Exh 9ACEIYDA ITEM q9
DECE1113ER 10, 2001
December 3, 2001
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Honorable Mayor
and Members of the ~iity Commission
FROM: 3iuz.El
city Managy '~
SUBJECT: City Manager's Report
Jacksonville Franchise A¢recment; Mayor Meserve, Nelson VanLiere and I met with
Jacksonville Council members Jerry Holland, Warren Alvarez and Elaine Brown as well as
numerous Jacksonville staff members on November 29"' to discuss the proposed 5% Franchise
Fee. The City of Jacksonville passed a franchise ordinance last summer, which included uniform
franchise fees for several utilities. Atlantic Beach was not made aware of the ordinance until
September. In our case, the franchise would only apply to water and sewer sales made to
customers outside of Atlantic Beach city limits. The cost is estimated to be slightly over
S 125,000 per year.
Jacksonville officials listened to our concerns patiently and then explained that they fully
expected Atlantic Beach to pass the 5% Franchise Fee along to our water and sewer customers,
and that they were unwilling to exempt Atlantic Beach from the fee because it would possibly set
precedent with other utilities operating in Jacksonville's jurisdiction.
Several other provisions of Jacksonville's ordinance are onerous, including tunetables for
moving of the water and sewer lines after notification and the requirement to provide bonds to
Jacksonville for all work in their right-of--way. however, we had met with several Jacksonville
staff members a couple of weeks earlier and tentatively agreed that these items could be dealt
with in a separate Interlocal Agreement. Atlantic Beach could be treated substantially the same
as Jacksonville treats the Jacksonville Electric Authority. Staff has not yet begun to negotiate the
language to such an agreement, and any agreement will require the approval both the Atlantic
Beach Commission and Jacksonville City Council We anticipate that the effective date of the
Jacksonville Franchise Ordinance will be changed to April of next year thereby giving the City
Commission time to approve any Interlocal Agreement and consider whether or not to pass along
the franchise costs to the water and sewer customers.