuisance Control Board and Alan
Jensen indicated the Code Enforcement Board had handled the
nuisance complaints and had rendered the Nuisance Board useless.
Chief Thompson explained the board had been formed primarily to
handle drug offenses. The board had the power to shut down
businesses which had been deemed to be a nuisance due to drug
traffic but had been used only once. The City Manager was asked to
review the matter and report back regarding the future of the
board.
Commissioner Waters felt the beaches cities had many mutual
concerns and he felt efforts should be made to establish a dialogue
with the newly elected officials in those cities.
The city manager suggested holding a goal setting session in late
January or early February in connection with the budget process and
he agreed to provide a report of the 1992 goal setting session.
There being no further discussion, the mayor declared the meeting
adjourned at 8 :00 PM.
I.
Maure-n King /
City Clerk