Exh 99
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City Manager Report
November 22, 1999
Maintenance responsibility for Town Center landscaping;
The agreement for the Town Center Project with the Cities of Atlantic Beach,
Jacksonville, and Neptune Beach requires that a maintenance agreement between
jurisdictions be established prior to the completion of the construction. A meeting was
held on November 10 with representatives from Jacksonville, Neptune Beach, and
Atlantic Beach. The tentative agreement of the three entities resulting from that meeting
is as follows:
• all three entities will equally share the cost of the annual landscape maintenance,
including any water charges for irrigation systems.
• the City of Atlantic Beach will manage the maintenance contract (because of
management of existing contract for other Atlantic Boulevazd landscape
maintenance) and will bill the other two entities yearly for their shaze of the cost
for the Town Center azea.
• maintenance is expected to begin in June, 2000 upon the expiration of the
construction contractor's guarantee.
• the agreement between the three jurisdictions will include aone-time replacement
of dead/dying plant materials which were installed prior to the existing
construction contract.
• Jacksonville is preparing the proposed agreement for review and approval by all
three entities.
Emergency Pump Replacement;
Emergency replacement of one of the pumps at Sewer Lift Station A was done on
October 27 for $8,000.
2.000 Census:
The attached letter from the Bureau of Census dated November 1, 1999 addressed to
Mayor Shaughnessy has been received by the City. Because of a complaint from the
Town of Baldwin, the Census Bureau has determined to show all independent cities in
Duval County as separate from the totals from the Jacksonville area. It is likely that the
Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will then reduce
Jacksonville's entitlement share for block grants because of the lower census population.
This may place the beach cities in a position of having to compete for Community
Development Block Grant funds. Two results will most likely occur; each of the beach
cities will have additional administrative expenses in grant application (assuming they
apply) or CDBG funds, and the total dollars available to each of the cities through
CDBG funding will most likely be reduced over time. The other beaches cities have
received similar letters, but no strategy for dealing with the problem has yet been
determined. See also letter from Mayor Delaney to Mayor Meserve dated November S,
1999.
c
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~9T UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
Washington, DC 20233-0001
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NOV 0 1 ~ggg
The Honorable Suzanne Shaughnessy
1VIayor, City of Atlantic Beach
800 Seminole Road
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
Dear Mayor Shaughnessy:
The Census Bureau received a letter from The Honorable Robert A.
Butterworth, Attorney General for the state of Florida, in response to a request
for a determination regarding the legal status of Baldwin town in relationship
to Jacksonville city. His letter of October 5, 1999, provided the determination
"that the Town of Baldwin is an independent municipality and is not
dependent upon or part of the municipal government of the consolidated City of
Jacksonville." The documentation that Mr. Butterworth provided indicates
that this also is the status of Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, and Neptune
Beach cities. A copy of the Attorney General's letter is enclosed.
In keeping with this determination, the Gensus Bureau no longer will show
Baldwin town, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach, and Neptune Beach cities
as dependent municipalities within the municipal consolidated city of
Jacksonville. For data tabulation purposes, the totals for Jacksonville city will
no longer include counts for the area within Atlantic Beach, Baldwin,
Jacksonville Beach, and Neptune Beach. Each of these places will have
independent data within Duval County; the area outside of Baldwin and the
Beach cities will constitute the municipal area of Jacksonville city.
This determination affects the central city for the Jacksonville, Florida
Metropolitan Statistical Area. The central city, Jacksonville city, no longer
includes the entire area of Duval County. The city of Jacksonville coincides
with the portion of Duval County outside of Atlantic Beach, Baldwin,
Jacksonville Beach, and Neptune Beach. The effective date of all these changes
is the date of Mr. Butterworth's letter, October 5, 1999.
The Census Bureau makes its classification for statistical data reporting
purposes only based on the information obtained from-the state:of Florida. If
The Honorable Suzanne Shaughnessy
2
you do not believe this information is correct, we suggest that you contact the
Attorney General's office. The Bureau does not make determinations of the.
legal relationship of entities that are under the control of state law. If you
have any questions, ,please contact Mr. Joseph Marinucci of my staff; his
telephone number is (301) 457-1099.
Sincerely,
7
OBERT W. MARX
Chief, Geography Division
Enclosure
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OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
JOHN A. DELANEY
MAYOR
The Honorable John S. Meserve
Mayor
City of Atlantic Beach
8CJ Seminole Road
Atlantic Beach, Florida 32233
Dear Mayor Meserve:
November 8, 1999
ST. JAMES BUILDING
117 WEST DUVAL STREET
SUITE 400
JACKSONVILLE, FL 32202
As you may know, there has been considerable discussion at the state and federal
level regarding the status of the town of Baldwin and the Beaches communities under the
Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG).
In 1988, Jacksonville requested classification as an "urban county" for CDBG
entitlement purposes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
determined, however, that because of the unique consolidated government configuration
of the City of Jacksonville, it did not qualify as an "urban county". HUD, relying on
information obtained from the Bureau of Census, determined that Jacksonville was a
single metropolitan city area and that the Beaches and Baldwin were inseparable parts of
Jacksonville. HUD included the populations of the Beaches and Baldwin for purposes of
calculating Jacksonville's annual CDBG grant entitlement. This resulted in the Beaches
and Baldwin no longer being eligible to apply for grants under the State of Florida CDBG
program.
For several years now, Baldwin has requested that HUD exclude its population
from the Jacksonville entitlement area in order that Baldwin may be eligible to participate
in the Florida CDBG program. This request has triggered a review by both the Census
Bureau and HUD to reconsider the single entitlement area. One potential implication is
that HUD will no longer consider the Beaches and Baldwin to be a part of Jacksonville
for entitlement purposes. Although there has been no Charter amendment since 1988,
which changed the legal relationship between the Beaches and Baldwin and Jacksonville,
it nevertheless appears that HUD may implement a change. I would like for Baldwin to
be able to pursue state funding; however, I am very concerned that this will result in the
Beaches being removed from Jacksonville's entitlement area against their wishes.
~~ Printed on Recycled Paper
Page 2
CDBG -Letter
Last February, I invited Mayor Godbold to work with me on a mutually beneficial
solution so as to achieve Baldwin's goal without penalizing the Beaches. Regrettably, we
were unable to reach a mutually beneficial solution. I have, therefore moved forward
with my own efforts to develop a solution. Jacksonville first sought an administrative
remedy through HUD and the Bureau of the Census, but was unsuccessful in achieving
an administrative solution.
Jacksonville is now requesting that our Congressional Delegation seek legislation
amending the existing CDBG statutes to classify the consolidated government as an
"urban county". This classification would allow Baldwin to elect to exclude its
population from the entitlement area without affecting the Beaches. It is worth noting
that Congress has already enacted six separate legislative amendments to the CDBG
statutes to create urban county classifications for other unique areas. With that in mind, I
believe this is an attainable solution.
I am asking that you review the enclosed proposed amendment to the CDBG
statute. Please let me know if you are in support of this legislative solution. Thank you
for your consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
---_f . ~.
John A. Delaney
JAD:bt
Enclosure
Cc: James Hanson
City Manager
.,
Proposed Amendment to CDBG Entitlement Statute
At the end of 42 U.S.C. § 5302(a)(6)(D)(v} delete the "or"
tAt the end of 42 U.S.C. § 5302(a}(6}(D)(vi) add the following:
"or
(vii)(I) has consolidated its government with one or more municipal governments, such that
within the county boundaries there are no unincorporated areas, (II) has a population of at least
650,000 over which the consolidated government has the authority to undertake essential
community development and housing assistance activities, (III) for more than 10 years, has been
classified as an entitlement area for purposes of allocating and distributing funds under sectio:.
106 of this title, and (IV) as of the date of enactment of this subsection, has over 90 percent of the
county's population within the jurisdiction of the consolidated government."