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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Workshop_02/27/2017 MINUTES VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA WORKSHOP February 27, 2017 � � CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. A roll call was taken by Assistant to the Village Clerk, Mary Ann Grieser. Present were: Mayor Abby Brennan, Vice-Mayor Vince Arena, Council Member Steve Okun, Council Member Tom Paterno and Council Member Frank D'Ambra. 1. Discussion on Annexation Village Manager Michael Couzzo reminded Council that there had been recent workshop discussion regarding the annexation issue and he was looking for feedback and direction on how to proceed forward. Council Member D'Ambra informed Council that he had been working with Ms. Nilsa Zacarias, Director of Community Development and with Village Attorney Keith Davis regarding this issue. He went on to explain that there had been some discussions with Senators at the recent Legislative Round Table. During these discussions The Village of Tequesta as well as other municipalities, had raised concerns over the definition of "enclave" as it was defined within the legislation. He went on to reveal that several Senators spoke of revisions or amendments to the legislation regarding these enclaves. Ms. Zacarias added that she had been in touch with Ms. Kim Glas-Castro, Land Development Director for the Village of Palm Springs. Ms. Glas-Castro had mentioned to Ms. Zacarias that Palm Springs was working on an amendment that would focus on the requirements of involuntary annexation and also the definition of "enclave." Ms. Zacarias handed out an email document to Council, which demonstrated involuntary annexation, and who was able to vote on it within a municipality. It was determined that any changes to current annexation legislation would have to be addressed in Tallahassee. Council Member Paterno asked if the email had anything to do with the Village's own annexation process with Palm Beach County. Ms. Zacarias confirmed that it had nothing to do with the Village's enclaves. Ms. Zacarias informed Council that she and Attorney Davis recently met with the Palm Beach County Legal Council and Planning Director regarding the ownership of County Line Road. She revealed that the area up to the median was owned by the Palm Beach County, however, from the median to the north, was owned by Martin County. She informed Council that pursuant to Florida Statutes, annexation could not be pursued to create an enclave. Additionally, Palm Beach County suggested the Village go before the Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 Page 2 Florida Legislator to propose an act that would mandate the annexation of local enclaves. She concluded that the only other option was to pursue the inter-local agreement with a chance the County may not support it. Manager Couzzo reminded Council that the legislation had already changed and that the Village administration just needed some direction. Council Member D'Ambra believed the definition of enclave still needed clarity, however, he realized Palm Beach County also had the ability to deem the enclaves to become annexed. He advised the Village prepare for the next legislative session and to not act until then. It was revealed that there were several areas in Martin County that the Village provided emergency services to, without any compensation. Council Member Paterno suggested the Village stop responding to calls within the enclave areas, as they were not paying for such services. Manager Couzzo disclosed that Village police were obligated to respond to emergencies, due to a Mutual Aid Agreement. Council Member Paterno then suggested that the Village cease responding to calls that were routine in nature. ' Mayor Brennan revealed that a call came into the Village of Tequesta Fire Department recently that was identified as a"domestic" situation. Village paramedics were not able to respond, as they were required to wait for the Palm Beach County Sheriff, who arrived 18 minutes later. As a result of the extended response time, the patient lapsed into unconsciousness. Mayor Brennan queried as to how many calls the Village responded to, that were not actual emergencies. Council Member Paterno suggested the non-emergency, out of area, calls be documented. Manager Couzzo believed that Chief Elg could give further information on emergency calls and relationship issues with the County. Council Member Okun agreed that documentation was needed in reference to the calls that had been problematic with ! County response time. Council Member Paterno requested the appropriate parties be present at workshop meetings, in order to get all the information necessary for Council to then make decisions. Manager Couzzo suggested the Village appeal to the County rather than the state legislator as it would take less time. Mayor Brennan requested that Manager Couzzo invite the Police Chief to the next Workshop meeting in order to answer some questions regarding police calls within the enclaves. Council Member Paterno asked that he bring documentation regarding emergency calls for the next meeting. Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 Page 3 Council Member Paterno asked if the Assistant Police Chief was a fill-in for the Chief. Manager Couzzo answered that yes, he was the acting Chief, whenever Chief Elg was not present. 2. Discuss the Purchase of Sensus iPERL Water Meters from HD Supply to Replace the Aging Water Meter System. Manager Couzzo wanted to clarify any misunderstanding on the actual cost of the Sensus iPERL meter system which was discussed at the last Council Workshop. He advised Council that it would not be a one-time occurrence of $200,000, but instead a one-time rate increase of four percent over a five-year period of time. He felt it would take at least a year before any funds would be generated, even with an immediate rate increase. Manager Couzzo remarked that a loan was also possible. Mayor Brennan recalled recent discussion during which the $200,000 was discussed as being the increase for the system. She now believed that it would really cost approximately $800,000 to one million dollars. Council Member Paterno advised that it would actually cost approximately $800,000 because other money was already allocated for the meters. Council Member D'Ambra recollected that during the last workshop it was determined there was already money budgeted for the meter replacement of the entire system. The cost to upgrade to the electronic version was an additional $200,000. Council had agreed that the new technology was worth the additional cost. Manager Couzzo revealed that there was money in the budget, based upon the rate increase of eight percent per year for the next three years, with an increase of three to four percent beyond that time frame. There had already been one increase to date. Manager Couzzo informed Council that the system had approximately 5,000 meters within it. To replace all of the meters would cost $1.3 million dollars. However not all of the meters needed to be replaced, as half of the system was 10-11 years old, with a life expectancy of approximately 20 years. He estimated the Village replaced about 1,000 meters annually. Vice Mayor Arena asked how many meters were changed out last year. Sam Heady, Deputy Director of Utilities answered that 743 meters were changed out by Village employees last year. Council Member Paterno assured Council that there were efficiencies built into doing the iPERL system. He believed it would pay for itself thru attrition and reduced staff, offering a savings $87,000 per year. Manager Couzzo countered that the savings would not come thru attrition. He noted that if anything, there would be additional utility personnel added in order to upgrade the water system over the course of the next decades. Council Member Paterno disagreed and stated the need for employees to read meters would be reduced, whether the Manager chose to reassign them to another area or not. Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 � Page 4 Council Member Paterno maintained that the savings would be evident in having less labor involved in the process. He pointed out that if management chose to take the savings and apply it to another area, it did not negate the fact that it was still a savings. Council Member D'Ambra asked how much was budgeted for the replacement of ineters per year. Mr. Heady revealed that according to the rate study, $586,000 had been approved for meter replacements over a period of five years. Council Member D'Ambra calculated the approximate $600,000 meter replacement cost with the $500,000 in additional revenues, bringing the total to $1.1 million. He then added a three percent rate increase, reaffirming the possibility of having the system paid for within an additional year and a half. He recommended the three percent increase stay in place to fund the water distribution system reserves. Council D'Ambra recalled the issue was the loss of revenue associated with the older water meters inability to fully capture the water flow. Mr. Heady verified that the lost revenue was within the one to two percent estimation. Manager Couzzo opined that he did not anticipate any additional revenue from the new water system. He cautioned that there would be less revenue because leaks would be detected sooner. Council Member Paterno countered that there was leakage within the system before the water ever arrived at the meters. He maintained that there would be a cost reduction related to the treatment and development of the water, as the new system software had a feature that could pinpoint any leaks within the system. He further emphasized the new system would make it easier to locate the region in which the loss of water had occurred. Vice Mayor Arena reported that there were 475 calls for the water department out of 5,000 meters last month. Council Member D'Ambra estimated there was still a gap of $700,000 and questioned how much of that amount could be made up thru the higher water bills. He recalled being told that the full flow of water was not being captured, due to the inaccuracy of older meters. He felt that the finro percent of lost revenue could be captured by the new system and would help subsidize the new meter upgrade. Manager Couzzo reminded Council that there were benefits to the new meter system but asked Council to make sure this was where they wanted to invest the money. He further opined that this was not a"break even" scenario. Council discussed the fact that the new meters were essentially the same, with the main difference being the antenna. Mr. Heady advised that the antenna would cost anywhere from $141 to $161 per piece, depending on the number of ports. � Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 Page 5 Mr. Couzzo added that poles would also have to be purchased. Vice Mayor Arena concluded that adding antennas was not a major undertaking and that everything else had already been budgeted. Manager Couzzo advised Council on going either one hundred percent with the automated system or not at all. He remarked that extending the project out over five years was not prudent. Manager Couzzo needed to know if Council wanted to do the s stem and if so how uickl the intended to have it installe . H Y , d e would need this q Y Y information in order to determine how to fund the project. There was some confusion on tax reduction and rate increase timing. Manager Couzzo again asked Council as to when they would like the automated system completed. He needed to arrange for a loan if Council decided to do this soon. Council Member D'Ambra questioned why there was a need for a loan, if there was money set aside in capital reserves. Manager Couzzo explained the Village had four million dollars in reserves at the moment, however it was not enough to pay for the meters. He reminded Council that if there was a leak in the system or a main break, then the reserves would be affected. Mayor Brennan asked if there would be any ongoing maintenance costs associated with the new system. Mr. Heady reassured her that any maintenance would be handled "in house" and that the software cost was $12,000 annually. Council Member Paterno asked for an estimate on how many new meters had already been installed. Mr. Heady informed Council that about 1000 new meters had already been installed by Village employees. It was determined that the balance of the 3,500 meters was already in the budget. The only outstanding cost would be antennas, other equipment, and installation estimated at $700,000. Council Member D'Ambra suggested taking the system out to bid in order to get a hard dollar cost on purchasing the system. Mayor Brennan was concerned that the existing meters would not be compatible to any other system. Manager Couzzo agreed that if Council decided to use a different company, there was a possibility of the meters not being compatible. Council Member D'Ambra again recommended going to bid with the existing company as well as others in the field, to get some hard numbers. Manager Couzzo remarked that there could be a legal problem with going to bid, if there was not enough money in the budget, as there were different regulations regarding the bid process within the government sector. Council Member D'Ambra suggested using the data that was currently available showing the loss/gain of water in the older versus newer meters, in order to calculate a revenue number. Mayor Brennan requested a hard cost estimate showing the savings, loan costs and revenue projections. She was not comfortable with dipping into the reserves. Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 Page 6 Council Member Paterno reminded Council that there had already been two meetings on the subject and there were still no hard numbers available. He did not understand why Council was still waiting for this information. Mr. Heady revealed that the costs that he had provided to Council were as close as he could estimate. Mayor Brennan asked if the new meters could be phased in with the older meters and Manager Couzzo confirmed that they could. Vice Mayor Arena reiterated the request to have Chief Elg attend the next Workshop Meeting and to also have some hard numbers available on the new water meter pricing. Village of Tequesta Attorney Amity Barnard answered Manager Couzzo's previous inquiry by clarifying that the Village was able to go forward with the bid process and was not bound to enter into a contact until it was ready to do so. Vice Mayor Arena announced that the Village's 60th Anniversary party had been cancelled due to several factors which included, weather, timing and date issues with vendors. Council Member D'Ambra suggested incorporating the anniversary with the 2017 Tequesta Fest scheduled for November. Council Member D'Ambra reminded Council that they were still waiting for sidewalk I estimates from Doug Chambers, Public Works Supervisor. Vice Mayor Arena suggested all Council Members including Manager Couzzo drive by the car lot on US Highway One to determine if its' condition was acceptable to the Village , of Tequesta. ADJOURNMENT: Council Member D'Ambra moved to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Vice Mayor Arena. The motion to adjourn carried unanimously 5-0; therefore, the meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, � � ��u.��. Lori McWilliams, MMC Village Clerk Village Council Workshop Minutes February 27, 2017 Page 7 Note: These summary minutes are prepared in compliance with 286.011 F.S. and are not verbatim transcripts of the meeting. A verbatim audio record is available from the office of the Village Clerk. All referenced attachments are on file in the Village Clerk's office.