Item 9A
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AGENDA ITEM #9A
DECEMBER 13, 2004
December 6, 2004
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Honorable Mayor
and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Ji_m Hanso
City Manager
SUBJECT: City Man ger's Report
JEA Tree Trimming; City staff met with JEA representatives to discuss their need to trim trees
around electric lines in Atlantic Beach. City staff had requested the meeting to discuss better
cooperation and coordination as well as to find ways to make recently trimmed azeas look better.
It is understood that an electric company with overhead lines must regularly trim tree limbs to
maintain their reliability of the electric system. Problems with storm related reliability became
apparent in the recent series of hurricanes.
The meeting was very positive. JEA officials agreed to contact city staffprior to any trimming
operations in the future to allow for coordination, notification of the Tree Board and some
cooperative decision-making about which trees and brush should be removed entirely versus
which should be just trimmed. In the past, JEA crews have often done the absolute minimum in
trimming which left some small trees looking like 12 foot tall stumps. JEA will also provide
some plants from their nursery to replant in areas where trees or large bushes have been
removed.
ISO Rating; The insurance services industry designates a fire rating for each community, which
assesses the community's firefighting and water system capabilities. The purpose is to rate the
degree of risk that the insurance companies have in providing insurance to homeowners,
businesses and industries in different communities. The lower the rating, the lower the insurance
premiums that customers pay. Atlantic Beach currently has a ISO rating of 4, which was last
established during an inspection in 1996. The Insurance Services Office (ISO) periodically
rechecks communities to amend the ratings as needed and the they have notified Atlantic Beach
that an inspection will be done early in 2005. Since our last rating, fire services were
consolidated with the City of Jacksonville and many water system improvements have been
made. City staff is already working with representatives from the Jacksonville Fire Department
in prepazation for this rating.
Water Tank Construction; Contractors have restarted the project to install the water tank on
water plant property adjacent to Mayport Road. The owner and principal operator of the
subcontracting company that was originally erecting the tank died in an accident several months
ago and the project was halted until the city's main contractor, Gruhn May, could find another
tank construction company to finish the work. City staff has checked out the references on the
new subcontractor and authorized the work to begin again. Completion is expected in eazly May
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AGENDA ITEM #9A
DECEMBER 13, 2004
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which should be in time to coincide with the city's peak water sale season. The contractor will
~"` pay damages to the city for the delay of the job, which will cover the city's increase cost for tank
inspection.
"" Hazardous Waste Collection; The City of Jacksonville has scheduled another hazardous waste
collection day at the beaches. It will be held on Saturday, January 8"' at City Hall in Atlantic
Beach. As before, the public will be invited to bring their hazardous materials to City Hall so
~"" that they can be properly handled by the City of Jacksonville. This will include paint, batteries,
used computers and so forth. The news media will be asked to publicize the event as the time
gets closer.
Fleet Landing Utility Bill; The City of Atlantic Beach has been over billing Fleet Landing for
water and sewer use since 1995. The total amount of the over billing is approximately $78,000.
As soon as city staff can finalize the recalculation of each monthly bill going back to 1995, a
rebate will be provided to Fleet Landing.
The error in billings was found when the city implemented the recently adopted water and sewer
rate amendments. The problem began in 1995 when a recount was done on the number of
households receiving individual (non-dumpster) garbage collection at Fleet Landing. The
number of units being billed for garbage collection was increased at that time. However, city
staff mistakenly assumed that this also meant that their number of residential units for water and
sewer billings should also be increased. This was a mistake. It resulted in double counting of 56
units. While Fleet Landing was notified of the increased count for the garbage collection, they
were not notified of the change in the water and sewer billings and the Fleet Landing staff had no
way of calculating the water and sewer bill for themselves because of the complicated
calculations. Fleet Landing is particularly complicated because they have single family units,
duplex units, apartment complexes, a nursing home, a restaurant, a laundry and other facilities all
connected behind one set of meters. While the billings from any of these would individually be
relatively straightforward, the combination of all of these types of customers is a fairly complex
process.
Post Office Status; Discussions have continued with Post Office representatives about the
project to open a public access from the Post Office on Mayport Road onto Plaza Drive. Most
recently, Post Office attorneys had determined that the USPS cannot contract with Atlantic
Beach to do work on government property due to numerous federal government requirements.
However, we have agreed that each entity will design and construct the needed improvements in
close cooperation with each other. Both the City and the Post Office are beginning the design of
the work. The plan is to have both projects bid at the same time with an option of a discount by
a contractor that can do both projects (while working for two different entities). Hopefully, bids
can be taken on this project within the next few months and construction begun. The
Commission will be posted as to the outcome of the bids when they are received.